CHAPTER X PRACTICAL MEMORY TRAINING "His mind was a storehouse of knowledge of which he had lost the key." -OLD ENGLISH TABLET. WHEN the beginner has prepared his little talk and comes to deliver it, he bumps into a new trouble. Perhaps right in the middle he may lose the thread of his argument, and flounder helplessly through the rest of it. Or that fine climax which he had worked out with such care suddenly fades away. Often he closes and sits down with the sad realization that he has left out the best things he had to say. He is then in a frame of mind to mutter, "The saddest words of tongue or pen are 'I forgot.'" Now of course stage fright is sometimes accountable for this trouble, but as a rule it is due to a weakness of memory. A Speaker should develop a good memory-in fact, one of the greatest things he will gain from his practice in speaking is a keen retentive memory. Public Speaking absolutely compels him to develop his memory. He must have it. When he faces the crowd alone, and his memory slips, all is lost. A prompter is out of the question, a manuscript is impossible with modern audiences, and notes are inadvisable. MAKE YOUR NOTES ON THE MENTAL TABLETS OF YOUR BRAIN Notes are always a serious handicap. They hamper a speaker more than they help, and always they act as a barrier between him and his audience. At best they are only crutches. Better say less and say it with direct contact. When you refer to your notes you break your contact with your audience. Dale Carnagey says, "Fully fifty per cent. of the effect of a speech is lost by continual reference to notes." When you read a speech, you openly admit to your auditors that your address has not impressed you enough to be remembered. When a speaker talks without notes his spontaneity and freedom are always appreciated. Almost every newspaper account of Elihu Root's speeches in the United States Senate mentioned specifically that “he spoke without notes." What a welcome surprise! It must have been as refreshing as a summer rain after a long dry spell. Learn to make your notes on the mental tablets of your brain, where you can refer to them without distracting the attention of your audience. That such distraction is fatal is humorously brought out by Mark Twain in relating his unique method of writing his notes in ink on his finger-nails. However, the picture method which he describes in the article at the end of this chapter is practical and very helpful. After all, notes are entirely unnecessary. It is an easy matter to carry in mind a short talk. It is utterly ridiculous for a man of normal mentality to use notes for a ten- or fifteen-minute talk. The faculty of memory responds so readily to the right kind of training that any mind of ordinary caliber can soon develop the memory so that it can be depended upon to meet all the necessary requirements of Practical Speaking. LOGICAL MEMORY VS. ROTE MEMORY In considering these requirements, we find that we must make two classifications, Logical Memory and Rote Memory. By rote memory we mean the ability to memorize anything word for word, line for line, or figure for figure, exactly and in order. It demands perfect accuracy and no departure from the original text is permissible. By logical memory we mean the ability to memorize, not words or figures, but ideas and the logical sequence of those ideas. Logical memory is by far the greater attainment; it is the advanced step, the ultimate goal to be sought in practical speaking. Some writers belittle the importance of rote memory. This is a mistake, because rote memory is the A B C of memory training; it devolops accuracy and lays the foundation for a good logical memory. The advice: "Do not memorize" given by some authors is misleading, for the faculty of memory must be used even in extemporaneous speaking. As a matter of fact, I know of no one who has developed a great logical memory who has not first developed the rote memory to at least a fair degree of accuracy. Without it we have inaccuracy of statement, loose translations, and hit-or-miss disorderly arrangement. In a public address the beauty of the quotation or the bigness of the idea may be ruined or utterly destroyed by the flaw of inaccuracy. The speaker, therefore, must develop his rote memory and his logical memory, for he needs both. This can be attained through a sensible system of practical memory training. Space forbids a complete presentation of such a course, but these working principles will suffice to meet the needs of any speaker who will carefully follow the directions and suggestions given. LAWS OF MEMORY Most memory systems are impractical. Analysis of the best of them will show that the "System" is built around three basic laws: Concentration, Association, and Repetition. The difficulty experienced by many in memorizing is due to diffused interest. Interest has been defined as "Soul light for Mental Photography." Be prepared to make a good clear impression for your mental photograph. Bring to it the organization of all your faculties plus attention. Full Concentrated Attention is absolutely necessary! Depth of impression is what counts-One intense hour will do more than a day of indifferent attention-A few minutes of steady undivided concentration will accomplish more than hours of scattered thinking. Visualization helps concentration; it is much easier to focus the mental camera on concrete pictures. To bring your attention to a definite point and hold it there steadily until that point is firmly fixed in the memory, to bring all your mental force to bear upon a certain problem until it is solved-this is a mental achievement worth working for. A wandering mind never arrives at a supreme Conclusion. The Law of Association solves the problem of memorizing for many people. It enables us to remember one thing by relating it to another which we associate with it. If the new thing to be remembered can be associated with some fact already firmly established in the mind, so much the better. The speaker who has a poor memory for numbers can readily recall the fact that one thousand four hundred and ninety-two people were injured by automobiles in his state during the past year by associating it with a fact he learned years ago as a schoolboy: that Columbus discovered America in 1492. Or, if he wished to refer to "Woodrow Wilson" and for a moment the name slipped his memory he could recall it instantly by thinking-" The League of Nations." So in the preparation of your talks link together related facts and use the law of association for all it is worth. Repetition is a very simple law, but indispensable. By going over that first impression, again and again, day after day, it is deepened and intensified until your mental picture is etched so vividly that it will never fade. You can vary the monotony of repetition by using all of the main channels of memory: Visual, Aural, and Motor. See it-hear it, write it, until the thing to be remembered is indelibly fixed in the mind, and you will never forget it. Concentration, Association, Repetition, these three are the working principles of practical memory training. THE PROBLEM OF RETENTIVENESS It is one thing to receive a fact, another to retain it. Ideas often come into our minds in a haphazard way at almost any time or place. If we fail to "salt them down" in a note-book, we are apt to lose them entirely. It is surprising how elusive these ideas are. |