how I learned to memorize a deck of cards in 3 minutes, in less than 1 month
Memorizing decks of cards is a great way to cultivate focus muscles. I obtained baseline competency of this skill with about 4 days of moderate practice, then reduced my time by 80% over the course of a month. Here’s a graph of my “deck time” over the course of 32 recorded trials:
After about 3 weeks of daily practice, I clock in a pretty consistent 3:10 per deck. I might have considered that impossible just 30 days ago.
To develop this skill I used a combination of Tim Ferriss’ Bikeshop Pro method, meticulous tracking and measurement, and a handful of very cool apps. Ferriss and other memory advocates/athletes may recommend starting with “Bikeshop Lite” AKA the “Roman House” or “Memory Palace” method before moving to Pro. Frankly, I’d advise against this. It’s a waste of time.
Basics of Bikeshop Pro (ft. @ottomanbob)
I won’t go into detail here, I encourage you to instead refer to Ferriss’ post. Here’s a summary:
Assign every card in the deck a person, action, and object.
Create a route through an actual physical space with which you are familiar. I used my drive from high school to the beach, stopping at home on the way.
Choose 17 distinct locations on this route. As you flip through a deck combine the subject from one card, the action from the next, and the object from another. Place this image at the first location on your route.
Continue in triads for the rest of the deck, using the 52nd (leftover) card creatively in your last scene.
Proud. by Jameswmann.com via Attribution Engine. Licensed under CC NC.
how I did it (and you can too)
Of course, nothing this cool is that simple and effortless. Here are some detailed actionable tips from journey to proficiency:
1. Assigning an image to each card was one of the trickiest parts of this whole process. I tried about three different organizational strategies before settling. I started with someone else’s Anki deck (see below), which had assigned images of celebrities to Diamonds and Clubs. (I can no longer find this deck online). For Spades and Hearts, respectively, I assigned a male friend and memorable girl from each grade level of my education. The King of Hearts, for instance, is my girlfriend doing yoga on a mat, whereas the King of Spades is my college roommate, Yves, lying facedown on a mattress. lmao.
When choosing your images be super duper intentional. There are so many things I would change if I were to start from square one. In my list there are three or four images that involve a person feeding, petting, or slapping a different small animal. All three of these actions and their objects are far too visually similar.
In addition, make sure your actions/verbs are versatile. “Bill Gates rebooting his computer” is very difficult to combine with “Wambui doing yoga on a mat.” How does one reboot a yoga mat? I’ve found more grotesque and visual verbs to be more effective. A quick list:
Some truly bizarre imagery from my Anki deck.
2. Use ANKI to memorize your newly minted images. This crude interface uses spaced repetition to ensure maximum returns on your image memorization. The mobile app is pricey as fuck, unfortunately, but it’s useful for nearly any sort of memorization exercise. I started with the 26 celebrity cards from this deck, then downloaded images for the remaining 26 cards. I completed my flashcards using the Anki desktop app, which is free, and the batch media importer plugin. Be careful when syncing the cards to your phone, it’s not intuitive, but it’s worth it.
3. Designing my route was a fun meditative exercise, as it required me to mentally travel through my favorite neighborhoods and take snapshots. I would recommend against choosing spots on the highway (too small) or sprawling areas like “Nalo Town” (too large). Ideal spots on the map are urban, with lots of texture and character. For instance “MidPac,” my high school, has lots of distinct features but is too big an area. When recalling my first triad, I often find myself browsing around the 50 acres of the campus, looking for an image I don’t recall.
“Maunalani Park,” conversely, just consists of some grass, a playground, a court, and a parking lot. I can mentally browse it in a matter of seconds. Plus there are lots of surfaces and items with which my characters can interact.
i.e. Bill Clinton fellating a sheep on the jungle gym.
4. After about two days of assigning images, locations, and practicing flash cards, I started with small batches of cards.
It should be noted at this point that I have only practiced once with a proper deck of cards. Instead, I’ve been using iPhone app 52Cards. The app has an integrated timer, which is super useful, and is much better for practicing on the go/toilet.
Recalling 22 card batches, then checking my score. Here I began to notice that most of my errors were in “writing,” or constructing my scenes. Not during recall. I also made sure to take note whenever I hit a new PR (personal record).
5. After a couple days of small batch practice, I started doing full decks. This was the most grueling part of the whole process because it’s so goddamned long. I was shooting for accuracy, not speed, and every one of my first few decks would take at least ten minutes. It’s pretty uncomfortable for a millennial to stay laser focused for ten minutes straight. My first high accuracy (90%+) full deck took about 12 minutes! (I still practiced my flashcards on these days, as well.)
6. What gets measured gets managed. Despite all the aforementioned work, I attribute most of my success in developing this skill to meticulous and deliberate tracking and analysis. Over the month, I designed and refined a Google Sheet for recording my times and accuracy. Using a bunch of simple formulas, I’m able to gather a ton of insights to improve my practice.
(A)CPM = accurate cards per minute, SP(A)C = seconds per (accurate) card
This sheet has enabled me to graph my progress, calculate a trendline curve (third degree polynomial regression seen above) to predict future speeds, and observe other trends. Currently, there are 32 entries in my spreadsheet, but I’ve probably practiced on twice as many decks. I don’t record data for sessions I do on the toilet or tram, unless they are really remarkable. If I do, I’ll note qualitative data as to why.
Some insights from my spreadsheet:
I tend to hit new personal records after taking a one or two day break.
My two most recent PRs have been while listening to LCD Soundsystem and Father John Misty. This is likely due to the tempo of the songs, not their brilliant songwriting.
My speed seldom improves over the course of one day. Brain fatigue is real!
7. I prefer listening to music over using a metronome, though I’ll usually practice in silence if possible. 170+ BPM dance music like LCD Soundsystem proves to be particularly effective. Of course, I’m not actually turning cards at 200 BPM. It’s more like 30 BPM, at the start of each measure. If you can tolerate the tick of the metronome, I recommend the Pro Metronome app. The lite version should suffice for this application.
8. Take Breaks! Once I started making serious progress, I got hooked, flipping decks at every dull moment. As a result my speeds actually decreased, and the whole process became less fun. I now force myself to take days off. Remember the purpose of this exercise is to cultivate focus, not distraction!
9. I thought this would be a cool party trick. It is. BUT after 2 glasses of wine, my accuracy tanks. W/R/T showing off at social gatherings, under-commit on speed and over-deliver. When I tried to show off at a dinner in Paris, I made the mistake of keeping everyone quiet for five minutes while I flipped cards. I think it would have been better to let people chat and instead take ten minutes.
Pin-up Cartoon Playing Cards by Andertoons via Attribution Engine. Licensed under CC BY.
I’m yet to observe the real long term benefits of toning and honing my focus muscles, yet I do feel some dramatic immediate effects. Now, when I look at a deck or decide to focus on something, it is much easier to turn off the outside world and extraneous thoughts in my head. This type of focus is something I recall regularly feeling doing homework in elementary school, before the internet ejaculated all over my brain. At the very least, card memorization is a badass party trick and a source of personal pride. And for a distraction behavior, it sure beats Facebook.
As my speed improves, I’ll update this post and move onto other focus exercises, like Rubik’s cubing and speed chess.
