Memorising names and faces will take a time to get warmed up

I saw an impressive clip on Youtube of Ron White recalling the names of the audience. He is an impressive speaker and it was like watching a comedian as well as learning something.  He emphasized how it is a skill anyone can learn to do, nothing about it being supernatural, but it requires perseverance.  It's about effort, if you are willing to put the effort in you will get the results.  It seems when Ron was young he had an awful memory and even failed at University. I suppose it shows, you don't have to be brilliant or ranked brilliant through your life to be brilliant.  Brilliance like memory is something which can be worked on. Ron White discussed how when he began to train his memory for names and faces, he spent months associating a picture to every name and then associating this to the face.  Only after many months of preparation did he then get to the point of being able to remember the number of names and faces he could.  There are five aspects Ron lists in this exercise.

1. Focus
2. File
3. Picture
4. Glue
5. Review

Of these five tips, Ron emphasised how the first point, focusing just by itself, would dramatically improve your memory.  As I try to develop my imagery in the method of loci it amazes me how I am being forced to look at objects on my journeys.  I see and observe something new about them and realise as I stare and try to imprint more what I have seen on the journey it would be like sitting down and trying to sketch the object.  It's only when you sit and draw something, you really get a chance to actually look at it. Ron's focus comes up in other people's tips in learning names and faces.  Higbee's list is similar, where his point 1 is to make sure you get the name then point 2 make the name
meaningful.  I think Ron is saying a similar thing, his focus does mean getting the individual's name, it means paying attention to the person and their face, as though the face looking at is the only thing worthy of your attention.  Full and completely undivided attention.  To a point it sounds a little like  being in love.  When you stare for a while into your partner's face only for them to then cross their eyes and contort it.  Oh how love sees beyond what is on the surface.
Higbee's point 3. is focus on a distinctive feature of the person's appearance and 4. associate the name with the distinctive feature, lastly point 5 is the same as Ron's.

As I go through other exercises, it seems reviewing what I have already put to memory is an important thing. It ensures the memory is still there and is strengthened.  Just as I constantly shuffle a pack of cards and try and recall the characters I've already put on those cards.  I've spent some hours on this and still forget what card is who.  In a similar way now I am imprinting the faces of the people to each card and while watching TV today I heard the name Putin and immediately said the five of Jacks, because this is the card he represents in my card set.  With the cards as with faces there is an important triad of Person-Action-Object.  Where each individual has not just their face, but an action or verb representing something they do and an object.  It seems to me imprinting faces into my memory is actively engaging several methods of mnemonic at the same time.  To tell the truth no single mnemonic method is used in isolation and when putting them to use you are actually learning two or three at the same time.  Of course it's the practice bit, or the review bit which glues it altogether and hopefully sets images and faces more concretely into memory.

As I don't get to meet too many new people in my life, I try and practice memorising faces and names while watching TV. I see a face, look at it, dwell hard on the name to see if it will summon up a picture and then look for a feature on the face to glue it together.  As the program goes on I am then invited to review the original image and closely work out whether I got it right or not.  It's odd but my attention and focusing is really narrowing down more than ever before.  I'm sure to get there if I keep on practicing and give it a few months as I am with the other mnemonic methods.

Funny how I forgot my keys when return home later today.  Now to fix a mnemonic on keys in pockets