Remember passwords it is becoming a modern plague: each of us has at least 3 different email addresses, two or more technological devices, some social network that follows, and maybe a couple of subscriptions to restricted access sites or online courses. And each of these things has its own Password to remember! There are those who write them all on sheets of paper which they then lose; there are those who say “then sign it to me” and when it's time to do it they have already forgotten it; there are those who use one for everything, so if they steal it they find themselves with terrible surprises.
Memorize your passwords, immediately, without ever forgetting them again
Like? Obviously with the memory techniques specific for storing passwords (or any other alphanumeric code).
It seems that many are taking advantage of this summer to study memory techniques and be ready to go back to school in September with an edge. And so I get more emails than usual, from readers who ask me questions / doubts. It seems interesting to me to post here a summary of my conversation with Paul, an 18-year-old student interested in memorizing alphanumeric passwords with upper and lower case. And that so inspired this article.
Paul:
Hi, I'm Paul, I'm 18 and I've just finished reading his book on memory techniques… It was just what I was looking for: it's written in a simple, direct way, it doesn't give long theoretical explanations and above all with a really good price.
Reading the book I had a doubt: how to store passwords when they also have uppercase and lowercase letters (like wifi passwords)? I hope I have not bothered you and that it does not bother you to answer (in which case you do not). Sincerely, Paul
Anthony:
Hi Paul, I'll gladly answer you, and maybe I'll even post a summary of the answer on the blog (the one you're reading).
To memorize passwords that have codes with numbers and letters, some of which are uppercase and others lowercase, I advise you to do this: learn a still mnemonic for each letter of the alphabet, such as the NATO phonetic code for communications between military aircraft (Alpha for A, Bravo for B, Charlie x C, Delta x D, ect, maybe you've seen it in the movies; it's very interesting, I'll put you here the link of the Phonetic Alphabet of NATO)
For each letter of the alphabet you will therefore have a corresponding word, which you will represent with a mental image.
For example:
- A: Alfa (can you imagine a beautiful Alfa Romeo)
- B: Bravo (can you imagine one of Don Rodrigo's good guys, those of the betrothed), and so on.
The difficulty will be in finding an effective image, but with a little imagination you will succeed.
At that point, the problem of uppercase and lowercase remains. The simplest thing when you have to remember something that has only two possible states (big-small, lowercase-uppercase, feminine-masculine, and so on), is to assign a color to each of the two states: for example, in our case, Red in uppercase and Yellow in lowercase.
Once you've assigned a color to a state, you'll never change it, so as not to get confused. The colors in the visualizations remember very well, and you will therefore see that it is effective. To memorize the numbers instead, you will use the alphanumeric conversion according to the method of Leibniz that I teach in the book Quick Memorization Techniques. if you haven't read the book you can find your way by reading my article on coding.
So for example a code like A37bC475z33 may be composed of the following images:
- Alfa romeo red (capital A)
- MuCca (37)
- Bravo by Don Rodrigo (or even the “good” car if you want) all colored in yellow
- Charlie Chaplin Rosso
- RiGHeLlo (475)
- ZULU 'yellow
- Mom (33)
There are 7 images that you can remember with the chain method, or better still with the Loci method using loci that remind you of the type of password. For example, if you need to memorize the password of your bank account, put the images that identify it on loci that you find in your bank:
- He teaches it outside
- Lockers to leave metal objects
- The entrance with the security doors ... and so on
and to each locus you associate an image of the reference password.
Memorize the passwords of whatever interests you
- If you want to memorize the password to access your blog online, for example, use the first page of the blog as a reservoir of loci, identifying a series from top to bottom.
- If you want to memorize that of your PC, locate the loci on the PC itself (the screen, the mouse, the numbers at the top of the keyboard, the letters at the bottom, the space key, and so on).
- If, on the other hand, it is your Facebook password, locate the loci on the login screen to your profile (profile hole, diary, information, friends, and so on).
This way you will not only be able to memorize passwords forever in your mind, but also remember what they relate to.
As always with memory techniques, there is some preparatory work to be done. So if you have to remember a lot of passwords, or do it for practice, it's worth it.
However, if you have to remember a couple of passwords, the preparatory work may not be worth it.
Memory techniques are very strong, but you have to practice to master them, and then find the systems to adapt them to your needs. If not, they are just an interesting game.
Thank you for your interest and for your email! And for giving me the inspiration to write this little post for the end of summer.
