Arkiv: Mattias GMS-journal

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Mattias
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Arkiv: Mattias GMS-journal

Post by Mattias »

Posted by: Mattias Nov 27 2008, 12:42 PM
Hey all,

This is the journal of my memory training. I also hope this will help me to become active in the forum (since I'm normally not a forum-kinda-guy ) and to communicate with others who work on themselves.

I noticed two more people from Sweden here, Bjorn (Hej igen och tack för dina hjälpsamma kommentarer!) and Slickepot (Hej hej!). Några fler här?

Goal:
To complete the 60 lessons. I will do one lesson every day when my life schedule allows this, not letting it slip under 3 lessons a week, estimating 4 or 5 lessons a week.

Preparation:
Read the GMS-manual, did some research on the course and decided to enroll. Went through the Figurative Codes 01-99, months, days and alphabet and changed them when needed to fit with the Alpha-numeric Codes i Swedish. (Not really necessary I guess, but I do like that kind of puzzle solving )

24/11
Lesson 1, Time: 2h 10min

Exercise 1: Got 18 out of 24.
I realized that I had not focused enough on the actual ATTACHING of the two pictures, where I made the mistakes. I enjoyed myself tremendously and it felt very good not trying to 'remember' anything but to really focus on the vividness of the pictures, trusting that they would come up again, and they did!
Exercise 2: Got 20 out of 25.
I easily slipped into the Chain Method and constantly had to remind myself to keep to the Russian Doll.
Excercise 3: Got 24 out of 25.
Struggled with the creation of the Cicero objects, selecting some bad images having to change them later (two identical light-swithes in two different rooms was not a good idea). Realised that I don't have so many suitable objects in some rooms. Then I was totally amazed during the recollecting. This was something entirely different from what I usually call 'remembering'. This was just walking around in the room mentally, fabulous!
Exercise 4: Got 19 out of 20
Also some unnecessary annoyance during the creation of the Free Association pictures, not really happy about my selection. But the recollection went fantastic and this method also amazed me!
Excercise 5: Worked through it.
Went through the control questions briefly.

25/11
Lesson 2, Time 1h 45min (without doing 7 (printing of the cards), 8 (reading and journal) and the control questios)

Exercise 1: Got 22 out of 26
Noticed that the more spectacular the actual attaching of the two pictures is, the easier it is to remember. I evenly missed one every 4 or 5 words throughout the sequence.
Exercise 2: Got 19 out of 26
I missed only one part of the sequence, but I had skipped a bunch of the words in the middle.
Exercise 3: Got 10 out of 10
Exercise 4: Got 9 out of 10 due to sloppiness.
Exercise 5: Worked through the FC 01-10
Exercise 6: Got 17 out of 20.
Amazed that there really were no numbers involved in remembering numbers I didn't create 20 new Cicero, but stuck to the old ones.

26/11
Recollecting the FC 01-10 on the bus and train, trying to get them much bigger.

27/11
Got access to the Student Forums and read articles and threads. Learned that I should repair each mistake to get it totally right before moving on. Revisiting the GMS-manual for the mentioned chapters in Lesson 2. Starting this journal, realizing that it serves many purposes. Wishing myself good luck



Posted by: Mattias Nov 28 2008, 05:35 PM
28/11
Lesson 3, Time: 1h 50min (excluding exercise 7-10, the new figurative codes and more Cicero)
Exercise 1: Got 26/30 the first time. Then worked through writing down the numbers which went slow.
Exercise 2: Got 15,5 out of 18 (missed the 'es' in riches )
Exercise 3: 13/13, yeah!
Exercise 4: 16/17, had remembered 'border' but didn't get it to 'gorder'.
Exercise 5: 24/25
Exercise 6: 23/27, I was a bit sloppy and went with some associations that didn't keep the syllable intact. Easy to remember but it resulted in misstakes in decoding the images and to letters.

Exercise 7-10 tomorrow!


Posted by: Mattias Nov 29 2008, 09:02 PM
29/11
Lesson 3 cont., Time: 40 min (Lesson 3 total: 2h 30min)
Exercise 7: Went through the FCs and drew the numbers infront of them.
Exercise 8: Went really slow, I have to practise the FCs a lot more.
Exercise 9: 20/20 on the first try! Used my first 20 Cicero that feel solid now. I have a total of 40. 10 in my hallway, 10 in the kitchen, 10 in the livingroom and 10 in the bathroom.
Exercise 10: Having printed out 01-19 and went through them a couple of times.
Control Questions: Went through them briefly, I would like to read the GMS Manual again now that I have started practising.


Posted by: Mattias Nov 30 2008, 10:46 PM
30/11
Yesterday I asked my girlfriend to test me with 20 numbers from 01-20. Got them all right and impressed her
Today I asked a friend to test me with 30 numbers from 01-20. Made 4 mistakes when recalling, I managed to correct them all immediately when told I was wrong. I realized that old associations were stuck on the Ciceros I used. I guess I have to get more Ciceros to vary with, to allow erasing time.

Lesson 4, Time: 1h 40min (except Exercise 6-10 (the new FC's 21-30))
Exercise 1, Got 27 out of 30
11min to memorize (22 sec per image) Too slow!!!
Exercise 2, Got 19/20
Exercise 3, Got 13/13
Exercise 4, Got 11/20
Remembered all images, but failed to decode much of the spelling. It took a long time to find appropriate words for some and many of them were far off associations which could not be decoded. Went through it one more time and got 20/20.
Exercise 5, Got 13/15
This exercise felt wonderful! I stuck hard to always use the first letters of the words and not go into strange associations (which do come anyway, believe me ducbutpro was a favourite, hehe). This made decoding impossible to fail.

I still only have 40 Ciceros so tomorrow I have to get 20 more and work hard on the FC's 21-30.

I love this practising of "conscious hallucinations"! Cheers!


Posted by: Mattias Dec 2 2008, 12:10 AM
1/12
Lesson 4 cont., Time: 42min (total time 2h 22min)
Did exercise 6-8, too slow with the FC's!
Exercise 9, Got 27/30 where one was a decoding error.
Printed out the cards as well.

I created 20 more Cicero from the bedroom and entrance stairs, now up to a total of 60.

Practised FC's with the cards on the bus and repeating the ciceros. Will try to dedicate all my traveling time to the FC cards for now.

Looking forward to getting up really early tomorrow for a new lesson!


Posted by: Mattias Dec 2 2008, 09:01 AM
2/12
Lesson 5, Time: 1h 50min, yippie!!!
Exercise 1, Got 47/71 the first time due to several broken chains. 2:nd time got 69/71 with one broken chain.
Worked with the new and old FC's. But even the old ones are very slow. Look forward to work more with the cards.
Exercise 5, Got 18/20
I am sloppy with the control questions. Will print the manual and start to reading it again on the journey this weekend. This journal is so good for keeping on reminding myself!
Posted by: Mattias Dec 3 2008, 09:38 AM
Worked with the FC cards on the bus and train yesterday and noticed a slight improvement after a while. But I still have occasional long hangups where the number simply don't tell me anything, so I have to try to figure it out again from the alphanumeric code.

3/12
Lesson 6. To bed very late last night and got up early to start the lesson. Feeling very tired I misunderstood the first exercise and thought I should come up with my own russian doll images for the new level of support images. I did this for 45 min, struggling very hard and then only remembered 32/50. Got annoyed, had breakfast and started the 1st exercise over again with the words given. Got 30 out of 50 the first time. Having some difficulties with the russian doll. When enlarging objects like a needle and putting something on a small part of it I can't really establish a connection since the new object is only connected with a small part of something bigger, so there is many times only a background color or surface to connect it with, then things tend to get mixed up for me. Time 40min. Will start with Exercise 2 with the States tomorrow. Feeling a bit disappointed with myself since I will only be able to complete 2 lessons this week, going traveling in the weekend. Anyways, will bring the cards and GMS Manual and keep on working each day.

'Til tomorrow! /M


Posted by: Mattias Dec 4 2008, 12:19 PM
4/12
More work on the bus and subway yesterday with the Cards. Minor improvements. Also surprised myself that I remembered all but 2 of the new support images many hours after creating them.

Lesson 6 cont., Time: 2h 17min (total: 2h 57min)
Exercise 2: Got 48/50 the first time, but both encoding and decoding took a ling time. Slow in having the several levels in order, but I strongly feel that this will be much quicker with practise. Great to start practising 'permanent' things to remember!
Exercise 3: Learning the 10 new FC codes seems to go easier each time.
Exercise 6: Got 44/50 the first time, 48/50 the second time. Impressed! 'How the hell...' whas my first thought when reading the instructions, but I trusted the process and went on with it. But it was slow. Although this is totally amazing that I could remember so many numbers, whithout remembering any numbers, so to say

Im away traveling for the weekend and I intend to practise the FC cards, recollect the States a few times and also to start reading the GMS Manual again. Back here on tuesday. All the best to all 'rememberers', have a great weekend! I sure will /M


Posted by: Mattias Dec 9 2008, 03:40 PM
9/12
Back from a wonderful weekend trip to England (ATP Festival, amazing music!). Not so much practising and reading as I had intended.

Lesson 7 (exercises 1-4), Time: 1h 45min
Exercise 1, Got 37/40, didn't see the hints.
Exercise 2, Got 19/20, one failed image connection.
Exercise 3, Got 19/20 , with one failed connection.
Exercise 4, Got 16/20, where two mistakes were failed image connections and two were failed in decoding, not remembering if the images were supposed to be three or four letters.

This lesson will be far longer than 2 hours. Still too slow with the FC's, gotta work more with them on the bus today. Also some focusing problems, perhaps because of feeling a bit tired.

Time to finish Lesson 7 tomorrow.


Posted by: Mattias Dec 10 2008, 03:20 PM
10/12
I had some good work with the cards on the bus to and from work yesterday, bit by bit they start to come faster.

Lesson 7 cont. (exercises 5-9) Time: 40min (total time for Lesson 7: 2h 25min)
Exercise 5, Got 31/31 the first time, yeah!
I clocked myself for this exercise wanting to speed up the memorization. It took 8 min (16 sec per connection). Too slow but to my amazement this improved the result. Probably the intention to reduce time helps one to stay focused and not to drift away as much and it also forces me to trust myself that the connections will remain. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the 2 hour rule and trying to get faster.
Exercises 6-8, worked through the new and old FC's.

I read I am supposed to have 100 Ciceros by now. I have used my old ones so I still only have 50. And I have run out of things in my apartment, so today I will try to get at least 20 new ones today on the way to work and at work.
Posted by: Mattias Dec 11 2008, 03:07 PM
11/12
Got 10 extra ciceros on my way to the bus yesterday (I have now a total of 60), and used these for todays lesson with success. Had then completely forgot about that I had decided to find 10 more at work when I got there. Thinking about it now, I know that place so well, so I shouldn't have to be there to prepare at least 10 or 20 ciceros.

About the FCs: The oldest and the newest seems to be the most easy for me to really fix. Just have to keep up with the cards I guess.

Lesson 8, Time: 1h 37min
I have not really paid any attention to the psycho-tech exercises. I have worked a lot on attention and relaxation exercises in other contexts (anybody else here familiar with the Gurdjieff Movements?) and since things are running quite smooth, I'll keep focusing to the memorization exercises for now.
Exercise 1, 10/10.
Exercise 2, I had to keep counting during the whole exercise not to name the singled out parts in my mind.
Exercise 3-4, 29/30 with one failed image connection.
Exercise 5, 29/30 with one sloppy decoding error.
Exercise 6, Forward 39/40 with one failed connection. Reverse order 40/40.
Exercise 7-8, went through the new FC's.
Exercise 9, Damn I'm slow! Tried to keep a slow steady beat on my lap to the decoding of the numbers, but this was impossible. Always the occasional hangup even on FCs I really should know by now. I guess I just have to keep working on them.
Exercise 10, 20/20
Again I was really sloppy with the Control Questions, just briefly reading them through. Reminding myself again that I should read the GMS Manual again. I will find time for this during the Holidays.

From what I had learned yesterday, I tried hard on achieving a higher speed for the memorization today. This was again amazingly successful with less and less mistakes and the confidence start to build up, knowing now that this is really possible!

So, at least 10 more ciceros for tomorrow. G'bye!


Posted by: Mattias Dec 12 2008, 07:22 PM
12/12
Up to 70 Ciceros now. Will try to get 20 more tomorrow at the supermarket.

Lesson 9, Time: 2h 10min
Exercise 1: 24/25, one failed connection.
Exercise 2: 45/60, frustration! Mixing up the new connections of the FCs with older connections in previous exercises. How can it be so boldly stated the new connections automatically erases the older connection? Not my experience so far. Some connections from some exercises really stick hard in my mind, even though I haven't repeated them. Not trying to think about something is not so easy Anyway, some comfort when I realised that it was actually was 60 numbers this time, so the amount of data increases.
Exercise 3: 37/45 the first time. 3 failed in decoding the precise words and 5 failed image connections. Memorization took 19min (25secs per connection). Too slow, but I'll keep pushing. 45/45 the second time.
Exercises 4-6: Working through the new FCs. Keep mixing up codes in the 40-69 range. Annoying, but at least the 01-39 are starting to come quicker. The tables went extremely slow. Let's see if I can manage to stay away from a new lesson tomorrow and only work with the FC cards, well... probably not


Posted by: Mattias Dec 13 2008, 10:07 PM
13/12
Started the day by doing the additional exercise 10 from Lesson 7. I used 70 of the FC cards and tried to remember them in the correct order using the Ciceros. I amazed myself getting 68/70 the first time! A pleasant surprise was when noticing that I actually had 80 Ciceros (I thougth I had 70). I had also missed two of my cicero pictures in the exercise, which didn't affect the result, but needs to be remarked. The second time I impressed my girlfriend by going though that fat deck of 70 cards without mistakes, yes!

Prepared 10 new ciceros on my way going shopping. And 20 more inside the supermarket. I noticed now that I can also use quite big ciceros (like a special house), unlike the ones that are in my apartment. So it's not only possible to zoom in but of course also to zoom out 110 Ciceros in total now.

Lesson 10, Time: 1h 44mins
Exercise 1-3: Nice to start fresh with the FC's this time, not being tired getting to them in the end.
Exercise 4: 51/60 the first time: 7 failed connections and 2 decoding errors getting the words wrong. 22 min to memorize (22 secs per connection, slightly faster than yesterday!) Got 60/60 after repairing the errors.
Exercise 5: Missed 2 image connections the first time with the alphabet FCs. The second time they went quite fast without error.

This training is quite addictive! I love it and can't wait for the new lesson tomorrow!
Mattias
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Re: Arkiv: Mattias GMS-journal

Post by Mattias »

Posted by: Mattias Dec 15 2008, 12:31 AM
14/12
Oh man this was a though one, and it's quite late at night but I'm happy I got through the entire lesson. Before the lesson I worked at the later FCs. It's going very slow, but I'll keep pushing. I know the earlier one were also so slow for me in the beginning, but now they have become much faster.

Lesson 11, Time 2h precisely.
Exercises 1-3, Just new FCs and mixing them with the old ones. I guess the later ones are slow because I haven't been on the bus this weekend which has become an excellent opportunity to practice with the cards.
Exercise 4, I was very happy remembering 90/99 the first time! (3 decoding errors and 6 failed connections) Memorization took 48min (29 secs per connection). What slowed me down was definately the FCs. When I get them all on reflex level, I will be a killer memorizer, hehe The second time I just went through the words I made mistakes in and got them correct.
Exercises 5-6, The FCs for the months and also the ones for the alphabet I find so much easier than for the numbers. Earlier for the alphabet, I naturally had to make three extra ones for Å, Ä and Ö

I really look forward to check out the Improve Memory Software in the next lesson, but I guess I need more time with the cards first.


Posted by: Mattias Dec 16 2008, 12:28 AM
15/12
Wow, this was definitely the toughest lesson so far.
Lesson 12, Time: 3h 6min
Exercise 1: 49/50 the first time, 18min for memorization (21,6secs per connection)
Exercise 2: Just went through the chain connections that I had established in a previous lesson.
Exercise 3: Prepared 78 images as was told.
Exercise 4: 61/78 the first time. Made one mistake the second time (only going through the mistakes of the first try)
Exercise 5: 75/99 the first time, then only went through the mistakes and got them all correct. This was terribly slow for me. This mostly because of not remembering the FCs very well at all. And I also became tired and slightly restless, which blocked many of the FCs for quite a while, that I really should know by now.

So, this was the first module. Now I think I will practice the FCs much more for a couple days and also get started with the Improve Memory software, before I head into the First Database, if I can refrain from it


Posted by: Mattias Dec 16 2008, 04:04 PM
16/12
Worked with FCs for 00-99 for 45 mins. Not very happy with the results, still getting looong hangups on numbers that I should know by now.

Tried Improve Memory for the first time. Oh man, I have some issues to work with. Not used to clock myself, I freeze up sometimes. I will keep a log here of all the results from practising so I can see the process.
1. 12/20, 10sec (00-99)
2. 18/20, 10sec
3. 14/20, 8 sec
4. Tried 40 images, but I messed up completely and aborted.
5. 18/20, 8 sec

Still those damn FCs that causes the mistakes, most of the time goes to finding the FC, not making the connection. On a brighter side I feel solid in making the connections when I see the FC immediately. So when I nail those suckers on reflex-level I don't think 6 secs will be a problem. This is very good practising for me, since a part of me really dislikes that clock ticking (or number fading away ). This will have to be transformed and I think a bit of this each day will work magic on me.

More work on the FCs on the bus... Over and out.


Posted by: Mattias Dec 17 2008, 02:14 PM
17/12
Had very good practise with the Cards on the bus both to and from work yesterday. Felt I gained a new step only on those two practises.

Worked with the MemorizationMaster software.
1. 16/20 at 6sec.
2. 23/30 (only 6 secs from now on)
3. 22/30
4. 27/30
Yes! Much better, still some blockages on some numbers that cause most of the mistakes. I circulate my 110 Ciceros.

Lesson 13, Time: 1 hour 10 mins without the MM practising.
Struggled through it. It was difficult to single out 5 parts on many if the images. I really had to superzoom in on the parts, which perhaps is the point. It was rather boring so I easily drifted away in other thoughts, so the quality this time of my practising was not so good. It took a long time and I just got through all the images once.

MM again. Feeling a bit cocky I decided to try 40!
1. 15/40
2. 27/40
3. 24/30
Difficult and easily becoming distracted today, but some clear progress with the FCs from yesterday, so I'll definately keep pushing!

For tomorrow: Reviewing the new support images. FC cards. And at least 10 more Ciceros so I can practise 40 three times without having to use the same images twice.


Posted by: Mattias Dec 19 2008, 12:16 AM
18/12
Practised with the cards yesterday evening and reviewed the new support images from lesson 13.

Started fresh this morning with getting 10 new Ciceros and having a go at the MM. I could not believe the result!
1. 35/40 at 6sec.
2. 34/40
3. 33/40
Even a week ago I could have NEVER imagined myself to do this!

In the evening:
Lesson 14, Time: 1h 10min
An ok lesson exploring the new techniques. This went very slow, but I can imagine how wonderful this will be, when coding important information like this in pictures becomes second nature. A long way to go, but I am on my way!

I thought I'd have another go at the MM because of the excitement this morning.
1. 21/40 at 6sec. Mixed up things totally, both the ciceros and with connections from this morning.
2. 36/40
3. 38/40 Yeeehaaww! I'm improving so fast I can not believe this is possible. I HAVE to keep this pace up and push on, miracles are obviously possible!

I would really like to try the MM three times 50 numbers tomorrow, but that mean I have to get 30 more Ciceros. I'll try!

Posted by: Tina Kuligowski Dec 19 2008, 04:40 AM
QUOTE (Mattias @ Dec 19 2008, 05:16 AM)
I thought I'd have another go at the MM because of the excitement this morning.
1. 21/40 at 6sec. Mixed up things totally, both the ciceros and with connections from this morning.
2. 36/40
3. 38/40 Yeeehaaww! I'm improving so fast I can not believe this is possible. I HAVE to keep this pace up and push on, miracles are obviously possible!

I would really like to try the MM three times 50 numbers tomorrow, but that mean I have to get 30 more Ciceros. I'll try!

I've noticed that if you keep using the Cicero images over and over the your memory with pull up residual images.

How many support images do you have?


Posted by: Mattias Dec 19 2008, 10:00 AM
QUOTE (Tina Kuligowski @ Dec 19 2008, 03:40 AM)
I've noticed that if you keep using the Cicero images over and over the your memory with pull up residual images.

How many support images do you have?

Hi Tina!
I have 120 Ciceros so far, so I only use each picture once in every session. And I don't repeat the exercises, so I hope the images wont stick to the ciceros, is this what you mean? I do repeat the ciceros once as a clear picture before each run through, so hopefully this will be the image that stays.

keep it up, it's inspiring to read your journal since we're almost at the same lesson!


Posted by: Mattias Dec 19 2008, 03:42 PM
19/12
Lesson 15, Time: 1h 17min (excluding MM practise)
As yesterday, very interesting to get to try out the different techniques, but I have to push myself to memorize the information because it's not very interesting in itself. Although it's very fascinating to connect everything that has to do with one person, with that persons distictive feature as an image.

Got 20 extra Ciceros, now up to a total of 140.
MM (6secs):
1. 43/50
2. 41/50
3. 28/40
I´d say that perhaps 70% of the mistakes are still because of failing to remember the correct FCs.
Posted by: Mattias Dec 20 2008, 05:32 PM
20/12
Got 10 more Ciceros, up to a total of 150.

MM at 6 sec:
1. 49/50. Wow!
2. 41/50
3. 34/50

Still some FCs won't come quick enough. I will start to go through all cards each time before doing the MM.


Posted by: Mattias Dec 21 2008, 11:19 PM
21/12
Doing the MM I seem get better result in the first rounds than in the later rounds. I want to know if that is because my mind is more fresh or if it is that I have always started with the same ciceros that I am the most used with, having the new ones in the later rounds. So this time I used the newer Ciceros for the first round. I also went through the cards one time before starting.
MM at 6 sec:
1. 44/50
2. 46/50
3. 46/50
Much more even result, probably due to the combination of being fresh and using the new Ciceros in the beginning.

Looking forward to a new lesson tomorrow!


Posted by: Mattias Dec 22 2008, 01:13 PM
22/12
Lesson 16, Time: 1h 13min (excluding the MM)
Great to continue building my first database. I look forward to building my own databases of information that is important to me, but I stick to this info now to focus on mastering the techniques. My god, these anecdotes were horrible But I have actually thought about consciously memorizing funny stories before, so I find it funny that even this has it's part in the GMS system.

MM at 6 sec: (using newer Ciceros first this time also)
1. 48/60
2. 56/60
I try to keep my eyes on the screen. They have the tendency to go up on the wall, for less disturbance in visualizing. But I don't want to miss anything on the screen and be more still. well, well... one step at a time.

It's good that I have some extra time on the bus going to and from work, for reviewing what I have learnt. The lessons themselves are not enough, so for the bus today I will focus on recalling the currently expanding database.
Posted by: Mattias Dec 23 2008, 12:58 PM
23/12
Two broken connections going through the last lesson yesterday evening. Fixed today.

Lesson 17, Time: 1h 3min
No comments really, just continuing with the different techniques for the different kinds of informations. Interesting with moving pictures, looking forward to learn the significance of this.

MM at 6 sec:
1. 56/70
2. 66/70
For the first time I had no problems with the FCs. Although I mixed up several connections with ones made previous days. The second time I focused on making the images as CLEAR as possible and this went better. I have no idea how the Result and the Mark in MM are set. Strange that I got 'Failed' when doing 66/70 in 6 secs per number (i'im in training mode). Anyone?

Christmas celebrations tomorrow, but I'll try to squeeze in a MM session. Happy Holidays for all here at Pmemory!


Posted by: Mattias Dec 25 2008, 09:09 PM
25/12
Repaired 5 lost connection from the last lesson.

Lesson 18, Time: 1h 26min
I am intrigued by the thought that ANYTHING that can be seen, CAN also be remembered. (The learning of the japanese words and letters triggered this thought.) This is a completely new mind set and opens up so many possibilities. My 'ordinary' way of seeing most things as impossible to remember immediately closes all possibilities. And seeing the challenge that so many things really can be remembered would also keep me more awake and active.

Got 10 new Ciceros, up to a total of 160.

MM at 6 sec:
1. 62/80
2. 74/80
Posted by: Mattias Dec 26 2008, 09:37 PM
26/12
Fixed a few lost connections from yesterday.

Lesson 19, Time: 1h 9min (excluding the MM)
These formulas were a bit over the top. I focused on the images, since I have really no idea what most of these formulas are. It was nice to be able to reproduce the correct formulas for the triangles in the end though, even if I can't really use this knowledge. I grasp the principles though, which I find just fantastic!

I put the MM on 5 secs this time. That was quite stressful and I did break into a sweat, hehe.
1. 64/80
2. 52/80, I screwed up the order of my Ciceros both while memorizing and while recollecting (unfortunately not in the same way ) This was due to stress and lack of focus.

I think I will keep the MM at 5 seconds from now on to get used to this tempo and practising to relax and not to stress while memorizing.

I am now a month into the course, and I am extremely happy with it so far! I could never have imagined so much progress was possible in only one months time, but now I know it is. So what will my memory be in a months time from now?


Posted by: Mattias Dec 27 2008, 06:49 PM
27/12
Fixed 3 broken connections from yesterday.

Lesson 20 (not finished), Time so far: 1h 8min

MM at 5 sec:
1. 81/90, Yes!

More comments tomorrow, I'm in a bit of a rush right now.

Posted by: Mattias Dec 29 2008, 01:53 PM
29/12
Wanting to kickstart the week and to really strech things, I set the MM to 110 numbers at 5 seconds.
Got 84/110. It was tough on the concentration. But it is really amazing how fast it's possible to increase the amount memorized.

Using the gym analogy, the 'brain muscle' don't need as much time to gain strength as ordinary muscles. Its power can be quadrupled in a week or two! This I have now totally confirmed for myself. I find the hardest part is to convince myself to try and to realize that it is actually achievable and to believe that I can do it. A big part of this is to learn to trust the memory, which was one of my biggest realizations in the first 12 lessons.

I have kept to the habit of going through all the FC cards once before doing the MM and also to quickly go though the empty Ciceros before start. This seem to give good result, especially with the cards, because the FCs are becoming more and more solid.

I gotta get more Ciceros, 'cause I want to practise more. Like TinaK said in her journal, I'm also reluctant to practise the MM several times in a row with the same Ciceros. But I don't remember (hehe) if I read that in the instructions somewhere or if I've come to that conclusion myself...

Finished Lesson 20, Total time: 1h 25min
Mattias
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Re: Arkiv: Mattias GMS-journal

Post by Mattias »

Posted by: Tina Kuligowski Dec 29 2008, 05:02 PM
QUOTE (Mattias @ Dec 29 2008, 06:53 PM)
29/12
Wanting to kickstart the week and to really strech things, I set the MM to 110 numbers at 5 seconds.
Got 84/110. It was tough on the concentration. But it is really amazing how fast it's possible to increase the amount memorized.

Good Job Mattias! Keep up the work... I'm right behind you :-)


Posted by: Mattias Dec 30 2008, 04:55 PM
30/12

Continued to push forward with the MM at 5 sec:
93/120

Browsed through the support images of the database. One failed connection to repair.

Then went through the database for a full decoding. My god, this took ages and there were lots of details which were gone. 5 decoding errors and 33 failed connections to repair, not even counting the last batch of triangle formulas. Well, well... it's a process. I hope this will be faster tomorrow so I can do a new lesson.


Posted by: Mattias Jan 1 2009, 10:06 PM
1/1
Lesson 21, Time: 1h 39min
Took a long time with difficulties to concentrate. Other ideas not related to the practise kept interrupting me. Although I managed to go through everything memorized in the lesson afterwards without failed connections. My biggest problems were in remembering the things we didn't memorize, if it was minutes, days, hours and where the comma should be and things like that.

Took a break, had dinner, then time for the MM, now at 4 seconds:
Got 100 out of 120! Result: 20. Jippie!!! I felt very strong throughout the exercise, and also recalled faster than ever! My only disappointment was that it doesn't seem to have been saved to the stats in the program. And I love to look back on those. Perhaps it has to do that it's a new year or something... which reminds me:

Have a great 2009 everyone!


Posted by: Mattias Jan 2 2009, 09:42 PM
2/1
Lesson 22, Time: 1h 34min
Went very smooth. I also went through the entire lesson just after with only two failed connections. I agree with TinaK that there are many strange words (for a non native speaker) in the three digit FCs. I have the intention to write new ones for these that work in swedish (as I have with the two digit ones). But for now I have another web browser open with Google Images (http://images.google.com) which very quickly gives me the pictures of the strange words, so I don't have to waste any time.

Continued success with the MM at 4 seconds:
112/130 Result: 22


Posted by: Mattias Jan 3 2009, 06:24 PM
3/1
Lesson 23, Time: 36min
This was a quick one. Had to fix 3 connections when reviewing the lesson. Then I worked a bit with the rest of the database and cut out cards with the index numbers. Those will be perfect on the bus when I go back to work tomorrow. My plan is to take the test on monday.

Continued with the MM at 4 secs:
114/140 Result: 23. (Let's see if I can continue to get the same result as the number of the lesson I'm on, then I'd be a Master when finishing the course )
Gee, this is tough on the concentration, but I see improvements and this practise really builds stamina. Soon I will be forced to get more Ciceros (I have 160), thats good because I have kept putting this off.


Posted by: Tina Kuligowski Jan 4 2009, 08:25 AM
QUOTE (Mattias @ Jan 3 2009, 02:42 AM)
2/1
Lesson 22, Time: 1h 34min
Went very smooth. I also went through the entire lesson just after with only two failed connections. I agree with TinaK that there are many strange words (for a non native speaker) in the three digit FCs. I have the intention to write new ones for these that work in swedish (as I have with the two digit ones). But for now I have another web browser open with Google Images (http://images.google.com) which very quickly gives me the pictures of the strange words, so I don't have to waste any time.

Continued success with the MM at 4 seconds:
112/130 Result: 22

I think I'm going to make up my own code book for 3 digit FCs. I need words that won't be confusing when I try to decode them. I really get confused when there are unused letters mixed in with the letters of the FC. Like FC 323, Bronze ZeBra... I will always be confused by the extra NZ. I need consistency with these codes or I won't remember them correctly. Now, if the extra letters come after the useful letters, I can live with that, like HoVeRcraft.
Posted by: Mattias Jan 4 2009, 10:44 PM
4/1
Worked with the cards for the first database on the bus to and from work. Tomorrow I will do a full decoding and go through the physics formulas and the triangle formulas again. If I feel secure then, I'll take the test.

MM at 4 seconds:
105/150 Result: 21
Lousy concentration today, both during memorization and recalling. Mixing up the connections with earlier ones and just blanking out at some. Perhaps I'll try at 3 seconds tomorrow to really force my attention to stay on track, we'll see...
Posted by: Mattias Jan 5 2009, 02:58 PM
5/1

MM at 3 seconds:
73/150 Result: 15
Had seemingly good concentration during memorization, only one or two bigger "drift-aways". But the recollection was horrible, no concentration left and many many blank images and mixing up connections from recent days. I was surprised that I even got 73 correct. But still I think this continuous pushing on is the right way to go. As long as I don't give up, the result will improve.

Went through parts of the database to prepare for the test. Then...

Lesson 24, Test!
Time: 26min
Mistakes: 3
(one mixed up support image, one decoding error and one mistake where I forgot where to put the comma and unit of measurement)

What to say? I'm very happy with the result and I have been waiting to finish Lesson 24 to be able to start with the card memorization material. Since that seems to be mostly fixing new FCs, I hope I will have time to do both that and continue with the lessons in parallel. But I mustn't forget the goal, to finish all 60 lessons!
Posted by: Tina Kuligowski Jan 6 2009, 12:37 PM
QUOTE (Mattias @ Jan 5 2009, 07:58 PM)
5/1

MM at 3 seconds:
73/150 Result: 15

Lesson 24, Test!
Time: 26min
Mistakes: 3
(one mixed up support image, one decoding error and one mistake where I forgot where to put the comma and unit of measurement)

Wow! You're are really pushing the MM envelope! Excellent test score also... keep up the great work!


Posted by: Mattias Jan 8 2009, 02:31 PM
8/1
Lesson 25, Time: 1h 26min
Exercise 1: Had to correct 2 failed connections during review.
Exercise 2: A bit confused with the explanations, but went through all figurative codes and attached the spelling of the russian letter to them. I visualized the letter as three-dimension made from different fabrics, which made it very easy. Im not really that interested in learning russian at the moment, but I will do all exercises and fix all new FC, to learn the principles and wanting to be able to fix new FC's fast.

I have also made my own FCs for a card deck and started to memorize spades.

15 new Ciceros, now a total of 175.

Now to make some cards with the russian FC's.


Posted by: Mattias Jan 10 2009, 10:21 PM
10/1
I have continued memorizing the FCs for the playing cards. These seems to come quicker than it took for the FCs for the numbers. 3 suites done, hearts left for tomorrow. I timed myself for memorizing the 39 cards I have so far, using Cicero.
1. 6:17min, 5 mistakes.
2. 6:05min, 2 mistakes.
3. 6:06min, 4 mistakes.

Continued working on the russian letters FCs. Next lesson tomorrow.

Got 20 more Ciceros, up to a total of 195.

I have also made some other very interesting experiments in the last few days, more on that tomorrow...


Posted by: Mattias Jan 11 2009, 08:17 PM
11/1
Lesson 26, Time: 1h 10min
Very interesting to read about the technique of learning foreign words. Totally logical and to the point, looking forward to try it out. Learning the sequence of 50 words in English was no problem at all (wow, that felt good to write ).

Singled out a primary and a secondary part of my Ciceros. This my own idea to increase the amount of Ciceros drastically. It needs practice, but I think this will be very much worth the effort. I'll start with two parts, but I think even more parts might be possible in the future.

MM at 5 sec:
98/145 Result: 20
Screwed up some of the new Ciceros from the last days. Trying also to stick to the primary parts of the Ciceros. All of a sudden all of my previous statistics from after the new year came back. Yes! This made me happy and it helps to trigger me further.

Learned the FCs for hearts in the playing deck. Now I have all 52. Went through all cards, very slow. But having connected them with chain, makes it possible to find the FC even when totally lost.

Ok, and now to something very exciting that I discovered this week... I happened to stumble upon a blog by the swedish record holder in memory. Then I started to read about the official memory competitions, it's disciplines and the World Memory Championships. The thing is that it is only one guy in sweden who competes, so he of course has all the records. He has been competing for several years and to my total astonishment: I think I could beat some of his records! At least at home anyway That's not bad for 1,5 months of GMS!

I also read some interviews by him where he explained some of his techniques, and honestly I was not very impressed. I think GMS has far more potential, also for people who have the fetish of competing in such things (like myself!!!)

One of the disciplines: Speed Numbers. Memorize as many single digit numbers as possible in 5 minutes. Swedish record: 120. That would equal setting the MM at 60 numbers at 5 seconds, with a 100% recall. Definitely possible!

So I printed the Random Number Sheet they use for competing (found through the links at worldmemorychampionships.com) and though I would try this thing as they do it. It was shockingly difficult and by this I learned some very important things. Having a paper totally filled with numbers without any spaces was completely different from working with the MM. Here I was forced to have my eyes totally focused at the number at the same time as visualizing. Something I have been working a bit on, but here it became a total necessity.

Also: Here I was not pushed on from number to number as with the MM. I clearly saw how extremely important rhythm is for memorization and for concentration to remain. It is so true that the brain needs be under this steady outside force, to stay on track.

So I have also practiced for a couple of days now with the numbers sheet. This I have been doing keeping a gentle rhythm on my lap, which makes the whole thing possible. And I notice that the brain slowly starts to adopt memorizing from this paper, but it is still so much more frustrating than the MM Although I was already able to do a perfect score of 80 single digit numbers in 4:27, so after some more practice that record will definitely be mine! Moooohhhhaaaaahhhhaaaa!!! (evil laugh)

Is anyone else in here wicked enough to have an interest in these competitions? If so it would be cool to team up.
Posted by: Bjorn Jan 11 2009, 10:51 PM
Yeah that could be fun to have a competition. I've also practiced to memorize a deck of cards. I tried it yesterday with some friends, I got maybe 35 of 52 right but they were still impressed
You seem to do really well by the way! keep it up!
Posted by: Vincent Jan 12 2009, 05:13 PM
It would be super-awsome if you could beat the Swedish memory champion!

Remember this guy has been at it for years... And you are so close now, in such a short time.
With a little practice this should be easy for u


Posted by: Mattias Jan 12 2009, 11:59 PM
Björn: Bra jobbat med korten! Maila mig så styr vi upp tävlandet. euribbo(a)hotmail.com

Vincent: Thanks for the encouragement! I've already set my mind on it

12/1

MM at 4 seconds:
102/145
This was my best recollection yet, felt wonderful! Although I somehow screwed up the order of some ciceros, so I had typed in 20 mistakes in a row which I did remember which would have improved the result. Otherwise there were not many blank connections at all! Only some gaps where my mind had drifted during memorization. Tomorrow I'll go down to 3 seconds and stay there until I'm comfortable with it.

Also practiced some Speed Numbers. Reviewed the english words from the last lesson and the russian FCs. Time for a new lesson tomorrow. Worked on the playing cards FCs on the bus.
Posted by: bobcat Jan 14 2009, 11:15 AM

I can't wait to hear about you blatantly working "yeah, not to brag or anything but I'm the national speed memorization champion" into conversations
Posted by: Mattias Jan 14 2009, 02:02 PM
bobcat: Hehe, yeah I'll be an even bigger pain in the ass, than I am right now. I had some email exchanges with the Swedish champ. He asked if I would be interested in attending a memory training seminar with him. My answer was that he'll soon need to attend MY seminars

13/1
MM at 3 sec:
105/145, Very exciting!

Also practiced Speed Numbers, got 40 points two days in a row, the first two times working on it! (rules at: www.worldmemorychampionships.com, free practicing software at www.memoryxl.de)
Kept hammering in the playing cards FCs during travel.

14/1
Lesson 27 and 28, Time: about 1,5 hours.
I could not get the spoken russian dictionary that I downloaded to work. I learned to pronounce 10 of the words just by the phonetic writing in the lesson. I read through lesson 28 about the repetition sequence and it seems really useful, but I wont really go into this russian thing that focused. It will be useful techniques when the time come to learn a new language. What did interested me the most in this lesson was the way of further expanding the support images. And this I will go into. I need to read through this lesson again because the language is a bit confusing to me. To do list:

* Finishing singling out 2 parts of all Ciceros and to use them for fast temporary memorization (my own idea).
* Start creating parallel support images from the number FCs.
* Start forming a skeleton of support images in my working room, for real life memorization needs.

Got 15 more Ciceros. 210 in total.

MM at 3 sec:
102/150
Horrible concentration today, very surprised I got such a good result. It's so uncomfortable at 3 secs, so I'll keep it there to force my attention to improve.

Speed Numbers: 0 points. This requires a different approach than MM, because you can not really have any mistakes if you want somewhat of a score. Tomorrow I'll try it much slower until I am stable at 80 points.
Posted by: Mattias Jan 15 2009, 01:15 PM
15/1
MM at 3 sec:
116/150, Yes, improvement! Much better concentration today.

5 Minute Numbers: 80 points. No problems here today, this will increase.

Speed Cards: Having been working on the FCs for the playing deck for a while now, I tried memorizing the deck for the first time. I did it according to the "official" rule of a 5 minute maximum limit. And I got 37 cards in that time! Once the FCs are in reflex, the whole deck will be easy.

5 Minute Words: 0 points. Tried this for the first time. Difficult, but this will be good practice to learn visualizing abstract words. I used Chain method, wanting to have a rest from the Ciceros for a while. This was not such a good idea, having gaps and involuntarily started making up stories, which takes far too much time.

Read through lesson 28 again to understand more of the support image system. Time for 29 tomorrow.


Posted by: Mattias Jan 16 2009, 11:36 PM
16/1
Tough day for practicing today, restless and concentration was all over the place.
Started the MM at 3 seconds, but aborted. I wasn't able to follow.

Did 5 Minute Numbers three times:
1. 8 points. Sloppy recollection.
2. 51 points. Also silly recollection mistakes due to restlessness and going too fast.
3. 86 points. On track again.
My first goal here is to get 120 points which is the official swedish record.

Did Speed Cards (5 minutes) three times:
1. 0 cards. Only the cards up until the first mistakes count. Started with a blank
2. 21 cards. Messed up the Ciceros. Should have been able to get 30.
3. 36 cards. Good.
My first goal here is got get the whole deck memorized within the 5 minute limit.

Got 20 extra Ciceros. Now a total of 230.

No lesson today, grrr. I gotta do two more this week.


Posted by: Mattias Jan 19 2009, 12:37 AM
17/1
Went through the FCs cards of both numbers and playing deck. Then practiced reading FCs from the Random Number Sheet, focusing on rhythm and speed.

18/1
Today I competed in memory for the first time! I had been invited to the weekly Online Memory Challenge, where many of the top competitors compete occasionally. It was so much fun and I'm very happy with the results. I had consciously rested the Ciceros yesterday not to mix up connections with recent ones.
5 Minute Words: 10 words. Messed up one which divided my score by half. But now I applied GMS as it should and this will become way better with practice.
5 Minute Binary Numbers: I'll pass this one until I figure out a solid technique using GMS here.
5 Minute Numbers: 108 digits! Hurray! Solid, no mistakes.
Speed Cards (5 minutes): 1st try: 6 cards. 2nd try: 36 cards.
Ranking Score: 457

The more I learn about the memory, the more I realize that most of it really has to do with attention and concentration. I'd guess that maybe 80% is attention and 20% is having a good technique of visualizing big and detailed images. The good news is that both of these can be developed quite quickly with practice.

So the remembering part would actually be 0% in this. The brain does that by itself. 'I' need to be focused, then the brain remembers for me.

Lessons 29 & 30
Just went through these reading about the techniques without going into the russian.
Mattias
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Re: Arkiv: Mattias GMS-journal

Post by Mattias »

Posted by: Mattias Jan 19 2009, 02:46 PM
19/1

Went through Lesson 31 and 32, more or less just reading through them.

Then... success with the MM at 3 sec:
142/160
At the end I was surprised that it was over because I still had concentration to give. I'll continue to increase the numbers until I'm ready to go down to 2 seconds.

But then I had a difficult time with 5 Minute Numbers (got 15 digits) and Speed Cards (got 6 cards). These practice other aspects of the attention and is a perfect compliment to the MM for me.
* All the numbers (cards) are in your face and you have to focus your gaze.
* No outside rhythm that keeps pushing you.
* No mistakes allowed to get a good score.

The wonderful thing with MM is that it keeps pushing you on and on and forces the attention to remain no matter what. And if you persist past the phase of "I can't do this!", you come out on the other side with an ability that you never thought was possible to you. This training is amazing!

I also figured out what I think is the optimal way for me right now to memorize the random binary digits using GMS. This just needs some reading practicing.

The journals seem a bit dead at the moment, not many people posting. Come on guys! I the meantime I read some of the older journals for inspiration and I was particularly struck by the journal of BrunoM. This guy did the whole course keeping to one lesson a day, fantastic!

I also saw that the Online Memory Challenge is open for anyone to register. And it's a great place to practice also. Would be fun to team up if someone else here is interested in this.
http://web.aanet.com.au/memorysports/omc/challenge.php


Posted by: Mattias Jan 20 2009, 01:22 PM
20/1

Lesson 33 & 34
33 was just about grammar practicing. I did the memorization of the 10 dialogue questions (in English) in lesson 34, easy.

MM at 3 sec:
131/170
Concentration was not good during memorization, had to pull myself back to focus many times. Surprised that I still got a good result. Endurance was good though, concentration built up more and more throughout the exercise. Recall also keeps improving both in speed and reliance.

5 Minute Numbers: 40 digits (only two failed connections which would have gotten me 120, I'm almost there!)
Speed Cards (5 minutes): 41 cards

Practiced reading binary digits.


Posted by: Mattias Jan 21 2009, 01:11 PM
21/1

MM at 3 sec:
55/180
Good concentration and good recollection, but I skipped 10 Ciceros during recollections which screwed it all up. Looking forward to do give it another try tomorrow.

5 Minute Numbers: 106 digits. Good result, but this was with bad concentration, so there is room for much improvement. Speed Cards: 2 Cards. Failed connection.

Continued reading of binaries.


Posted by: Mattias Jan 22 2009, 01:25 PM
22/1

Read through lesson 35 about audio books.
This completes the language course. I have learnt the russian alphabet which was easy with this system. Other than that these techniques will become useful in the future when the intention of learning a new language is there. Now I look forward to start the text memorization course, which I will definitely go more into!

MM at 3 sec:
140/190
Good concentration during memorization, but not very good recall with many blanks. I wonder how these two aspects relate to each other and why recall sometimes is good but memorization seems bad and vice versa. Or if I'm just imagining this. Nevermind, it's not so important. I'm making good progress, that's what counts. Next week I'll go down to 2 seconds to see what happens.

5 Minute Numbers: 80 digits (only 1 failed connection away from my first goal of 120 digits!)
Speed Card: 2 cards (Reused some of the Ciceros that I had done during the MM, this mixed up several conncetions. I need to get more Ciceros but I also need to be able to reuse them somehow, I feel this is possible. Next time I'll try to make them blank in between the trials.)
Posted by: Mattias Jan 23 2009, 10:29 PM
23/1

Got 40 new Ciceros, 270 in total.

Lesson 36, Time: 47 min.
Exercise 1: Gave titles to some paragraphs from a magazine and a book (Idries Shah:)). It wasn't so difficult, I guess the feeling for how detailed and how long the titles should be and how long the paragraphs should be for optimal memorization will come in time.
Exercise 2: Started talking about loudspeakers while keeping the image in my mind. This is fairly easy for me.
Comment: This is a very interesting start of the text memorization course. As with texts as with other information: To have a clearly defined way HOW TO memorize it, changes everything and opens up great possibilities.

MM at 3 sec:
130/200
Messed up some of the new Ciceros. Could have gotten at least 10 more correct.

5 Minute Numbers: 2 digits (3 failed connections and 3 sloppy decoding errors away from my goal)
Speed Cards: 0 cards. Messed up totally.
Posted by: rheageorge Jan 25 2009, 01:20 AM
Keep it up!
I hope to reach the stage where you are currently. Good luck!
Posted by: Mattias Jan 25 2009, 04:47 PM
24/1

Went through all FCs of the playing deck and of the two digit numbers. Then did some FC reading from the Random Numbers Sheet and Binaries Sheet.

25/1

Rested the Ciceros yesterday to have them fresh for the weekly Online Memory Challenge today.
5 Minutes Words: 20 words. Lots more to get here, I was playing it safe this time.
5 Minutes Binaries: 150 digits. Wow! I had practiced reading binaries these this week, but this was the first time I tried the memorization. I would have scored 180 if it wasn't for two decoding errors. The current official Swedish Record is 156, so I'm a happy boy! My first goal here is to break 200.
5 Minute Numbers: 40 digits (missed one Ciceros during recall and came out of phase).
Speed Cards: 1st trial: 9 cards. 2nd trial: 32 cards.
Total Challenge Score: 519

Three people ranked within the top 10 in the world participated. They are in a league of their own, totally amazing. As I was struggling with my 32 cards, one guy memorized the whole deck in 29 seconds! And the world junior champion (aged 16!) did 80 words correct in 5 minutes.
Posted by: Mattias Jan 26 2009, 01:29 PM
26/1

Lesson 37, Time 53min
Now armed with a russian stand-up comedy routine, I'm ready to face whatever the future brings!
The 25 anectodes were fairly easy to memorize. And fun to recall in my own words in swedish.

MM at 3 sec:
166/200, Yes!

Decided to start using the MM also for playing cards memorization. I strongly feel that this is the far best way to push the mind further than it is used to and achieve better results. It helps to achieve the a constant 'moving on' (a flow, a rhythm) that is sooo difficult to achive by myself practicing Speed Cards the standard way with only a 5 minute maximum time frame. The MM also forces the FCs to come into reflex level.

MM cards at 4 sec:
35/52, Great feeling! This is definitely the way to go. Only need to stabilize the FCs and I'll be a killer with this!

I'm now 2 months and 3 days into the training and very happy with the results so far. I'm also looking forward to see how the new site develops!


Posted by: Mattias Jan 27 2009, 12:41 PM
27/1

Lesson 38, Time: 28min
This was a quick and easy one about remembering factual information.

Got 30 new Ciceros, now up at 300 in total.

MM at 3 sec:
146/200
Phone rang in the middle of it, but I was very happy that I was able to endure it and just go on without stopping the exercise. I succeeded to incorporate the new Ciceros in the middle of my old sequence. Need to get used to them for one more day or so, then it's time for 2 secs!

MM playing cards at 4 sec:
40/52
And again:
49/52, Yes sir! Time to hit 3 secs tomorrow.
Posted by: Mattias Jan 28 2009, 12:36 PM
28/1

No lesson today.
MM at 2 sec:
107/200 Yes! I didn't expect such a result. I remained calm throughout and realized that the speed actually help the concentration.

MM playing cards at 3 sec:
20/52
And again:
39/52


Posted by: Mattias Jan 29 2009, 12:40 PM
29/1

Lesson 39, Time: 1h 40min
Tough day for memory practicing, a bit stressed because of lots of other stuff to do. I had to fight through the lesson, lots of failed connections upon at control recall. Fixing them and then reading the texts again visualizing the images at the same time. Gotta continue fixing these on the bus today.

MM playing cards at 3 sec:
1. 39/52
2. 34/52

Went through cards of the FCs for two digit numbers once. Gotta continue to go through them at least once a day to get them really really reflex.

'Til next time!


Posted by: rheageorge Jan 30 2009, 03:48 AM
You are more than half way there Mattias.
I enjoy reading your journal. It gives me/us the motivation to continue with the lessons and hope that after all these there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Posted by: Mattias Jan 31 2009, 06:00 PM
Thanks, Rheageorge, for the encouragement! I also follow all active journals finding it very inspiring to read them. I am amazed by the intensity of your practicing, just don't wear out by over-doing it. Keeping going is the most important. When you know that you that you are not doing the techniques wrong: Don't worry about the result but just keep going and keep going, then you will be guaranteed to finish the course and the skill will have time to build (not being interfered by you worrying about it). Now I will try to take in that advice for myself It says in the beginning that keeping a journal increases the rate of success by 10%. I think that is an understatement and that it helps the process far more than that. At least it is so for me.

31/1

MM at 2 sec:
98/200
Grrr... Lousy concentration and felt like I was guessing all throughout recall. Couldn't actually believe that I got a nice result inspite of that. The 2 seconds setting is definitely inside the uncomfortable zone. I know from experience that this is where development takes place.

MM playing cards at 3 sec:
1. 45/52
2. 41/52
Same thing here as with the two-digits. All my FCs need to be much more reflex when going for such quick connections.... But it is slowly coming.

Lesson 40, Time: 50min
Went fine, but easily slipping into boredom working with these texts.

Now, enough of the whining. Onwards!

Unfortunately no time for the Online Memory Challenge tomorrow. At the moment, competition is my main interest using the GMS. But I soon need to start applying it to all texts I read (that I want to remember).
Mattias
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Re: Arkiv: Mattias GMS-journal

Post by Mattias »

Posted by: Mattias Feb 1 2009, 08:43 PM
1/2

MM playing cards at 3 sec:
1. 47/52, Best one so far at 3 sec!
2. 41/52

MM at 2 sec:
147/200, Jippie!!! Nice and steady concentration and recall today.

Time for a new lesson tomorrow. Over and out.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 3 2009, 12:35 PM
2/2

MM at 2 sec:
139/200

MM playing cards at 3 sec:
1. 10/52, Totally messed up the ciceros.
2. 48/52

3/2

Lesson 41, Time : 1h 18min
It's difficult to force myself to memorize all the details, that I know I really won't keep later. I struggle with this and get the energy from having set my goal to complete all lessons, and the details have to be remembered in order to complete the lesson. I will go through this mentally again on the bus to work.

I really like the division into the four degrees of text memorization. Just the first one with focusing on the images that appear during normal reading is a mind opener. To really get this into everyday life later, I have to work on always having prepared support images. If I have that I see no difficulty in making GMS memorization a natural habit during reading.

MM playing cards at 3 sec:
1. 39/52
2. 47/52

MM at 2 sec:
117/200, Once again this was horrible. I the beginning I could hardly stay focused at all, and I really had to be strong not to cancel the trial. But concentration improved throughout and again I was astonished by the result. Recall felt like total guessing. Again the FCs are too slow both for this and for the playing cards. I have no problems making the connections and remembering them, but I cannot see the FC in time. Well, well... One day at a time.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 4 2009, 01:13 PM
I was rather amazed yesterday when recalling the text from the previous text on the subway. Even though I hadn't payed too much attention to the actual text while reading it, I could recall it amazingly well with the images. Wow!

4/2

MM at 2 sec:
118/200, Easily distracted by background noise today and rather frustrated, but kept clinging on to each support image throughout the exercise although failing many connections.

MM playing cards at 3 sec:
1. 39/52
2. 49/52
Today was the first time I didn't really have a problem these FCs. The first time I was just distracted by other things. Second time felt very good. When I have achieved a full score once, I will move down to two seconds also here.

Lesson 42, Time: about 1h 15min (but not finished)
Oh man, this is a heavy one for me. Memorized the 10 sense-supports with images and then each paragraph under them. I have yet to attach all the exact information from each paragraph. That goes for tomorrow. So this is a system of three levels to precisely memorize this kind of complicated text. I start to realize the great importance of the Russian Doll technique and liking it more and more.


Posted by: rheageorge Feb 4 2009, 02:15 PM
Hi Mattias!
Great! You are in the chapter for memorizing texts.
Hey, do you still do the Four-Level Support Image System ( ex. the door:door plate- peephole-knob-lock) in this lesson?
Just curious...
Continue to inspire us!


Posted by: Mattias Feb 5 2009, 10:59 AM
Hi Rheageorge!
You'll soon see for yourself The focus in this course is how to memorize different kinds of texts. You know now how to build databases. Here you learn also to vary the support image system according to the needs of what is to be memorized. Keep up the good work!

Yesterday on the subway I recalled the images for the current lesson, only one gap. I had also brought a deck of cards and memorized it on the train. Amazingly, I was not disturbed at all from all the noise and I even managed to change trains at the right station in the midst of memorizing Although I got many gaps (41/52 correct), I think this is a very good exercise to which I certainly will continue with.

5/2

MM at 2 sec:
148/200, Today this was pure joy. I was very calm thoughout and felt I had plenty of time. I keep getting more secure with the whole sequence of the ciceros.

Lesson 42, Total time: 1h 45min
I continued to work on the lesson from yesterday for half an hour more. I read through the text with the images in mind and added the exact information here and there which I thought was relevant.

MM cards at 3 sec:
1. 44/52
2. 43/52


Posted by: Mattias Feb 6 2009, 05:03 PM
Memorized the card deck on the subway yesterday. Got 45/52 this time.

6/2

Lesson 43, Time: 1h 25min
This was a fun text to memorize with the 48 laws. Although I wouldn't really want some of that content to do too much work on my subconscious, as was said in the lesson That was a real slimy mercurial text. It did contain some neutral truths though, but they were mostly explained in how to use them in a negative way for manipulation. They could be used consciously though to do good. It all depends on your ethics and a possible presence of conscience. Strong tools none the less. A really sharp knife can be used to slice bread and to cut someone throat. Anyway, I enjoyed myself tremendously!

MM at 2 sec:
127/200
Reminder for myself: I tried to save time by skipping a part of my routine of FC warm up. This showed itself immediately in the result and I was too slow with the FCs, so I will definitely stick to doing the warmup fully.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 9 2009, 01:15 PM
8/2

Online Memory Challenge:
5 Minute Words: 29 words. Personal best. Although I played it very safe, so the official Swedish record of 43 shouldn't be that hard.
5 Minute Binaries: 90 digits. Screwed up.
5 Minute Numbers: My computer froze, so I missed it.
Speed Cards:
1. 21/52
2. 46/52
This was confirmation that practicing the cards with MM is the best training. I was very close to get the whole deck correct both times within the 5 minutes. But only the cards up until the first mistake are counted and I mixed up some ciceros or something because of excitement The FCs are now rather well fixed.

Memorized the card deck on the train twice:
1. 48/52
2. 49/52

9/2

Lesson 44, Time: 1h 30min
Used a free association for each number FC for support images. Skipped some of the details that I couldn't even understand in english and simplified a bit. Otherwise it went fine and now I know a little bit more about the human heart

MM at 2 sec with music (Björk's Vespertine):
134/200
Wonderful to try this with music! Not as difficult as I had expected. I was very calm and enjoyed it a lot. I will definitely follow these steps from the latest newsletter. I think they will work wonders to really create an independent concentration, which is not disturbed by outer stimuli.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 10 2009, 03:01 PM
Memorized the playing cards on the subway: 50/52, Almost there!

10/2

Lesson 45, Time: 55min
Structuring terms and learning how the body can receive and dispose medicine.

MM playing card with music at 3 sec (Chicago Underground Trio's Slon):
1. 38/52 With an addition of heavy drilling in another apartment in the house! Great practicing!
2. 37/52 Drilling stopped, wasn't easier.

MM with music at 2 sec:
145/200 Yes!

It's great do this with music! The increased difficulty is balanced by an extra addition of emotional pleasure.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 11 2009, 10:30 AM
43/52 of the cards on the subway yesterday. I was quicker with memorizing than before, but surprised about the large number of blanks during recall.

11/2

No lesson today.

MM at 2 sec with music (The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange):
133/200
Very good concentration during memorization, but sloppy recall.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 12 2009, 01:38 PM
12/2

Lesson 46, Time: 1h 10min
Good lesson with focus on table of contents. Throughout these lessons I have been using ciceros from my working room which I don't use for the MM. I will use all these working room ciceros that I prepare during the lessons, for real life memorizations after the course.

I have now added reading binaries to my FC warm up routine. I decided to increase the MM to 250 today. I was so excited about this that I forgot to put on music.

MM at 2 sec (no music):
196/250, Wow! That was powerful! Tomorrow I will add music to this. I'm sure that practicing with music these last few days contributed to this great result.

MM playing cards at 3 sec (no music):
49/52, Tomorrow it's down to 2 seconds.

I have noticed that it is always when I increase the difficulty that the results improve. When I keep "working out with the same weights" all the time, nothing really happens. The brain immediately adopts to the new situation.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 13 2009, 01:48 PM
13/2

Lesson 47, Time: about 1h
About memorizing lectures. Also a very good overview of GMS which inspired me to pick up the GMS manual again and review a few sections.

MM at 2 sec with music (The Residents - Commercial Album):
173/250
Surprised about the rather good result, because it was difficult today with the music. If I can memorize to this music, I can memorize in any situation! Such a wonderful and quirky record. And totally annoying to memorize to

MM playing cards at 2 sec with music:
39/52, Nice!

This course is amazing. Adding music to the MM now really brings another dimension to it and I'm looking forward to increase the numbers and later to do it with talk radio and then the counting. The training is incredibly effective.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 14 2009, 04:42 PM
Got 51/52 yesterday on the bus in memorizing the deck of cards! So close and I was still quite fast in both memorization and recall.

14/2

Lesson 48, Time: 1h 20min
A tough one with legal text, but the process of memorization is getting more interesting in itself. I did the text for 4 out of the 5 support images. First I read through the text, then just created the connections suggested. Then the very fascinating step of reading the text again and viewing the created images in the mind at the same time. This is important and I can really see how this fixes the information + it makes me understand even more of what I read. It helps in keeping the focus on the essence of the text and it prevents mindless "reading through" where nothing really sticks and your attention wanders.

MM at 2 sec with music (Múm - Finally We Are No One):
158/250, Very difficult today. Not easy to ignore such beautiful music.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with music:
29/52

Unfortunately no time for the Online Memory Challenge tomorrow and not next week either. But when I get back to it I'll be good enough to kick some serious ass!


Posted by: Mattias Feb 16 2009, 12:51 PM
16/2

Lesson 49, Time: 1h 3min
More law memorization. I think this was the last lesson for text memorization. So can I now memorize books? I think I could, but I would of course need to actually do it with a book project of my own to find out. I need to start one when I have finished the course. Keeping this hour for real life memorization projects after the lessons are done, seems like a good idea. I want GMS become incorporated in my normal reading. And with continued practice I definitely think that it is possible.

MM at 2 sec with music (Derek Bailey & Henry Kaiser - Wireforks):
180/250
Difficult to concentrate during memorization and my mind felt very slow. Surprised by the result.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with music:
39/52

With MM I think these are my top 3 obstacles at the moment:
1. FCs are too slow
2. Disturbance in concentration
3. Risk of skipping a cicero

Strangely enough I don't think remembering the connections is a problem at all. When I get better at the above points, I should be able to do 1 second connections.

With the music it is very interesting to study the attention with different types of music. Different music gives different emotional responses which in it's turn affects the attention differently. Of course it's difficult to single this aspect out from just daily form and all other factors. But it's interesting none the less.
Posted by: Mattias Feb 17 2009, 01:24 PM
17/2

Lesson 50, Time: 55min
Still with the text course. Back to the basic support image structure from the First Database Course.

MM at 2 sec with music (Clara Rockmore - The Art of the Theremin):
186/250
Very strange of how little my subjective experience reflects in the result. Felt very concentrated today as opposed to yesterday, but there is no big difference in the result. The subjective experience is very important (it's all we have!), but you have to know it's place and that it's not all there is.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with music:
38/52

My current recall with MM at two sec with music is around 70-75%. I need to get it up to 90%.
Mattias
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Re: Arkiv: Mattias GMS-journal

Post by Mattias »

Posted by: Mattias Feb 18 2009, 01:47 PM
Worked on memorizing the deck of cards on the train yesterday. Also got into some nice conversation with a man on the train who saw what I was doing.
1. 50/52
2. 50/52
3. 46/52
4. 52/52 Finally!
5. 51/52

Got 50 new ciceros. Up at 350 in total.

18/2

No lesson today.

MM at 2 sec with music (Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones):
196/300
Decided to raise the bar now that I got some more Ciceros.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with music:
29/52
This was with the new ciceros from yesterday. I was thinking of going at 3 seconds to get more used to them first. But decided I have to force myself to get them immediately in the right speed. Damn, I'm impatient...


Posted by: Mattias Feb 19 2009, 11:50 AM
19/2

Lesson 51, Time: 49min
A good one. Later when I memorize books on my own I think I will try to stick to the structure of support images of the First Database course, to really have a "fixed" way of doing it without using so many ciceros.

MM at 2 sec with music (Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant - Sister Phantom Owl Fish):
202/300
It's going in the right direction. Perhaps I'll introduce the talk radio next week.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with music:
20/52
Frustrating! I was simply too slow to keep it up with the new ciceros. I'll put them together with the others next time to integrate them and to get some two digit FCs connections on them.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 23 2009, 11:56 AM
23/2

Lesson 52, Time: 35min
First password lesson, nothing new.

MM at 2 sec with music (Pachora - Ast):
224/300, Yes! This is what happens after a lot of hard work and then 3 days without practicing, boom! I had the fastest recall ever. And I was distracted a few times so there is still room for improvement. But I cannot rely on staying at this level just yet. More training needed. Tomorrow it's time for more "weights" in the form of talk radio!

MM playing cards at 2 sec with music:
23/52
Still too slow with the cards FCs and the new ciceros. Forgot to incorporate them with the older ones as I had intended. Got to keep working with the playing cards on the subway today.


Posted by: Mattias Feb 24 2009, 12:00 PM
Memorized the deck of cards yesterday on the subway: 48/52

24/2

Now precisely 3 months into the course.
Lesson 53, Time: 35min
Very short lesson. 2 gaps during recall.

MM at 2 sec with talk radio:
148/300
Wow, this is incredibly good practice. So difficult to follow and on top of that the radio program was really interesting! This created quite a struggle inside. This struggle is is good. Although I was surprised that when I could focus, recall was fairly good. I was totally away for 70 numbers. Excluding these 70, my recall would have been 64% which is not so bad at the moment. Three words to myself: KEEP THIS UP! I can see clearly that the results of this practice will be amazing and probably far beyond my expectations.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with talk radio:
1. ?/52, I had set the MM to two decks, but it only showed me one and then it crashed during recall.
2. 28/52 (with my familiar ciceros)


Posted by: Mattias Feb 26 2009, 01:29 PM
Playing cards on the subway the day before yesterday: 49/52

26/2

Lesson 54, Time 1h 6min
Had lots of energy and fun today with the lesson, learning Ruslans bank numbers

MM at 2 sec with talk radio:
210/300
Alright, this is improving quite fast. No problem to follow the ciceros today.

MM playing cards at 2 sec:
19/52
Still not good. Although it was with the latest ciceros, I feel that the main problem is that the FCs for the cards are still too slow.


Posted by: Vincent Feb 26 2009, 05:42 PM
Wow, you are heading really FAST in the right direction


Posted by: Mattias Mar 3 2009, 02:41 PM
Hi Vincent and thanks for the encouragement!

Back from an intense and wonderful weekend seminar in Berlin. Did the playing cards for a friend, got 48/52.

3/3

MM at 2 sec with talk radio:
216/350 (61,7% recall)

Lesson 55, Time: 35min
Good lesson without any help in the coding. Got three mistakes in recalling. Memorized my own Visa Card info instead of the example.

I have come to the conclusion that I really have to step up a notch if I want to seriously succeed with competing in memory sports. I'm currently happy with my two-digit practicing routine (thorough FC warmup + MM), but I really have to get better at the playing cards. Made a longer warmup routine for the card deck FCs and then I will fill up my ciceros twice a day, once with two-digit FCs and once with playing cards FCs. Unfortunately there seems to be a bug in MM so it doesn't work to memorize several decks of cards. Hopefully this will be available in the coming online practicing software.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with talk radio:
1. 28/52
2. 20/52

Exhausted and out of time for today.


Posted by: Mattias Mar 4 2009, 03:10 PM
49/52 with the playing cards on the subway yesterday.

4/3

MM playing cards at 2 sec with talk radio:
1. 41/52
2. 43/52
3. 39/52
4. 40/52
5. 42/52
6. 44/52
7. 28/52

I'm very happy with my new routine of warmup + MM for the playing cars. Established and ready, now I just need keep it up. It was interesting to do the deck so many times and see the pattern of my memorization and recall which was rather similar each time: Often no problem with the first 20, then a couple of mistakes here and there and then one concentration gap with several mistakes in a row. Since all trials were rather similar I could also see which ciceros I was not so good with.

Lesson 56, Time: 36min
4 mistakes during recall. Did my own passport info instead of the example.

Then took a break and did other things.

MM at 2 sec with talk radio:
211/350. 60,3% recall
Had an amazingly steady memorization with not many concentration failures. I guess that was due to already having done so much MM with the cards. The down-side of this was that recall felt weaker and more insecure than usual. This soon will go up with more practice though.

A great practice today. I think I have found a very good form now which suits me well.


Posted by: Mattias Mar 5 2009, 01:10 PM
5/3

MM playing cards at 2 sec with talk radio:
1. 35/52
2. 39/52
3. 46/52
4. 34/52 Very good start, got all first 30, then totally missed all last 10.
5. 32/52
6. 43/52
7. 28/52
Very tired during this. This made concentration very difficult and it became sooo easy to slip into the radio program. Then took a break.

Lesson 57, Time: 20min
Easy lesson. 2 sloppy mistakes during recall. Mistook the written two-digit FCs for three-digit ones (I have my own set of two-digt FCs).

MM at 2 sec with talk radio:
189/350
Incredibly good concentration during memorization, but really terrible recall. Both like yesterday, but even more extreme. Tomorrow I will start with the two-digits to see what happens.


Posted by: Mattias Mar 6 2009, 04:38 PM
6/3

MM at 2 sec with talk radio:
197/350
Tough today. Bad recall.

Lesson 58, Time: 12min
This was a breeze. Experimented with using really small parts of parts of Ciceros. One blank during recall and one sloppy decoding error.

MM playing cards at 2 sec with talk radio:
1. 30/52
2. 32/52
3. 24/52
4. 38/52

Exhausted and frustrated. Made some interesting observations though.


Posted by: Mattias Mar 8 2009, 10:22 PM
7/3

Practiced reading FCs for both two-digits (including binaries practicing) and playing cards. Rested the Ciceros to have fresh connections for the Online Memory Challenge sunday.

8/3

Online Memory Challenge:
Reached my first goal in the Binaries discipline scoring a perfect 201 digits in 5 minutes. This is well above the official Swedish record set in competitions (156), but the Swedish champion has an unofficial personal best at 252, so that's where I'm headed next
Difficulties with concentration today and I totally screwed up the other disciplines (speed cards and random words). And I mixed the order of the two very last digits in the Speed Numbers leaving me at 80. Otherwise it would have been a personal best at 112.

I'm really triggered for more practicing now! But not much left of this journal...


Posted by: Mattias Mar 9 2009, 02:25 PM
9/3

MM playing cards at 2 sec with talk radio:
1. 39/52
2. 45/52
3. 44/52
4. 40/52
5. 44/52
6. 45/52
7. 36/52
Much better today, great!

Got 20 more Ciceros, up at 370 in total.

Lesson 59, Time: 28 min
Two failed connections and one decoding error during recall. That was it for the lessons. Now there seems to be some kind of test coming up.

MM at 2 sec with talk radio:
181/350
Great concentration, but very bad recall. I think this is because I mix up connections with the cards I did earlier.
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