The memory cheatcode

Memory matters

We live in the information age. Rarely are we more than a few clicks away from accessing the world's entire supply of information. It's reasonable, then, to ask why having a good memory matters at all. What good is remembering something if you can just look it up instead?

Case studies

High school

Imagine being a high school student. Finals are coming up, and everyone in class is hustling to prepare. You haven't been keeping up with the material as dilligently as you should have this semester, so it's time to hit the books.

About one week before your exams, you spend an hour or two one evening memorizing the 100 Spanish vocabulary words that will be on the final. After you're done, you mentally review the words, in reverse alphabetical order, just to make sure that you didn't miss any.

Math is next. You spend another hour the following evening memorizing all 20 new geometry forumals from this semester. These include how to compute perimeters and areas, how to convert radians to degrees (and vice versa), sine, cosine, tangent... Then, you memorize a few story problems that your teacher pointed out as good examples, as well as each step for solving them.

Finally, on the third evening, you study for literature. You memorize the names of each chapter in the book, as well as a brief summary of what happens in each one, and one or two memorable quotes from each chapter.

You take an hour or so for the remaining evenings to solidify the connections in your mind, and then it's time to take your finals. Confident and stress-free, you remember every vocabulary word, every mathematical formula, and every literary theme from your studies.

Job interview

Fast-forward to life after school. You have a big job interview coming up tomorrow, and it's time to prepare.

First, you memorize your own resumé down to the last bullet-point. Job titles, responsibilites, dates of employment, everything.

Next, you find the names of your interviewers online, and you memorize whatever basic information you can find about them. Their positions at the company, when they were hired, where they went to school, and anything else that might be relevant.

Finally, you go to the job posting, and memorize the mission statement, the pre-requisites, and the entire section about what the hiring manager is looking for in a candidate.

Normally, this type of preparation is reserved for someone's absolute dream company. But for you, it's just another evening.

Can you imagine how strong your interviewing skills would become if you had all that knowledge available at your fingertips? Who wouldn't hire someone like that?

Cheat code

It's clear to see that many tests, tasks, and ceremonies are only considered "difficult" today because they are based on a skill that is not directly taught: memorization. Interviewing for jobs and taking final exams are only a few examples of tasks that become trivially easy after a bit of memorization training. Having a trustworthy memory system is almost an unfair advantage in these situations.

If you're interested to find out more about what it feels like to train a memory system, check out Your First Connection.

Happy remembering!