Page 166 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

170 The Importance of Memory
Writing things down just isn't enough in itself to help
you remember. Why are some children slow in school, even
though they write notes in class? It is not because they are
stupid! It is because they don't remember their work. In
school they are told they must remember certain things, but
unfortunately, they are not taught how to do so.
So, a trained and retentive memory is certainly impor-
tant.
It is getting over the first hurdle that is always the most
difficult in any new thing you learn. The first hurdle in
training your memory, is to actually use my system. Use
it, and it'll work for you. Just knowing the system and still
writing phone numbers on paper, is the same as not know-
ing the system at all.
Those of you who happen to know how to type fairly
rapidly—do you recall how you felt when you first started
to learn typing? You thought you'd never get the hang of
it, and felt that others, who did type well, were just more
suited for it than you were. Now, you probably can't under-
stand why you felt that way; there is nothing more natural
than for you to sit down and type rapidly. Well, it's the
same with a trained memory. I believe that I can memorize
a telephone number faster than anyone can write it, and, I
strengthen my memory each time I do so. When I first
started using these systems, I felt as you may feel now; that
it is easier to write things down and forget them, than to
bother with associations. But, keep at it, and you'll feel
the same about this as you do about typing. You'll wonder,
after a while, why it took any effort at all, in the beginning.
The thing to keep in mind, above all else, is to make all
your associations ridiculous and/or illogical. Many of the
systems being taught today, and those in the past, do not
stress this nearly enough. As a matter of fact, some of them
will teach you to make logical associations. There's only one