If you forget a man's name two seconds after he says it, your memory isn't the problem. You weren't listening. That's the case my guest today, two-time USA Memory Champion Ron White, makes, and he backs it up with a system any man can use: ask yourself one well-worded question before you shake a hand, pin the name to the most distinctive feature on the face, and review it before the forgetting curve wipes it out.
We also build a mind palace in real time using the furniture in my studio. Ron shows how the same method lets you give a speech without notes, retain what you paid to learn at a conference, carry a to-do list in your head, and remember the script when a customer objects. We get into why action and emotion lock things into long-term memory, the major system and character-action-object method he used to memorize a deck of cards in record time, and why memory comes down to training and intention, not talent.
Ron White is a two-time USA Memory Champion and the founder of Brain Athlete. He has held U.S. records for the fastest time to memorize a deck of cards, the longest number memorized in five minutes (167 digits), and the longest number memorized in an hour (800 digits). He got his start at eighteen, when a telemarketing call to sell a chimney cleaning turned into a job offer from a man who ran memory training seminars. He's quick to say he has no special gift, only a trained system.
Ron is a U.S. Navy veteran who joined as a reservist after September 11th and served a tour in Afghanistan in 2007. As a tribute, he memorized the names of more than 2,300 American service members killed there and writes them from memory on a 52-foot wall, which he finished live on the Shawn Ryan Show. He speaks to companies around the world, grew his Instagram from 13,000 to 1.8 million followers by teaching strangers memory techniques on the street, and teaches his methods through his Recall Under Pressure program at BrainAthlete.com.
Guys, before we get into it, I want to invite you to our next WarRoom. It's a free, live workshop I'm hosting on Wednesday, October 14th at 8pm Eastern, and it's called Five Fears That F*ck Your Future.
Here's what I've seen. Most men aren't stuck. They're scared. And fear doesn't take your life all at once. It takes it one reasonable decision at a time. The hard conversation you avoid and call keeping the peace. The business you never start. The weakness you spend more energy hiding than it would cost to own.
There are five fears: powerlessness, invisibility, exposure, dependency, and irrelevancy. One of them is running you. In one hour, you'll spot which one is yours, see what it's already costing your wife, your kids, and your work, and leave with a plan to beat it starting the next morning.
This isn't a pep talk. Bring a pen and the thing you've been avoiding.
Free tools, tactics and techniques to help you be the man you were meant to be.
