World Memory Champions Hone This Trick to Supercharge Memory

It's one thing to describe mind palaces, but it's another to build them. Here are some practical tips for building great mind palaces.

Mind palaces can become intricate labyrinths where knowledge is stored. Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

Anyone who’s looked into improving their memories has probably stumbled onto the idea of mind palaces. Mind palaces are spaces in our minds where anything that needs to be memorized is placed. By imagining physical spaces, we can use our innate ability to commit physical spaces to memory in brief amounts of time and in great volumes.

Joshua Foer’s book Moonwalking with Einstein details how he became a memory champion in the course of his reporting on memory events. Not only does he have many anecdotes about people who’ve committed entire novels to memory. Foer also uncovered practical tips for anyone who wants to learn to build their own mind palaces.

The fundamentals begin with a trick that Foer was taught to remember the names of people he was introduced to shortly after meeting them.