How can I test my ability to remember lists?
A quick home test for your memory: I'm going to ask you to participate and follow me, and I'm going to give you a test, but I'm going to apply some techniques with this test, and you're going to be amazed to see what happens. If I said, “You're going to remember eight, ten, or twelve items in a perfect sequence.” Follow me. The first item is a glass. Can you see an imaginary glass in my hand? Put it in your hand. See it? When I say “ceiling,” where did this glass just go? Up to the ceiling. Got the idea? Picture now, but don't wander. Ceiling and Eiffel Tower. Can you see the Eiffel Tower hanging from that ceiling, swinging back and forth, back and forth. See it? Eiffel Tower and drapes. Let's see long, flowing drapes flowing from the Eiffel Tower. Drapes and roses. Let's see a string of roses wrapped around those drapes. Roses and a tire. Let's see the string of roses wrapped around an automobile tire. Tire and a pencil. Let's see a huge pencil piercing into the tire. Stay with me. Pencil into the tire. Pencil and a door. The pencil comes out of the tire and it pierces into the door. Okay, let's pause for a second. We're going to test your memory. What was in the hand? Right, the glass. Where'd it go? On the ceiling. right. What's on that ceiling? Correct, the Eiffel Tower swinging. Notice how action helps. What's hanging from the Eiffel Tower? The drapes. Drapes and what? The roses wrapped around it. The roses went where? Around the tire. What's in the tire? A pencil. Where did it go? Into the door. Got the idea? Now test yourself. Twenty-four hours from now, they're going to come flashing back. You can even go backwards if you want. And then a week from now, a month from now—in fact, once in a while, one of my students will call and say, “You know, Mr. Bornstein, that list that you gave us—the glass, the ceiling, the Eiffel Tower?” And I say, “Of course I remember it.” They say, “It's been over a year now and I still remember them. How do I get rid of them?” You won't get rid of them. They're there forever.
