Tansel Ali

Yeah, well, um, I always thought I had a crap memory, right? Always. I, I used to forget people's names, I used to forget directions, I used to be in conversations like this and soon after I just forget what was being said. This was in my early 20s.

No, no, I was like, I said, I was always terrible, even as a kid, right? But here's the thing, a friend of mine came up to me and said, "Tansel, I can remember 40 random objects back to front, any order." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, sure, sure." You know, so I had to test him out. So I gave him some words and he just looked at them, you know, gave me the paper. He goes, "I've got it." I'm like, "All right." And one by one he just rattled off all the words. He goes, "Yellow."

No, see my memory is already gone already. Just random words and he recalled them perfectly. And I didn't see him write down anything or cheat because, you know, he seemed like a bit of a shifty guy. I'm like, "No, nothing like that." And I'm like, "How did you do it?" He goes, "Oh, it's just memory techniques." I'm like, "What do you mean memory techniques? What's this?" I never learned anything about memory techniques at school. So he said, "I just got it from a book." I'm like, "What's a book's name?" And he couldn't remember.

So it's quite ironic. I remember 40 words, but I can't remember where I learned it. But anyway, he gave me the author's name. I looked it up and blah, blah, blah. But back in the day, this was back in 2002, right? Yeah, so the internet had this amazing website, still exists today. So if you're, you know, people watching and listening can write this down, uh, it's a website where I typed in memory techniques and all sorts of lessons came up. And and the website's www.google.com. Right? Google. So...

Um, gone on to Google, typed in memory techniques. Surely enough, lessons came up. So I thought, "Hang on, it can't be this easy." So I practiced the skills and then I started remembering. I'm like, "Hang on, why wasn't something so basic that I learned in 5 minutes not taught in school?" Right? So that's how it sort of began. And then as I'm Googling, you know, memory, uh, uh, techniques, I came across the memory championships. And I said to my friend...

Um, there was things like what's called the memory palace and linking method and major systems. We, we'll go through all these anyway. Um, but once I learned it, I started memorizing stuff. I'm like, "This is amazing." And then I learned about the Australian memory championships. I said to my friend, "Look, let's enter it. We'll come last, who cares?" You know, we're a bunch of dudes playing guitar and metal bands. Like who, who are we? You know? So we entered this competition and lo and behold, people from all around Australia came and it was quite massive. We held our Docklands. It was big. And I just thought it would be all nerds, right? Um, just people like you and me coming off the street. "Oh yeah, I'll give this a crack." And by the end of the day, 'cause in the competition, I give you things like memorizing a random shuffled deck of cards, you know, in order, names and faces, this is all paper-based. Um, binary digits, zeros and ones, things I struggle with. Um, poetry, um, you know, all difficult things. And there was 10 events in the day. So I went through a whole day and I came second in Australia. My friend came third and we broke all these memory records. I'm like, we've only had a couple of months training.

Yeah, um, this was a part of a PR campaign or census back in the day. So they wanted a, a viral campaign. That's dead.

Well, they just wanted me to memorize the display ads because that's what they were, you know, officially selling. Yeah. And they're like, you know, 70, 80 grand, 100 grand for for those, you know, spots. So I remember, yeah, insane. So I memorized what, 20,000 digits of the Yellow Pages in about 24 days. Um, and then I thought I was being tested by two media outlets. Word got, you know, out. And I had to do 50 of them for that weekend. So everyone's testing me on the Yellow Pages and stuff. But, um, yeah, um, like this is something again that anyone can do. I just went through a process and that was it.

Significantly. Like we're not talking about, "Oh, yeah, I can remember seven items." We can talk about remember 70,000 without breaking a sweat. Like it's insane. Like I've had clients in my session, 'cause I'm a memory coach, right? And I've had clients crying at the end of the session saying, "I never knew this stuff existed. I've been a lawyer for X amount of years and now you're telling me these techniques are going to help me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

It's, it's insane the amount of and I've worked with people that have had acquired brain injuries, stroke victims and not even like three, four sessions later, they've got it.

So it all involves visualization, association, connection, storytelling. So I'll give you an example, right? So let's say you want to meet someone and their name is let's say John, right? Instead of repeating that over and over and over in your head, yeah, and you know how we say, "Oh, mention in conversation, do this," and it becomes superficial, uh, what you can do using your memory techniques is make some sort of an image or that name, um, and then into a story. So John, picture that person in a toilet, right? In a John. Right? And then you can, you know, make up a story from there to add a bit of drama onto the story. Right?

Yeah, well, I know a Susan, so I can connect that Susan I know to her. Maybe she's making her a cup of coffee or maybe she's pulling her hair. I do more violent, dramatic things because it helps me remember. Um, you know, or you can say, "Desperately Seeking Susan." Okay, that, that's, I can connect that to her. So word association plays a huge part. Now, the difference between me and everyone else is because I've been doing this for over 20 years, I can make the stories, you know, almost instantly. So you need memory training for that. And training is a process where you're speeding up encoding, and encoding is creating something out of nothing, essentially. So name comes along, you look at it and go, "Yo, what's that?" Right up until you create at John's story. And there's a bit of time lag. So if you can reduce that time lag and process faster, um, that's when you're processing, you know, the encoding a lot quicker.

Absolutely. Because what you can do instead of reading something 10 times, you look at the content visually. So for example, if it says, "This contract must be signed by April 2025," right? That's, that's a very boring, dry statement. Right? In fact, a lot of the work we do is very boring and dry, right? So but then look at that and say, "Okay, how can I visualize this?" Right? April, Easter time. So I can imagine it's Easter and the contract's this massive parchment paper and I've got this old pen. Right? Now I'm writing. So now as long as you add something visual, doesn't even have to make sense, you've got it in your head.

What, how I memorized the phone book was, uh, I've got a system called the major system. And what that is, that converts digits into letters of the alphabet. So if I have a nine, that's a P, and two is an N. Right? So if I get 92, that's a pen. Right? So all I have to do is now connect the images that come with the pair of digits into a story. So for example, if it was Bob's plumbing, right? I'd imagine a guy bobbing up and down continuously, that would be my trigger. Uh, and then the next couple of numbers, let's say it's 92. Right? For me, it's a pen. So I stick a pen up his butt, you know, he's got the plumber's crack. Um, and then the story starts from there. And then when someone says, "What's Bob's plumbing's number?" I'm thinking, "Okay, Bob is bobbing up and down." He's got a pen up his butt, you know, and then, you know, work from there.

Yeah, it's a good question because this is something that I generally work on a lot as well. Um, there's so much online now, it's insane. Like YouTube videos, I've got over 300 of them. There's free lessons everywhere. But books very, very simple, you know, not just by me, by, by, you know, other memory athletes and experts. Um, but the most important technique and tool is the visualization, right? How can I visualize abstract information so that, you know, I could see something there? And that, that's probably the biggest skill. Imagination as well. So as soon as you combine them together, now you're using your brain in a more active way.

Uh, what you're reading. Right? You got to visualize what you're reading.

Sure. So if you're reading about memory and, you know, you're reading about, okay, how working memory can hold seven or items plus or minus two, something like that. Right? So now you're going, "Okay, working memory." I'm going to picture a guy in a suit working in the city, um, and he's holding his head or something. So now I've created an image, right? For working memory. And that's all you're doing. You're not creating an image for every single thing you read, but all the key themes and points, you can actually visualize them as you're reading through. And what that does, that doesn't necessarily help your recall, but it helps your comprehension. And it's the comprehension that triggers the recall.

Well, my grandmother had it. Um, she passed away last year. And in her early days, early onset, I went through some of the strategies and she remembered everything. Like all, you know, shopping list items and stuff like that. So early onset, yeah, you can definitely play around with the techniques that you don't lose your ability to visualize, right? Or associate and connect. So you can build this up.

It's generally different things. I mean, I get people that are, you know, professional speakers. I want to remember their talks. Right? Things like that. But as you get deeper, it's not about remembering your talk. It's like, how can I have an impact with my talk? So now the messaging, the communication has to change in a way where you're creating impact. Right? So things like that. Um, you're also looking at people that want to pass professional exams. I mean, I've, I've worked with people that have passed, you know, the hardest exams in the world, like the wine tasting ones. You know, the master Sommelier. And, um, you know, this guy, I've worked with him for about a month and he goes, flies overseas to sit the exam in Austria. Week later, I get a message saying he was the only one that passed and there's only been like 200 people since '77 that has passed this exam. So it's, it's insane how the techniques work.

Yeah, it's a, it's a good question because you need structure, right? And in order to remember something as long as that, you need to be able to put them into holding spots in the brain. So for example, right? When we're trying to remember something, it, it goes into the ether in the brain and there is no location. And so we end up repeating over and over and over again. Right? So what we need to do, just like folders on a computer, we need to create the folders in the brain and then put the information in there. Right? And you can create these folders, you know, very easily. And then once you put the folders in, you know which order they're in, you chuck the information in each of those folders. And then all you have to do is go through each folder one by one and retrieve the information. And you can do that effortlessly.

I mean, usually 100 words, we'd probably do in about 5, 10 minutes or something like that. Um, a lot of the best athletes could probably do it in 2 minutes, you know? Um, it's about the encoding speed and, um, a lot of athletes, I, I train a lot of athletes now when we work on what's the fast memory athletes. So there's actually memory competitions all around the world, uh, and a lot of them actually train to just memorize faster and and recall a lot better. So for example, uh, people want to memorize a deck of cards. Usually takes us about, you know, average person probably a minute to memorize. Average memory athlete, there's people that can memorize it in 12 seconds in the world.

Yeah, so that's where the speed comes in. Like you're looking at them and you don't even have time to actually make up stories.

Yeah, I'll, I'll explain 'cause um, you've got 52 cards, right? In a deck. And you can have 52 images for each of those. Seven of diamonds could be a dog, ace of clubs could be a cat for example. So if you have a seven of diamonds first and then ace of clubs, "Oh yeah, dog ran after the cat."

Yeah, they're unique images. But what the professional top athletes do is they have one image is two cards. Right? So that means they would have had to have pre-memorized not 52 images, 2,740 images, which is insane. 'Cause that's a lot.

Yeah, yes, yes. It's a queen, queen of spades.

Yeah, the, like we've pre-memorized them already. So we use memory techniques to remember them and then go into competition. It's like, okay, let's do this in half a second intervals. Yeah, so it's insane. So you can get your memory to a really high level.

Um, look, the phone book's pretty crazy. Um, I mean, I've been in competitions where I've had to stare at a, you know, 2,000-digit number in, you know, and try and memorize that in an hour. I mean, it's absolutely insane. And what they do in competitions is they give us numbers in rows of 40 digits. And if we make one mistake, we don't get 39 out of 40, we get 20 out of 40. And if we make two mistakes, we get zero. And because we're memorizing pairs, if we make one mistake, we're pretty much gone. So it's very cutthroat. Uh, and we have to work on perfection. So that's why when we train and work with people, we work on how do we perfect memorization rather than how do we just remember stuff.

As I mentioned, they're 12 seconds to memorize a deck of cards. Um, memorizing, I think, uh, was it 30 names and faces in like 20 seconds, 21 seconds. Um, a lot of these are online as well because now they have online competitions, whereas before, um, I would travel internationally, so Japan and London and all that sort of stuff and competing, you know, three, four day competitions. Now everything's just sort of online.

You can go with my assessment if you want.

Yeah, uh, I've got, it's, it's a very quick one and it'll be good for your listeners as well and we can talk about a memory strategy after that as well because it ties in. All right. So I've got just got a few words and you have to memorize as best as you can. Okay? All right. Here we go. So first word gun, shoe, tree, door, beehive, sticks, heaven, gate, wine, and pen.

I, I'll what I'll do is I'll give you a number and you have to give me the word that was corresponding in the order of that number. Okay? All right. So what was the third word?

We'll do seventh.

Um, beehive.

Second word.

Sixth word.

So let's go through the numbers again. Right? One gun, two shoe, three tree, four door, five beehive, six sticks, seven heaven, eight gate, nine wine, 10 pen. Gotcha.

Okay. Okay. So this wasn't just a memory test, it's actually a memory technique called the number rhyme technique. So all the numbers rhyme with the words. Wine, 10th, 10 pen. 10th pen. Okay. Now you can actually use this to remember stuff now. Like I've used this for people to remember their whole speeches, believe it or not. But I'll just go through a basic shopping list. I'll show you how to do that. Right? Using this technique. So let's say you want to, you know, you go shopping, you want to buy some stuff, you want to get milk. So instead of going, "Milk, milk, milk, milk, milk," in your head, you're going, "Okay, I'm going to connect milk with gun." Right? Now, the way to connect milk with gun is you have to make a story together, right? Using your imagination with gun. So what story can you make with milk and gun?

Yeah, out, out loud.

Keep going. No, no, just that, that's it. That's...

Yeah, or or maybe you shot the shotgun and milk came out. Right? So just, just stuff like that. Okay. All right, next one. So number two was shoe. So shoe and let's say cereal, breakfast cereal.

Easy. Right? Or maybe you're eating cereal out of your shoe. Okay. Right? So the crazier you make it, the brain goes, "Hang on, what the hell's going on there?"

Number three, tree. So tree and onions.

Yeah, why not? Why not? It's just there. All right, nothing. Number four is door. So door and let's say Vegemite.

Yeah, or or maybe someone put Vegemite on the door and you you know, put your hand on the hand.

Uh, number five, beehive and let's say, uh, cucumber.

Yep. Nice. Good one. Um, it really can be anything, can it?

It could be anything. Like you, you could, you know, see the beehive and the bees are in there smoking cucumbers. Like, you know, you can make up whatever it is in your head.

Yeah, sure. Go. Right. Number six is sticks. So let's say sticks and tomatoes.

Yep. As you do. Good one. Uh, number seven is heaven. So let's say heaven and lettuce.

Yep. Number eight is gate. So gate and cheese.

Yeah, well, maybe the gate was made out of cheese.

Nine is wine. So wine and chicken.

Yeah, or maybe there's drunk chickens.

Yeah, yeah, you can say whatever, whatever comes to you. Visually guides you.

Yeah. And that'll trigger the wine for you as long as you picture them, you know, drinking the bottle. Um, final one. So 10 pen. So we got pen and apple.

All right. So let's go through this now. Right? I'm going to give you a random number and you're going to think back, "Okay, rhyming number," and that's going to trigger what was in there. So here we go. And you jump in here. You jump in, everyone could play along watching as well 'cause this is really cool. Um, all right. So seventh word. So you can think what was it rhyming with? Uh, seventh. So that was heaven.

All right. Number four.

Close. Vegemite. 10 points to you, my friend.

No, it's eating cereal out of the shoe. You love your cheese, buddy.

All right, then we got number 10.

Yes, yes. Got it. Just in time. Uh, number one.

Yes, yes. I should know that. Another green vegetable.

Yes, yes. All right, sorry. Um, all good. So that was...

Wine.

So that's, that's how it works. I mean, we, we went through pretty quick. Obviously, if you have time and make up those stories, you're going to remember them all perfectly. So that's how memory works. The holding spots where the rhyming numbers, they, they could stay the same. And new information comes in, you can pop them onto those locations. So you can use that skill.

Yeah, what what you're talking about there is, um, what would work really well is linking, right? Where you're making one story after another. So for example, you meet a John, right? Yes, um, you see him in a toilet somewhere. Where's the toilet? It could be in a kids charity.

Yeah, naughty John in the toilet. But is that a kids charity? Right? So that's how you frame that.

So Kate rhymes with gate, so I could use that. All right. So I see you know, maybe Kate's tall. Right? So she's, you know, beside the gate. Um, she's at, you know, taking the gate with her to these children's, you know, charity for an auction or something like that. So that's how I'd connect those two together. It's, as long as you connect the stories one by one, um, and if that person gives you 10 things about him, just make up 10 stories connected to one another.

Yeah, Nick. Um, no, I was thinking of Nick as in Nikes. Like shoes. Um, so I can picture, you know, those, um, Back to the Future Nike shoes.

It's like a picture. Maybe you're wearing them and you're hovering around or something like that. And then I connect that to everything else that you're doing as well. So you could be hovering around interviewing people, you know, as you're doing that, you know, and and then just whatever comes after that, I can just connect it and it's easier to recall.

You can. Um, there, there's really three things, uh, to improve your memory. Number one, obviously the knowledge, right? The knowledge is out there. It's, it's freely available. That's cool. But the, the biggest challenge with that is how do you use the knowledge? Right? So that's why a lot of people come to me because they go, "Man, I know the memory palace, but how the hell do I use it?" Um, so you got to know how to train your memory. Once you know how to train it, then you can start to see some improvement in terms of encoding, processing, terms of, you know, stuff you can recall. Even awareness and attention and mindfulness, those are the type of things that memory helps with. I mean, I spent, um, years working with clients for managing their stress and anxiety.

Because if you're stressed, right, and anxious, you have stories in your head. And memory training works by improving stories. So if you've got a really crappy story in there already and you know memory training, you know how to train your memory, you know how to manipulate that story now and make that weaker. So you can actually teach yourself to forget stuff and then create a new story, right? That's going to push you further forward. And then you, you know, balance out that way so that you're really changing your life.

Sort of. I mean, it depends on the level of anxiety and what it is. For example, I used to have travel anxiety. Right? And that was because of my chronic illness that I had and I'd always be stressed out and traveling around the world, like speaking and stuff. It'll be really difficult. Great, great. I just came back from the gym. So I'm pumped, man. Absolutely love it. Yeah. Um, so the story is the most important thing because if you're stressed, you're always thinking about, you know, that moment or you've got strong connections. So how do you make that weaker? Right? One thing you can do is you can actually visualize that thing in gray. Right? Because if you take away all the color, it start, sort of starts to become a bit less relevant. And if you picture it smaller and smaller, right? And you're looking at this smaller gray picture taking yourself out of it. Now it becomes less sort of important. And while you're doing that, you're building this other story up of yourself like, "I'm confident. I'm strong. I'm blah, blah, blah."

It doesn't have to be, but creating a strong vision of, "This is what I'm capable of," and, "This was my negative," and you remember the great stuff and not the negative stuff. You still acknowledge this, right? You acknowledge it, but this is where I want to go and that's way more powerful.

Oh, amazing. Like I said, um, it's all about the stories in your head. Even things like procrastination, right? They're just stories. We, we just procrastinate because it's comfortable now of not doing something. Whereas if you shift that comfort, uh, and say, "I'll only be comfortable when such and such happens." Now you sit down and go, "Hang on. I'm com... this this is not good. Um, I have to do this so I can then feel the comfort." So you shift the feeling around.

It depends on what they're after. So if it's things like I want to remember names or speeches and things like that, that's pretty easy.

Yeah, that, that's, I mean, that's just like one session and it's done, right? A lot of the things that I talked about can be resolved in a few sessions. Like it's, it's that easy. The most important thing is practice. Like you need to get out there and use the skills, make lots of mistakes. Uh, like the training program that I develop for my clients, I've got failure training in there. I've got plateau training, essentially, uh, mechanisms that say, "Okay, what's your worst point of, you know, using this skill?" Right? "Where do you shut down?" And then we look at that and analyze it and say, "Okay, here are the techniques you're going to have to do to get to that next level." So it's like, uh, if you want to get somewhere you've never been, you got to do something you didn't, you've never done. So the techniques that you're using now, they only work to a certain point. So now we have to do something else. So that's, that's what I do with clients. And because they're thinking laterally now, it's like, "[expletive], this can work for such and such in my life," or, "This can work," like I said, "for stress or whatever."

It's different for everyone. Um, like I said, I've got athletes that I work with that's purely just mind based.

Yeah. Um, well, first thing is I benchmark them. I see where they're at, right? Um, how's your memory performing? Uh, might ask them just basic questions. And then after that, I showed them a technique. Um, similar to the number rhyme technique we did. Can they actually do it? Um, I did this with one of my clients where he had a part of his brain taken out. He didn't tell me. And when I showed him the technique, he, he did really badly, right? And I said, "What's going on here? Is there, you know, is there something?" And I tell him, he said, "Yeah, I was in a car accident, blah, blah, took it out." I'm like, "Dude, anyway, we spent a few sessions and he started memorizing better than me."

It's insane. But with a half the brain. So show the techniques and once they have the techniques, say, "Okay, this is what we need to do in terms of a program. Um, you need to train this every day. Um, practice this weekly. Um, and we need to see, um," 'cause I, I always, uh, build spreadsheets and KPIs and all that 'cause I love looking at data. For me, that's the most important tool to see if someone's improving, not, "Oh, yeah, I feel better now." That that's, that's not good for me. I want to see the results. So we always analyze the results and say, "Okay, is the encoding speed reduced? Um, is your imagination improving?" And we can, we can analyze all of that, right? So that's what I try and do. I analyze everything about the imagination. Um, there's, uh, principles like say SMASH and SCOPE, right? Um, developed by Tony Buzan and Bernd von Sivers. And this is a, it's an acronym that stands for, you know, um, using S your senses, M movement, A association, S yourself, H all of that. These are all memory principles. And if you apply them, um, you're essentially getting to a point where you're making things really memorable. So I can tell, uh, if someone's talking to me if they're using any of these elements. And then I can say, "Okay, you haven't used this particular thing or you haven't used that." Um, therefore, this is a reason why you couldn't remember because you haven't added this element.

Yeah, there's a reducing of the encoding. Um, that's in there because you need to get faster at processing the memory. A lot of recall strategies as well because memorization is one thing, recall is another as well. So it's like, how do you recall instantly? You know, and I, I've actually, I'm actually working on something, um, quite unique at the moment where you use your intuition to recall almost instantly. And I've had one client use this in one of the competitions and she broke a 10-year record for numbers.

Um, it, it works by feeling rather than using techniques. Um, it's something I'm still in progress of testing out. So it's, I will take it to like Google or somewhere eventually. But it's, it's essentially using a part of your brain that isn't really used for, you know, general memory and stuff like that. It's, it's a more holistic way of, you know, getting to the next level in memory.

Yeah, like for example, if you, you know how I said you can me remember names in like 20, 30 seconds, right? Um, using the memory techniques, if we don't use techniques, if we just repeat the names over and over again, we're not going to get anywhere near that because that's relying on working memory. And working memory is limited. So that's why memory techniques overrides working memory and you can remember thousands of things. This intuition based is like, it's not using working memory, it's not using the long-term memory memory techniques. It's using your intuition to get a feel for what's there. But that's also a strategy as well in itself.

It's absolutely crazy.

Yeah, it's, it's absolutely insane. But my client was able to do it. Um, in my testing, I've been able to do it as well. So implications with say something like AI where you're connecting these two things together that, that's just got immense potential as well. Yeah, so that's what I'm testing now.

It, it's usually, look, I try and if they come to me with a specific problem, I'll try and solve it then there. Like in an hour, done. Like that, that's my thing. Uh, if they say, "Look, I really want to work on my mental ability. I want to be the very best in my sport, in my field, whatever." I say, "Okay, here's what we need to do. Um, here's where you want to get to." Say they have a vision and we create those vision together. If they don't have one, some of them don't. And I say, "Okay, in order to get to here, you need to f, uh, first pass these blocks."

So I create, you know, little steps along the way. And if they don't pass that, then we go through, you know, plateau training, failure training, 100% training where they have to memorize everything perfectly or else I go back again. Yeah. So, yeah, it's insane the number of, you know, training systems there is.

It, it's memory, but memory is not just about remembering either. Um, so if you know how to remember really good, then you know how to communicate better as well. Because now it's like, how's it going to be memorable in the other person's brain? Like I used to hold TEDx, uh, events here in Melbourne. Um, I was a licensee for TEDx Docklands and I used to train half the speakers and they used to give me their six-page script and I used to tear them apart and they'd be in tears. Like, "What are you doing?" I say, "No, you've only got six things really to remember. Right? Here are the six things. Use this technique and then deliver it in a way on stage in 5 minutes."

And then now because you know your six points, how are you going to deliver it in a way that not just connects into people's brains, but in their hearts? So you're getting them to look at, you know, memory in a way that is memorable. Like for example, branding, business, marketing, what's that? How do you make things memorable? Right? How do you stand out from the crowd? So this is all based on memory.

Yeah, look, some of them are naturals. I mean, they're great. That's why they're up on stage.

Yeah, definitely. 'Cause you don't want to just, you know, have a PowerPoint slide and use the prompts, you know, as your PowerPoint, which a lot of people do, or have something in front, even a teleprompter. I mean, yeah, people do well with teleprompters and stuff, but you're still limited. Whereas if you know your audience and you're going to say something and then on the day you go there and you could feel the vibe, you're like, "You know what? I'm going to say it this way." That's real power. Not memorizing lines, but understanding who's in front of you. What's your audience? That, that's where the real skill is.

Definitely better. Um, it's insane because I not only train other people, but I work on it myself. Um, because I, my grandmother passed away from it, Alzheimer's, sorry. Um, and you know, it's, it's not a great thing. Like you see what happens. Like, man, you know, yes, they don't, they're not aware, but everyone in the family is stressed and anxious. And so you don't want to go there yourself. It's, it's a terrible feeling. So I train, uh, quite a bit myself. Um, almost every day, but it's not like hours and hours of training. 5 minutes here and there and and I'm done because I know what to work on as well. So if people want to improve their memory, it's, it's not hours and hours of training or half an hour here and there. Could just be 5, 10 minutes of, you know, um, focused, concentrated effort and that gets you to where you want to be.

Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely. Like I, I've seen it from my own case. And again, it, look, it may not stop it, but it may slow it down.

And there has been research with memory training and slowing down of, you know, uh, cognitive, um, decline. And this is by, uh, I believe research being done by Reebok. Re B O K. Right? This 10-year long study and it showed that these people training...

Not Reebok shoes, but B.

So, outside you mentioned about memory and how it's connected with longevity. Can you elaborate on that please?

Yeah, look, there, there's been a lot of research with people that are living to an older age where they're very mentally active. They're always learning new stuff. The Blue Zones, they're, you know, they're not just kicking back watching TV, right? They're, they're together, they're talking. Um, but they're also active mentally, right?

Yeah, and they're learning new things. Like, you know, picking up a guitar or something. You know, it's like, when we look at something like learning a new language after a certain age, you go, "No, I'm too old for that." It's like, come on. You know, it's the perfect time to learn a new language or a new skill because what that does, it rewires the brain. Because years ago, uh, people thought that the brain was fixed. Right? Now we know that it's plastic. So you shapes and molds itself. And for those people that are highly active at an older age using these skills, um, they just prolong their life.

Yeah, yeah. Um, years ago, there used to be this thing in the UK called the brain gym. And what they do is they, they have hand-body movements, left and right and all this sort of stuff. And it said it'll activate different parts of the brain. It's good for you. And you look at racket sports, what are they? They're anaerobic exercises, you know, twoing and throwing. Same with martial arts. I mean, you look at that, you know, people's arms and legs going all over the place. You know, how old do they live, you know, in the outskirts of Asia, you know, you look at them. So it's, it's proven. Um, we just have to sort of tap into that ability and say to ourselves, you know what, it's not too late. Never too late to learn something. In fact, it's going to help me live a lot longer.

Absolutely. Because what will happen is your brain will get into a bit of frustration first because that's where the learning is. That's why I'm actually not learning piano 'cause I know I'm going to get so frustrated. Yeah. And same thing with memory as well. Like anything that you learn, it's frustrating and then people stop at a certain point. Um, however, with memory training is that you can gamify it, right? Memory training can be gamified. So there's websites now you can go on. And I'll mention it, it's memory.com, you can go on memoryleague.com and you can actually play memory games that help you not only train those memory skills, but help you get to a higher level so that you're learning.

Not Candy Crush. No, no. But yeah, learning is absolutely essential at any, any age.

Yeah, uh, look, I, I think it's a great thing. Yes, we talk about retirement, living life, all that sort of stuff, but you want the wheels in motion. Yeah, I think when you retire, you die. I think you, I think you need to have purpose in life and I just think retiring is not necessarily a good thing. Yeah. And that's that's why these people live long lives because they constantly have a purpose. They're always working towards something and they're loving it.

Yes. He's got billions, but I don't think he works for the billions. He just loves what he does.

Yeah, I'm, you know, someone who's had a shocking memory, be able to change it around. I'm like, "Come on, anyone can do it." And it's proved like the people I've literally worked with thousands of people and they've all changed, you know, from the worst of the worst. So, you know, this message needs to get out there. Like that, that's why these, you know, podcasts and interviews work really well because then people watch it and going, "Shit, this, I might as well try it out." What's the worst that could happen? I'm going to have a better memory, you know?

Yeah, look, for me, it's not about me to be honest at the moment. I'm trying to get this message out to people that, you know what, yes, it's benefited me, it's benefited people I work with, but, you know, you can start relatively easy and learn this stuff fairly quickly. Like it took me a couple of weeks and I'm in competitions, you know, and that was, you know, yeah, I did a fair bit of work. But if you're just an average Joe Blow and you want to learn memory techniques, it's, it's the easiest thing.

Yeah, look, if they haven't got, haven't got the money to for a memory coach, they've got five or 10 minutes a day, what can they do to do it? Start today.

Steve was mentioning something awesome before and I, I definitely recommend that. Uh, reading, right? Um, now as you're reading, like any book could be, could be fiction, could be non-fiction, doesn't matter. Read visually as I was saying before, right? You're reading, you're, you're seeing what's going on in that thing. If you do that, that's sort of like memory training because you're encoding the words that are abstract, they don't make any sense, words. That's why we always go back and reread them, right? And still forget. Whereas if you just read, try and read visually and do that, what you're reading.

Yep. Um, learn the memory basic memory skills. Right? Memory palace. That's, um, that's an ancient, uh, Greek technique that the ancient Greeks used to memorize.

Loves it. That's why I mentioned it. Right? Uh, yeah, knowing that technique will help you remember things in order. Right?

Uh, no, no, just that's the technique's name. So if you just Google it, you'll come up with all of that stuff. Um, really powerful stuff. I've got ton of videos on memory palace as well. Um, linking and association storytelling, right? If you know how to tell a story using memory techniques, as I said, um, that just makes things more memorable. So those key components, soon as you combine them together, um, just within a couple of weeks, like I said, my clients after one session, they, they see results. So it's not like it's rocket science. It's just hasn't been tapped in.

Thanks for having me.