Mind Performance Hacks

Hack #2. Use the Number-Shape System

Associate numbers with shapes and use the hunting and gathering faculties of your primitive ancestors to remember 21st-century data.

If you've learned how to remember 10 things to bring when you leave the house [Hack #1], you've already learned the number-rhyme system: associating numbers like 1 and 2 with words that rhyme with them, like gun and shoe, and using those associations as pegs on which to hang items you wish to remember.

The traditional number-shape system works in a similar way. Instead of visualizing images whose names rhyme with the names of numbers, however, you visualize shapes that look like the numerals in question. For example, the numeral 2 looks like a swan to many people, so you can use the image of a swan as a mnemonic peg.¹

In Action

Table 1-1 lists 10 digits, along with some shapes you can use to remember them. The Shape column illustrates the italic words in the Words column, to show how the associations arose.

Table 1-1. Corresponding numbers, words, and shapes

Number	Words	Shape
0	Black hole, donut, tire
1	Candle, pencil
2	Swan
3	Butterfly, heart
4	Sailboat
5	Hook, pulley
6	Golf club, lasso, pipe
7	Axe, boomerang, scythe
8	Hourglass, snowman
9