The best way to illustrate how incredibly simple but efficient this method is, I am going to provide a list of seemingly unrelated objects, and show you how to invent a silly story to connect them all together. When I thought of this list, I did not even think about how to link them together. Here it is:
Book, scissors, cat, butterfly, cheque, horse, sausage, mirror, videotape, flower-pot, microwave, tree, garden hose, joystick.
I think you would agree that to remember this list in the correct order, after only a few moments consideration, requires a definite plan of action.
Here is the story I made up to link them together:
I was reading a very interesting book in bed last night. It was a trick book, because the pages had been hollowed out to contain a pair of scissors.
The pair of scissors had a mind of its own, because it was chasing a longhaired cat to give it a trim. The cat was pawing at a butterfly, which had peculiar wings made out of a large cheque. As I watched, the cheque floated down and rested across a horse.
The horse was particularly enjoying eating a large shiny sausage. I say shiny, because it was so shiny that it was like a mirror.
The mirror was in the shape of those copyright protection holograms you get on videotapes. It was a very large videotape, because one of the spools supported a flower-pot, and it was spinning wildly.
The pot was rather cold, in fact it was undercooked, so I put it in the microwave to heat it up. As I opened the door to the microwave, it became a door in the bottom of a tree, like you see in cartoons. The tree had produced some special branches in the form of a garden hose, to keep itself watered. The hose had become knotted at one end; it had got itself into a tangle playing games with a joystick.
What a load of nonsense, you are probably thinking, but if you take a few moments to memorise the story and visualise the events as I did, you should be able to recall the list in word perfect order. What's more, you will probably remember the story next week and next month!
