REMEMBERING LONG NUMBERS

Now that everyone has a cell phone you may think that you will never have to remember a telephone number. What if you have neither your mobile telephone nor a piece of paper to write down a number?
We have a solution. All you have to do is combine the number images with each other using the LINK system. Let's do an example.

If you live in Houston, Texas there are only 3 area codes, namely 281, 713 and 832. In the surrounding area there is also 409. So, all you have to do is add either a 2, 4, 7 or 8 in front of the other 7 numbers and now you have only 8 numbers to put in your memory bank. Divide this 8 digit number into 4 groups of 2. Use the mental image for each pair and link the 4 images together to create a mental video.

Let's say that you have to call and make a dental appointment and the number is 713-668-8067. Knowing that we can put the 7 in front of 668-8067 we have the following 2 digit numbers to remember - 76-68-80-67. The mental images for these numbers are: cage,chef, fez and sheik

Here is an example of a mental video you could make up with these 4 images. Picture a giant cage with a chef (with his tall white hat) trying to reach through the bars of the cage to cook a meal on a stove and he is suddenly blinded as an enormous red fez is placed over the cage by an evil looking sheik on a camel who is laughing at this ridiculous situation. Now try and convert this video into the actual number. If you think that this was a made up number it is not. It is the actual number of my dentist!

In addition to the 110 mental images that you should know by now (numbers 1 through 100 and 00 through 09) you can make up images for 3 digit numbers. For example, the area codes for New York City are 212, 646 and 917. These can be converted to NEWTON, CHURCH AND BANK. Similarly, Dallas has 214 and 972 and appropriate images could be NATURE (or NUDER) and PECAN. We suggest that you do not convert more than 3 digit numbers to a single object. Similarly if you come up with a long word for your 3 digit number do not attach any significance to the 4th and subsequent consonants.

At the beginning of this web page the importance of practice was stressed. May we suggest that you practice every day by picking up a telephone directory, open it at random and select 5 numbers to memorize using this linking method? In the next section of this site you will be introduced to converting names to mental images and then you will be able to link names to telephone numbers

Happy practicing!

You can use this linking method to remember any long number. For example when you are ordering something on the world wide web you may find it convenient to have your credit card number in your memory bank to save you having to find your bill fold and remove the card. Remembering the expiration date and the 3 or 4 digit number on the back of the card is also very easy. 

Do you know your Social Security number?

Other examples of long numbers you might wish to add to your memory bank are combination locks, bank account numbers, someone's street address or zip code.

To impress your friends you can easily remember the value of Pi to 20 decimal places -3.14159265358979323846…

Also, the value of the Golden Ratio is 1.6180339887498948482045868343656

If you wish to remember several long-digit numbers here is another tool - THE ANIMAL IMAGE ALPHABET.

Here is the list:

A AARDVARK                     I IGUANA                 Q QUEEN                  Z ZEBRA
B BAT                                 J JAGUAR               R RABBIT                
C CAT                                 K KOALA                S SLOTH
D DROMEDARY                  L LEMMING            T TUNA
E ELEPHANT                      M MOLE                  U URSA (BEAR)      
F FOX                                 N NINTENDO           V VIPER       
G GIRAFFE                         O OTTER                X X-RAY
H HIPPO                              P PANDA                 Y YAK

Link the first number you have to remember to A (AARDVARK) and the second to B (BAT) and so on.

Another use of the animal list is that you can use it to "peg" any long list of items.

Here is a test to remember some telephone numbers.

When you thoroughly know all the number images proceed to converting names to images