Build a Memory Palace | from Brain Specific

The Memory Palace

Memory Palaces are your tool to remember anything.
They are the secret weapon utilized by memory
champions, yet anyone can easily learn how to use
them. In fact, you are about to build one right now!
Certain things are more difficult to memorize than others. For example, memo-
rizing the layout of our house is pretty easy for us. We know where each room
is. However, we might find it difficult to memorize things like vocabulary words,
scientific terms, or the script for the school play. Memory Palaces use what we
are good at memorizing as a tool to help us memorize the things we struggle
with. We will build our first Memory Palaces together to see how they work.

Here is the layout

of a pretend home
with each
room labeled.

While your own home works well as your Memory Palace, we can also
use other places and spaces we know well. For example:
• Your school • The different • A route you know
• Another home you spaces within your well like the route
visit frequently, like room, like the bed, you take to school
a friend’s house closet, window, each day and
or your grandpar- dresser, or desk the landmarks
ents’ house you pass
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Layout Your Palace

For your first Memory Palace we will use the layout for your home. As a first
step, draw the layout of your home in the space below. Do not worry about
getting the size and shape of each room exactly right. What matters is that the
room locations make sense to you. If your home has multiple floors, draw each
floor separately.

You Try!

Now draw a line with arrows that shows how you would walk through your
house starting with the front door.

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Building a Basic Memory Palace

Now it is time to fill up our Memory Palace. For our first Memory Palace we will
Grocery List be memorizing a grocery list. One at a time, we are going to place each of
• Tomatoes the items on the list in our Memory Palace. Since there are seven items on the
• Eggs list, we will need seven locations in our Memory Palace to place each item. To
• Bread start, we place our tomatoes in the first room of our memory palace. Then, the
• Milk eggs will go in the next room, the bread in the room after that, and so on. To
• Bananas make each item memorable we will do more than place it in the room, we will
• Chicken
use a PAO.
• Strawberries

What’s a PAO?

PAO stands for “Person”, “Action”,

“Object”. Thinking of things in terms of
PAOs makes things more descriptive
and memorable. The image to the right
is an example of PAO. A grandma (per-
son) is hitting a tennis ball (action) using
a cat (object). This image is ridiculous
which is exactly why it is memorable!
The term “person” can refer to someone
famous, someone we know, or even a
personified cartoon or animal.

Imagine if you were trying to memorize a list of presidents using a Memory Pal-
ace. Instead of simply imagining Lincoln sitting in the living room, use a PAO.
For example, imagine him flipping playing
cards into his top hat. The PAO is Lincoln
(person) is flipping playing cards (action)
into his top hat (object).

For our first item, tomatoes, we would

place the tomatoes in the first room of our
Memory Palace – the entryway. Remem-
ber to go beyond simply picturing some
tomatoes in the entryway. Instead, use a
PAO. We might imagine a huge cartoon to-
mato coming home from work. As he tries
to squeeze through the front door, tomato
juice squirts out his sides. Another large
tomato already in the house is screaming,
“You’re spilling yourself all over the rug!”

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Now it is your turn to help complete the rest of your Memory Palace! Look at
the Memory Palace you drew and find the room next to your entryway. What-
ever room that is we will put the next item in the list (eggs). List your location/
room below and then think about the item (eggs) and that location. Create a
PAO that represents eggs and that location. Write it on the next line. Remem-
ber that silly is good and there are no wrong answers. Use the first PAO that
comes to mind. Then, move on to the next room in your Memory Palace and
the next item on the list.

Tomato Location/Room in the Memory Palace Entryway

PAO to remember it A huge cartoon tomato is trying to squeeze through

the entry way spilling juice on the rug as another tomato screams at him.

Eggs Location/Room in the Memory Palace

You Try!
PAO to remember it

Bread Location/Room in the Memory Palace

PAO to remember it

Milk Location/Room in the Memory Palace

PAO to remember it

Bananas Location/Room in the Memory Palace

PAO to remember it

Chicken Location/Room in the Memory Palace

PAO to remember it

Strawberries Location/Room in the Memory Palace

PAO to remember it

Test Your Memory Palace

Congratulations! You have just created your first Memory Palace. Let’s see
how it works. Walk through the layout of your Memory Palace in your mind and
think about the PAO image you placed in each room. Say aloud or to yourself
the item in each room as you pass through and the PAO you created to go
with it. Test yourself and see if you have memorized the grocery list. You can
probably remember it easily.

Next Level: Memory Palaces are a secret weapon for studying. Use a Memory
Palace to memorize vocabulary words, scientific terms, historical events, math
formulas, or lines of a script. To learn more about Memory Palaces and using
creativity as a study skill, check out www.brainspecific.com. 4