- Hey guys, my name is Ron White.
I'm a two time USA Memory Champion.
In this video, I'm gonna talk about why you can't remember anything.
If you like this video, I have a course called Black Belt Memory, and I'll put that down
in the description of this video.
So if you liked this video, you learned some stuff, make sure you get my Black Belt Memory
course down in the description below.
Now, lemme ask you this question.
Do you feel like you can't remember anything?
Do you read a page and then after you read the page, you gotta go back and read it again
because you don't remember what you read?
Or you read a book, you study for a test, you go in and take the test and you can't
remember what you studied for the test?
Or you shake somebody's hand and two seconds after you shake their hand and get their name,
you can't remember what they said their name was?
I hear this all the time.
I've been teaching memory seminars for 30 years and people will tell me, Ron, my memory
is terrible.
I'm losing my memory.
I can't remember anything.
I don't trust my memory.
And I always have to say as gently as I can, and actually what I'm telling them is good
news, not bad news.
Your memory is not that bad.
It's not as bad as you think it is.
Your expectations are most likely not realistic because your memory is probably actually pretty
good.
Now, if you don't believe me, ask yourself this question.
Have you ever been in a car accident?
Yeah.
How many years ago was it?
10.
Okay, was it day or nighttime?
Who was driving?
Where were you at?
Who was in the car?
What were they details of the accident?
If it was 10 years ago, you could probably tell me all of that.
And your memory told you that from 10 years in the past.
Or if you're old enough to remember where you were on September 11th, your memory can
remember it probably perfectly.
And that was 20 years ago at the time of the recording of this video.
Your memory is actually really good when you have clear expectations and use it properly.
Now, why are you remembering the car accident and where you were on September 11th?
Because there was tons of action involved.
There was tons of emotion involved.
And also you probably told that story many times.
You told somebody, I was in a car accident, and this is what happened.
I was in a car accident and this is what happened.
What were you doing?
You were reviewing.
And reviewing is a key part of your memory.
When you review, when you see things very vividly, your memory probably actually works
pretty well.
But the reason you're not remembering names, the reason you're not remembering what you
read, the reason you're not remembering what you study is your expectations aren't realistic.
You're not memorizing it.
You're not storing it in your memory in the first place.
You're walking into a room, you're getting somebody's name.
You're halfway paying attention.
You walk out of the room, you weren't even paying attention.
You're driving home.
You don't remember their name.
You're like, oh, my memory's terrible.
No, it's not.
You weren't paying attention.
You didn't put in the work.
Now, how do you put in the work?
How do you pay attention?
How do you get the most out of your memory?
It's really a couple different ways.
It's sleep, taking care of your body that way.
It's good nutrition and exercise, but it's also memory systems.
Let's deal with sleep first of all.
If you're not getting any sleep, that's one of the worst things for your memory, stress
and lack of sleep.
Try do your best to get eight hours of sleep every night.
And that final six to eight hours of sleep every night, your brain is gonna go into REM
sleep.
And when your brain goes into REM sleep, it replays what you learned the next day.
So, if you go to jujitsu class and you learn a lot of moves, but you don't get enough sleep
that night after you learn them, guess what?
Your brain is not gonna have the ability to replay the information during your sleep.
So when you wake up, you will remember it less.
Review is important even when you're asleep.
If you go to your history class, your Spanish class, and you learn some words and you don't
get enough sleep the night after, your brain's not gonna get a chance to review it during
your sleep.
Sleep is important.
Nutrition, good nutrition and exercise.
Eat the right foods.
Spinach, blueberries, omega three, drinking plenty of water, all great brain foods.
Stay as fit as you can, exercise, the better fit your body is, the better fit your brain
is.
Sleep, nutrition and finally, you need a memory system.
You need a place to store the information.
You need a strategy, start thinking in pictures, whatever you want to remember, see it as a
picture, see it as a crazy picture and remember how important it is to review these pictures.
The first review that you're gonna do is not conscience.
It's why you're asleep.
It's in that REM stage of sleep.
But there are other reviews that you should do.
When you're driving away from the person or you're driving away from the class, review
what you learned.
I do jujitsu and you know what I tell myself after, when I walk into jujitsu class?
I tell myself at the end of this class, there's gonna be a test.
Well, there's not really a test, but that's what I'm telling myself.
Why do I tell myself that?
I tell myself that so I'm paying attention.
I'm like, okay, get this down, there's gonna be a test afterwards.
Get it down.
What is that test?
What is the test?
The test is when I get into my car, I sit in my car and I review what I just learned.
When I'm driving home, I review what I just learned.
When I get to my house, I open up my journal and I write what I just learned.
That is the test.
I'm giving myself the test, but by telling myself there's gonna be a test, I will remember
more.
When you go to your history class, your Spanish class, your chemistry class, as you walk in
the room, tell yourself at the end of this, there's gonna be a test.
That's gonna force you to pay more attention.
It's gonna force you to take better notes.
After the class, maybe right outside the classroom, sit down, open up a journal and write as much
down as you can remember from that class.
Don't read your notes, just see what you can remember.
That is an active review.
And it's gonna do two things.
Number one, it's gonna give you a book that you can go back to later and review.
But one of the biggest things that it's gonna do is it's going to you a test and that test
is gonna improve your memory.
So I believe in a thing called walk and talks as well where I take what I'm, when I was
memorizing the United States Constitution, I memorized at all.
It's 4,543 words.
I've memorized the preamble, but I've also memorized the entire thing.
When I memorized the constitution, I would carry a constitution in my hand.
And I would walk around the city of Fort Worth where I lived saying that out loud.
That review is crucial to your memory.
Take your Spanish notes, your history notes, your chemistry notes, and put them in your
hands, go for a walk around your town.
And as you walk review as much as you can of what is in those notes.
Say it out loud.
Richard Feynman, who was a psychologist in the 1980s, told us that if we teach something
to other people, we will remember it more.
Now, that teaching it to other people is true even if the person, the person you're teaching
it to is a camera or a TV or a lamp or a tree on your walk or a dog on your walk, all you
have to do is just repeat it.
Say it again as if you're teaching it to a person and you'll get the same benefit.
So in review, your memory is not as bad as you think it is, but your expectations probably
aren't realistic.
You're not reviewing, you're not writing it down.
You're not thinking about it.
You're not seeing real clear vivid images.
And if you don't do those things, you're right, your memory is terrible.
But if you do those things, your memory's probably actually really good.
One final suggestion.
There is a technique known as the memory palace, or the mind palace.
It's where you use pieces of furniture in a room to memorize.
We don't have enough time to go in to in this deep video, but I do have videos on the mind
palace on my YouTube channel.
So you can search those.
I'll put them in the link description, or if you just want to get my memory course,
Black Belt Memory, I'll put a link down below in the description, I have a free gift for
you there and you can take the next step in improving your memory.
My name is Ron White.
I'm a two time USA Memory Champion.
If you like this video, I do appreciate the thumbs up.
Most people who watch our videos aren't subscribed.
So I hope you subscribe so you can get more of these videos and I'll see you on the next
lesson.