I have been learning about how to study more effectively. For the next few blog posts, I would like to look at some of the things I learned. The first is using visualization for memorizing things. I got the idea from a TED talk where they said to attach something you want to memorize, a word or a phrase or an idea, to an image that is related, but bizarre. The more bizarre, the better. Attaching what we are learning to images tells our brain that it is important and should be remembered. I haven’t tried bizarre images but I have been connecting the ideas I’m memorizing to similar images. For example, I attached “Paul, a bondservant of God,” to what my brain would imagine Paul in chains would look like. I would guess this has doubled or tripled my memorization speed. I didn’t test my speed before and after, but I did start memorizing more passages of the Bible instead of verses. Being able to memorize passages (5-10 verses) out of the Bible was something very difficult, time consuming and uncommon. I have only done two or three, but the last one I memorized in two ~30 minute sessions. That would have taken me hours before. Visualize everything you want to remember. It works.