The Journey

Hi There!

I hope you’re having a great week! Ellie is on spring break and headed to San Diego to spend the rest of the week with my parents, while I’m headed to Florida tomorrow to speak to over 500 Keller Williams agents at an inspirational breakfast on Friday! I’m going to miss my Ellie Bug and I’m also thankful to have a little bit of time to myself this weekend before jumping back into our daily routine.

I’ve been working hard to memorize my TEDx talk coming up on April 7^th. I ended up changing my speech significantly to tailor it to a high school audience, which makes it feel like I’m memorizing an entirely new speech. At first, I was overwhelmed by this because of the timeframe, but then I got to Googling and found a method to quickly memorize a speech. After modifying it a bit, it’s working wonders for me! Today, I want to share this process with you in case you one day need to quickly memorize a speech, toast, lines in a play, or perhaps a presentation.

This is the helpful video I found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thg6LbcQdRc. It shares a few different memorization techniques. I combined two of the techniques to create a method that’s working for me. Here’s my version in six steps:

• Pick a journey or route you are familiar with that you take almost on a daily basis. I picked my house because I walk through it every day.
• Choose a starting location (I used my front door), then think about where you’ll go next on your journey. I walked into the first room closest to the front door, which happens to be my dining room.
• Place objects and pictures in that location which will trigger a memory about the first part of your speech or your first set of lines. For example, to remember to talk about what I was like in high school, I use my high school cheer picture. Right next to this picture I put my late husband, Andrew’s, jersey to know next in the speech comes the part about his college football days. After the jersey is my wedding album to remind me to talk about when we got married. Since my presentation has slides, the last object in the room is the printed out slide that coordinates with moving to the next section.
• Walk into the next closest room or location and start again with the next part you need to memorize, ending with something to remind you to transition.
• Repeat Steps 1– 4 in each room/location, remembering to end each spot with a cue to transition, until you are done with whatever you need to memorize.
• Take the journey along your route several times each day to practice, reciting your lines while looking at each object.

It took a little bit of time and some creativity to think about which objects or pictures would trigger my memory for specific lines, but I honestly found the process fun and entertaining. I was blown away the first time I stood in my living room and recited my speech to completion by memory, which was only a few days after setting up each room. I could clearly see each room and each object in my mind as I was reciting my speech. I’ve kept every object in place throughout my house, so that by seeing them it will trigger my memory. I’m such a kinesthetic and visual learner, which is why this method has worked so well for me.

My goal on the day of the TEDx event is to take the journey through each room of my house in my mind. The challenge will be staying in the present moment and not letting my mind jump ahead, get distracted, or let fearful thoughts take over. If I can stay in each room and see each object in my mind, then I should be able to confidently deliver this powerful message! It’s been so exciting to find a technique that works for me, especially as I continue to evolve and grow as a speaker. I will definitely use this method in the future. Hope this was helpful for you, too!

I would love for you to come to the TEDx event on April 7^th at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, TX. The talk will start at 6 PM, and I am the second speaker of the evening. Tickets are $25 and on sale now at: https://tedxmarcushighschool.org/ticket-information/

Hope to see you there! Thank you so much for spending your valuable time with me today. Have a wonderful rest of the week! Blessings.