Learn how to memorise anything with this easy visual trick

Journalist shows that it's possible to remember up to 100 numbers by using the 'major system'

Joshua Foer shows how he commits numbers to memory (Youtube/Foer)

Have trouble remembering your mum’s birthday? Need to prepare for an exam with pages and pages of formulae? Joshua Foer, journalist and ex-US ‘memory champion’ reveals that it’s possible to memorise just about anything, as long as you transform the number or letters into something you can visualise first.

Foer works with a technique he describes as ‘the major system’, and has no problem at all memorising the first 100 digits of Pi, or a collection of poems.

So here’s how you do it:

Using the major system (described on the video) Foer converts numbers into a word, which he then turns into an image.

Everybody has their own ‘memory palace’ which is where you store these images.

When you’ve committed all the pictures to memory, Foer suggests visualising your own story so you can link the pictures up simply and then reel off the number or equation you’re trying to remember.

Sadly, considering the liklihood of anyone asking you to recite the first 100 numbers of Pi is slim, it's possible that this hard earned skill might be consigned to a good-value-for-money party trick.