for the ones starting the memory habit with pictures and stories
Goal
Turn the day's most stubborn arbitrary facts into image or story hooks that stick.
Source principle
Mnemonics: deliberate memory devices like vivid images and stories carry arbitrary, unstructured facts into long-term storage. : from Make It Stick by Brown, Roediger & McDaniel.
The plan
- 📖7:00-7:05 PMOpen today's notes. Scan for the 5 facts that refused to stick.
- 📋7:05-7:10 PMList the 5 stubborn facts on a fresh page. Just the facts.
- 🖼️7:10-7:25 PMConvert each to a vivid mental image. The weirder, the better.
- 🎭7:25-7:30 PMPick the 3 hardest ones. Chain them into a short story.
- 📝7:30-7:40 PMWrite the story down. One sentence per fact, linked.
- 🗣️7:40-7:45 PMSay the chain aloud once. Don't read it. Speaking is the recall.
- 🙈7:45-7:50 PMQuiz yourself: cover the page, recall the chain from the first image.
- 🚩7:50-7:55 PMMark any link that broke. Those get a stronger image tomorrow.
- 📱7:55-8:00 PMSet a morning phone reminder: 'Quiz the chain on wake.' Close the page.