To Improve, We Must Watch Ourselves Fail,

What Distinguishes A Great Mnemonist, I Learned, Is The Ability To Create Lavish Images On The Fly, To Paint In The Mind A Scene So Unlike Any Other It Cannot Be Forgotten. And To Do It Quickly. Many Competitive Mnemonists Argue That Their Skills Are Less A Feat Of Memory Than Of Creativity.

One Trick, Known As The Journey Method Or 'memory Palace,' Is To Conjure Up A Familiar Space In The Mind's Eye, And Then Populate It With Images Of Whatever It Is You Want To Remember.

Many Memory Techniques Involve Creating Unforgettable Imagery, In Your Minds Eye. Thats An Act Of Imagination. Creating Really Weird Imagery Really Quickly Was The Most Fun Part Of My Training To Compete In The U.s. Memory Competition.

I Have Never Been Particularly Good With Languages. Despite A Dozen Years Of Hebrew School And A Lifetime Of Praying In The Language, I'm Ashamed To Admit That I Still Can't Read An Israeli Newspaper. Besides English, The Only Language I Speak With Any Degree Of Fluency Is Spanish.

Back When I Lived In Brooklyn, I'd Sometimes Take The Q Train All The Way Out To Coney Island And Back, And Work On My Laptop. There's Something About Pushy New Yorkers Looking Over Your Shoulder That Really Makes You Produce Sentences.