Read How to Develop a Perfect Memory for Free Online
Authors: Dominic O'Brien
might be the one person who uses it to break my world records. If you do, I hope that you will pay me the courtesy of acknowledging as much at the award ceremony!
As I said earlier, the trouble with numbers is that they have no resonance.
There are, of course, notable exceptions like 13, 21, 69, 100. By and large, however, numbers have little significance outside their own world, which is why they are so difficult to remember.
Enter The DOMINIC SYSTEM. It is based on a new language, so you need to
learn a new alphabet. But don't worry, it couldn't be simpler. There are only ten letters, which refer to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Ascribe a letter to each digit, and you begin to pull numbers out of the mire of anonymity.
THE ALPHABET
0 = O
5 = E
1 = A
6 = S
2 = B
7 = G
3 = C
8 = H
4 = D
9 = N
Let me explain how I arrived at the various letters. Zero obviously looks like the letter O. The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth letters of the alphabet are A, B, C, D, E. Why does 6 not translate into F? This is a personal foible of mine. If it troubles you, or you are a stickler for logic, replace S with F.
Personally, I prefer S. Six is a very strong S word. It susurates, and sounds sexy.
The seventh and eighth letters of the alphabet are G and H; although the ninth is I, I have chosen N, because NiNe is a strong N word.
Memorize this alphabet, and don't continue unless you are certain what each digit stands for.
THE LANGUAGE
You are now in a position to give two-digit numbers a character by translating them into the new language. Take 20, for example. This translates into BO (2 =
B; 0 = O).
Let the letters suggest a person to you, and use the first association that comes into your head. BO might suggest Bo Diddley or Little Bo Peep.
Or take 27, for example. This translates into BG (2 = B; 7 = G). Again,
think of the first person who comes to mind. Barry Gibb, perhaps, a member of the BeeGees.
The numbers are coming to life. One moment 20 is 20, 2 x 10 at a stretch; the next, it's a celebrity. There is no doubt in my mind which is the more
memorable.
Write down a list of numbers from 20 to 29 and translate them into letters.
Then think of the first person they suggest.
Number
Letters
Person?
20
BO
21
BA
22
BB
23
BC
24
BD
25
BE
26
BS
27
BG
28
BH
29
BN
Personally, BB suggests a baby; BC makes me think of Jesus Christ; BS
reminds me of a BuS driver, BE a BEE-keeper friend of mine.
Every time you look at that number again, you want to think of the same
person.
ACTIONS
Staying, for the moment, with these ten numbers (20 to 29), you must now ascribe a unique action to each person. BN (29), for example, makes me think of Barry Norman. His action would be operating a projector. The bus driver's action would be driving a red doubledecker. Each action should involve a prop of some sort. If the action is playing the piano, the prop is the piano. If it's skiing, the prop is a pair of skis.
The action should also be as versatile as possible. Later on, when you are memorizing longer numbers, actions and persons are going to fit together like pieces of a jigsaw. It's possible to imagine Barry Norman driving a bus, for example; the bus driver can operate a film projector; an image of him could even be projected.
If the person does not have an obvious action peculiar to him or her, you must discard that person. The importance of actions will become apparent later. Suffice it to say, they make life very easy when you are memorizing more than two digits - telephone numbers, for example.
Once you have drawn up a list of ten persons and actions, start assigning characters to every number from 00 to 99. I suggest doing ten to twenty numbers a day. Each action must be unique, so don't have more than one barmaid, or golfer, or tennis player, or guitarist, and so on.
AUDITIONING THE CAST
For the system to work most efficiently, your cast of characters should include a healthy mixture of
As I said earlier, the trouble with numbers is that they have no resonance.
There are, of course, notable exceptions like 13, 21, 69, 100. By and large, however, numbers have little significance outside their own world, which is why they are so difficult to remember.
Enter The DOMINIC SYSTEM. It is based on a new language, so you need to
learn a new alphabet. But don't worry, it couldn't be simpler. There are only ten letters, which refer to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Ascribe a letter to each digit, and you begin to pull numbers out of the mire of anonymity.
THE ALPHABET
0 = O
5 = E
1 = A
6 = S
2 = B
7 = G
3 = C
8 = H
4 = D
9 = N
Let me explain how I arrived at the various letters. Zero obviously looks like the letter O. The first, second, third, fourth, and fifth letters of the alphabet are A, B, C, D, E. Why does 6 not translate into F? This is a personal foible of mine. If it troubles you, or you are a stickler for logic, replace S with F.
Personally, I prefer S. Six is a very strong S word. It susurates, and sounds sexy.
The seventh and eighth letters of the alphabet are G and H; although the ninth is I, I have chosen N, because NiNe is a strong N word.
Memorize this alphabet, and don't continue unless you are certain what each digit stands for.
THE LANGUAGE
You are now in a position to give two-digit numbers a character by translating them into the new language. Take 20, for example. This translates into BO (2 =
B; 0 = O).
Let the letters suggest a person to you, and use the first association that comes into your head. BO might suggest Bo Diddley or Little Bo Peep.
Or take 27, for example. This translates into BG (2 = B; 7 = G). Again,
think of the first person who comes to mind. Barry Gibb, perhaps, a member of the BeeGees.
The numbers are coming to life. One moment 20 is 20, 2 x 10 at a stretch; the next, it's a celebrity. There is no doubt in my mind which is the more
memorable.
Write down a list of numbers from 20 to 29 and translate them into letters.
Then think of the first person they suggest.
Number
Letters
Person?
20
BO
21
BA
22
BB
23
BC
24
BD
25
BE
26
BS
27
BG
28
BH
29
BN
Personally, BB suggests a baby; BC makes me think of Jesus Christ; BS
reminds me of a BuS driver, BE a BEE-keeper friend of mine.
Every time you look at that number again, you want to think of the same
person.
ACTIONS
Staying, for the moment, with these ten numbers (20 to 29), you must now ascribe a unique action to each person. BN (29), for example, makes me think of Barry Norman. His action would be operating a projector. The bus driver's action would be driving a red doubledecker. Each action should involve a prop of some sort. If the action is playing the piano, the prop is the piano. If it's skiing, the prop is a pair of skis.
The action should also be as versatile as possible. Later on, when you are memorizing longer numbers, actions and persons are going to fit together like pieces of a jigsaw. It's possible to imagine Barry Norman driving a bus, for example; the bus driver can operate a film projector; an image of him could even be projected.
If the person does not have an obvious action peculiar to him or her, you must discard that person. The importance of actions will become apparent later. Suffice it to say, they make life very easy when you are memorizing more than two digits - telephone numbers, for example.
Once you have drawn up a list of ten persons and actions, start assigning characters to every number from 00 to 99. I suggest doing ten to twenty numbers a day. Each action must be unique, so don't have more than one barmaid, or golfer, or tennis player, or guitarist, and so on.
AUDITIONING THE CAST
For the system to work most efficiently, your cast of characters should include a healthy mixture of
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