00:15 so i have a little test for you
00:18 don't panic i'm not here to judge you
00:21 it's just a little test okay
00:23 first you get 30 seconds to memorize 10
00:26 words in the right order
00:29 after that you get 30 seconds to write
00:32 down what you remembered
00:34 and then finally you get 30 seconds to
00:38 so are you guys ready
00:40 well we're gonna start anyway
00:45 memorize 10 words in the right order in
01:24 now write down what you remember
02:01 quickly check your answers
02:32 very exciting i heard a lot of grunting
02:34 and moaning so i hope i didn't stress
02:40 a moment of reflection
02:42 i'd like you to ask yourself
02:46 how did i memorize this
02:48 and was it the best way to do it
02:57 generation of my parents and
02:59 grandparents being able to memorize
03:01 something like this was an absolutely
03:04 but nowadays why would anyone want to
03:07 remember a list of anything you just
03:09 take a picture of the screen and you're
03:14 with all the technology we have these
03:15 days it seems as if memorizing has
03:17 somehow become less important
03:19 so why should we then in today's day and
03:21 age still want to get better at
03:25 well to answer that question i'd like to
03:27 tell you a little story
03:34 after seven years of torture
03:37 i finally got my diploma
03:39 sweet sweet freedom
03:42 what would i do with it
03:45 one thing i did know however was that i
03:47 didn't want to go back to school
03:49 because that old learning business
03:52 it wasn't cut out for me
03:56 i went to sunny california for nine
03:59 and there i worked as a bagger not
04:03 so in a supermarket i had to put
04:05 people's groceries in bags and then i'd
04:10 surprisingly that year i learned so much
04:14 i learned how to bag a bunch of
04:15 groceries really really quickly
04:18 i learned how to drive a car
04:20 and in california people are a little
04:22 bit more open than they are in amsterdam
04:24 so i also learned how to have a little
04:26 chat with a stranger just for the hell
04:30 that year i discovered that i don't hate
04:33 just a specific way of doing it
04:36 so i decided to go and study psychology
04:39 now for the first time ever i was
04:41 getting information that i absolutely
04:44 now i was spending more time in the
04:46 library than i spent skipping school as
04:52 the only problem was that i was spending
04:55 all of my time in the library because
04:57 i'd never learned how to learn
04:59 so i started experimenting with
05:01 different methods of reading text of
05:04 memorizing text and i got my reading
05:06 time of three hours per chapter
05:10 this way of studying enabled me to
05:13 do an honors program to get my degree
05:17 and to fall in love with learning
05:20 i happily work for a company called
05:22 remind in which we teach people the
05:25 science and art of learning
05:28 we're trying to bring back into
05:29 education what we ourselves missed
05:32 now for the past three years we've also
05:34 organized the dutch national memory
05:36 championships for high schoolers
05:39 we do this to show that everybody is
05:41 capable of amazing feats of memory
05:44 but also to show that
05:47 is about a lot more than just learning
05:50 french or your spanish words and today
05:52 i'd also like to share this with you
05:57 i made you do this little test
05:59 just to make you aware of how you're
06:01 memorizing things right now
06:04 next i'd like to give you a new type of
06:08 this time you can even sit back and
06:11 so i'm going to ask you to find a
06:12 comfortable position to sit
06:18 and to take a deep breath
06:26 i want you to think of someone you know
06:31 and i want you to see him
06:34 now john just grabbed the sun
06:39 and he just threw it on your feet
06:41 and now your feet are getting really big
06:43 and red and swollen
06:45 because john just threw the sun on your
06:50 now you look to your knees
06:55 you see 10 little guys playing
07:00 and on their shirts you can see in
07:02 brightly colored letters
07:04 the new york knicks
07:07 so you have some nicks on your knees
07:15 thighs are but they're gone
07:18 your thighs have been replaced with
07:22 they could be ford focuses or forward
07:26 your thighs have been replaced with
07:30 now with your bottom you feel a hard
07:38 with your bottom you feel the hard
07:39 plastic seat of a go kart
07:43 your belly starts rumbling very loudly
07:47 so you follow your belly and it leads
07:52 and there ronald mcdonald starts
07:55 shooting rays of light at you with a ray
08:00 ronald mcdonald shooting rays of light
08:01 at you with a ray gun
08:06 he hit you on your chest
08:08 and now from your chest a big bush of
08:11 gray hairs is growing
08:14 a huge bush of gray hair is growing from
08:18 so obviously you hurry home to shave it
08:21 and on your doormat you see a letter
08:27 and it has good news
08:30 as you read it you feel a huge weight
08:32 falling off your shoulders
08:34 a huge weight falling off your shoulders
08:36 your shoulders get all light and tingly
08:38 because you just paid all of your bills
08:41 big bills little bills each and every
08:43 bill has been paid for and you have
08:44 plenty of money to spare
08:51 you proceed to the bathroom because now
08:55 a bunch of tiny bushes of thin blonde
08:57 hairs have appeared
08:59 on your neck a bunch of tiny bushes of
09:05 as you look in the mirror
09:07 suddenly your mouth just starts talking
09:19 now you turn around and now suddenly
09:23 because donald duck just poked out both
09:27 with a trumpet made of pure gold
09:33 you can open your eyes again and come
09:36 luckily it's a lot safer here than where
09:44 made you guys memorize the past 10
09:46 presidents of the united states of
09:48 america in the right order
09:52 now i'm going to show you and then you
09:53 can see how many of these you still know
09:56 so with each body part i'm going to ask
09:57 you what happened there and then you
10:00 even better would be if you just shout
10:03 now what happened to your feet
10:07 john through the sun yeah president
10:13 what happened on your knees
10:16 nick's yes president nixon
10:19 okay so what were your thighs replaced
10:23 ford's president ford
10:25 okay and um what did you feel with your
10:30 president carter yes some people are
10:37 um your belly led you to mcdonald's what
10:41 okay ronald mcdonald shooting razor okay
10:46 he itching your chest and you got what
10:50 big bush of gray hairs bush senior
10:58 now your shoulders got light why
11:01 paid all your bills bill clinton
11:05 now um what did you have on your neck
11:11 a bush of thin blonde hairs
11:15 what was your mouth saying
11:18 yes we can president obama and what
11:21 happened to your eyes
11:26 donald duck trumpet pure gold who else
11:32 if you memorized more this time than the
11:34 first time please stand up
11:42 okay so we have almost everyone standing
11:44 up that's awesome um
11:47 if you think this way of memorizing is
11:49 more fun than the last way you used
11:51 please stand up or remain standing if
11:53 you're already standing
11:57 oh whoa now we almost have everyone i'm
11:59 very pleased to see this
12:01 okay you guys can sit back down thank
12:09 when you make bizarre images
12:12 memorize suddenly it becomes a lot
12:14 if you tie these bizarre images to a
12:16 place you know well like your body
12:19 suddenly memorizing things in order
12:21 becomes a lot easier
12:22 okay well cool but i asked you guys in
12:28 should we in today's day and age still
12:30 want to get better at this at memorizing
12:35 by getting better in a skill like this
12:38 you can also get better at a different
12:40 the skill of experimentation
12:43 by experimenting with different methods
12:47 i found out that i can get better at
12:49 i found out what works for me and what
12:52 what if i'd never learned the skill of
12:55 i may have never gone back to school
12:58 i may have never enjoyed studying
13:01 and i probably would not have been
13:02 standing here today
13:04 because one of the things i thought i
13:07 was public speaking
13:10 there are people of every generation
13:13 not doing things that they might love
13:14 that they might even be great at
13:17 because they think they can't do it so
13:20 how beautiful would it be if in schools
13:22 we can teach kids that they can get
13:26 and they can even get better at getting
13:27 better at things get it
13:30 but not just the kids because the older
13:32 generation is often seen as too old to
13:36 they're not too rusty anyone can improve
13:39 by experimenting and i hope you
13:40 experience that today
13:43 now at remind we break up this process
13:45 of experimentation into three steps
13:49 the experience and the experiment
13:53 the check is all about becoming aware of
13:55 what you're doing right now
13:57 so maybe during the first test you
14:00 became aware of the fact that you just
14:01 repeat the words over and over and that
14:03 that doesn't work too well
14:06 the second step the experience is all
14:08 about being open to new possibilities
14:10 and trying them out
14:12 so maybe during the visualization you
14:14 realize that this works a bit better or
14:16 at least you like it more
14:19 and the third step is the experiment
14:22 this is about taking something from that
14:24 new experience that you had
14:25 and applying it in your own life to see
14:28 how it works for you so maybe you're one
14:31 of those people that when someone
14:32 introduces themselves to you you just
14:34 immediately forget their name
14:36 yeah sound familiar
14:37 and you want to use visualization to do
14:40 something about that
14:42 so far i've only taken you guys through
14:44 the first two steps
14:46 the final step is up to you
14:48 so when i'm done here i'd like you to
14:50 take a moment for yourself
14:51 and to write down an experiment on the
14:53 little card we've given you
14:55 and to put that in your wallet as a
15:00 continually following these steps of
15:01 experimentation you discover what you're
15:04 doing you keep yourself open to new
15:05 possibilities and you allow yourself to
15:08 continually transform
15:10 and regardless of what you're learning
15:12 be it memorizing or martial arts or
15:15 you'll get better not only in the skill
15:17 that you're trying to develop
15:18 but you'll get better at the process of
15:22 and that's something that sticks
15:24 it's something you can take with you to
15:26 your new job your new hobby your new
15:27 relationship your new whatever
15:30 so this is something absolutely everyone
15:33 and i believe we should teach it in
15:36 but let's not just wait for it to be
15:39 implemented in schools
15:40 i also believe that the most important
15:42 change starts with the individual
15:46 so go out there and experiment learn
15:49 something new or a new way of
15:50 approaching something old
15:52 because there are a few skills as
15:54 valuable as the art of learning