INTERVI EW CH E S T ER SANTOS
LIVE 24-SEVEN “ 14 WE TEND TO BE GOOD AT REMEMBERING FACES,
BUT AREN’T NEARLY AS GOOD AT REMEMBERING NAMES. THIS MAKES SENSE BECAUSE WHEN YOU INTERACT WITH PEOPLE IN VARIOUS WAYS, YOU ACTUALLY ‘SEE’ THEIR FACES.
memory and if so are there different tactics for different memory 'requirements'? You are absolutely correct in that having an excellent memory will help on all of those fronts and the wonderful news is that this is easily achievable by anyone. There are different ‘specific techniques’ depending on the information type, but the ‘general principles’ will always be the same. The three main principles that will always apply are: #1 Visualization – take whatever you’d like to remember and in some way turn the information into an image or series of images that are easy for you to picture in your mind; #2 Involve Additional Senses – the more senses you can add to what you’re experiencing beyond just the visual, the more areas of your brain you’ll activate and the more connections in your mind to the information you’ll build; #3 Unleash Your Imagination – make the entire scenario that you’re experiencing crazy and unusual in some way, so that you’ll tap in to our natural tendency to easily remember things that are extraordinary and catch us by surprise.
Chester, at what point in life did you realise you had an incredible memory? Growing up I’d often hear the comment from people, “Wow, you have a really good memory”. So, when I was flipping channels one night in the year 2000 and happened to catch a segment about the USA Memory Championship on ABC’s 20/20, it really sparked my interest. However, in researching the top scores in the USA in various events, I quickly realised that although I did have an above average memory to begin with, I was nowhere near the level I needed to be in order to have a shot at winning the USA Memory Championship. That’s when I started studying ways to improve memory skills. Eventually, I managed to win the championship in 2008 and have since spent the last 11+ years training other people around the world in the set of techniques I feel can most benefit them in business, school and personal life.
So 2020, a new year and for many a new start, maybe they want to do well at exams or perform better to get that next step on the promotional ladder; having an excellent memory is going to help on all these fronts. Can anyone achieve a great
So break it down for us, what are your top tips for remembering people's names? I meet so many people through events and can't always remember names, yet I'm great with faces? This is the norm for most people. We tend to be good at remembering faces, but aren’t nearly as good at remembering names. This makes sense because when you interact with people in various ways, you actually ‘see’ their faces. The faces get uploaded into your ‘visual’ memory, but you don’t ‘see’ the names in your mind, so they are more abstract to your brain. The trick is to turn the names into memorable visuals or images. For instance, if you meet someone named Mike, you might picture a microphone. If you meet someone named Alice, you might visualize a white rabbit. This works even better if you can mentally imagine the image interacting with something unique about the person’s look. So, you think to yourself that this particular Mike has large ears, you’d then imagine a microphone popping out of each ear. If you think Alice has beautiful hair, you’d then visualize the white rabbit getting tangled up in her hair. This might sound strange, but it’s incredibly effective and anyone can become really good at it with practice.
Share with us some of the more unusual requests you've had for helping with memory -related issues? I've helped a professional boxer turned poker pro remember his cards better because he thought he was having memory difficulty, perhaps due to taking hits to the head during his boxing career. I’ve helped actors having difficulty remembering scripts and lines. Some politicians have hired me to help with presentations and remembering names. Although probably not ‘unusual’, those have been some of the more interesting requests that stand out from the typical business executive and graduate student.
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