Hey, guys.
It's Ron White.
I was on the National Geographic show, Brain Games, and on that show, I went around Times
Square, and I asked people to show me the money in their pockets.
I looked at the dollar bills, and I memorized the serial number on it.
And I handed it back and repeated the serial numbers.
It was a great memory demonstration, and the question is: Was it magic, a unique ability
for me, or is it something that anybody can learn?
The good news is anybody can learn how to do it, and I'm going to show you how I did
it.
So how did I memorize the numbers on the dollar bills on the TV show, Brain Games?
The first thing that I did is I had to do a little bit of preparation work.
And that is I had to create pictures for numbers, because numbers are on the dollar bill, and
to remember anything, you need a picture for it.
My picture for the number 1 was a pencil, because a 1 looks like a pencil.
My picture for the number 2 was a duck, because a duck's neck kind of looks like a number
2.
3 was a pyramid, because there's 3 sides to a pyramid. 4, I determined would be a box,
because there's 4 sides on a box.
Number 5 was a star because there's 5 points on a star.
Number 6, I made it an elephant, because if you turn the number 6 on it's side, a number
6 kind of looks like an elephant, the body of the elephant and then the trunk.
Number 7 was dice, because -- I don't know if you know this, but opposite sides always
add up to 7 on dice.
If there's a 1 on top, there's a 6 on bottom; if there's a 3 on top, there's a 4 on bottom.
So 7 was dice.
Number 8 for me was a snowman, because an 8 kind of looks like a snowman.
Number 9, I made it a balloon, because the balloon looks like the circle on a 9, and
then the string coming down looks like the line on the number 9.
10 for me was a plate and a fork, because a fork is the 1, and a plate looks like a
circle, that makes up the number 10.
And I did this all the way up to 20.
11 was a goal post, because a goal post has 2 sides on it.
12 was eggs, because a dozen eggs.
13 was a mountain, because the curves of a 3, if you lay it on its side, kind of look
like the curves of mountaintops. 14, I make a necklace, 14 karat gold, maybe February
the 14th you give a necklace for Valentine's Day.
Number 15 I turned into a picture of drums, because the 5 kind of looks like drums with
the cymbal above it, and the 1 looks like the drumstick.
So 15 was drums. 16 for me was a car, because you've got to be 16 to get a driver's license.
17, I used a woodpecker, because the 1 looked like a tree, and the 7 looked like a woodpecker
pecking away at the tree.
Number 18 for me is handcuffs, because the 2 circles look like the handcuffs, and the
1 looks like the key.
18 was handcuffs.
So 19, I used golf clubs because there are 18 holes in a golf course, but the 19th hole
is where you go to get your lemonade or hang out after the game.
19th hole; 19 is golf clubs.
And number 20 I used fingers and toes, 10 fingers, 10 toes, 20 fingers and toes.
So after the first step -- I've turned numbers 1 to 20 into pictures -- I also did the same
thing with letters.
A for me, I decided was going to be an apple.
B was going to be a bumblebee. C was going to be a cat.
D was going to be a dog.
I created pictures for every letter of the alphabet.
Then after I had pictures for numbers and I had pictures for letters, the next thing
that I had to do is I had to memorize a map of my house.
I stood in the doorway of every single one of my rooms, and I picked 5 pieces of furniture
in each room -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Then I stood in the doorway of the next room -- 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
And I numbered things like desks, beds, TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, stoves.
I numbered my house.
This is what is called the Mind Palace.
So real quick recap.
The first thing that I did is I created pictures for numbers, then I created pictures for letters,
and then I numbered pieces of furniture in my house.
Then I went to Times Square.
In Times Square somebody would hand me a dollar bill, and I would open it up.
And the first 2 letters would say I, H. Well "I" for me was an igloo, like in Alaska, and
"H" was a hat.
So on my first piece of furniture I would imagine an igloo to remember the letter I.
On my second piece of furniture, I would imagine taking off a hat and setting it on there to
remember H. Now let's say the next sequence of letters would be 1, 3 -- 13, right?
Well we've already decided that 13, our picture for that is going to be a mountain, because
a 3 on its side kind of looks like the shape of a mountain.
So on my third piece of furniture in that room I imagine mountains, and I imagine the
cold weather.
That reminds me of the number 13.
Then let's say the next number in the sequence was 7.
Well we've already decided that our picture for the number 7 is dice, so we imagine the
game of dice or craps or Monopoly, dice being thrown on our next piece of furniture.
So to remember that sequence of letters and numbers, I would think back to the house.
The first piece of furniture was an igloo, so I said I.
The next piece of furniture there was a hat, so I said H. The next piece of furniture,
we saw the mountain, so I would say 1, 3.
And then the next piece of furniture there was dice, and so I would say 7 -- IH137.
And that's really how I memorized the dollar bills.
I would just go through the sequence, and I was seeing balloons for number 9.
I was seeing a cat for the letter C. And I would just imagine it around my house.
So that's how I did it.
That's the simple trick and the simple system that I used to memorize serial numbers on
dollar bills.
The way that you get good at this is number 5 pieces of furniture in each room of your
house -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Close your eyes, say them forwards and backwards.
Make sure that you know them solid.
And then create pictures for numbers.
Whenever you see those numbers or whenever you hear those numbers, imagine those numbers,
the pictures interacting with your furniture.
And you should be able to memorize the string of numbers.
I used it with dollar bills.
Every dollar bill, I had its own separate room so I could keep the dollar bills separate
in my mind.
So if you want to amaze your friends and memorize the serial numbers on dollar bills, it's a
crazy cool skill.
It's a crazy cool trick.
All you have to do is click the link right here, and I will send you my pictures for
numbers totally free.
I'll also send you my pictures for letters totally free.
Click the link right here.
You're going to amaze your friends.
Or click the link in the text description below, and we'll send it to you right now.
All right, guys.
So you're still here.
I've got some more videos here that you're going to really love.
This one right here is how I memorized the numbers on Stan Lee's Super Humans on The
History Channel.
Check this out right here, more training on how to memorize numbers.