Scott Hagwood
Scott Hagwood, author of Memory Power (Free Press) and four-time National Memory Champion. He is based in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Imagine this—you’re at a party when someone greets you by name with a hearty handshake, but you suddenly draw a blank and can’t for the life of you remember his name.
How embarrassing!
We’ve all been in situations like that before, but we don’t have to be in them again.
“Your ability to remember is not necessarily something you’re born with—you can train yourself to become better,” said Scott Hagwood, a four-time National Memory Champion and author of Memory Power.
Here are Hagwood’s four favorite mental exercises that will train your brain to remember names more easily—and, better yet, they’re all so simple!
Try at least one of the following tricks every time you meet a new person.
Alliterate to Learn. It’s amazing how much memory power you can get by using alliteration, the stringing together of words that start with the same sound. To do this, when you first learn someone’s name, think of a characteristic that describes this person and that starts with the first letter of the person’s first name. For example, you might think to yourself, Hannah wears high heels…Tom is tall…or Donna loves drama.
Rhyme to Remember. Rhyming is also a powerful memory booster. So in your mind, rhyme a new person’s first name with an associative characteristic. For instance, Anna eats a banana…Max plays the sax…Jim likes to swim. (This won’t work for every person, of course, but it’s worth trying whenever possible.)
Link New Acquaintances with Old Ones. Say you were just introduced to someone named George who seems to be a bit of a joker. Can you think of someone else you know well who is also named George and who has a similarly playful personality? If so, make a point of linking these two people in your mind (“the two jokers”) so that the next time you see this new person, an image of the old George will pop into your mind—along with the name George. (Or maybe your old George has no sense of humor at all, so you can remember this “new George” as his complete opposite.)
Repeat the New Name. To firmly imprint a new name on your mind, repeat it both out loud and to yourself several times. Make a point of saying something such as “Great to meet you, Jason” at the beginning of the conversation and “Hope to see you again soon, Jason” at the end of the conversation.
When someone you’ve already met reappears and his name slips your mind…what do you do? First, think of the above tricks that you used to remember this person’s name in the first place. Does he have some characteristic that you notice that starts with the first letter of his name? Does he enjoy doing something that rhymes with his first name? Is he exactly like—or the complete opposite of—someone who you know who shares the same name?
If none of those methods works, don’t panic. When you’re in a group, be attentive, because someone else might say the name. Or just keep talking to the person without guessing at his name, because sometimes your subconscious works while you’re talking, and after a few minutes, the name might come to you. If all else fails, accept defeat and politely say, “I remember talking to you before, but I’ve met so many people. Can you please give me your name again?” It won’t be held against you!
