HOW TO CREATE A 2-DIGIT PAO SYSTEM // RANDOM MEMORY TIPS 18.5

[@scottsponaas]

lol I’m late to the game on this one but I’m reading your book “Remember It!” It just blows my mind how effective this stuff is. I doubted you about memorizing the presidents but I went ahead and used your method to memorize all 46 of them, and I even linked their number to each one. Although it was incredibly time consuming, I was blown away when I could take an 2 or 3 hour break and vividly remember all of them through the really long story. The real crazy part was when I used a random number generator to select which number I should recall and I was recalling exactly who the president was. Definitely going to take the time to create my own PAO system!

[@anikethaldankar4642]

ur one of the most Positive personality I've ever seen in my entire life

[@demigodlord]

I just realised how hard this is, Thank you.... Going to need 6 hours a day for a fornite!

[@marcin6386]

If that is hard imagine that guys have 1000 PAO systems out there :-)

[@3almny-879]

Fantastic work Nelson, Huge love from Egypt!

[@smatlanta1]

Love your book!! ("Remember It") I have most of all of the others, but for whatever reason I still like checking out the different perspectives. Yours is just so simple and accessible. I've always had a hard time coming up with my 100 characters (people, action, object) When I tried it in the past used the Major System letter equivalents, (0 = z or s, 1 - d or t, etc.) I am wondering why you use a different set of letters for these numbers. I found that sometimes I mix up the two systems. If I see a 4 is that an R (Major) or is that a D (this version of PAO) Is it that these letters are more common for initial of people?

[@jozepkomboy1615]

Wow you are a great teacher! some youtubers make it complicated.

[@nguyenbw]

I enjoyed the video, and your book is on its way through Amazon. Small critique but I had trouble reading the screen font. The hand brush font is really small to see on my phone, so I had to pause it a few times. Besides that, great content!

[@rainbowchild63]

Thank you,Nelson!

[@bianoh2o]

does anybody know why dominic set up that system with sequence of letters? Thank you!

[@SorryTheresACatOnMyLap]

Thanks for this!

[@zstehura]

Thanks Nelson.Love the content! I got my Mom "Remember it!" for Christmas! Quick question though: how do you memorize odd numbers with the PAO? Like a phone number or a 5 or 3 digit number? Do you just create a 0-9 number shape system and then always chuck that on the end? Like 50436 would be my person for 50, my action for 43, then my number shape system for 6? Thanks!

[@anubis_atg]

A great idea would be to create a seperate mini PAO system for 0-9. Of course you could always stick with 00-09 but I personally prefer creating a seperate PAO system just for 0-9. It makes it less confusing

[@nothingnothing3211]

@@anubis_atg Won't it be really confusing to use 09 instead of 9? Both are same in maths but in code they are fully different.

[@unpackingideas]

@@anubis_atg Love it! Thats what I ended up doing too!

[@anubis_atg]

@@unpackingideas Nice!

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I need to memorise musical scales & preferably in regard to Saxophone Playing but there’s nothing specific out there- I’ve been told PAO is the key but I’m at a loss how?! Anyone have ANY ideas, please?

[@mariotocamusica]

thanks Nelson! Im reading your book, and its great! could you explain the difference between PAO and major system? when do you prefer to use either?

[@NelsonDellis]

In short, nothing really. The are both a means to an end. In this case, a way to translate numbers into letters/sounds. I prefer PAO. It's what I started with and have developed since then. I like it because it hinges on picturing people, which to me is super memorable. Other people might argue with me saying Major system has more potential, but if you look at the top memorizers right now, most are using PAO.

Nelson Dellis thanks Nelson for the explanation. I still do not really get, why you chose here a different approach for numbers and letters. PAO I use for my card decks as well, there I related the persons to the major system, so e.g. Ted Turner ist for Ace of Diamonds, Marylin Monroe for 3 of Diamonds and so on. So doesn’t it make more sense, to use the Major System for coming up with the people from 1 to 99 and than develop for that the A & O?

[@burgerfriends33]

@ Genau das frage ich mich auch!:)

[@BillKonstantakos]

Very nice breakdown as always. What if you have already created 100 images based on the major system? How do you transition to the PAO system?

[@NelsonDellis]

Thanks Bill! Depends, how many of your images are people vs. objects? What you could do is use what you currently have, and if it's an object, add a person and action related to said object. If it's a person, add an object and action. For example, if you have 72 as a CaNe. Then maybe add a person that associates with a cane, maybe Michael Caine. And then an action associated with him. That would be my quickest way without starting over...

[@BillKonstantakos]

Great, thanks!! I'll give that a try. (I have a coin for 72 so I'll have Michael Caine flipping a coin prestige style!)

[@devtube734]

It's dominic system

[@NelsonDellis]

yup, that's correct

[@xilo3012]

@@NelsonDellis great video well explained. Its hard for me but may be ill try it. It is useful only for numbers or for another thing? I wonder how you link it with palace or link system. I dont understand how you memory sportmen dont confuse with it and make it quick. Txs for the subtitles! Bye.

[@saibunty2004]

Hi Nelson...please tell me your 2 digit PAO peg list from 00-99 ...I have some numbers that are hard to come up with PAO,so that I can make use of your list for those numbers......THANK YOU!!!!

[@NelsonDellis]

Hey Sai, it's too much to type here but it's all in my book which is easy to find on Amazon!

[@saibunty2004]

@@NelsonDellis I couldn't find it in amazon..please tell me the name of ur book.

[@saibunty2004]

Is it the book"REMEMBER IT"??

[@Gurudrawing123]

Which book name?

[@dongamb3823]

If you don't mind, I have a question: I cannot seem to memorise a full deck of playing cards under 15 minutes. I have the images (PAO) clear for all individual cards, however I find it is taking me a lot of time to construct the combined, 3 card image. Also, I find I need to trace back over the path in my memory palace a couple of times during the process, otherwise my accuracy drops due to forgetting mostly the "A" (I note after revealing the "A" I can recall the "O"). Any thoughts on how to improve? BTW, I am age 59 and have only just learned these techniques. Many thanks!

[@nSackStyles]

Hey Nelson, I'm new to your channel and got addicted to it pretty soon. I've never really thought of memorization and building your mental skills that way and hence, I feel that I have so much to learn in life. Anyway, I am a little bit *confused about which system to follow to remember important dates of history for exam : Major System or PAO System* ?

[@please.stop.coping]

Dates are very similar to each other when studying history so PAO is an overkill. Dominic system and memory palace would suffice. Here's what you can do, make an image for the first two digits like if you're studying 1500s, make 15 a perrmanent number and have an associated image or characteristic with it. (for me 15 is SL, so you could say salad) Now let's say you're studying the spanish conquest and the people associated with it. Example: The Spanish Conquest. Hernán Cortés defeats the Aztecs (1519 - 1521). Imagine a nun (Hernán) bowing (Courtesy = Cortés) to a bunch of sticks (Aztecs) then she used it to poke a bunch of salads(15) in a diaper(19). There first locus. You have the year which is a theme that you're going to be seeing a lot. So the hard stnuff is just going to be reading lots and converting two digit numbers to dominic. Do this for other and then ta-dah you'll ace the exam. Or better since Salad is thematic you can imagine a restaurant that serves salad as anything 1500s and use it as a palace for anything at that era.

[@ctmn124]

Hi Nelson I was reading your book and studying on PAO system but I got an issue. How do we use PAO system on odd lenght and numbers which are not multiply of 6 letters lenght? Maybe combining with major system but it can be confusing I hope you answer!

[@NelsonDellis]

Good question. If i'm using my 2-digit system: I'll use a person alone if it's 2 digits, person plus a single digit number shape object if it's 3 digits, person-action if it's 4 digits, person-action-single digit number shape object if it's 5, full PAO if it's 6, full PAO + second single digit number shape object if it's 7, full PAO + another person if it's 8, and then past that, I'll start to create a new image entirely. Does that make sense?

[@ctmn124]

@@NelsonDellis Yes it completely solves the problem, thanks a lot for your answer

[@xenonhawk9748]

@@NelsonDellis What is a single digit number shape object? Did I miss the video on those?

[@ctmn124]

Xenon Hawk You should have 10 object for initial single numbers (0..9) that can be based on major system or anything. So you can use them on digit series that in mod5.

[@brstfr7126]

Nelson, my eight-year-old is interested in learning mnemonic techniques. I taught him a basic Memory Palace, and I wonder if you have any other age-appropriate recommendations? (PAO would be a bit much for him right now, I think). Thanks.

[@NelsonDellis]

Hey! I’d recommend my upcoming kids book but it won’t be out till Aug. (it’s called “Memory Superpowers” if you want to preorder it from Amazon. Other than that, I’m working on some KZbin videos for kids. Is there something specific he’d really like to learn? Maybe I can make a video about it

[@brstfr7126]

I’ll ask him, and also look forward to getting your book.

[@marcin6386]

Ok so you have your PAO, But problematic life scnerio is that person is giving you a number and give it you ordered in 3digit number system. And for a few seconds you hear 083 then 775 and 5324. The conversion from 3 sets to 2 digit memorization system in split second is making it way harder to memorize

[@sediye]

Really love you 😽

[@frlanguages4010]

Which method is better? The major system or the PAO ??

[@txflips1]

Is it possible to create a PAO list with the letters of the major system? I think it would be easier since I cant complete my list even after a full month. Or can I even mix them up to find names?

[@ctmn124]

Yes, PAO system can be created by Dominic System (which like in this video based on letters) or by the major system (based on consonant sounds).

[@bradharper9395]

QUESTION: What if you are memorizing a set of numbers that isn't divisible by 6? like a 10 digit phone number? the last 4 digits would be a person performing an action on what? Also, what if there were just 2 digits remaining? just have a person standing there?

[@NelsonDellis]

Yup, that's exactly how I would do it. if it's 4 digits I would do a person doing an action (no object, the person is just doing the thing). If it's 2 digits, I just picture the person chilling. If it's 3 or 5 or 1, I do essentially the same thing except the left over digit I just come up with a 1-digit image for that left over digit.

[@Brianf743]

Nelson great video!! Question. Using your PAO system how do you address a 7 digit or odd number group ? i.e. Person 1st two numbers, Action the 2nd two numbers and the Object the 3rd two digits, and for example the 7th number is a 3 , how do you not mistaken recall a 03 and think it was a 8 digit number months later?

[@MadaraUchiha..]

Add two zeroes at the beginning of the number and it'll become a 9 digit number.

[@nz5646]

Hey Nelson, when applying your pao to a new set of numbers that you need to memorize, once you identify the first 2 digits, the next 2-4 new digits becomes the action and object? If so, you are assigning new digits for the action and object each time you have to memorize a new set of numbers? I.e. 23 __ __ __ __ The dribbling and ball becomes whatever numbers you need to remember after 23? Thanks!

[@Francisco_Manos]

Did you ever figure this out? I can memorize 100 images (each with actions and objects) but how does one smoosh it together to recall the numbers after the first 2 digits.?

[@philrichmond7567]

Hi. Nelson. I understand the PAO system for numbers after 10 but what do I do with numbers 0 to 9? Initials of people have 2 names.

[@hanshotfirstin1977]

00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09

[@booyaka870]

What about adding coding for colors, smells, etc? Anyone tried this?

[@Novur]

Once you mentioned your pick for GB I got stuck with it, and because of memes about what President Bush Did, my mind palace is going to be a full of LOT of celebrities flying random objects into skyscrapers 😅💃📖🏢🏢

[@QUIINCUNX]

Quick question. I know you shouldn’t repeat names. But what about actions and objects? I watch your cards video and you said actions could be repeating if they are different(your example was swing) but you didn’t say anything about objects

[@NelsonDellis]

You shouldn't have any repeat objects, otherwise how would you know which number the thing represented if it could be more than one option? At least with the actions, there are different types of "swinging" (for example), so it's the same verb word but not really the same movement.

[@melgaudart]

Sorry a little off topic but... is there anything you're doing nutritionally to prevent Alzheimers and do you think you have or have been tested or plan to be tested for any inherited Alzheimers genetics?

[@MadaraUchiha..]

One confusion- Suppose: 1= Leonardo smoking cigar 2= Einstein writing on blackboard Suppose you've got to memorise these digits- 212. So, how would you imagine Einstein smoking blackboard?? And a lot of other such unimaginable combinations can be made in a PAO list. How do you deal with such combinations?

[@Ноунеймбезгалочки-м7ч]

that's the point that you'll memorize them cause they're crazy?

[@Lyle-xu6cc]

Hey Nelson, I've been loving your tutorials! Quick question for you, is there any reason I wouldn't be able to use the major system paired with PAO? Use the major system to get the letters for the initials, and then turn those initials into a PAO. So, for example, the number 33: instead of it being the initials C-C, it would be M-M? Do you think I would run into any problems long term doing it this way? It would just be nice to use the same number/lettering pattern for cards and numbers. Thank you!

[@NelsonDellis]

Hey! Yeah, it's not a problem. I don't really think there is a "right" way to convert numbers to letters, as long as you stay consistent.

[@calisthenicarts312]

Thanks Nelson for this video. I'm in the same situation as the commend below from Bill Konstantakos. I notice the system you used in this video is the Dominic System. In your system you use major system for numbers and then use dominic system for PAO?

[@aaryannepal2205]

Is that the dominic system ? I am confused

[@vaibhavjain3234]

Music in videos is lit all the time!!

[@a.c.8599]

Very impressive memory system and I will make a serious commitment learn it, thank you. What's the best way to memorize chess positions?

[@andrejlykov6408]

Encode any move into PA images with the Major or Dominic system. There is also more advanced system used by Timur Gareyev, but it requires a deep knowledge of chess. For example, Timur is usually memorize the Sicilian defence as Don Carleone in his memory palace.

[@RaymondGosa]

So in the example, after your assigned person for 14, what's the number for the action, and number for the object?

[@NelsonDellis]

14 would represent all three. The person, action, and object. All related to the same thing. If it was 15 for example, the person is Albert Einstein, his action is writing on a chalkboard, and his object is a chalkboard. So they all relate to eachother. What tells you which attribute to visualize depends on the number you are memorizing. Say it's 152334591871. I break it up into groups of 6 (3 pairs), so (15-23-34) (59-18-71). Each little unit (in parenthesis) I read like this: person-action-object. The first 2 digits are the person, the second 2 digits the action, and the last 2 the object. Since we have 15 as the person, I picture Albert Einstein. If it had been (23-15-34) instead, with the 15 in the middle, I would have had a different person, but doing the ACTION of 15 (drawing on a chalkboard). Same applies, but for the object, if it is the last of the 3. Does that make sense?

[@Ronnie7X]

-Every number pair has its own PAO -The final image of 3 pairs of 3 numbers is created by MIXING the PAO images you created for each number -so we take the Person from the first Pair and the Action from the second Pair and the Object from the Third Pair -the result is a new unique image something like "Einstein Dripples a Sandwich" Is that correct ?

[@warba98]

Then what happens when a number doesn't break down into chunks of 6 digits? Like when it has 8 or 10 digits? Can you memorize dates with this system?

[@NelsonDellis]

Good question. I will always break it into chunks of 6 and then figure out what to do with the remainder. So if it's 8 digits, that's 6 and then a left over 2. The leftover 2, I'll probably just have a separate image of JUST the person. If it's a 10 digit number, that would be one 6 digit chunk, with 4 left over. For those leftover 4, I'd probably do another image that's JUST Person-Action. If it's odd, and I'm left with just 1 digit, I'll probably just use a number-shape for that leftover digit.

[@warba98]

Thanks Nelson! Couldn't seem to find an answer to this on the internet so your answer is really appreciated.

[@SmoothlyDoesIt9225]

Nelson can you just clarify something for me, in your video you say that if you have a long number you look at 6 digits at a time the first 2 digits is the person and then you go on to say that the next 2 digits is the action? So am I meant to be creating another list of actions???

[@hanshotfirstin1977]

There is a person, an action, and an object associated with each 2 digit number. So the first two you picture the person, the next two you imagine the action, the last two the object. So you have 100 people, 100 actions and 100 objects memorized. You have the person from the first digits doing the action for the next digits to the object of the last digits.

[@petermelb123]

anyone created a list ?please let me know

[@malark8262]

Hi sir, I have a few question . I’m studying history so I need to memorize many year (4 digit) 1. For 1761 - 1(A)7(J) A J styles.. for 61?? What should I do ? Do I need to set PERSON for 00 to 99 and also set OBJECT OR ACTION for 00 to 99? 2. One battle between two person. Already I have set my 2 friends fighting in mind palace but when it comes to year. Shall I think of one person knows AJ STYLE .. like linking method or I need to switch one of the person fighting as AJ STYLES PLEASE REPLY

[@Joe-o9j1z]

I use this for history dates, but when I learn a group of dates they're usually in the same century, so I don't need the first two numbers. I also try to put the dates chronologically in the memory palace, because if the dates aren't more than a year apart it saves me learning the date, and so I only need to include the month.

[@harishchakrawarthy9940]

Hey Champ, pls help me! Can you memorize the Sustainable Development Goals (Verbatim) and then post a video about how to do that? Also please tell how much time it took for you to do that.

[@LearnToJuggleNOW]

Use a list of keywords for the different parts and memorize them with a memory palace like you would with a list of random words. Don't just reread but test yourself times and times again to see how well you can turn those keywords into the perfect verbatim sentences (no magic shortcuts here). Focus on the most difficult parts. That's it.

[@harishchakrawarthy9940]

LearnToJuggleNOW 2 days after I posted the comment, I myself devised a technique and memorised all of them

[@SuperBartles]

So does anyone else get to try and imagine Andre Agassi miskicking a blackboard for 113215 ? I mean how do you vividly imagine that? The PAO system looks to me as if it conjures up nonsense sentences that are hard to imagine (I know they're supposed to be weird images, the weirder the more memorable, but I still wonder if some of the actions & objects might not work together quite so well for this purpose)

[@LearnToJuggleNOW]

PAO is great and it's what I've been using the most for the past 3 years. However it's not what I would use if I were to start over again and I've stopped recommending it to people. I have many reasons, but the main one is that the system does a large % of the creative work for you. Therefore you can become extremely good at using PAO, but still be mediocre at most other memory related tasks. This is less true with other systems that leave you completely free to choose how your different images should interact. Read "the death of pao" thread on the Art of Memory forum for more reasons.

[@LearnToJuggleNOW]

However for most complete beginners I'm still recommending starting out with a 1-digit PAO system with only 10 characters, 10 actions and 10 objects (and no code for choosing the characters). My reason for doing so is that most people will feel intimidated by the task of choosing 100 images or more and they either won't want to do it or they will just procrastinate the necessary work forever. I figured that if I can offer a decent alternative system that is good enough for most situations, that they can prepare and learn in 30 minutes and start using the very same day, then they might be more likely to get started. Of course I also encourage them to switch to a better system in the future, which I think should be just 100 images for 00 to 99, based on some variation of the Major system.

[@faris6755]

Great

[@N19HT-1]

hey man, love ur vids and i recently just started to train my memory. Using the story method, I actually memorized the first 200 digits of the PI. But what I want to know is how do u use the PAO or your palace to memorize random combos so fast. I.e deck of cards, pretty sure I can do it in an hour or two with the story method, but how do I covert the cards so quickly? is it just practice so u r so familiar with ur palace/pao or whatever and you can plug in pictures as u go? Another question is that im trying to make my own PAO system, and im not even far and already getting confused during practice and feels like there are more to remember in my pao system already, do you have to constantly memorize your pao/palace to be able to become faster? Again man Im new to this and hope to find some answers, cheers :D

[@LearnToJuggleNOW]

Do drills to speed up how quickly you can go from the first to your last loci in each your different palaces and do drills to speed up the time needed to convert digits into images. Buy 2 cheap decks of cards and write 00 to 99 on 100 cards. Then while waiting for the bus take them out and practice turning digits into images as quickly as you can without memorizing them. Then just practice regularly the memorisation of say 40 or 80 or 100 or more digits. See what works and what doesn't work in the way you construct your images (were your images linked to the loci and linked to one another in some logical or absurd way? That helps a lot). Once you've gone through memorization and recall, don't review the story again. Let the images fade so that you can use the same palace again 2 days later. Figure out what your regular memorisation speed is, then try to go 10% faster, even if it leads to mistakes. Rince and repeat ( :

[@N19HT-1]

LearnToJuggleNOW thank u so much

[@rajneeshrai9918]

Thank u very much

[@aemonk1]

I wonder if MATT & SAM are still together...

[@devtube734]

Hope it will help

[@monukumar-eb2lf]

Wow

[@valeriymizyurin]

please, tell me a convenient way to connect the first pao set (6 digits) with the following sets

[@elhacker0795]

me encantan tus videos pero ojalá les pusieras subtítulos en español. Quisiera aprender de todos tus consejos, pero no hablo inglés. si solo les pusieras subtítulos muchas mas personas seguirían tu canal de KZbin. y si les pones subtítulos en chino mandarín? hahaha please, subtitles in spanish thankyou Nelson.

[@onasjelen9337]

I was considering using a 3-digit PAO system right from the start, because I see many memory athletes are considering switching to a 3-digit system sooner or later (even though there are memory masters who do just fine with a 2-digit system and find creating a 3-digit PAO system just a waste of their time and effort). But I guess the biggest negative would be that it would take so much time not only to create it, but also review it. Since there are 1000 numbers to remember, then I guess there is a much higher chance that you will start forgetting some of them. What are your thoughts on this? Do the pros of creating, reviewing and using the 3-digit PAO system outweigh the cons, or not?

[@suppression2142]

Good question I wish he answered you I'm wondering this myself tbh

[@l75rd83]

So pretty much to actually do this you need to memorise 300 things? 1-99 of people, 1-99 of action and 1-99 of objects? You need to learn what the object is in the number and what the number is in the object. I don’t understand.

[@NelsonDellis]

Really, you should focus on learning 100 PEOPLE. The actions and objects need to be learned too, but they should be easier because you should choose them BASED on associations to the person. If 16 is Arnold Schwarzanegger, then a good choice for an action and an object for 16 might be weightlifting and a barbell.

[@l75rd83]

Nelson Dellis So if Arnold (not attempting the second name haha) is 16, he could have an action that that’s body building and the object are weights and say 21 is bill gates who’s action is buying cars and his object is money and also say 74 is Neil Armstrong and he’s flying a rocket ship and his object is a jet pack. The numbers are 162174 so for 16 we think of Arnold and he’s buying cars (21 bill gates action) and then 74 he also wears a jet pack (Neil Armstrong) so ya PAO one from each?

[@NelsonDellis]

@@l75rd83 That's exactly it. And then let's say the number was 211674, then Bill Gates is the person, 16 is Arnold's action (body building), and 74 is Armstrong's object again.

[@l75rd83]

@@NelsonDellis I completely understand, thank you! Would you say learn 1-99 of the person or should I learn 1-99 of all person, action and object. Also if its not to troublesome what's the best way to learn the list? Last note, I believe you have a good coming out soon. I will definitely be buying it. Thanks.

[@narendrakolki6696]

Omg

[@triple_gem_shining]

[@beautifulsmall]

ASCII, has a number for every alphabetic symbol. ascii babes do 0x01101001

[@vijayab437]

Please make a vedio On your 3 digit pao that is 3000 images

[@mikesteele5935]

This is 100 cubed images --- that is one million images.

[@please.stop.coping]

I have already made two PAO systems, one from around 2013, and then last year. Unfortunately I haven't practiced it enough.

[@deeppurple6925]

So how is this useful? I mean, why would I want to memorize a 54 digit number? It's almost imposssible that I would ever need this ability.

[@NelsonDellis]

Deep Purple you’re right. For most people this is overkill. But you can use this to memorize all your credit card numbers, passport numbers, id numbers, phone numbers too. I know each of those numbers aren’t incredibly long. But with a number system like this you can store ALL OF THEM. To some people that’s useful.