Do you Remember?

 A few days ago, my daughter asked me the order of the nine (oops eight!) planets. I was able to tell it in a jiffy with no confusions in the order. How? Well, I should thank my very educated mother. 😜 When I was young, my mom taught me this- 'My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets". The first letter of each word is the first letter of the planets in order. Yeah back then, poor Pluto was still a planet and planetary science had not yet kicked it out from the elite planet status. Anyway, it made it so easy to remember.

Here's another one from memory. 11th grade Physics class. The lesson of the day was Ohm's Law. The teacher suggested a simple method to remember the equation. V=IR. IR (Iyer-a caste in India) are predominantly V (Vegetarians). Laws may come and go, but this is one law that I am taking to my grave. 😉

One more- I credit myself for this one. 😛😛 The blood group types that are universal donors and recipients. While I absolutely love the details behind how they are termed as donors or recipients, I had my shortcut to remember them for "quick access". DOnOr is always 'O'. 

Several years ago I was watching actor Aravinth Saamy's episode of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi (Tamil version of Kaun Banega Crorepathi or Who wants to be a millionaire). He had demonstrated one such memory trick. When any list of words was presented to him, he could take a look and after a few minutes tell the word accurately when the number was called out. It was very kind of him to have shared the trick behind it, on the show. 

• Step 1, In his mind he associated each number with a picture, permanently. For example, #1 is bee. 
• Step 2: Whenever a word list was shared to him, he connected the word and the picture. For example if the list had #1.Laptop, he would imagine a bee sitting on the laptop. 
• Step 3: When he is asked the item on No.1, he effortlessly recollects and declares the word as laptop.

Isn't that so simple, yet awesome?

All my life I have used such mnemonics and shortcuts to remember things better. So, what are your secret shortcuts? 😁 Would love to hear!

Image: Schoolplus.com

Knocking every door

That’s a beautiful watch” she said. I looked up, interrupted from the retail-therapy of looking at skin care products at the H&G store. “Oh thank you!” I said with a smile. Well, it was no random exchange. She continued “I sell Amway products. They are very effective. Would you be interested to buy?” I was taken aback. Why would she come out of the blue and ask a stranger to buy products from her? I politely refused and moved on.

A few days later, I came across this project “100 days of rejection” by an entrepreneur named Jia Jiang. I watched his TED talk. Jiang who was turned down by investors realized that one of the main roadblocks in his path was the fear of rejection. To desensitize himself, he spent 100 days asking for simple, harmless things that are likely to be rejected. On Day 1, he asked a stranger for $100. Well, obviously he was turned down. On Day 2, he asked for a burger refill. However, there was progress. On Day 1, his heart was pounding hard and palms were sweating. When the stranger refused to give 100$, he ran! He was embarrassed and ashamed. On Day 2, when the waiter refused a refill, he spoke about how a refill would be just nice. It was less intimidating and he had a decent conversation with the waiter. I do not want to ruin the essence and humor of the TED talk by writing down everything here- you should watch it yourself. But ultimately, he ended up giving a lecture at Texas university on rejection. He ends the talk by saying that he fulfilled his life dream by just asking!

We all live in fear of rejection but once you desensitize, life becomes easier. Getting out of comfort zone and ASKING can be a daunting task. But in the long run, those who master this wonderful trait, are undeniably more successful.

As a part-introvert, I think twice even before asking that extra sauce. :P Well, I guess this project should be on my new year resolution.  Err.. Some other year!