Pictures need somewhere to go

Method of Loci: build a memory palace from a place you already know

You already own a palace. It's whichever place you could walk through blindfolded — your hallway, a childhood school corridor, the walk to the bus stop. Method of Loci just gives that place a job: holding your pictures, in order, for free. Haven't made a picture yet? Start with one date — the same July 14, 1789 comes back below, as three objects you can actually park.

Step one

Fix the route once.

Pick somewhere you can walk in your head without thinking — five stops is plenty to start. Same door, same order, every single time. The route itself does the work of holding sequence, so you never have to remember "what came next."

1Hall — the door you walk through first

2Kitchen — same counter, every time

3Bath — nothing to invent, it's already there

4Lounge — the couch you could draw from memory

5Bedroom — the route's last stop

Step two

Park one image per stop.

The Bastille Day lesson held this date as CUTTER, then TAKE and FABULOUS flowing as one sentence. A route needs separate objects to park instead of a sentence: CUTTER already is one, so it keeps its name; TAKE and FABULOUS aren't things you can set down, so here they become TACK and FOB — same digits (17, 89), different valid pictures. Use whichever word actually sticks for you.

1Hall — a CUTTER propped by the door (714 — July 14th)

2Kitchen — a TACK stuck straight into the fridge door (17)

3Bath — a FOB rattling around inside the kettle (89)

Step three

Take the walk.

To recall, don't try to remember — walk. Through the door, past the CUTTER, into the kitchen, past the TACK on the fridge, into the bath, past the FOB in the kettle. The order arrives for free, because the route never moves. CUTTER, TACK, FOB — 714, 17, 89 — Bastille Day, July 14, 1789.

→ →

714  17  89  ·  JULY 14, 1789

Next guide

Need pictures to park first?

Method of Loci holds the order — the Major System is where the pictures come from. Start there if you haven't yet.

Learn the Major System