The Business of Memory by Frank Felberbaum & Lynn Sonberg

Author:Frank Felberbaum & Lynn Sonberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rodale Press
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Practice #1: Focus on Features

Because this technique is so basic to recognizing people, I suggest giving yourself 5 minutes a day three days a week to practice it. If you’re in a job where recognizing people is especially important to you, you may want to bump it up to five days a week.

Preparation. Find a place where you can observe someone’s face for 3 to 5 minutes, such as at a coffee bar, diner, or restaurant; on public transportation; or while waiting in line or in a waiting room. You can also perform this practice with family, friends, or coworkers if they’re comfortable being observed.

Step 1: Get an overview. Take a good overall look at the person’s face. Talk your way through the face feature by feature—forehead, brows, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, and any other facial elements that leap out at you, including ears and cheeks. Ideally, you would perform this step while talking aloud to yourself—perhaps camouflaging your activity by using a memo-size tape recorder or a cell phone—but if you’re not comfortable with that, take notes or talk to your self silently. Be sure, though, to put your thoughts into words. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get lost in your own musings without the sharpness of intention and focus that enable this technique to work.

Take as much time as you need to complete this step, which at first may require up to 5 minutes or even longer. Your eventual goal is to take in the whole face at a glance and move instinctively to Step 2.

Step 2: Choose a feature. Remember, your goal is to pick the one feature that would enable you to recognize this person again, a feature as distinctive in its own small way as Ronald Reagan’s raised eyebrow or Bob Hope’s “ski-jump” nose. Zero in on the feature you’ve chosen, firmly and decisively.

Step 3: Visualize the feature. Close your eyes briefly and see the person’s face, focusing on the distinctive feature. In your mind’s eye, exaggerate the feature or highlight it in some other way.

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