30 Second Book Summary: How to Remember Names and Faces

We don't forgot people's names--we never really hear and remember them in the first place!

Five Rules When Being Introduced:

1. Be sure to clearly hear their name

2. Try to spell the name

3. Make some comment about the name, when appropriate (e.g., I had a friend in college with that name...)

4. Use their name during the initial conversation

5. Use their name when saying goodbye

Remembering Names

There Are Three Types of Names:

1. Names that already have meaning (e.g., Carpenter, Rivers, Cook)
2. Names that sound like something (e.g., Woodruff [think of rough wood])
3. Names that just seem like a collection of sounds (e.g., Petrocelli, [visualize a pet rolling in jelly] Mangalaro, [visualize yourself mangling an arrow)

Create Standard Visualizations:

• Smith = black smith (visualize a hammer or anvil)
• Jones = picture yourself owning something (Jones/owns)
• Gordon = Garden
• Bill = Dollar bill
• Carson = Picture a car with a little car (it's son) next to it
• ...berg = Picture an iceberg
• ...stein = Picture a beer stein
• Mc... = Mack truck
• ...witz = Brains (for wits)
• ...auer = Clock (for hour)
• ...ger = Lion (growling)

Examples:

• Macmillan = Picture a bunch of Mack trucks milling around
• Capatenakis = Imagine giving the captain a kiss
• Zackavich = Visualize putting a witch in a sack (sack a witch)
• Carrothers = Think of a car with udders (like a cow)
• Jeffries = A chef freezing

Remembering Faces

1. Make eye contact (not the left chest area looking for a name badge) and look at their face
2. Select one outstanding feature of the person's face (e.g., an unusually large nose, puffy eyebrows, etc.).
3. Tie the visualization from above to the outstanding feature (e.g., if Mr. Petrocelli has a large nose, picture your dog rolling in jelly on his nose).

Suppose you meet two Mr. Smith's--one has large ears and one has large lips. You may picture taking your blacksmith hammer out to pound down the ears closer to the man's head for one, and giving the other a fat lip with the same hammer for the other.

Remembering comes down to paying attention; the above tips are just tools to pause, focus, and anchor.