Growing up, I hated memorizing things for tests. I can remember late night study sessions with flash cards and tons of frustration. Why did I need to know all of these things for one test? Ugh. Spending four hours to know everything there was to know about the planet Pluto just didn’t seem like useful information to me. (I’m still waiting for the day when I need to spout off information about Pluto in the business world, but until then, I’ll keep thinking that learning so much about other planets wasn’t in my best interest.) Anyway, there is something that I learned from the practice of memorization, and it’s this: Memorizing information is important because that information is there when you need it. I believe that once something is memorized, it is much easier to take that information to heart, which leads to applying useful information to one’s life.
Fast forward to today and I am currently memorizing portions of ideas that I have been working on for the past couple of years, so that I can get ready for some talks that I will be giving. So, in reality, learning the practice of memorization has proven to be very useful. My memorization process includes 3 parts:
- Write down everything that I think of on a particular subject.
- Narrow everything down to what I actually believe.
- Then memorize.
Since I am a writer, I find that writing is the only way for me to get my true thoughts and beliefs out. It is only then that I can find what works and what doesn’t, and then I begin memorizing these ideas. Yes, for my profession, it is necessary to memorize some parts of ideas, but I also leave space for my talks to breathe and take shape naturally. For public speaking, memorization is just one part of the communication process.
Maybe it’s hard to think of a reason that you need to memorize something right now, but if for nothing else, memorization will give you confidence in what you believe.
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