How to Become a Memory Master

One of the questions I have received most often after teaching memory techniques for more than 10 years is: "How much do I need to train to aim for ○○, reach ○○ level, or master memory techniques?" The word "how much" includes all of the following:

• The "time period" needed to reach the target level (several months or more)
• The amount of time invested in training each day
• The number of days and the pattern of training during the week
• The types of training and routines

These are things that people who are new to memory techniques naturally want to know. So in this article, I will organize the answers to each question. However, the content presented here is based only on my personal experience; I want to make clear that it can never be treated as a generalized fact or a single correct answer. I hope this article clears up your questions.

How long does it take to reach your target level?

To estimate the training period you need, you first have to know roughly what level you are aiming for. Each person who wants to learn memory techniques has a different target, and their purpose also varies.

Some people want to remember a particular type of information well. Others want to do better in school, pass an exam they are preparing for, or improve their concentration or work efficiency in daily life. Because each person's purpose and reason for learning are different, the level of memory techniques needed to achieve that purpose is different too.

If you simply want to get better at memorizing foreign-language words, you can learn and practice only the memory methods needed for foreign-language vocabulary and reach your target level relatively quickly. If you know even a little basic grammar and etymology, you may even be able to learn the necessary method in a single day. Of course, there is a big difference between merely learning and knowing a memory technique and polishing your skill and raising your level through consistent repeated training. What I mean is that, compared with simply memorizing by repetition as you normally would, you can memorize more words in the same amount of time after learning and practicing memory techniques for just one day.

On the other hand, if your goal is ambitious—ranking first in your entire school, passing a difficult exam, competing in and winning a memory sports competition, or mastering memory techniques—the level of memory techniques you need will be higher, and the amount and duration of training will inevitably increase as well. In fact, this is probably the level that most beginners want to reach.

Of these possibilities, let me discuss the estimated training period using "memory master" as the benchmark. First, we need to understand what level the term "memory master" actually refers to. It means that when you read text you need to memorize, the content naturally comes to mind as images and moving scenes and can be converted into mental imagery that is easy to remember, even without consciously thinking, "I should use this or that memory method." It also means being able to perform a memory technique that places a high cognitive load, such as a memory palace, without a major cognitive burden or strain—almost as effortlessly as reading an easy text. At this level, you can say that someone has mastered memory techniques.

The estimated training period needed to reach this memory-master level is roughly anywhere from 3 months to several decades. Why is the range so wide? There are several reasons.

1. Very few people have actually mastered memory techniques.

In fact, it is not easy even to prove that someone has mastered memory techniques. For example, even if someone who passed a difficult exam claims that they were able to pass easily because they had mastered memory techniques, there is no way to prove it. In reality, they may have studied for three years or more and falsely claim that they passed in six months by using memory techniques.

There is a way to prove it, though. An actual history of awards at a memory sports competition is the most objective proof available. At a memory sports competition, all participants receive the same "memorization time," the same "recall time," and the same "information (the questions)." Unlike ordinary exams, where each test-taker inevitably has a different amount of preparation time, all participants are given the same amount of time to learn. Therefore, unless you are highly proficient in memory techniques, it is virtually impossible to reach a high rank in a memory sports competition.

Given these circumstances, the only way to hear about memory masters' training periods is through their comments after winning at memory sports competitions, interviews, blog posts, and similar sources. Their training periods vary enormously. Some competitors, like me, trained for as little as 2–3 years or as many as several decades before placing in the competitions they entered, while one student I taught took only 3 months to finish as overall runner-up. (For reference, that person is now MetaMind's lead instructor, Yoonji Lee, and at the next competition she eventually beat me to win overall first place.)

Some people master memory techniques in 3 months, while others may not master them even after several years. Because the difference between people is so large, I honestly find it difficult to answer whenever beginners ask about the training period. It would be awkward to brush them off by saying, "It is different for everyone, and there is no right answer," so I have no choice but to give an ambiguous answer: "If you are fast, it may take 3 to 6 months; if you are slow, it may take a year or more."

2. Factors behind individual differences

Everyone has different inborn tendencies and temperaments, different life environments, different amounts and qualities of education, and different experiences. Even if people do the same training for the same amount of time, the speed at which their skills improve can differ greatly. In particular, in memory techniques, the ability to form mental imagery and associations, concentration, existing background knowledge, and learning habits have a considerable impact on training results.

For example, someone who is used to vividly imagining scenes adapts quickly to the process of turning new information into images. By contrast, when some people are asked to picture an apple, they may not be able to clearly visualize even its color or shape. That does not mean someone with weaker imagery cannot learn memory techniques. It may simply take more time and effort at first to convert information into images, and the period needed to reach the target level may be longer as a result.

The amount of knowledge and experience you already have also matters. Memory techniques are less about storing completely new information from nothing than about connecting newly encountered information to knowledge or images you already know. Therefore, the richer someone's knowledge and experience across different fields, the more material they have available for making new connections. Even when looking at the same word or concept, one person may immediately recall several images and stories, while another may spend a long time struggling to find something to associate with it.

Personality and ways of thinking also have an effect. People with strong perfectionist tendencies, or who try to give every association a logically plausible explanation, may actually train more slowly. An image that helps you remember does not have to be realistic or logical. The more exaggerated, funny, and sometimes absurd it is, the better it tends to stick. If you feel awkward about that or keep censoring yourself by thinking, “Is it okay to imagine something this ridiculous?”, it can take far too long to create a single image.

By contrast, people who quickly bring an image to mind and move on, rather than trying to create a highly polished image from the start, tend to adapt quickly in practical situations. Even if an association is somewhat rough at first, using it repeatedly helps you develop an intuitive sense of which images stay in your memory, and your ability to create effective mental imagery in a short time gradually develops.

Your attitude toward training and your consistency cannot be left out either. Just as important as how many hours you practice in a day is how consistently you train and how accurately you identify and address your weak points. In many cases, practicing with focus for 30 minutes to 1 hour every day is more effective than training for five hours all at once on one day of the week. Memory techniques do not end with understanding a method; they require repeating image conversion, spatial placement, and recall until they become an automated habit of thought.

Repeating the same problems over and over can also cause your progress to plateau. You need to distinguish whether you are slow when converting information into images, making mistakes while placing images in a memory palace, or remembering the information correctly but mixing up the order during recall. Then you need to train in a way that addresses the cause. This is also why people who receive proper feedback or record and analyze their own performance grow faster than people who practice alone by relying on intuition.

In the end, it is true that innate ability affects the speed at which your skills improve, but differences in innate ability do not determine the ultimate limit of your skill. Someone who is clumsy at forming mental imagery and slow at making associations can still reach an outstanding level through consistent training. However, because starting points, learning speeds, and training efficiency differ, the time required to reach the same goal can vary greatly.

The effect of age also cannot be ignored. Like other sports or skills, people tend to adapt to memory techniques more quickly when they start at a relatively young age. Young athletes often stand out at memory sports competitions, and in my experience of teaching memory techniques for a long time, younger students tend to improve their skills faster than adults.

As adults, our way of thinking can become fixed around language and text, which can make it increasingly difficult to summon images freely or imagine unusual scenes. We also develop habits of censoring our own creative or illogical thoughts. Yet to become good at memory techniques, you need to be able to imagine unrealistic, exaggerated, and unusual things without holding back. Nonsensical scenes leave a much stronger impression on memory than ordinary, logical ones.

That does not mean at all that older people cannot become good at memory techniques. Adults have the advantages of richer background knowledge and experience, a clearer understanding of their own learning purpose, and the ability to check their training process for themselves. Even if thinking in images feels awkward at first, you can become sufficiently familiar with it through consistent practice. An adult learner's patience and perseverance are also weapons that can carry them to the goal, even if their skill improves more slowly than a young student's.

Nor does being unable to summon a photographically clear image in your mind mean that you cannot use memory techniques. Just as important as the vividness of an image is creating relationships between pieces of information and connecting them to a particular place or story so that you can recall them later. Memory techniques can still work with only a vague shape or movement, a sense of space, a sound, an emotion, or a conceptual feeling.

Ultimately, the time needed to reach your target level is determined by a combination of innate ability, acquired effort, and the circumstances and environment in which you live. Many factors work together: your starting point, the frequency and intensity of training, your training method, the quality of feedback, consistency, and your purpose for learning. So there is no need to think that you must reach the same level within three months just because someone else reached it in three months. What matters is not comparing yourself with others, but checking whether you are becoming a little faster and more accurate than in your previous performance.

That is why I actually advise my students not to set a goal. By “goal” here, I do not mean a weekday training routine or completing a daily training amount. I mean a “means-to-an-end goal” such as “master memory techniques.” The moment you approach memory-technique training as a means to reach a goal, each day's training becomes a hell of feeling the gap between yourself and the target and the frustration of failure. Instead, simply use memory techniques to imagine absurd images and funny scenes, marvel at the memories that arise naturally, and enjoy that moment. If you do, one day you will find that you have reached the level you were aiming for.

How much should you train each day?

This time, let us talk about how much time you should invest in memory-technique training during the day.

To state the conclusion first, for someone learning memory techniques for the first time, around 30 minutes to 1 hour a day is the most realistic amount. Of course, you can train for 2 or 3 hours or more in a day, but beginners do not necessarily need long training sessions. If you force yourself to train for too long, your concentration may drop, image conversion may gradually slow down, and training itself may start to feel burdensome.

Memory-technique training is not simply studying by staring at a problem for a long time. You have to turn information into images, create relationships between the images, place them at locations in a memory palace, and then recall them in order. This process uses more cognitive energy than you might expect. If you train with proper concentration for an hour, you may feel much more tired than after an hour of ordinary study.

So at first, it is more important to maintain a high level of focus than to train for a long time. Concentrating for 30 minutes a day is much better than training carelessly for two hours.

Personally, I recommend the following guidelines.

• Beginner in memory techniques: 30 minutes–1 hour a day
• Building the fundamentals: 1–2 hours a day
• Aiming for rapid improvement: 2–3 hours a day
• Preparing for a memory sports competition: 3 hours or more a day

However, these are only rough guidelines. If you want to use memory techniques for schoolwork or a certification exam, you do not need to set aside a long separate block of memory-technique training time. The process of turning what you learn while studying into images and placing it in a memory palace can itself be memory-technique training.

On the other hand, if your goal is a high score at a memory sports competition, the situation is different. You have to memorize material across many different disciplines—numbers, cards, faces and names, words, historical years, and so on—quickly and accurately within a time limit, so it is not enough merely to know how to apply memory methods. You have to repeatedly measure and improve your image-conversion speed, placement speed, and recall accuracy.

The important point here is not to increase your training time unconditionally, but to use that time according to your current weaknesses. If you are fast at turning numbers into images but images do not combine well or become mixed together in your memory palace, you need training in distinguishing locations, placing images, and combining them. If you feel that you memorized something well but the order often gets reversed during recall, there may be a problem with your recall route or review method.

What matters more than “How many hours did I train today?” is “What problem did I find today, and what did I improve?”

How many days a week should you train?

It is better to use memory techniques often, even briefly, than to train for a long time all at once.

For example, practicing for 1 hour a day from Monday through Friday is more helpful for improving your skill than practicing for 5 hours only on Sunday. That is because memory techniques are not simply knowledge; they are a kind of thinking habit.

At first, whenever you read something, you have to consciously think, “What image should I turn this content into?” and “Which location should I put it in?” But if you repeat this process often, an image gradually comes to mind the moment you see information, and you become able to connect it to existing knowledge or a place without making a special effort to think about it.

For general learning purposes, I recommend training about 4–5 days a week. Training every day is fine too, but you do not have to train without missing a single day. On days when you are very tired or images do not come easily, you can take the time to rest.

What matters is not giving up on all your training just because you took one day off. Many people fail to follow the training they planned for a day or two, think, “I have already ruined the plan,” and stop completely. But memory-technique skill is built not by one day's success or failure, but by training accumulated over several months.

You can start with a pattern like this:

• Monday–Friday: 30 minutes a day of fundamentals and memory-sports discipline training
• Saturday: Practice applying memory techniques to actual study or a long text
• Sunday: Rest or review what you remembered during the week

Even if you want to train a lot, it is a good idea to take one full day of rest during the week. Think of rest not as time when you are doing no training, but as a process of recovering your concentration for the next training session.

What kind of training should you do?

To improve your memory-technique skills, you should not simply keep practicing with a memory palace. You need to separate out the various abilities that make up memory techniques and train them individually.

The main abilities you need include the following.

1. Image-conversion ability

This is the ability to turn words, sentences, numbers, and abstract concepts into images that are easy to remember.

For example, if you try to remember an invisible concept such as “economic growth” or “social responsibility” exactly as text, it is difficult. You need to make it concrete—for example, by turning economic growth into a golden graph shooting upward with dollars flying around it, and social responsibility into a person carrying the heavy Earth on their back.

It can be difficult to turn abstract words and concepts into images from the beginning. So it is a good idea to start by practicing with numbers or cards, which are memory-sports disciplines, and with simple words. Early in your training, it may take a long time to create a single image. However, as you repeatedly turn different kinds of information into images, a collection of frequently used images builds up and your conversion speed gradually increases.

2. Combination ability

This is the ability to connect individual images strongly to one another.

You need to make the images collide, move, make sounds, or change shape within a single scene. A scene in which the images interact strongly is easier to remember than one in which several objects are simply lined up next to each other.

For example, if you need to connect an apple and a car, a scene in which an apple is sitting next to a car is much less effective than one in which a giant apple falls onto the car and juice bursts everywhere.

3. Memory-palace ability

This is the ability to place the images you need to remember at the locations in a familiar space in order.

Beginners often confuse the order of locations or make the mistake of putting too much information in one location. At first, it is a good idea to use a very familiar place such as your home, school, or daily commute route, and clearly distinguish the spacing between each point (locus) within it.

With a memory palace, building locations you can use reliably comes before building many of them. It is best to start with just one or two places, such as your home and a park, learn them until you can move through them naturally without looking at the order, and then expand.

Building the habit of closing your eyes and making one complete tour of your memory palace while still lying down as soon as you wake up every morning (a morning routine) can become a very strong foundation for improving your skills.

4. Recall ability

Recall is a part of memory-technique training that is surprisingly easy to neglect.

Many people focus only on putting information into a memory palace and do not train enough to take it back out. But memory is meaningful not when it has been stored, but when you can retrieve it accurately when you need it.

You should practice recalling not only immediately after memorizing, but also after a certain amount of time has passed. It also helps to practice not only recalling from the beginning, but starting from a middle point, recalling in reverse order, or selecting and finding only particular items.

5. Real-world application ability

Being good at remembering random words or numbers does not immediately mean that you will become good at studying. However, if you cannot apply memory techniques even to simple information such as words or numbers, it will be even harder to apply them to actual learning content made up of abstract concepts and chunks of sentences.

In schoolwork or exams, you have to understand the meaning and structure of concepts, distinguish similar content, and retrieve information as appropriate for the question. In particular, you should not apply memory techniques to every piece of content; you should mainly apply them to concepts in problems that are difficult to understand or that you get wrong often. So once your fundamentals are in place, you need to gradually apply memory techniques to the textbooks and materials you actually study.

If your goal is memory sports, you need to train around the competition disciplines. If foreign-language words are your goal, you need to train by connecting pronunciation and meaning. If passing an exam is your goal, you need to systematically organize and remember the table of contents, key concepts, conditions, and exceptions.

Memory techniques are not one single skill that applies in the same form to every purpose. The appropriate memory method and training approach need to change according to the purpose.

A recommended training routine for beginners

Assuming that you train for about one hour a day, you can structure it as follows.

10 minutes: Image conversion

Look at random words or numbers and quickly turn them into images. At first, focus less on how complete the image is and more on recalling a related word within a set amount of time.

• Recommended disciplines: Numbers, Cards, Words, Names

15 minutes: Combination training

Combine several images into one scene or moving sequence. Actively use movement, sound, changes in size, emotion, and collisions. Rather than combining too many images from the beginning, practice with the idea of adding one more each day.

• Recommended disciplines: Images, Faces & Names

20 minutes: Memory-palace training

Place 10 to 20 pieces of information in a memory palace and then recall them in order. As you become familiar with it, gradually increase the amount of information you remember.

• Recommended disciplines: Random words, numbers, cards

10 minutes: Delayed recall

Recall information you memorized earlier or information you memorized at the beginning of the training session. For any parts you cannot remember, check which images were weak.

5 minutes: Training record

Briefly record the amount of information you remembered, the time it took, the number of mistakes, and the parts you found difficult.

Training records are more important than you might think. Without records, it is difficult to know accurately whether your skills are improving, and it is easy to be left with only the strong feeling of a bad day and mistakenly think, “No matter how much I do, I am not improving.”

For example, suppose it took 10 minutes to remember 20 words at first and you got 5 wrong, but two days later you remembered 20 words in 11 minutes and got only 1 wrong. That is clear progress. Seeing these changes also helps you continue training.

However, you do not need to challenge your best record every day. It is better to divide your training into days for improving accuracy, days for improving speed, days for building a new memory palace, and days for applying memory techniques to actual study.

If you try to increase speed every time, your images may become weaker and your accuracy may fall. Conversely, if you always memorize too slowly because you are trying too hard not to make a mistake, your speed will not improve. You need to adjust the balance between speed and accuracy.

How do you know when you have mastered memory techniques?

It is difficult to judge whether you have mastered memory techniques simply by how many pieces of information you can memorize.

Even if you can remember 100 random words in 5 minutes, you may not be able to use memory techniques properly in actual study. Conversely, even without a memory sports competition record, if you can quickly and accurately structure and remember the material in your field of study, you can be considered to have reached a high level in a practical sense.

I think the standards for a memory master are as follows.

First, when you encounter information, images and associations arise naturally without you having to consciously think each time that you should use a memory method. For example, even when the content of a sentence in a book is abstract, related images and scenes automatically come to mind.

Second, when using a memory palace, you do not feel a major cognitive burden while finding locations and placing images.

Third, you can choose an appropriate method for different types of information, such as numbers, words, sentences, concepts, people, and sequences.

Fourth, when you fail to remember something, you can identify the cause of the failure yourself and correct it.

Fifth, you can use memory techniques smoothly not only in memory training, but also in actual study, work, and daily life.

Sixth, even when information is completely new to you, you can connect it to your existing knowledge and quickly create a memory system.

Ultimately, a memory master is not someone who knows many memory techniques. It is someone who can choose the right memory method for the situation, use it naturally without great effort, and retrieve information accurately when needed.

How much time should you realistically expect?

Earlier, I described the time needed to master memory techniques as anywhere from 3 months to several decades. However, some people may feel that this range is too wide to serve as a practical guideline.

Based on my experience, we can divide the stages of growth a little more specifically as follows.

One day to one week

This is the stage where you understand basic association methods and the principles of a memory palace and can apply them to short words or lists.

With relatively simple information such as English words or a shopping list, you may be able to remember it more efficiently than with ordinary repetition from the very first day you learn the technique.

2 weeks to 1 month

This is the stage where you gradually become familiar with turning information into images and can use a short memory palace.

However, it may still take a long time to create a single image, combining images may not feel natural, and using memory techniques itself may feel burdensome.

3 to 6 months

If you have trained consistently, this is the period when the fundamentals of memory techniques become somewhat automated.

Your image-conversion speed increases, you can use several memory palaces, and you can gradually apply memory techniques to the things you study. Depending on the training environment and individual differences, some people grow quickly enough within this period to achieve a good result at a memory sports competition.

6 months to 1 year

This is the stage where you can apply memory techniques to various kinds of information and identify your own weaknesses and strengths.

By this point, you begin to move beyond simply following the techniques you have learned and start creating your own system of images and memory strategies. You can also use memory techniques relatively steadily in your studies and work.

1 year or more

This is the stage where memory techniques are becoming ingrained not as a single skill, but as a way of thinking.

The moment you see information, you naturally grasp its structure, images, and connections, and you can combine different memory methods according to your purpose. If you are aiming for top results in memory sports competitions or want to handle information freely across many fields, you may need many years of training even after reaching this stage.

Of course, this period varies greatly depending on how much you train each day and how you train. A year for someone who trains lightly once a week is not the same as a year for someone who trains intensively every day.

Memory techniques also have no clear graduation point. At first, your goal may be to remember 20 words; once that becomes possible, you will aim for 50, and after that you will want to remember them faster or retain them for longer. Once you start using memory techniques for study, you will want to remember not only simple lists but also complex concepts and logical structures.

Therefore, being a memory master is less like suddenly arriving at a single point one day and more like moving in a direction where the process of remembering gradually becomes more natural and free.

Conclusion

It is natural for people who want to learn memory techniques to wonder about the training period. If you do not know whether you can reach your goal or how much time you will need to invest, you may hesitate to begin.

However, one of the thoughts you need to be most wary of while learning memory techniques is the impatient thought that “I must master this within a few months.” Learning memory techniques quickly and learning them properly are different things. If you try to memorize quickly from the beginning, your images and associations may be weak, and if you compare yourself with other people's records, you may lose the joy of training.

It is fine to start by properly remembering ten words. It is fine if it takes 30 seconds to create one image. If you train consistently, 30 seconds will become 10 seconds, then shrink to a few seconds, and one day you will reach the moment when an image comes to mind without much effort.

It is impossible to say exactly how many months it will take to master memory techniques. Some people may reach an astonishing level in 3 months, while others may grow slowly through years of training.

What is certain is that if you train consistently with the right method, you will inevitably be better than when you started. The talent you need most to become a memory master is not only an excellent memory or vivid imagination. It is the persistence to use metacognition—to accept your shortcomings, revisit memories you failed to recall, and try once more today to turn information into images.

So do not try to use memory techniques perfectly from the beginning. First, turn one piece of information into an image, place it at one location, and try to recall it again a little later. The more often you repeat this small process, the more memory techniques will stop being a special skill you force yourself to use and become your natural way of thinking about and remembering information.