- Do you want to remember more names?
You can.
Pay attention.
I'm not saying pay attention to this video,
although I think you should.
I'm saying pay attention
when somebody introduces themselves to you.
A few years ago, probably 10 years ago now,
I was given a speech in Calgary, Canada
and my friend, Darren, asked me to speak for his conference.
And before, when he had seen me speak at a conference,
there was maybe 150 people in the room
and I memorized all their names.
Well, when I got there to his conference,
there was 301 people, which was fine, no big deal.
I never try to remember everybody's name anyways.
If there's 150 people in the conference,
I'll go for 150 names.
But if there's more than 200,
I'll just memorize the first several rows
up to about 100, 150.
At least that's how I did it up 10 years ago.
So I arrived, I was excited to speak for his conference.
I was excited to memorize half the audience about 150 names
and I was all pumped up about it.
And I'm sitting there in my chair
and he says, "Guys, I'm so excited, Ron White's here
and tomorrow, he's going to memorize
everybody's name in the room."
And I'm like, "What?
What did he just say?"
My girlfriend was with me and I just turned to her
and I'm like, "Did he just say when I think he just said?"
She's like, "Yeah, he just said
you're going to memorize everybody's name."
And at the break, I went up to Darren.
I'm like, "Darren, you got to go up there
and you've got to correct that.
You've given them a bad impression of what I'm going to do.
I'm not going to memorize everybody's name.
I'll memorize about 150 but I'm not...
I can't, I've never done that before."
And he looked at me and he just smiled and he said,
"You got it, you're you're going to do it.
It's no big deal, the first time."
He's like, "So you're telling me
you've never done it before?"
I'm like, "Yeah, I've never done it before."
He goes, "Awesome!
So that means the first time you do it,
it'll be at this conference, they're going to love that."
And I'm like, "No, you don't understand.
I've never done it before.
That's above my memory capability."
And he just laughed and he goes, "You got it man."
And as he walked away, I'm like, "He doesn't understand.
I've never done this before.
I don't know if I can do this."
But on the other hand, it was exactly what I needed.
It was not to be...
It was to have intent focus on this task.
And that is the point.
Do you want to remember more names?
The biggest secret of it is intense focus.
Darren gave me a mission that day, a goal that day
to remember everybody's name.
Yes, I used the memory system that I teach.
What's the system that I teach?
I find a distinctive feature,
their beard, their big ears, their bald head.
Their big hair, whatever.
I zone in on that feature
and then create a story with their name
and attach it to that.
That's not the point of this video though.
The first step though is intent focus.
So into that audience that day with such intent focus.
"I'm going to get everybody," I told myself that.
"I'm going to get everybody."
And I went through and I introduced myself to 301 people.
I didn't know it was 301 people, but I knew it was a lot.
And then and I got up on stage
and I said, "Everybody stand up."
My girlfriend, pencil and a paper
and every time I said a name, she drew a line.
She drew another line, she drew another line,
she drew another line.
I got everybody's name in the room right.
It was the most I had ever done
up to that point at a conference.
And I've gotten close to it
and probably around that number since,
but it's...
That ballpark is still is now my new max.
But after I got off the stage that day,
I went over to girlfriend, I'm like,
"How many names was it?"
And we counted together, 301 names.
Here's what I say to you.
You want to remember more names?
Yes, you need to use a memory system.
You need to start thinking in pictures
and you need to start observing their face
and outstanding facial features
and see the images, a name and all that.
And I have plenty of videos on that
and I'll put them down in the description.
But the first thing that I want to tell you,
and this goes for so many things,
but it is focus your brain.
With names, how do you focus your brain?
As I was walking towards people that day that I didn't know,
I asked myself the question as I was walking towards them,
"What is their name, what is their name,
What is their name?"
And I was asking it silently to myself, why?
Because if I walk towards them and I do what we all do
and I thought, "What do I think of them?
What do they think of me?
Have I seen seen them before?
What business deals are we going to do?"
If I had had all that stuff in my mind,
then they say their name, they extend their hand.
I say, "Hi, my name is Ron," they said their name.
And I'm thinking about all these other things.
You got to quiet your mind.
The next time you go to a business meeting
or you go to a party or you go to a friend's house
and you open the door
and you see 10 people in there you don't know,
instead of asking yourself, "What do I think of them?
I'm going to size them up.
What are they think of me?
Have I seen them before?
What business deals are we going to do?"
Get all that out of your brain.
Go into focus mode and ask yourself the question,
"What is their name, what is their name,
What is their name, what is their name?"
And literally do that.
Now, don't say it out loud,
or they're going to think you're crazy
and they're not gonna want to be your friend.
But focus your brain by asking yourself,
"What is their name?"
and get that intense focus.
And then yes, you got to turn their name into a picture.
Steve is a stove, Liz is the Mona Lisa,
Karen is a carrot, Brian is a brain.
You got to observe your face
and I have plenty of training on that.
But when you leave, continue your focus.
As you drive away, review it
and then review it the next day.
But the thing is, when you focus your brain,
it is capable of some insanely amazing things.
You don't have to memorize 300 names in a day,
but maybe you just memorize two names a day.
The names of two new people every day
cause you're intently focused on it
and then the next day you review it.
It doesn't sound like much, does it?
Well, guess what?
At the end of a year, you've memorized 700 new names,
over 700 names if you do two a day.
Let's just say you do one a week.
That's 50 new people over a year.
Two a week, 100 new people a year.
Dale Carnegie wrote in his book,
"How to Win Friends and Influence People" published in 1936,
"That the sweetest sound to a person's ear
is the sound of their own name."
He wrote that everybody's favorite subject is themselves.
When you can meet somebody today
and see them six weeks later, see them six months later
and call them by their name, something magical happens.
You are no longer the person that we just met at a party
or sat beside them in history class,
or did a business deal with them.
When you remember their names six months later, boom!
You go to a friendship level in their brain.
They see you as a friend.
That's going to open up relationships for you.
That's going to open up friendships for you.
That's going to open up business opportunities for you.
It might open up opportunities in school for you.
Remembering names is important.
It makes people feel good.
It builds relationships, but the first step is focus.
I want you to right now to focus on that.
Check the description down below for more training
on how to remember names and my black belt memory course.
Maybe you want to get my full memory course, it is awesome.
Click the link below on that.
If you want to focus right now on giving me a thumbs up,
that will tell you tube the algorithm
that this was a good video, so I appreciate that.
Comment down below with how good you are at names.
And if you want to get some more training on this,
subscribe to my channel and also get at my black...
Get my black belt memory course.
I'll see you on the next video.