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  • Hey, guys. It's Ron White. I was on the National Geographic show, Brain Games, and on that

  • show, I went around Times Square, and I asked people to show me the money in their pockets.

  • I looked at the dollar bills, and I memorized the serial number on it. And I handed it back

  • and repeated the serial numbers. It was a great memory demonstration, and the question

  • is: Was it magic, a unique ability for me, or is it something that anybody can learn?

  • The good news is anybody can learn how to do it, and I'm going to show you how I did

  • it.

  • So how did I memorize the numbers on the dollar bills on the TV show, Brain Games? The first

  • thing that I did is I had to do a little bit of preparation work. And that is I had to

  • create pictures for numbers, because numbers are on the dollar bill, and to remember anything,

  • you need a picture for it. My picture for the number 1 was a pencil, because a 1 looks

  • like a pencil. My picture for the number 2 was a duck, because a duck's neck kind of

  • looks like a number 2. 3 was a pyramid, because there's 3 sides to a pyramid. 4, I determined

  • would be a box, because there's 4 sides on a box. Number 5 was a star because there's

  • 5 points on a star. Number 6, I made it an elephant, because if you turn the number 6

  • on it's side, a number 6 kind of looks like an elephant, the body of the elephant and

  • then the trunk. Number 7 was dice, because -- I don't know if you know this, but opposite

  • sides always add up to 7 on dice. If there's a 1 on top, there's a 6 on bottom; if there's

  • a 3 on top, there's a 4 on bottom. So 7 was dice. Number 8 for me was a snowman, because

  • an 8 kind of looks like a snowman. Number 9, I made it a balloon, because the balloon

  • looks like the circle on a 9, and then the string coming down looks like the line on

  • the number 9. 10 for me was a plate and a fork, because a fork is the 1, and a plate

  • looks like a circle, that makes up the number 10.

  • And I did this all the way up to 20. 11 was a goal post, because a goal post has 2 sides

  • on it. 12 was eggs, because a dozen eggs. 13 was a mountain, because the curves of a

  • 3, if you lay it on its side, kind of look like the curves of mountaintops. 14, I make

  • a necklace, 14 karat gold, maybe February the 14th you give a necklace for Valentine's

  • Day. Number 15 I turned into a picture of drums, because the 5 kind of looks like drums

  • with the cymbal above it, and the 1 looks like the drumstick. So 15 was drums. 16 for

  • me was a car, because you've got to be 16 to get a driver's license. 17, I used a woodpecker,

  • because the 1 looked like a tree, and the 7 looked like a woodpecker pecking away at

  • the tree. Number 18 for me is handcuffs, because the 2 circles look like the handcuffs, and

  • the 1 looks like the key. 18 was handcuffs. So 19, I used golf clubs because there are

  • 18 holes in a golf course, but the 19th hole is where you go to get your lemonade or hang

  • out after the game. 19th hole; 19 is golf clubs. And number 20 I used fingers and toes,

  • 10 fingers, 10 toes, 20 fingers and toes.

  • So after the first step -- I've turned numbers 1 to 20 into pictures -- I also did the same

  • thing with letters. A for me, I decided was going to be an apple. B was going to be a

  • bumblebee. C was going to be a cat. D was going to be a dog. I created pictures for

  • every letter of the alphabet. Then after I had pictures for numbers and I had pictures

  • for letters, the next thing that I had to do is I had to memorize a map of my house.

  • I stood in the doorway of every single one of my rooms, and I picked 5 pieces of furniture

  • in each room -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then I stood in the doorway of the next room -- 6, 7, 8,

  • 9, and 10. And I numbered things like desks, beds, TVs, refrigerators, microwaves, stoves.

  • I numbered my house. This is what is called the Mind Palace.

  • So real quick recap. The first thing that I did is I created pictures for numbers, then

  • I created pictures for letters, and then I numbered pieces of furniture in my house.

  • Then I went to Times Square. In Times Square somebody would hand me a dollar bill, and

  • I would open it up. And the first 2 letters would say I, H. Well "I" for me was an igloo,

  • like in Alaska, and "H" was a hat. So on my first piece of furniture I would imagine an

  • igloo to remember the letter I. On my second piece of furniture, I would imagine taking

  • off a hat and setting it on there to remember H. Now let's say the next sequence of letters

  • would be 1, 3 -- 13, right? Well we've already decided that 13, our picture for that is going

  • to be a mountain, because a 3 on its side kind of looks like the shape of a mountain.

  • So on my third piece of furniture in that room I imagine mountains, and I imagine the

  • cold weather. That reminds me of the number 13. Then let's say the next number in the

  • sequence was 7. Well we've already decided that our picture for the number 7 is dice,

  • so we imagine the game of dice or craps or Monopoly, dice being thrown on our next piece

  • of furniture. So to remember that sequence of letters and numbers, I would think back

  • to the house. The first piece of furniture was an igloo, so I said I. The next piece

  • of furniture there was a hat, so I said H. The next piece of furniture, we saw the mountain,

  • so I would say 1, 3. And then the next piece of furniture there was dice, and so I would

  • say 7 -- IH137. And that's really how I memorized the dollar bills. I would just go through

  • the sequence, and I was seeing balloons for number 9. I was seeing a cat for the letter

  • C. And I would just imagine it around my house.

  • So that's how I did it. That's the simple trick and the simple system that I used to

  • memorize serial numbers on dollar bills. The way that you get good at this is number 5

  • pieces of furniture in each room of your house -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Close your

  • eyes, say them forwards and backwards. Make sure that you know them solid. And then create

  • pictures for numbers. Whenever you see those numbers or whenever you hear those numbers,

  • imagine those numbers, the pictures interacting with your furniture. And you should be able

  • to memorize the string of numbers. I used it with dollar bills. Every dollar bill, I

  • had its own separate room so I could keep the dollar bills separate in my mind.

  • So if you want to amaze your friends and memorize the serial numbers on dollar bills, it's a

  • crazy cool skill. It's a crazy cool trick. All you have to do is click the link right

  • here, and I will send you my pictures for numbers totally free. I'll also send you my

  • pictures for letters totally free. Click the link right here. You're going to amaze your

  • friends. Or click the link in the text description below, and we'll send it to you right now.

  • All right, guys. So you're still here. I've got some more videos here that you're going

  • to really love. This one right here is how I memorized the numbers on Stan Lee's Super

  • Humans on The History Channel. Check this out right here, more training on how to memorize

  • numbers.

Hey, guys. It's Ron White. I was on the National Geographic show, Brain Games, and on that

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