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Do you suffer from this embarrassing problem?
28th June 2009
• A disaster tale! How I solved my
embarrassing social problem
• How to remember names
• Discover how to improve your memory in
just 20 minutes a day, click here:
Improve your memory
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Picture the scene....
You're at a big barbeque with plenty of guests. As
you mingle you come across a friend of a friend.
This is someone you sort of know to speak to on
occasion... but you wouldn't necessarily have them
stored in your phone or address book.
You were told their name, ages ago. But you've
since forgotten it.
You've talked to this person on too many occasions
since to suddenly ask for their name. So you carry
on chatting, desperately trying to dredge up their
name from the depths of your ageing mind.
Then disaster strikes...
Along comes someone else you know. They join
your conversation. They look at the 'friend of a
friend'. The 'friend of a friend' looks back.
Then they BOTH look at you, expecting you to make
the polite introduction.
'This is Dave,' you say, gesturing to the person
whose name you already know. 'And this...' You
gesture towards the 'friend of a friend', 'this is.... this
is.... this is....'
You glug heavily at your wine, praying that he'll say
his name. You wish you could click your fingers, like
the girl on Bewitched, and disappear.
Instead, you're forced to pretend that someone has
just shouted out your name.
'Ah, that's my wife. Sorry...MUST DASH!'
How to avoid the horror of bad memory
I don't know if this has happened to you, but until a
few years back it used to happen to me all the time.
This embarrassing situation occurred so often, in
fact, that I had to go and learn some techniques to
put a stop to it once and for all.
What's really exciting is that you CAN genuinely
improve your memory by using a few tried and
tested techniques. A lot of what we call 'bad
memory' isn't actually a physical or mental problem.
It's just you're missing a few tricks that other people
use naturally and without thinking.
My memory was otherwise good. It was just this
name problem that made my life difficult. Yet it was
easily fixed.
I'll tell you the technique in a moment, but if you're
interested in improving your memory.... perhaps you
have a similar problem, or - more seriously - you
suspect you're suffering from age-related memory
loss... then take a look at this:
Improve your memory |
Improve your memory in 20 minutes a day
Dr Bruno Furst's Course in Memory and
Concentration is run by Bowden College, an online
adult education centre. It comes highly
recommended.
You get sent a course in the post. You only have to
read it for as little as 20 minutes a day. It gets your
brain working in the right way for a short intense
period, and that's it. Your memory should start
improving immediately.
Bowden College guarantee that you'll notice results
in 30 days, or you'll get your money back in full.
There's a great tutorial team behind this course,
including Rachel Campbell-Johnston, a Times
newspaper correspondent... Frances Donnelly, an
ex-presenter of Radio 4's 'Woman's Hour'... James
Knox, former publisher of the Spectator... Rowley
Leigh, a television chef and author... and Jonathan
Self, brother of Will, a journalist.
The course is easy to follow. You don't need any
special skills (the only requirement is that you can
read English!) And you don't have to leave your
home to do it. They send you all the materials you
need.
If you regularly struggle to remember names, dates,
or events, this is something you should definitely try.
Even more importantly, this is a fantastic way to get
your brain into shape and create a barrier against
the effects of dementia. In my view, keeping your
brain active through this kind of daily home training
is one of the most powerful things you can do.
All the details are here:
Improve your memory |
How I solved my name problem
The technique for remembering names is one of the
easiest. What I do when I meet someone now is the
following...
• First, PAUSE to digest what the name is.
• Secondly, if you're not sure you quite got the
name, immediately ask again. It's better to
seem a bit deaf at first than rude or stupid
later.
• Thirdly, link their name to an image or sound.
The more comical or striking the better. This
is because the brain remembers images and
sounds far better than isolated names that
have no context.
For instance, there was a guy I talked to the other
week when walking the dog. He also had a dog and
introduced himself as 'Martin'.
Rather than thinking - as I used to do - 'Oh, I'll
never remember that,' I immediately thought of the
image of a house martin dancing on his dog's back,
to the tune of the House Martins 1980s hit 'Happy
Hour'. In my head, all of them were singing the song.
I know, it sounds ludicrous, but it really worked.
Next time I met him, the tune by the House Martins
popped immediately into my head, and I saw the
dancing house martin. I wasn't even unsure about it,
I KNEW his name.
That's just how my brain worked at the time. There
are loads of ways you could do this.
He also had a strong central parting in his hair, so I
could have tried a rhyme, like 'Partin' Martin'.
Next time I met I would have struggled to remember
his name, but I would have remembered that there
was something significant about his head. At first
glance of his parting, I would have remembered the
rhyme.
It doesn't really matter what image you choose. It
only has to make sense to you. Once you lock a
rhyme, tune, remembered song or crazy image, you
are unlikely to ever forget the name.
And a final tip
To make doubly sure, try and use the other person's
name a few times in your first conversation. Saying it
out loud back to them will help 'lock' the name in
your mind.
This has a doubly good effect. Because if you've
ever read How To Win Friends and Influence
People (which sadly I have) you'll know that people
LOVE hearing their name spoken back to them.
It's a win-win situation!
Of course, doing this kind of professional
schmoozing at a social gathering is very impressive.
But beware of drinking too much wine and tripping
face first into a table laden with salad. It can undo a
lot of the good work.
Trust me, I'm a man who knows.
PS: It's well worth trying this memory course. As
many medical professionals now say about memory,
'either use it, or lose it.' Click here for details:
Improve your memory |
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