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How to impress women by remembering their name

By John Graham

Want to know how to impress women (and men) and get them to like you more??

Remembering and calling them by their name is STEP #1.
(Most people SUCK at this. Don’t be like most people here.)

*Yes, I knew all of their names (Russian names) within a minute or two by following the steps below.*

Step #2 is demonstrating that you are unique and that you hold value (I’m not talking about money).

If you forgot, here’s HOW to Remember Names:

1) Focus on getting their name. Don’t let your mind wander by thinking about lunch. Be present with them.

2) Turn their name into an image. Based on what it reminds you of or sounds like. For example:

  • Elaine = car lane
  • Liz = Lizard
  • Victoria = victorious! (like she just won something)
  • Mark = marker
  • Ben =bending

3) Pick a feature on them that sticks out to you.

  • Curly hair, freckles, earrings, mustache, big nose…

4) Attach/link the image to the feature. Create a story.

  • If Elaine has curly hair = you’re driving a tiny car on a lane thru her curly hair and get tangled. Imagine her reaction to this.
  • It’s silly, but it will stick in your memory.

__________
My secret mission in Russia (part 2) was a success…as you can see in the picture 🙂

Here’s a link to watch my TV episode with these Russian ladies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-yM2wE3vEs&t=

I will share with you in a few weeks (hopefully sooner) what this was all about and give you an inside look at HOW I did what I did & how I really met all these women.

Stay tuned…

Do svidaniya!
(that’s “goodbye” in Russian)

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Then, enter your first name and email below!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: how to impress Russian women, how to remember names

How to Remember Faces

By John Graham

I get asked a lot:
“How do you remember FACES, not just names?”

First of all, if you think you are “face blind”, it’s probably something you’ve just told yourself over the years and you now fully believe it.

Stop telling yourself such stories.

You can recognize and remember people just fine.

Here’s How to Remember Faces

Step 1a: Feel their vibe

When you see someone for the first time, look at their face. 
How do you feel about them? What’s your gut reaction?

This should be something you don’t even think about. 

  • Do they seem angry?
  • Tough?
  • Arrogant?
  • Confident?
  • Sleezy?
  • Awesome?
  • Excited?

Trust your mind.
These are not facts about the person, these are your initial instincts and judgements.

Step 1b: Notice a distinct feature from their face

This forces you to look at them closer.

What ONE feature sticks out to you about them?

  • Blue eyes?
  • Big nose?
  • Curly hair?
  • Freckles?
  • Huge earrings?
  • Too much makeup?

Step 2: Create an image from their name.

What does their name sound like or make you think of?

Examples:

  • Terry = tearing their face
  • Tony = Tony the Tiger
  • Jerry = Cherry
  • Amelia = Amelia Earhart (pilot goggles)
  • Amanda = she’s “a man, duh!”

Step 3: Create a QUICK story about them. Imagine this story.

Here’s the formula:

  • Vibe or Feature + Name image = Story

(If you’re a more visual person, use their feature. If you’re more emotional/intuitive use their vibe…OR USE BOTH for a stronger story.)

It seems complex, but it’s not.

Again, trust what your mind creates here.
Even if it doesn’t make sense.
Weird = memorable.

EXAMPLES:

Brad
Vibe: Brad is a tough guy. Has an intense/strong face.
Name image: Brad = bread
Story: Imagine Brad’s face is a chunk of stale/tough bread. 

OliviaFeature: Olivia has long eyelashes with too much mascara. 
Name image: Olivia = olives
Story: Her long, pointy eyelashes have olives stuck on them. When she blinks they don’t fall out, the mascara is holding them on.

Going forward

Practice just the first part of this and notice people’s facial reactions and emotions. Notice their unique features.

Be more interested in people watching.

You are no longer “face blind.” 
You have the power to recognize and remember everyone you meet.

Do you want FREE mental performance & memory enhancement tips (from a USA Memory Champion…me!) sent to your email?

Then, enter your first name and email below!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: how can I remember faces, how do I remember faces, how do you remember faces, how to remember faces with names, how to remember peoples faces

My “Xtra Ordinary” TV performance in Indonesia

By John Graham

Last weekend, I was on the biggest TV station in Indonesia demonstrating my memory skills on a show called “Xtra Ordinary.” 

They challenged me to do 2 things:

1) Memorize EXACTLY where 50 people in the audience were sitting. Then, they blindfolded me and rearranged everyone…even adding in a few “strangers”. Then, I had to put everyone back in order AND identify the people who didn’t belong!

2) Memorize a 4-digit combination for 10 locks. On stage there were 10 lovely Indonesian models locked up in chains. I had to use my memory to unlock and set the ladies free.

One of the lovely female panelists asked me on air if I was single. The models wouldn’t leave me alone during rehearsal and backstage. 

I guess when you’re as amazing and good looking as me, it’s hard to resist! 😉

If you want to watch the clips here are the links:
Part 1 (50 faces): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nunaDzcxCOY&t=
Part 2 (10 ladies handcuffed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVQ2zXFM6pA

As a bonus, I was also on the largest morning show in Indonesia the next morning (after 3 hours of sleep).

I talk memory techniques and memorized 22 playing cards for them.
Here’s the link for that video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re30Whl_7Ow


 Work hard and have a vision for reaching your dreams.
You’ll be amazed at the opportunities that await…

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: RCTI memory, xtra ordinary indonesia, xtra ordinary Jakarta, xtra ordinary memory, xtra ordinary memory champion, xtra ordinary RCTI

Train Hard, Fight Easy

By John Graham

The military has a saying: “Train Hard, Fight Easy”

If you train in harder, faster, or more stressful conditions, your actual competition / performance / battle will be EASY.

If you are trying to improve any facet of your life…

  • Runner
  • Competitor
  • Athlete
  • Performer
  • Public Speaker

You can make your performance seem like a piece of cake.

Here’s how I did it:

When I competed in my first memory competition (the 2014 WORLD Memory Championship), I was a mess.

My heart rate must have been over 120 beats/min for the entire half hour of the first event. My nerves were shattered. I almost gave up and walked out a few times.

My training had always been in peaceful settings. I had never experienced stress like this.

A few years later, I started (what I call) “CHAOS training”.

In preparation for a memory competition, I would practice in DISCOMFORT (noise, heart rate up, stress).
Before or during my memorizing, I would do things like: 

  • Not do my mental warmups
  • Do 20 pushups 
  • Play a Youtube video of people talking loudly

The results:
In the next World Championship, I broke personal records in all the events.
In the next US Championship, I became the champion.

It was painfully obvious during the competition that all the CHAOS Training I had done was making this easy.

How can YOU apply this philosophy to improve?
 First of all, attack/challenge what gives you trouble when you perform or compete.
Is it a mental aspect? A physical aspect?
Make that part harder in your training

  • practice at a faster speed
  • practice with a shorter time limit
  • create/listen to more noise
  • get your heart rate up

More examples:
If you’re a runner, run in the heat or the rain.
Train by running 10k distances for your 5k event.

If you’re an aspiring public speaker, sign up for Toastmasters.
Speak in front of people you don’t know. Become a substitute teacher for a few days to get used to talking in front of groups.

Make your training HARD and I guarantee your battle will be EASIER.

Do you want FREE mental performance & memory enhancement tips (from a USA Memory Champion…me!) sent to your email?

Then, enter your first name and email below!


Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: chaos training, harder in training easy in war, how to train harder to perform better

Performing Under Pressure on Russian TV

By John Graham

Here’s a link to the trailer for the Russian SEASON FINALE I’ll be on: https://www.instagram.com/p/BpWh3_fAsh2/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

It airs this Sunday in Russia.

How do I get better at performing under pressure?
I’ve been on several TV shows:
FOX Superhuman
Xtra Ordinary (Indonesia)
Now, Incredible People (Russia)

Each time, I was asked to memorize superhuman amounts of information in a short amount of time. Things 99.999% of people in this world currently can’t do.

It’s always “do or die”. I get one chance…no retakes. Make 1 mistake and I look like a fool in front of thousands…or even millions of people.

No pressure, right!?

This is how I do it AND how I know I can do it…

Before I walk out on stage, I’m usually nervous. But I’m always excited because I know I have the ability.

Nerves show you care and that you are human. Everyone gets butterflies before performing. They become less of a factor the more “stage” experience you have.

In that moment, if you haven’t put in the time to train (and don’t know your limitations) you will regret not putting in the practice…and you’ll be thinking about failure.

I have trained virtually every day for the last 2.5 years, so I know exactly what I can do and what I can’t (yet) do. This is key.

So when a TV show asks me to be on, I can tell them what is possible for me and what isn’t. Once I know the specific challenge, I play out all the scenarios and start training HARDER or FASTER than I will on TV.

Remember, you should try to make training harder and more stressful than the actual event. That way the event seems easier.

Even though I know I can do it on TV, there is always risk of losing focus and making just ONE mistake. That actually happened to me during rehearsal for this upcoming show I’m on. I lost focus, tried rushing through the information and said the WRONG thing. It was embarrassing…

BUT, it was the best mistake I ever made. It was just rehearsal, so it didn’t matter…and it made me focus that much more for the actual show.

I knew I could fail on TV. But what good does that thinking do? What good would it do if I stayed at home, afraid to TRY?

For me, there is no risk. I grow as a person every time I experience something BIG like a TV performance. The emotion and energy are unexplainable.

I still feel imposter syndrome from time to time. But I remind myself every day how amazing I am and how much work I’ve put in.

I am confident and comfortable with what I can do. 
YOU should be too.

So how do you perform under pressure and succeed?

Put in the work, train stressfully, visualize yourself succeeding. When you’re prepared, you will know…and you won’t be thinking of how you will fail, but instead how you will succeed.

Do you want FREE mental performance & memory enhancement tips (from a USA Memory Champion…me!) sent to your email?

Then, enter your first name and email below!


Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: amazing people russia, how to perform on TV, how to perform under pressure, incredible people russia

Chaos Training

By John Graham

The qualifying event for the USA Memory Championship is approaching (March 17th in Pennsylvania). I’ve been busy “Chaos” training every day.

I have a personal method that use to train for big events like this. I call it CHAOS Training.

When I competed in my first memory championship in 2014, I almost gave up at certain events because I felt so much anxiety and pressure (mental and physical). 

My heart wouldn’t stop racing. My mind wouldn’t calm down.
My scores were at least 30% worse than when I practiced at home. The pressure got to me.

A lot of competitors said to expect scores that were 20% lower than what I was used to. 

I didn’t like that.

I wanted the pressure to have 0% effect on me.

So, I came up with CHAOS Training.
I’ve used it to train for every competition (and TV appearance) since.
“Train Hard, Fight Easy”
-Alexander Suvorov

CHAOS Training just means I put myself in stressful conditions when I train.

I do things like:

  • Do 25 pushups, right before memorizing
  • Play music or distracting noises on Youtube
  • Train outside or in a public place with distractions around me
  • Run in place while memorizing

This forces me to train with my heart rate up and put intense focus on what I’m doing.

Last December, I set a USA record. I credit that success to always doing 25 pushups right before training. During the competition, my increased heart rate didn’t bother me. I was already used to it.

Do things behind the scenes that disrupt your comfort zone and cause you to make mistakes. 

When it actually counts, people will ask you how you make it look so easy.

Train hard, fight easy…

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Filed Under: Blog

My AGT Audition

By John Graham

I just got back from Las Vegas, where I auditioned for America’s Got Talent.

It was an open audition, so it was just in front of a producer, not the TV judges (yet).

They told us ahead of time that we only had 90 seconds. For my act, I asked the producer to give me a random 20 digit number, I memorized it, then said it back to him. I feel good about my performance.

I won’t know for a few months if I’m moving on to a TV audition. It’s a long shot, but fingers crossed…

Here are some things I noticed about the other people auditioning:

1) Nobody, stood out…except me.

I auditioned with 20 other hopefuls, so I got to see them perform too.

Everyone else either sang or danced. Not that that’s bad, but you have to be extraordinary to stand out above thousands of other musicians and dancers. In my opinion, most of them were pretty good…but nobody was special.

I stood out, because my act was different. I memorized a big number within seconds. Most people had never seen that before…and I heard a lot of “Wows” after I did it.

Do something fresh and different to stand out.

2. Many weren’t prepared.

   A) A lot of them rambled.

The producer asked everyone to quickly introduce themselves before their 90 seconds to perform.

“Hi…I’m Jane Smith…I’m originally from Texas, but I moved to Los Angeles 3 years ago. I started babysitting, but now I’m a bartender. I started singing when I was……”

Blah blah blah…

The producer’s body language said it all. It was bad.

I simply said “I’m John Graham, the Memory Man, from Salt Lake City.” Bam! Short, memorable, and everyone understood it.

   B) I couldn’t hear half of them because they were so quiet/timid.

I get it. Everyone is nervous (I was too). But this is your ONE chance to show how good you are. Stand up straight, project your voice, and at least try to show some confidence.

   C) A lot of them went over the 90 seconds and the producer had to cut them off. 

To me, that shows they didn’t practice their act to fit in 90 seconds. That’s a bad look.

Why would they pick you for TV if you can’t show that you’re prepared?

I practiced my act over 25 times. I recorded it, I timed it, I tweaked it. When it came time for my audition, I knew exactly what to do and how long it would take.

——

The next time you’re competing for a job or auditioning for a role, prepare yourself. It’s really easy to stand above the crowd when you polish your pitch, your resume, and yourself.

The world is looking for people to stand out. Don’t be average.

Do you want FREE mental performance & memory enhancement tips (from a USA Memory Champion…me!) sent to your email?

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: AGT audition tips, AGT first audition tips, americas got talent audition tips, americas got talent first audition tips, memory man AGT

My 2017 IAM World Memory Championship Results

By John Graham

I’m a bit jet-lagged, but the trip was worth it.

I set a US Record at the 2017 IAM World Memory Championship (WMC) in Jakarta, Indonesia this past week.

The WMC is a 3 day marathon of 10 different memory events (memorizing cards, numbers, binary numbers, names/faces, images, words, dates).

In the Random Images event, you have 5 minutes to memorize as many rows of 5 images as you can…and remember their order 1-5.

5 min Random Images
I remembered 318 images in order, which set a US Record and gave me the bronze metal in the world event.

I had memorized 390 images, which is more than the world record, but forgot a handful of them during recall. Still, really happy about this.

I was also awarded the title of “International Grandmaster of Memory.”

Team USA finished in 2nd Place! 
I finished in 23rd place overall.

Some highlights, I memorized:
-12 shuffled decks of cards in 1 hour
-1318 digit number in 1 hour
-1 deck of cards in 65 seconds
-192 digit number in 5 minutes
-85 international names and faces in 15 minutes———
3 years ago, I would have said these feats were impossible, especially for a guy like me.

I’m no genius. We all have the power to improve our minds beyond imagination.

I consistently train and improve by 1% every day. That’s all it takes to see astronomical improvements in a year or two.

Find a skill you love and improve by 1% every day.

Do you want FREE mental performance & memory enhancement tips (from a USA Memory Champion…me!) sent to your email?

Then, enter your first name and email below!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 2017 IAM, IAM WMC, IAM World Memory Championship, Indonesia IAM, Jakarta IAM

4 Secrets to My Success

By John Graham

A top performer is among the best in the world at their craft (Olympians, speakers, chefs, scientists, dog walkers, bricklayers…).

I’m currently the 4th best memory athlete in the US (but I don’t consider myself a top performer…yet). Here are 4 specific secrets to my success that I’ve done to become successful:

1) Do a little bit EVERY day

I used to imagine being successful. I would read stories and listen to podcasts about top performers (Tim Ferriss, Lewis Howes, and Noah Kagan are my favorite podcasters).

But, I never DID anything about it. It was all just in my head.

It wasn’t until I started practicing at least 15-30 minutes (sometimes 5+ hours) every single day that I began to leap ahead.

You cannot be good at anything without consistent action.  But, if you do something everyday for a month it will become a habit (and it gets a lot easier at that point).

Do not rely on motivation. It’s unpredictable and unsustainable. You won’t feel like doing it every day, but you must do it anyways. 

2) Measure your results

“What gets measured gets managed.”

Always keep detailed notes of your progress/training in any area that you want to improve (workouts, piano lessons, learning foreign languages, golf…).

Write down numbers (reps, times, distances, totals…) if you can.

I always log my results in a Google spreadsheet.

  • how many things I memorized
  • the errors I had
  • how fast I did it
  • what went wrong
  • what I can do differently next time
  • how I felt during the the session
  • what happened

When you track results, you will notice patterns and receive insights that you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

3) Become comfortable with what’s uncomfortable

Climbing to the top of any field will cause frustration. The frustration comes from pushing beyond your comfort. But this is necessary.

Be honest with yourself…what aspect(s) do you need to work on? What are your current weaknesses? Get comfortable working on the uncomfortable.

When I’m training to improve in memory events, I practice with a metronome that paces me at a speed 10-20% faster than my comfort zone. 

At first it’s frustrating to fail at that speed. But soon enough, that 10-20% increase becomes my new normal speed. 

4) You need help

I’m pretty stubborn (and shy). I thought I could do it all on my own. But I found myself going in circles.

I talked with best memory athletes in the world and they openly shared their secrets. All I did was ask!

All top performers have mentors…another one of the secrets to success. Mentors can be found through experts, books, classes. 

Reach out to someone who is better than you. They can guide you around the pits and walls…they have been there and done that.

Why would you try on your own when the blueprint is out there already?

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: mental athlete success, success secrets, top performer success secrets

2018 USA Memory Championship Recap

By John Graham

Quick Backstory before the 2018 USA Memory Championship

When I read the book “Moonwalking with Einstein” in 2014, I had no idea it would impact my life this much. I am no savant and definitely do not have a photographic memory. My memory journey started as an interest 4 years ago. I practiced simple memory techniques for a few months before competing in the 2014 World Memory Championship in China. I didn’t know what I was doing, made tons of mistakes, but met some of the best trained memories in the world. This led me to compete in the 2015 USA Memory Championship where I finished in 6th place. That was the moment where I foresaw my potential.

I’ve since been on the FOX TV show “Superhuman” (watch here) and on Indonesia’s biggest TV station in front of 20 million people (watch here). I also earned a bronze medal and US Record in the 5 minute Random Images event at the 2017 World Championships.

Friday the 13th Omen

The night before the championship, my fiancé Nicki and I were eating outside at a taco restaurant. I was blowing my nose when something hit my hand. I thought it was a rogue booger. I looked down to see bird poop. A little sparrow had been sitting on a light string right above me.

I told Nicki this was a good omen…that when the universe gives you something bad, it has to balance out and give you a positive.

Saturday, July 14, 2018 – The 20th USA Memory Championship

MIT’s Kresge Auditorium – Cambridge, MA
13 Mental Athletes (MAs) who qualified in Harrisburg, PA in March would compete.

Qualifying scores from March 2018.

I walked into Kresge Auditorium and sat down with fellow competitors Nelson Dellis (4-time champion), Ron White (2-time champion), Kyle Matschke, Tracy Miller, and Matthew Wilson.

I said “Ron, you look tired.”
He laughed, “No man! You’re just trying to get in my head. But John, you look horrible. I think you need to go to the hospital.”
I joked with him throughout the day, “Ron, did you get a nap in yet?”
I also told them about the bird poop omen and Ron one-upped me “I got hit by a car this morning.”

The Championship Format

13 competitors. 4 events. 1 champion.
In each event, 2-4 competitors would be eliminated until one remained.
The events: Words to Remember, Tea Party, Long Term Memory (new), and Double Deck of Cards.

L to R (in order of ranking): Nelson, me, Ron, Avi Chavda, Claire Wang, Tracy, Kyle, Matthew, Grace Smith, Tuan Bui, Tamanna Sarowar, Alice Zhu, & Martin Schneider.

Words to Remember

In this event, we’re given a list of 300 words and have 15 minutes to memorize as many as we can, in order. Then we go on stage and take turns saying the next correct word.

If you say a word wrong or forget it, you get a strike. 2 strikes and you’re out. 3 mental athletes would be eliminated.

In past championships, you were eliminated if you made only 1 mistake. This year, they changed it to 2 strikes, making it more forgiving.

The words were slightly harder than I expected. Words like “desire” and “intuition” come to mind since they’re harder to visualize or “see” in a story.

I don’t think this event has ever gotten past 100 correct words before it ended, so I chose to memorize 140 and review them a lot to be safe.

On stage, I chose to sit in the last chair so I said last (I was ranked 2nd and got to choose my seat 2nd). Nelson was the #1 seed and had chosen the 2nd seat which surprised me.

Very early on, I noticed that Nelson passed on a word and received a strike. I didn’t think much of it.

A couple rounds later, I heard someone on the other end say the wrong word and get eliminated. When I looked up, I saw that it was Nelson. I was COMPLETELY SHOCKED. Nelson is one of the best in the world at memorizing words.

I’ve looked up to Nelson for a long time. He’s been the face of USA Memory for years and is a 4-time champ…a force to be reckoned with. As a friend, I was devastated for him. I had wanted to face off with him in the final event to prove that I could hang with the best…but that wouldn’t happen today. He was out.

The final competitor was eliminated around the 68th word. I said all my words correctly. 0 strikes. On to the next round.

Tea Party

In this event, 4 “tea party guests” enter the stage 1 at a time. They each say 17 facts (see pic below) about themselves like their birthday, where they work, etc. Then, they come back on stage 1 at a time and we have to answer 1 question about them when it’s our turn. 3 strikes and you’re out. 3 mental athletes would be eliminated.

All the facts we had to memorize for just 1 tea party guest. There were 4 guests total.

In the past, this event had become too easy. Guests shared fewer facts and MAs were given 15 minutes to review the information…which was a lot of time.

This year there were more facts, and we only 5 minutes to review. Plus, the morning of the competition, I learned that we would have to first memorize by only hearing the information. Not by reading it on paper like in the past.

I had asked about this twice before the competition to verify we could read the information on the screen, but they changed it in the end. I knew this would be difficult.

On stage, I kept my head down to focus on each guest’s voice, trying to store the facts they were giving us. But they all TALKED SO FAST. They had been told to talk slow and clearly, but they didn’t. One guy even said his zip code wrong and had to correct it…after I had already memorized it.

Each guest came back up to quickly say their info one more time. This time their facts were projected on screen for us to read.

Finally, we had 5 minutes to review all the info on paper. This is when I noticed that the woman who said her anniversary was 12/31/1994, had it written down as 12/31/1999. Another fact I had to quickly re-memorize. Not something you want to see when you’re already flustered.

Now it was time to see what we remembered.

They randomly chose the fourth guest (from the above picture) to quiz us on first. I found out later, that everyone thought he was the most difficult to remember…including myself. Great!

I sweated this event out. I didn’t feel like I remembered everything as solidly as I normally do in training.

I answered my first 2 questions correctly, but missed my 3rd question – “What are his 3 favorite foods?” I remembered he liked green chiles and korean tacos, but in the moment forgot avocado toast! Damn you avocado toast! Strike 1 for me.

Luckily though, almost everyone else was struggling. Tracy and Ron were knocked out. Before I got asked my 4th question, Matthew was the last one eliminated. Tuan Bui, a high school student, was super impressive and the only one without a strike. It was a quick event. I survived and that’s all that mattered.

Long Term Memory

This was a brand new event this year.

Exactly 1 month before the competition, all the MAs received a spreadsheet with the following information:

  • The Periodic Table (all 118 elements and their symbols, atomic numbers, atomic masses, boiling points in Kelvin, state at 20 degrees Celcius, year discovered, and discoverers)
  • The Pro Football Hall of Fame (all players inducted, year inducted, position they played, years they played)
  • The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (all inductees, year inducted, a song they’re known for, who inducted them)
  • The Academy Awards (all best pictures, best actresses, best actors – by year)

We had only 1 month to memorize ALL of this. THOUSANDS of pieces of information (numbers, names, etc). This was my life for an entire month. It was wicked.

On stage, we would be asked random questions about this information. Each round the questions would get more complex, until 4 people were eliminated. 2 strikes and you’re out.

Oddly enough, I was the most confident in this event. I fully believed that I knew this information better than all of the other MAs.

I answered questions like:
Who won Best Picture and Best Actress in 1980?
Answer: Ordinary People, Sissy Spacek

What element has an atomic mass of 4, what is it’s boiling point, and who discovered it?
Answer: Helium, 4 K, Ramsey, Cleves, & Langlet.

I knew my stuff and didn’t miss anything. I was also impressed with the other MAs. Grace Smith, a high school student, did extremely well even though she was eventually eliminated. Martin Schneider, a new competitor and MIT student, Tuan, and Kyle were also eliminated.

I was on to the final round along with Avi Chavda, a physician and impressive first-time competitor, and Claire Wang, a rising 13-year-old phenom from Los Angeles who was featured on a TV show called “Child Genius”. I knew before today that Claire would make the final event. If she keeps training she’ll win this one day.

Final Round: Double Deck of Cards

In this event, 2 decks of cards are shuffled together. We have 5 minutes to memorize all 104 cards in order. After that, the three of us take turns saying the next correct card. If you make ONE mistake, you’re out. Last MA left is the new champion.

On stage, I put my Sox hat on and pushed the bill down to block out the audience as I memorized. I had practiced this event countless times, but never in front of hundreds of people.

During the 5-minute memorization, I looked over all the cards a few times and felt that I knew them all in order.

I picked up my mic and stayed in my zone by looking straight down at the floor.

Claire was asked what the first card was, “10 of hearts.” Here we go…

I paused each time it was my turn to make sure I said my cards correctly. If I slipped and said “10 of clubs” when I meant to say “10 of spades,” it would cost me everything I had worked so hard for.

Early on, Claire made a mistake and said the wrong card. She was out.

As Avi and I took turns saying cards, I walked through my hometown movie theater in my mind’s eye, seeing the card images that I had stored there during memorization. They were all strong and vivid. I knew I had this, as long as I stayed calm and focused.

After seeing a Nissan Element drive over navy beans and crash into a sycamore tree (this was my imagery to remember the sequence: 10 of spades, 2 of clubs, 8 of spades, 9 of clubs, 7 of diamonds, 3 of diamonds), I said the next correct card “King of Hearts.” That’s when Avi paused on the 62nd card.

Did he forget it?

I waiting to see if he’d say “Ace of Spades” (the next correct card), but he said something else. I don’t even remember what he said. I just knew that I had won.

I looked up for the first time to see the cheering crowd and congratulate Avi on his incredible first-time performance.

I was the 2018 USA Memory Championship!

I had envisioned this moment so many times that I couldn’t tell if it was real this time. I was beside myself.

I grabbed a mic and successfully recited the remaining cards in order.

Chester Santos, a former champion and sponsor of this championship, awarded me with a $2,000 prize and I was given the beautiful seahorse trophy.

What’s Next

Daily training, vision, hard work, and belief in myself have worked wonders for me. I plan to keep improving every day.

I’ll start to shift more of my focus into my new memory business/website while still training for the next competitions (possibly 2018 World Championship in Vienna, Austria and the 2019 USA Memory Championship).

Alex Mullen, Nelson Dellis, Ron White, Claire Wang and everyone who competed this year – I hope to see you at the championship next year.


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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 2018 usa memory championship, usa memory champion, usa memory championship events, usa memory championship MIT

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Hi, I'm John Graham.

2018 USA Memory Champion and Speaker.

I don't have a photographic memory. I learned how to train my mind.

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