Memory Pegs
A creative memory technique powered by your imagination
Use this simple memory skill every day
N.B. this is not a lateral thinking skill but rather a valuable add-on tool that expands your mastery of using the imagination
(And … the lesson is a lot of fun for the kids too)
“. . . and 44 is bread, and 57 is knitting wool, and 16 is a tyre, and . . .”
If somebody gave YOU a hundred things to remember, (in any random order), how many could YOU recall?
How many did you say??
I (mostly LOL) achieve 100%. Memory pegs are easy and fun.
How do they work?
You “imagine” whatever it is that you are trying to remember, placed into permanently entrenched “scenes”, or “memory pegs”.
Let’s dive straight in:
Your first ten “pegs”
PERMANENTLY embed these pegs into your memory. These same pegs are recycled, so please make sure you bed them down well
We’ll start with ten (I personally use 100).
Commit rhyming words for each peg to permanent memory:
One – run
Two – zoo
Three – tree
Four – door
Five – hive
Six – sick
Seven – heaven
Eight – gate
Nine – dine
Ten – Den
Commit to permanent mnemonic images for each rhyming word:
These images/memories are used over, and over again. They must never leave you.
One – run.
You are sitting at the back of the Olympic stadium. You are forced to stand as a starter’s pistol brings the crowd to its feet. Instead of athletes running around the track, all you see is . . . (the object)
Close your eyes and visualize the scene … embed MEMORY PEG ONE permanently into your memory, to be there for the rest of your life. You MUST close your eyes.
Two – zoo.
You arrive at the monkey cage at the zoo. There is a hole in the wall with bars to let you see the action. There’s a single leafless tree, your view is blocked by a crowd though, so you move closer, to realize that instead of a monkey, (the object) is hanging from the tree.
Close your eyes and visualize the scene … embed MEMORY PEG TWO permanently into your memory, to be there for the rest of your life.
Three – tree.
A huge Christmas tree is being decorated in the center of town. A man climbs a ladder to mount the final decoration on top. Instead of the star of David though, he mounts . . . (the object).
Close your eyes and visualize the scene … embed MEMORY PEG THREE permanently into your memory.
Four – door.
You arrive home, open the door, but to your complete surprise, instead of your normal expectations you see . . . (the object)
Close your eyes and visualize the scene … embed MEMORY PEG FOUR permanently into your memory,
Five – hive.
You come across a beehive on a walking track. You hit the beehive with the stick and it falls to the ground, breaking open. Instead of a swarm of angry bees, you see . . . (the object)
Close your eyes and visualize this now
Six – sick.
You are a child (again) home from school with a tummy ache. The visiting doctor asks you where it hurts and you point to your stomach. The doctor pulls up your shirt and you see . . . (the object)
Close your eyes and visualize this now
Seven – Heaven.
You’ve died and gone to heaven. Waiting for you as you climb the stairs to the pearly white gates is Saint Peter. But instead of holding a harp, Saint Peter is holding onto . . . (the object)
Close your eyes and visualize this now
Eight – gate.
You are at a level crossing and a train is approaching from the right. Before you can get across, the boom gates come down to stop your progress. To your complete surprise, hanging from the end of the boom gate is . . . (the object)
Close your eyes and visualize this now
Nine – wine.
You are at a restaurant. The waiter presents the wine, but instead of wine, he presents . . . (the object).
Close your eyes and visualize this now
Ten – den.
You come across a cave, and a lion’s enormous roar comes from within. Cautiously, you enter the lion’s den, but there is no lion. Instead, you see . . . (the object)
Close your eyes and visualize this now
.
Now, before we proceed with your first exercise, quickly run through the pegs to make sure they are firmly lodged into your memory. One, run … Two …
OK, ready? Let’s give it a try!
You are going to the supermarket. The list to remember:
One – bread
Two – milk
Three – spaghetti
Four – bananas
Five – tissues
Six – carrots
Seven – coffee
Eight – chicken
Nine – cheese
Ten – butter
Before heading off to the shops, you associate the items to your permanently embedded memory pegs:
One – run.
You are sitting at the back of the Olympic stadium, the crowd rises as the race begins, but instead of athletes running, they’re making sandwiches (with bread).
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Two – zoo.
As you push through the crowd at the monkey cage, you see that the monkey hanging from the leafless tree is drinking a glass of milk.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Three – tree.
The man decorating the Christmas tree reaches the top of the ladder and throws limp, wet, spaghetti all over the top of the tree. It falls everywhere, making quite a mess.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Four – door.
You open your front door, but the door has to be forced open because there is a huge bunch of bananas in the way.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Five – hive.
You knock the beehive off with a stick. It falls to the ground and breaks open. Instead of bees, somebody is crying because the bees are all gone. They hand you a box of tissues to wipe away your tears.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Six – sick.
The doctor visiting you at your home lifts up your shirt to realize that you have a bunch of carrots there.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Seven – Heaven.
Saint Peter greets you with a cup of takeaway coffee to help you on your way.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Eight – gate.
The boom gate comes down and there is a chicken perched on the end of it.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Nine – wine.
The waiter presents the wine, but instead of wine, he’s holding a large round piece of Swiss cheese with a big slice taken out of it.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Ten – den.
You walk into the lion’s den and there is an old-fashioned maiden churning butter in the traditional way. she smiles at you and offers you some to try.
Close your eyes, engage your imagination, and visualize this now
Have you “pegged” all those memories??
Get somebody to test you!
And to make it hard … they can ask for the items in any order LOL.
How did you go?
Practice makes perfect. As I said, I can easily do 100 items/words/actions/whatever and I will get 100% correct most times.
This skill is to be used in presentations, notetaking, interviews, workplaces, homes and it will really help with EXAMS!!!!
CREATE NEURAL PATHWAYS OF GOOD HABITS:
- Practice what you learn;
- Share and discuss this lesson with others;
- Teach others what you have learned.
Additional memory pegs for those that are keen:
(Make up your own, or, consider using mine)
11. Cricket eleven. The Aussie cricket team walks onto the field all in white but instead of cricket players, eleven “objects” walk onto the field.
12. Shelve. The shelf above your desk is over full. Something falls down . . . the object.
13. Hurting. There is something in your shoe . . .
14. Courting. The first time you ever gave received flowers, not flowers . . .
15. Lifting. You’re doing a bench press but as you look each side instead of weights . . .
16. Sifting. You are sifting for gold . . .
17. Leveraging. You have to lift the rear of your car without a jack using a very long pole and fulcrum, but under the car you find . . .
18. Waiting. The bus finally arrives, the door opens . . .
19. Pining. You come home to hear your new puppy misses you but as you search, the pining is coming from . . .
20. Plenty. The magical “horn of plenty” blows and out comes . . .
21. Dueling gun. You turn to fire and you realize that your opponent . . .
22. Kalamazoo. The magic trick of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, but . . .
23. Climb that tree. An angry dog is chasing you so you escape to a tree, but as you look down . . .
24. Shut the door. The “object” accidentally walks in on you when having a shower.
25. I’m alive. A piano drops on the “object” from a crane trying to lift it into a highrise.
26. Pick up sticks. The game we all played as kids, but instead of sticks . . .
27. I’m in heaven. The pearly gates open and you see . . .
28. I’m late. You get to the huge glass door but it won’t open. You look inside . . .
29. That’s not a vine. It’s a snake! But what’s the snake wrapped around?
30. Dirty. You wash the mud-covered car and realize as the windows are cleaned that inside . . .
31. It’s up to you to create pegs that mean something to you from here.
I personally use 100 memory pegs. I will get 97/98/99/100 out of 100 every single time.
You can quickly double the number of things you peg, triple or even more, by “STACKING”. For example:
7 is “a cup of coffee”
107 is “first-class”
First, you imagine St. Peter holding a cup of coffee.
Next, you imagine reaching for the coffee, but St. Peter refuses to hand it to you. Instead, he hands it to a person who is sitting in a luxurious seat that is climbing to heaven without the need to climb the stairs. “First-class”.
I’ve stacked the “107” memory on top of the “7” memory.
Stack as high as you want.
An option is to only have 30 (or even less) permanent memory pegs and use stacking for the times you have a lot to remember.
I used this skill at university. My record is 400! The fourth stack of 100 seems to unravel me every time LOL
Michael Muxworthy - Lateral Thinking Author of Fiction 
I was doing 2nd interviews for a Designer role last week. Even though I was the interviewer, I’m well aware the recruitment world is in favour of the talent, not the employers. They can have their pick. So it was equally important that I was prepared and wasn’t reading off a pre-approved list of interview questions. This technique was very effective. My kids have them memorised too!
Personally, my memory is pretty bad, so using this to remember the lateral thinking lessons was great. 100% effective.
Can you use the same memory pegs for multiple objects though? I have for two objects (lateral thinking lessons and my interview points).
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Okay…So it’s up to me now. I like that feeling!
But it’s also good to know that your support is there if I need it. I’m sure I’ll test you on that real soon.
Thanks Michael.
And one last note to anyone who has skipped ahead….even though it seems awkward, difficult etc (and it starts off that way), you actually do need to discuss each lesson with someone for this to work. You’ll know who they are.
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Thanks for the comment. If you really want to reinforce the benefits of what you have learned here, I suggest that you offer this course to someone you know who will genuinely thrive on it. Someone exceptional . . . even if they don’t know it yet.
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