Page 71 - How to Develop A SUPER-POWER MEMORY

Speeches, Articles, Scripts and Anecdotes 75
would lead you to the next one, right through to the end
of your speech!
At first, you may have to list, perhaps, two or three Key
Words for some thoughts. List as many of them as you
need, to remember the entire speech. As you use this idea,
the amount of Keys necessary will be less and less. And,
most important, the confidence you gain by knowing, that
you remember your talk, will show when you deliver it.
Just keep in mind that you must take care of the thoughts;
the words will take care of themselves!
If, for some reason or other, you wish to memorize a
speech word for word, use the same method. You'll just
have to go over it more often. Remember that all these
systems arc aids to your true memory. "If you remember
the main, the incidentals will fall into place." You actually
never forget anything you've remembered, you just have to
be reminded of it; the system in this book will do that for
you. So, if you remember the main thoughts of your speech,
the incidentals, the ifs, ands and buts, will fall into place.
The same ideas are used to memorize any article you
read, if you desire. First read the article, of course, to get
the "gist" of it. Then pick out the Key Words for each
thought; then make a link to remember them, and you've
got it. With a bit of practice, you'll actually be able to do
this as you read.
Many times while reading for enjoyment, I'll come across
some piece of information that I'd like to remember. I
simply make a conscious association of it, while I'm read-
ing. This idea can, if used enough, speed up your reading
considerably. I think that most people are slow readers
because by the time they've reached the third paragraph,
they've forgotten what was in the first; so they have to
jump back.
There is no need to associate everything; just the points