How to memorize anything easier

My brother, who was an awesome debater and orator in high school, taught me how to memorize anything easier  many years ago that has totally worked for me through the years. His memorization trick worked for me in junior high poetry recitations, it helped in high school reports, and I call on it now in memorizing scripture and in helping my kids with their own memorization projects.

So what’s this fail-proof trick to memorizing anything easier?

Instead of starting at the beginning, take the passage you are memorizing and commit it to memory from the bottom up, pulling out a phrase at a a time.  This might sound backwards, but it really saves time in memorizing.

Here’s why:

Your eyes and brain will process the top of the passage each time you pull it out and glance at it because that is how your brain is trained. Because you already are processing the top of the passage, try to focus on memorizing the bottom and working your way up to the beginning. Eventually you’ll have the top part memorized without any effort. Then, once your efforts at the bottom match up with the memorization from the top, you’ll have the whole thing memorized more quickly and  easily.

Give it a try and let me know what you think– it absolutely Works for Me. Or, if you have any memorization tricks, please share them in the comments. I’d love to see what works for you.

Looking for something awesome to memorize? I’m SOAPing through Psalm 121 and memorizing it along the way. Join me!