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Anastasia Woolmer is currently the most impressive memory competitor in Australia.
She’s also a whizz when it comes to extending memory techniques to goals with practical meaning.
Not that being a memory athlete is empty in any way.
But she’s keenly aware that most people aren’t going to learn how to memorize thousands of digits.
That’s one reason why she came up with a different project, one that gives her great brain exercise and teaches her practical and interesting information.
Information you can actually use.
What’s on the menu for memorization over the weeks and months to come?
A dictionary.
That’s right.
The entire thing.
Including the page numbers.
Can You Really Memorize The Entire Dictionary?
As a matter of fact, yes.
Last time Anastasia Woolmer and I spoke on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, we discussed the memorization of movement.
In case you haven’t seen it, she uses movement as part of her mnemonic strategy, something you can witness yourself in her incredible TEDx Talk.
When it comes to committing an entire dictionary to memory, there is precedent for such a task.
Years ago, Ed Cooke tested an impressive mnemonist named Dr. Yip, a.k.a. The Man Who Learned the Dictionary.
There’s also the case of Nigel Richards, who memorized the French dictionary and wound up winning the French Scrabble World Championship.
You might also be interested in Matteo Ricci, who could reportedly recite entire books forward and backward.
But ultimately, Ricci’s was a very different project than memorize prose because Anastasia’s involves core vocabulary, definitions and numbers.
The Real Memory Skill Needed For Such Monumental Learning Tasks
Sure, you’re going to need memory techniques. Lots of them.
And, as Woolmer readily told me, she’ll need lots of Memory Palaces too.
But according to Woolmer, it’s “holistic memory” that she focuses on the most.
By making sure that she’s physically flexible, taking care of her diet and getting lots of sleep, she has the mental clarity needed to memorize the entire dictionary.
I feel that this is exactly right.
Yes, we need high-powered mnemonic strategies.
But the functioning of mnemonics is reliant upon mental sharpness above all.
Enjoy this interview, and be sure to visit her website for more information about her courses and live training events.
Here’s a post about her upcoming workshop for more info. Hope you can attend!
