The five-minute memory palace

You already own a perfect memory device. It's the walk from your front door to your bed.

You could describe that route with your eyes closed. You've never had to study it. A memory palace borrows that route and hangs new things on it. People have used the idea for more than two thousand years, and it's still what competitive memorisers rely on.

This week's trip

Pick five spots you pass in order, at home. Say: front door, shoe rack, sofa, kitchen tap, bed.

Now take this list: milk, stamps, batteries, lemons, rope.

Put one thing at each stop, and make it strange:

• Front door: milk is pouring through the letterbox and soaking your feet.
• Shoe rack: every shoe has a giant stamp licked onto its sole.
• Sofa: the cushions are made of batteries, and they buzz when you sit.
• Kitchen tap: you turn it on and lemons shoot out.
• Bed: a rope is tied around your pillow, and something is pulling it.

Spend about five seconds on each one. See it, hear it, and feel it if you can.

Now walk it

Look away from this email and walk the route in your head. Stop at each spot and see what's there.

Then do it backwards. Most people are surprised that this works, because you aren't reciting a list. You're just looking around a place you know.

Why strange beats sensible

A carton of milk on a shelf looks like every other carton you've seen. Milk flooding through your door doesn't. Odd, physical, slightly ridiculous pictures are simply easier to find again later.

Try it on a real list this week, then see what's still there tomorrow.