This document provides tips and strategies for developing a world-class memory in order to compete in the South African Schools Memory Championships. It discusses developing techniques like creating vivid mental images and journeys to store information. The training schedule recommends practicing recognizing cards and numbers daily while also doing full practice tests. Top memory competitors are said to have strong motivation, use effective tools and strategies, apply discipline daily, and continually reflect and improve. Developing the ability to quickly recognize images and link them together is seen as key to excelling in the memory competitions.
1. How to be the next South African Schools
Memory Champion
Every tool, strategy and tactic you need to
know to perform at your best in the 2013
South African Schools Memory
Championships
2. Table of Contents
1) Personal Introduction by Daren Denholm
2) What you need to do to become South Africa’s next memory champion
3) How to develop a near perfect memory
4) 4 Events: An explanation of what you will be tested on and how
5) How to excel in each of the 4 events
6) What your training schedule should like like over the next 4 - 8 weeks
7) Secret strategies to fast track your learning process
8) Final comments
Expanded Table of Contents
1) Personal Introduction by Daren Denholm
2) What you need to do to become South Africa’s next memory champion: 3
Powerful stories to inspire, encourage and equip you:
- Adithi Naidoo: 3rd best memory in the world in just 7.5 weeks. (Junior
devision)
- Haashish Rao: Indian National Memory Champion in 12 weeks.
- Sphe: World Student Record broken after 5 weeks of training. ( 134
numbers in 15 minutes)
3) How to develop a near perfect memory
- Overview
- How to maximize the use of your brain for perfect recall
- How to increase your absorption of information by 50% + in each learning
session
- Novelty enhancing and sensory stimulation techniques
- Journeys, journeys and more journeys
- The best revision strategy to adopt to help with perfect recall
4) 4 Events: An explanation of what you will be tested on and how
- 15 min numbers
- 15 min words
- 15 min cards
- 5 min history and dates
- Where to print out past papers with answers to practice on
3. 5) How to excel in each of the 4 events
- Entry level/ Advanced
- 15 min numbers
- 15 min words
- 15 min cards
- 5 min history and dates
6) What your training schedule should like like over the next 4 - 8 weeks
- What you should be doing each study session (30 mins, once or twice a
day)
- What you should be doing at the end of each day. (15 mins)
- What you should be doing at the end of each week. (30 mins)
7) 8 powerful secret strategies to fast track your learning process (You should
be using these secrets to achieve maximum leverage in your training
schedule)
8) Final NB thoughts and details:
- Extra support
- How to enter the South African Schools Memory Championships
- Common questions and answers
- Final comments
4. 1) Personal Introduction by Daren Denholm
Dear Friend
This document shares with you some of the most powerful strategies that
helped me move from literally failing at University to being the highest ranked
competitor from Africa and the S.H at the WMC from 2006 - 2011.
When I competed in my first World Memory Champs in 2006, I studied
between 5 and 8 hours a day, months before the competition. At the
competition I realized that all of the top competitors only studied for 30 - 60
mins max per day and were achieving much greater results in a fraction of
the time.
Over the past 8 years, I have made it my mission to study what the best
competitors at international memory competitions do in their training to
achieve maximum leverage with the least amount of effort.
You need to work hard, what I am going to teach you how to do is make sure
that your effort is as intelligent as humanly possible.
Your brain is far more powerful than you could ever imagine.
Enjoy learning from this document + videos and all the best with
implementing this knowledge.
To know and not do is the same as not to know.
Stay hungry and stay focused. I look forward to introducing you to this
incredibly exciting world that has the potential to change your life in a way in
which it changed mine.
To your success,
Daren
5. 2) What is the BEST way to develop a world class
memory and beat your competition at the up and
coming South African Schools Memory
Championships?
The BEST way is to have a big enough reason or goal that is
worth fighting for, that is exciting and wild enough to beat
any temptation to get distracted...
The BEST way is to be more prepared than the other
competitors...
The BEST way is to work 100 times smarter than everyone
else, leveraging everything in your power so that you can lead
the pack...
The BEST way is to ensure that you make each day a
masterpiece of what you want your life to be like in the
future, and then fight to make this a reality...
The BEST way is to find a healthy balance between work,
love and play so that you have the energy to turn your work
into art...
The BEST way is to create magic by putting your heart into
your work...
FINAL ANSWER: There is no single best way. The big secret is
to combine ALL OF THESE!
6. In 2012 I shared what I had learnt with
Siphesihle Shabane from Ashton College,
Ballito. After just 5 weeks of implementing what
he had learnt, Sphe went on to break a world
student record by remembering a 134 digit
number in just 15 mins.
In 2009 Aashish sat behind me at the World
Memory Championships in London. He had
been training for a minimum of 5 hours a day
for many months before the competition. I
noticed that the strategies that he was using
were extremely outdated. I decided to share
with him what the best competitors in the world
did for each of the 10 events of the competition.
He applied what he learnt and just a few
months later won the national Indian
championships, light years ahead of 2nd place
against over 100 of India’s top memorizers.
Story 1: Adithi Naidoo. 3rd best memory in the world after 7 weeks of
training. (Junior devision)
Story 2: Aashish Rao: Indian National Memory Champion at age 15 after
working smarter, not harder.
Story 3: Siphesihle Shabane. World Student record after 5 weeks of
training.
I spent 4 hours with Adithi in 2007 and
“downloaded” many of the best strategies I
had learnt from competing against the best
memory competitors from around the world.
I told her that all she needed to do was put
in at least 30 - 60 mins of training in, 5
times a week and she would excel. 7 weeks
later she competed at the World Memory
Champs in Bahrain in the Middle East and
won the bronze medal in the Junior
Devision.
7. What are the 4 major components that contributed to Adithi, Aashish
and Sphe’s major success?
They, as well as all top memory competitors have 4 things in common.
1) They create REASON/ DESIRE beyond the norm which helps them stay
focused when times get tough.
2) They use the best TOOLS which enables their hard work to be rewarded
with the maximum results.
3) They apply DISCIPLINE to their lives and make sure that each day is a
reflection of where they want to end up. AKA: A day does not pass without
filling it with productive study time. And
4) They REFLECT AND GET BETTER. Learning without reflecting is like
eating without digesting. Top competitors never get too comfortable. A bad
day will pass and so will a good day. Consistency is key.
8. 3) How to develop a near perfect memory
- Overview
You were born with the same mental equipment as any of the top memory
competitors. All you need to know is HOW to use your brain in order to
achieve your full potential.
The top learners in the world know how to maximize the potential of their
brains and they use SYSTEMS and STRATEGIES that enhance the most
powerful parts of their brains.
This section is designed to give you an understanding of how to fully utilize
your brain to get the most amount of leverage in the shortest amount of time.
- How to maximize the use of your brain for perfect recall
In a nutshell: You remember best when you combine both left and right
brain thinking. All the systems used by top memorizers help enhance both
left and right brain thinking. Left brain thinking involves order, sequence,
structure, analytical, time, reason etc. Right brain thinking involves creativity,
imagination, thinking, feeling, day dreaming and emotion.
Combine these 2 worlds together and you get “BINGO.”
9. - Novelty enhancing and sensory stimulation techniques
Your brain does not know what is real or not. It simply responds to what YOU
tell it is true.
In 2006 I had the privilege of competing against 3 x World Memory Champion
Andi Bell. Andi has memorized 100 decks of randomly shuffled playing cards
in just 5 hours. Thats 5200 cards in 5 hours. I asked him what his single
greatest tip for developing one of the most powerful memories on the planet
was. We then made a 2 min video from what he shared.
Watch the video here:
www.powerstudying.evplayer.com/novelty
Now you know what you need to do in order for your brain to trust that the
information is real. (and therefore remember it) What you now need to know
is how to STORE this information in a safe place in your mind. This next
video will show you how to do just that.
- Journeys, journeys and more journeys
Watch this video which explains how to store information in your brain.
Nb Overview of how to "store" information:
http://powerstudying.evplayer.com/nboverview/
Exercise: Create 3 journeys of 20 places on each journey.
Journey 1, 2 and 3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
etc
10. - How to increase your “absorption of information” + recall by 50% + in
each learning session.
At the world memory championships we have a 1 min mental prep before
each event to help us get in the zone before competing. Being in the right
frame of mind (alpha state) enables you to absorb as well as recall up to 50%
more.
What is the best way to get into Alpha state?
1) Imagine the colors of the rainbow as vividly as you can.
2) Listen to light baroque music. Light classical music in the background.
3) Use sound reducing head gear.
4) Have a goal that you want to achieve in a given study session. Reflect on
this goal throughout your study session.
5) Have a strict time limit in a study session. This will help keep your brain
engaged while learning.
11. - The best revision strategy to adopt to help with perfect recall
Effective learning is like spinning plates. If you go “too far ahead” without
going back to spin a plate, the plate will drop. The same applies when
memorizing large amounts of information.
Every time you revise CONSISTENTLY, you increase your ability to recall by
about 30%. Therefore it is just a matter of time before the information “sticks.”
There are 2 types of revision that is essential when training.
1) Within a study session:
How many times should you SEE the information within a given period of
time?
If you have a
5 min event: Twice (1 to learn, 1 to revise)
10 min event: 2 or 3 times (3 is safer but you won’t be able to get a very high
score)
15 min event: 3 times ( 1 to learn, 2 to revise)
30 min event: 3 or 4 times
60 min event: 4 or 5 times
2) After learning:
If you want to keep the information learnt for an extended period of time, you
would ideally need to revise the work within:
1 hour
12. 1 day
1 week
1 month and
6 months.
You will not need to apply this revision strategy to your training schedule as
you will not need to keep the information learnt during your training for
extended periods of time.
I would however highly encourage you to keep a training diary of all your
victories and mistakes so you can reflect on what is working as well as make
the necessary corrections so you don’t repeat the same mistakes in the
future.
13. 4 Events: An explanation of what you will be tested on and how
19. You will receive an answer sheet that looks similar to the example below.
You will notice that the events are muddled up and you have to insert the
correct date to as many events as you can remember.
20.
21. 5) How to excel in each of the 4 events. (Beginner approach. This
method assumes you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.)
How to learn cards:
http://powerstudying.evplayer.com/howtolearncards/
How to learn numbers:
http://powerstudying.evplayer.com/howtolearnnumbers/
How to learn dates:
http://powerstudying.evplayer.com/how-to-learn-dates/
How to learn words:
Maybe do memory test 1 and 2 with them?
How to excel in each of the 4 events. (More advanced approach. This
method assumes you don’t have a lot more time to prepare.)
How to learn cards:
http://powerstudying.evplayer.com/howtolearncards/
How to learn numbers:
http://powerstudying.evplayer.com/howtolearnnumbers/
How to learn dates:
http://powerstudying.evplayer.com/how-to-learn-dates/
Need to create these videos. Should not take too long, but need to do.
22. 6) What your training schedule should look like
90% of the battle is getting faster at recognizing the images you create for
your cards and numbers and linking these images together in a memorable
way.
Monday
1) Time yourself at how quickly you can recognize “person, action and object”
for cards. You should do this 3 - 5 times a day, possibly at the beginning of
your training session. Record your scores and try and beat your best score
each day.
2) Do the same for your numbers 00 - 99. (Flash cards) 120 numbers, 3 rows
of 40 numbers each.
3) Memorize a deck of playing cards on a journey.
4) Memorize an 80 digit number on a journey.
Tuesday
1) Time yourself at how quickly you can recognize “person, action and object”
for cards. You should do this 3 - 5 times a day, possibly at the beginning of
your training session. Record your scores and try and beat your best score
each day.
2) Do the same for your numbers 00 - 99. (Flash cards) 120 numbers, 3 rows
of 40 numbers each.
3) Complete a “words” event under exam conditions.
4) Complete a “History and Dates” event under exam conditions.
What do you need?
A stop watch
5 decks of playing cards
23. A diary to reflect on and record progress. (Also to make a note of mistakes)
Access to past papers:
Visit: http://www.worldmemorysportscouncil.com/papers.asp
A quiet environment with little to no distractions.
Sound reducing head gear. (ideally)
Flash cards for the numbers 00 - 99
7) Secret strategies to fast track your learning process
Always have a goal to beat or work towards
Recognize... get fast
Diet: While training
Exercise
Alpha
8) Final comments
