The Link System

Association

Our whole life is built up of associations, be they physical, mental or emotional.

When we think of a memory from our past we remember details associated with it. We remember Christmas’s past, birthdays and holidays, because they have had strong associations, they are emotional and have excited our senses. In the same way our personalities are moulded through association. Events that happen to us in our life make us what we are. We create positive or negative associations from these events, which affect the way we feel. This in turn will make us react a certain way in a particular situation.

So natural things that happen around us, affect what we feel, how we act and what we remember. Association is a very powerful thing, when we realize this, and understand how it works, we can then use association to our own advantage. We can create positive associations to make us feel differently about a situation that has happened in the past and that may have had a negative effect on certain aspects of our life. It can help deal with rejection by creating positive associations which allow you to bounce back quickly and move on to the next thing. It can help create a confident state of mind, deal with a difficult person or overcome a fear we have had for many years.

What I am about to share with you has had a few different names in the past, the main ones being the Link System and the Chain Method. It was called this for the simple fact that you link items together to form a sort of mental chain. I prefer just to think of them as associations, I will tend to use all of them in conversation but it all means the same thing.

Our objective here is to improve your memory using the Link System and the Rules Of Memorization in particular your association skills, focusing more on speed rather than accuracy at this stage. The reason for this is to loosen up your mind to this new way of thinking, otherwise when things get more complicated, you will end up thinking too hard about how to associate, rather than just letting it happen.

Your first taste of mnemonics

In a moment you are going to put the Rules Of Memorization into practice by memorizing a bizarre story. The story itself makes no sense, its purpose is to connect and associate 15 unrelated main items. By going through this example you will be flexing your imagination and association skills – it doesn’t matter how well you do, it’s not a test. Just relax and imagine the story in your mind as clear as you can. Take a few seconds focusing on each main item of the story; it will probably help to close your eyes while doing this. Each main item has been written in bold.

Big Ben Story

Find yourself a comfortable position, take a deep breath in, hold it for a second then breath out, repeat this 3 times then start reading and visualizing the following scene…

Imagine Big Ben. He is wearing a fur coat and bouncing up and down on a spring board. He dives into a large pot of honey and disappears. Our of the honey jumps a giant dinosaur, wearing a red baseball cap and swinging a baseball bat. He uses the baseball bat to bash up a Ferrari. Driving the Ferrari is Tom Cruise, smoking a huge cigar. He takes the cigar and stubs it out on top of a bald headed man. The bald headed man is eating a big sticky mars bar. Wrapped around the mars bar is a slimy snake who is drinking a cold bottle of Budweizer. It uses the budweizer to play a set of drums.

• Go back over the Big Ben story, visualizing clearer images in your mind and adding in more of the Rules of Memorization. Get your Senses involved, taste the honey, feel the baseball bat, smell the cigar and so on. By adding your senses into the picture you are making the story seem real in your mind and therefore more memorable. Get your emotions involved; the fact that Big Ben is wearing a fur coat is funny and surreal at the same time! Exaggerate your images, see a huge Big Ben, a massive mars bar a large pot of honey, or a hundred set of drums. Finally make sure there is lots of action driving the story and helping connect it together.
• This time say each of the main items out loud as you run through the scene in your mind.
• Now run the scene forwards in your mind and then run it backwards, forwards and backwards, repeat this about 10 times as quick as you can. This will really lock the images in your mind.
• Finally write down as many of the 15 main items as you can remember.

If you managed to get 15 answers correct, fantastic, if not, don’t worry it’s only because you need to apply more of the Rules Of Memorization. This will come with practice!

The Big Ben story is an example of how you the Link System and ROM to remember 15 unrelated items.

On the information to follow I have given you 4 lists of simple items that will help increase your associative powers. You are going to memorize each list with the Link System.

Before you start find either a clock or a stopwatch, get into a comfortable position and make sure you have the next 20 – 30 minutes free.

Some more things to note before memorizing; associate your items together as quick as possible, it doesn’t need to make sense, connect them using the first idea that comes into your head – remember it’s not about how many you get right, you need to coach your brain into this ‘new way of thinking’. Secondly, you don’t have to see all the images at once, you will only ever concentrate on two or three at a time, the action will keep one moving into the next. Thirdly never go back to the beginning while memorizing, wait until you have completed the whole list and then start again. You need to trust yourself and believe that you will remember.

Here are the first 10 items you are going to memorize:

• Eggs
• Ketchup
• Milk
• Chicken
• Rice
• Wine
• Corn on the cob
• Soap
• Lightbulbs
• Magazine

To help you with this first list I’ve given an example below. Time limit 4 min – start the clock when you’re ready.

Imagine a huge egg. It cracks open, yoke fly’s everywhere and out jumps a bottle of ketchup who is drinking several cartons of milk. He throws the milk at a tap dancing chicken. The chicken dives out of the way and lands in an enourmous pan of rice and disappears to the bottom. At high speed you pour several bottles of wine into the rice and stick a corn on the cob in the top of each. The corn on the cob starts washing himself with a bubbly bar of soap. It takes the soap and sticks it to a huge light bulb in the ceiling. The light bulb spins wildly and smashes over a dancing magazine.

Now that you have linked your images together, you need to reinforce them with more of the Rules Of Memorization. With practice you will automatically add in senses, emotion, action and exaggeration when you first create your associations, enabling you to memorize at a greater speed. But for the moment go back to you first image, work through your associations adding in more of these 4 attributes. Do this twice and then run them forwards and backwards as quick as you can, imagine your watching a movie on fast forward and then rewind. This will lock the information in your mind.

I know some of these things may sound bizarre and to be honest they are, but to improve your memory you need to start working these mental muscles. Look at things from a different point of view. As a side effect you will find by practicing these skills your creativity will naturally improve along with your ability to solve problems.

Practice your association skills

1. Apples, butter, smarties, wine, cheese, flour, pepper, washing liquid, dog food, light-bulb.
2. Book, curtain, ring, lanp, car, chair, chocolate, clock, knife, paint, carpet, glass, tree, brush, statue, pencil, coal, plant, rope, glove.
3. Sun, stingray, chicken, jaws, key, monkey, water, rat, dam, spider, plate, duck, rat, dam, spider, plate, duck, spaceship, net, soldier, mat, horse, map, elephant, rain.

Association skills reside at the core of mnemonics. They facilitate us to create memories and recall them. At the moment you are at the tip of the iceberg, with practice you will soon be associating and remembering items with ease. In the beginning you should always make a conscious effort to apply all the Rules Of Memorization when memorizing, if you do this, in time it will start to happen naturally. By working in this way you will build a good, solid foundation, allowing you to easily progress into the more complex world of mnemonics.