John’s Blog

I took 2 years of Spanish in high school, but forgot 95% of it.

BUT, since I’ve discovered memory techniques, I’ve learned phrases in 9 different languages during my world travels.

Heres how I LEARN and RETAIN Foreign Languages:

Step 1:
Create a mental IMAGE that sounds like the word or phrase you want to learn.

Spanish (English) examples:

• Piscina (swimming pool) = “piss in a”
• Aquí (here) = a key
• Cuál (which) = koala bear

Step 2:
Create a mental IMAGE for the word/phrase in your native tongue.

• Swimming pool (piscina) = a swimming pool
• Here (aquí) = “where you’re standing”
• Which (cuál) = a witch 

Step 3:
LINK Create a STORY by linking the two images together.
Imagine it as you pronounce the word.

• Piscina = pissing in a pool

• Aquí = a key is “right here”
• Cuál = koala bear witch 

Trust the weird imagery your mind creates. It doesn’t have to “make sense” for your mind to remember it.
WEIRD = MEMORABLE

Important:
Review by “seeing” the story you created (do this a few times) and the connection will stick. Then, move on to the next word/phrase. You will retain these words/phrases for a long time.

NOW…

My wife and I are “planning” on going to Peru in December, so we’re trying to learn “conversational” Spanish.

This is how we’re attempting it.

Disclaimer: My wife and I have already taken beginner Spanish classes, so we have a foundation. If you are brand spankin’ new to Spanish, you should take a beginner course first before trying something like this.

First, I found the 1,000 most common Spanish words (which make up 80%+ of the usable language).

We’ll be learning 20 words a day with Anki flashcards.

It’ll take 2 months to learn all 1,000.

Second, using Tim Ferriss’ advice, I’ll be learning sentence structure (subject-verb) from these 13 basic sentences.

Understanding 13 sentence structures, I’ll be able to substitute any words/verbs to communicate everything I need.

Third, my wife is learning too, so we made a fun rule:

• From 6-7pm every night, we are only allowed to speak to each other in Spanish. It’ll definitely be awkward at first.

Do you know a 2nd language?
Let me know what helped you learn it faster.

Read how I learned Vietnamese here: https://memoryjohn.com/how-im-learning-vietnamese-with-memory-techniques-part-1-of-2/

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On stage in front of hundreds of people, my mind kept thinking “If you make a mistake now, you loose. Stay FOCUSED and you will WIN!” 

My heart raced 120+ beats a minute. I believed I would win….and I did.

The above is not what happened when I won the 2018 USA Memory Championship. The above is what I visualized well over a hundred times leading up to the championship.

During training, in the shower, before bed…I would imagine winning. What would it feel like? What would it look like through my eyes? What would be going through my mind before and during winning?

A lot of reporters have asked me: “How did it feel to win?”
My answer surprises me still. But it’s the truth. It’s a lesson on how to win.

My answer:
“When I actually won, it felt exactly like I had visualized hundreds of times before. I believed I was going to win. I poured emotion, nerves, and excitement into my vision of winning. When it ACTUALLY happened, I didn’t know if it was real or not.”

If you want to win or succeed in anything, you have to first believe you can do it. Even if only 1% of you believes and 99% of you doesn’t. Start there and tomorrow get to 2% belief, then 5%, then 20%….

You have to feel it, “see” it, imagine it. This primes your subconscious and gets your entire being to believe. 

Combine belief with ACTION and you have a winning recipe.

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Going from nerd/introverted to confident will not happen overnight. This will take months…but more likely years.

Here’s what helped me:

Posture and EYE CONTACT
Most of my life I walked with my head down…looking at the ground. THAT IS WEAK.

First of all, look at the horizon when you walk. Keep your shoulders and head upright, as if a string was attached to the top of your head and pulling you up straight.

I also used to stare off into space and avoid looking at people when I talked to them. THAT IS WEAK.

This took me years (and I’m still working on it), but you need to look people in the eyes when you talk to them. Look into their soul.

This is extremely hard if you’re a shy person.

So much emotion and energy pulses through me when I look someone in the eye. I can feel their vibe, mood, and emotion within seconds. They can feel it too.

It’s sooo powerful.

Lift Weights
I tried shortcuts to this for years. Tried doing P90X or pushups at home, but I never sustained it.

I got a gym membership this year and it’s the best purchase I’ve EVER made.

DO NOT tell me you don’t have time. I told myself that for years (I was lying to myself to justify being lazy).

Everyone needs a gym membership. Usually about $20 a month. Hire a trainer for 1 month to learn proper form (so you don’t hurt yourself) and to learn a routine. Then go it alone or with a friend.

Go once or twice a week and build up to 3-4x a week.

Lift weights to strengthen your body (don’t just run on a treadmill). Otherwise gravity will beat down on you and your weak body for the rest of your life and you’ll end up with a host of health problems when you get old (arthritis, back pain, poor posture, you name it…).

TRY to disagree
I used to agree with everything people said. I wanted to fit in and wanted people to like me. Actually, I was afraid to have people NOT like me.

Think about the people you respect the most.
You respect them because they’re honest. Because they have opinions and don’t back down from them.

Next time you’re in a conversation, purposefully disagree with someone about any topic…food, Netflix shows, clothing choices. They might test you on it, but ultimately will appreciate you more.

Lastly, DO NOT APOLOGIZE for disagreeing. Stand your ground and people will respect you even more.

See you on the way up!

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I read 2 articles recently about how the BEST in the world are experts at knowing when to REST.

They talked about LeBron James and Roger Federer, specifically.

It’s impossible for anyone to give 110% of their mental or physical energy for long periods of time.

In order to perform better that everyone else (even at the TOP), you need to know how and when to conserve energy.

LeBron knows when to walk up and down the court to save his energy for a dominant 4th quarter…when everyone else is gassed.

Federer puts in 120% during his SHORT practice sessions. He practices less and competes in fewer tennis tournaments than other tennis pros.

Everything they do is deliberate.

Think about that. You shouldn’t train/practice/work nonstop for 8 hours a day. It does you no good. 

Instead, work/train/practice in INTENSE bursts…where you have complete focus and no distractions.

Make sure everything you do in that BURST is deliberate and has a purpose. 

Then REST. Take a break and walk away. Look at your phone or go for a walk. 

Google the “pomodoro technique” if you’re really interested in this.

You will rejuvenate and sustain your energy much longer.

How I take breaks

30 minutes on, 5 minutes off.

That’s generally how I work and train.

Taking breaks is crucial for memory retention and sustaining your mental energy.

For breaks, I recommend doing something mindless to shut your problem solving brain off.

Walks are fantastic. Check your phone, whatever.

Walking and showering are my secret weapons when it comes to solving problems, gaining insight, and leveling up my memory and business.

During breaks…I shut off my mind, but my brain synthesizes everything I’ve been working on. Then, it spits out a stream of thoughts.

This stream of thoughts offers new angles and ideas that I use to improve. 

I think we all have this “voice” or stream of consciousness that tries to speak to us. 

Next time you’re working hard on something, take a break. Let everything marinate in your mind as you go for a walk.

Don’t try to think about what you’ve been doing. Enjoy the weather, think about something completely different.

Learn how to listen to this “voice” when it comes through. Don’t filter or judge it as if flows through you. Write down the ideas and thoughts that come.If you’re having trouble with this, it’s because it’s a paradox:
The more you think about it, the quieter this voice will be.

Try to “let go” and allow the stream to come.

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There are 4 truths I rely on when I want to get really good at something (new).

Seek out an expert
You can seek out an expert without actually talking to one. Here’s how: BOOKS, PODCASTS, BLOGS, YOUTUBE VIDEOS, ONLINE COURSES. Or you can actually find one and talk to them 🙂

Learning from an expert will help you jump over most of the hurdles you would have to jump if you were learning on your own.

Model someone’s success
Pattern your learning after someone who is successful. What does the expert recommend? How did they do it? Use the techniques, strategies that they use.

This seems obvious, but most people say “I’ll figure it out (on my own).” Don’t be that person.

Read a little bit, then DO something
The worst thing you can do is read, read, read…plan, plan, plan…but never actually take your first steps.

Some things are scary to jump into, but you need to jump in and try. You need to look like a beginner, FAIL even.

Everyone who has ever done what you want to do has stumbled and embarrassed themselves. Accept this and TRY DOING IT.

Feedback loop
Get feedback on your performance.
What are you making mistakes in? How can you correct them?

If you don’t learn and correct these mistakes, you will improve slowly or not at all.

Analyze yourself (WITH HONEST EYES). Don’t lie to yourself. Trust what your gut is telling you.

How will you fix this problem next time? It may not work, but you need to try something new or you’re doomed to repeat the same mistake. 

What’s holding you back?

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Have you every played the Memory Matching game?

You know, the one where you have to turn over tiles and try to match the images. Like this…

These are the rules:

1. Mix up the cards.
2. Lay them in rows, face down.
3. Turn over any two cards.
4. If the two cards match, keep them…and go again.
5. If they don’t match, turn them back over. Now it’s another player’s turn.
6. Remember what was on each card and where it was.
7. Watch and remember during the other player’s turn.
8. The game is over when all the cards have been matched.
9. Whoever has the most matched pairs, wins!

Today, I help you master this game. 
I’ve been waiting for this question for a while now…

Reader Question
My daughter is beating me on Memory Game (where you turn around cards and have to find identical pairs).
Any suggestion to help me recover my dignity? 

My Answer
Obviously, the more tiles you play with, the harder it is to remember all the tiles you turn over. Also, if you play multiple games back-to-back, that can get tricky for your memory too. Since previous games (and the image/tile locations) will all mix and blend together.

I have 4 tips that will help you win this game:

1) Mental Imagery, Actions, and Stories
In the picture, you can see ducks on the cards.
If you turn a duck tile in the top left corner, create an image and action to remember that that card is a duck.

Example: Imagine a duck walks up to that tile in the corner and starts pulling it away. 

Other examples:
If the tile is a tire image, imagine a tire burning rubber on top of that tile.
If a tile is a balloon image, imagine that tile floating away.

Of course, tiles that are on the corners and edges will be easier to remember than ones in the middle of a large grid.
To remember ones in the middle just create a simple story to remember the exact location.

For example: a ball image that is located 4 tiles down and 3 tiles across. Tell yourself a quick story, like: “the ball was thrown 43 yards”. 4 down + 3 across = 43.

2) Speed of Play
Making images and stories quickly takes some practice. Imagining ducks and balls being thrown 43 yards is slow at first, but you will get the hang of it…especially the more you play your game. You’ll learn all tile images really quickly.

So…

Until you’re proficient, play slower.

Flip over a tile and stall a bit as you make the image/story.
Pretend you’re really trying to think hard about the next tile you’re turning over…to buy some more time.

3) Strategy
MOST people who play this game will try to get lucky and take a guess on their 2nd flip.

I think this is sometimes a mistake.

Let’s say 1/3 to 1/2 of the tiles have been turned over. (That is plenty of information to play with!)

Flip over a new card for your first flip. If you know where the match is, flip the match over.
BUT, if your first flip reveals an entirely new card, DON’T guess on your second flip. Instead, flip over a card that has already been shown.

The reason you shouldn’t guess at this point in the game is because a) chances are you won’t get lucky b) the card you flip over 2nd will give your opponent new information that might lead to them getting an easy match.

Let your opponent guess and reveal new cards to you.

4) Sit in new spot
If you play multiple rounds of this game, the images and stories will start to blur together.
The best tip I have to combat this is to sit at a different angle each new round.
Example: Sit on the right side the first round, then sit to the left, then sit below…for each new game.
This will help you connect your stories to your specific vantage point for each new game.

Be sure to use these 4 tips to beat your daughter for a couple of games, then be a good sport and teach her what you’re doing too 🙂

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