M2M — Week 4–Card Memorisation
This month I aim to complete the first two challenges of my year-long Month to Mastery (M2M) accelerated learning program. These are:
- memorise the order of a shuffled deck of playing cards in under four minutes
- complete one continuous set of 100 push-ups
In this post, I’ll be breaking down my methodology, learnings and attempts from Week 3 of the card memorisation challenge. In case you missed them, you can view my post from Week 1 (where I introduce the challenge), Week 2 & Week 3.
Recap — My Fourth Full Deck Memorisation Attempt
On Day 22, I recorded my second full-deck memorisation attempt. Here’s the condensed video:
As covered in my previous post, it took me 6:22 minutes to memorise the deck and a further 12:18 minutes for recall, with 48 out of 52 cards correct.
I have 8 days remaining to cut 2:22 minutes from my memorisation time. Let’s get to work.
23.12.19 — Day 23 — Only 1:30 minutes to go
Momentum is a very powerful driver. The seconds are dropping like flies now.
Today, I filmed my latest memorisation attempt. As usual, I’ve trimmed it down and sped up the boring parts. Full video (on Youtube) can be found here.
The process can be separated into 3 parts. Timings refer to full-length video
1. Memorisation
starts at 01:19 and ends at 06:50
It took me 5:31 minutes to memorise the deck, an improvement of 51 seconds from yesterday.
2. Recall
starts at 07:15 mins and ends at 23:40 mins
It took me 16:25 minutes to recall the order of the deck. Although that represents an increase of 04:07 minutes from last time, this can be associated with the faster memorisation speed. I expect that as I complete some additional memorisation attempts at this speed, I’ll be able to create clearer PAO instances, helping me recall them more easily.
3. Simultaneously flipping both decks
starts at 24:15 mins and ends at 26:19 mins
Once more, I managed to get 48/52 cards correct!
I’m kept waiting for the perfect recall. I anticipated this as there were a few cards that I was unsure where to place, hence the increased recall time. Nevertheless, I am improving at an accelerated rate, with only 01:30 minutes left to reach my goal of 4 minutes.
24.12.19 — Day 24 — I’m remembering too much. Wait, what?
The increased clarity of the PAO images I’ve been creating over the last couple of days has resulted in a counter-intuitive problem. I’m remembering too much.
Certain locations in my Mind Palace are very crowded from previous memorisation attempts. As a result, when recalling the order of my memorisation, I’m having difficulties differentiating between new and old memories.
A method for countering this problem would be to create additional Mind Palaces. Then, I’d be able to practice with a specific Mind Palace while allowing memorisation attempts of another to fade. However, with only one week remaining, and no problems up until now, I’m not going to jump the gun. If the problem persists, I’ll likely get to work on some new Mind Palaces.
Anyway, the best I could achieve was a five-minute memorisation time, with only 40/52 cards correct. Not worth the video editing.
I’m taking the rest of the day off. Hopefully tomorrow there will be some room in my Mind Palace.
25.12.19 — Day 25
Boom! The five-minute milestone comes crashing down. Full video (on Youtube) can be found here.
The process can be separated into 3 parts. Timings refer to full-length video
1. Memorisation
starts at 01:45 and ends at 06:32
It took me only 04:47 minutes to memorise the deck, cutting another 44 seconds off my previous PB.
2. Recall
starts at 06:38 mins and ends at 19:48 mins
It took me 13:10 minutes to recall the order of the deck.
This is a decrease of 3:15 mins from my attempt on Day 23, despite the faster memorisation time. This is clear evidence that I’m creating highly memorable and sequential PAO instances.
3. Simultaneously flipping both decks
starts at 20:42 mins and finishes at 22:34 mins
*Drum Roll*
All 52/52 cards correct!
After some recent near-misses, I’ve finally managed the perfect recall! I’m buzzing. Now, all that’s left to do is practice until I can memorise the order in sub-four-minutes. If I continue progressing at this rate, I should complete the challenge in the next 2–3 days.
Now, it’s time to head over to my parents’ house and enjoy a nice Xmas lunch.
26.12.19 — Day 26 — Flu 1–0 Francois
Unfortunately, I’ve been hit pretty hard by the flu which has sapped away a lot of my mental and physical energy. I attempted to memorise cards but I had a strong headache which clouded my thoughts. As a result, I was unable to focus for an extended period of time. Hopefully, I’ll get better before the end of the month.
27.12.19 — Day 27 — Flying to Gran Canaria
Today, I did not have time to film myself memorising cards. I’m flying to Gran Canaria from London to spend the next two weeks with my girlfriend and her family. I’m very excited to enjoy some time in the sun and eat some traditional Spanish dishes.
Es hora de practicar mi español… Deséame suerte.
Days 28–31
Unfortunately, I was unable to shake off the flu. Also, I’ve been busy meeting all my girlfriend’s extended family and participating in traditional Spanish New Year celebrations.
Therefore, my attempt from Day 25 (04:47 minutes), will represent the closest I was able to get to my aim of memorising the order of a shuffled deck of playing cards in under four minutes.
It’s frustrating because, following the progress I made in the last week, I was confident I had it within my sights to complete this challenge. In the next month, I’ll try and find some time to practice a bit more and ‘complete’ the challenge. However, the impact this challenge has had on me is greater than the outcome.
By introducing a public, demanding pursuit that forced me to venture out of my comfort zone, both through this challenge and the simultaneous 100 push-ups challenge, the past month has been strangely rewarding. Furthermore, these challenges have changed my perspective regarding what I believe can be achieved in a month with the right mindset.
Crucial to this rapid growth was the principle of being consistent, disciplined and building momentum. On the days where I beat a previous PB or learnt a new methodology, other aspects of my life benefited as well. I started finding it easier to avoid hitting the snooze button, accomplishing more during my work sessions and reducing my use of technology in the evenings.
Finally, by posting on Medium, I’ve have learnt to document my process, learnings, failures and successes. By reflecting on these aspects while writing, I have found it easier to gather insights that I would otherwise have overlooked.
Practice Log
I’m curious to figure out how much time I spent on this challenge.
This month, I took 5 days off, which means I practised for 20 days (I stopped on the 26th of December due to the flu). On those days I practised between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes, for an average training time of 1 hour.
20 * 1 hour = 20 hours
Therefore, on average, I spent 48 minutes per day on this challenge. Although this is a significant amount of time, it’s not a crazy commitment, particularly since the majority of the training (except the video filming) can be done during previously unproductive times of the day such as commuting.
However, let’s also take into account the time I spent on these Medium posts. Because it was my first time writing up posts and video editing, I spent ~4 hours creating content and writing up each post. I expect I’ll be able to reduce this for my subsequent M2M challenges as I become more familiar with the process.
4 * 4 hours = 16 hours
Total = 20 hours + 16 hours = 36 hours
I truly enjoyed this month’s challenge and I’m excited about January’s, which is all about wine. Yes, I know, so French. I aim to understand how it’s made, how to taste and enjoy it, what to look for when buying and how food pairings work.
Happy New Year!
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