Martins Blog

I have now completed “The 7 habits of highly effective people” by Stephen R Covey and as I said in an earlier post I have provided a brief synopsis below. 

This turned out to be a very interesting read with lots of soul searching needed to fully appreciate what Steven is saying. I don’t think this is a book to read and then move on. It’s more of a reference book to help analyse how you as a person react to other people and your environment. People assume that the way the are is based upon one of three things.

1. Genetic – I act the way I act because of my genetic make-up
2. Social – I act the way I act because of my parents
3. Environment - I act the way I act because of where I was brought up

The main thrust, for me anyway, was that fact that he argues that there is a gap between stimulus and response in humans. Pavlov earlier experimented and conditioned dogs to salivate for food at the ringing of a bell. Steven argues that humans are the only animal who can decide what response they give to a certain stimulus based upon their paradigm or ‘view of a situation’.

He tells a poignant tale of a father on a train with his two children. The father sits emotionless as his children run amok in the carriage. Steven, based on his ‘view’ or paradigm gets the stimulus that this behaviour is unacceptable and his response is to challenge the father about the childrens antics. At which point the father informs Steven that they have just come from the hospital where the childrens mother has just died. The father explains that he is in a state of shock at the death of his wife and suggests that perhaps the childrens misbehaviour is their way of dealing with the situation. Suddenly the authors ‘view’ or paradigm has changed. The situation hasn’t changed, but his response to the stimulus would have been very different if he had assessed the situation with the right paradigm.

He goes on to provide a framework of 7 habits that will help you to become a balanced individual who can respond to stimulus in a objective way based upon the morals and principles that you hold dear. He states that in order to reap the rewards of a fulfilling social, family and working life there has to be enough of what he calls ‘Production Capability’.

For example, if you want to have a good relationship with your children then it’s not enough just to be the breadwinner. If you spend time with them, truly listen and be interested in what they say then you will reap the rewards throughout your life.

I will only briefly outline his 7 habits but encourage you to go and read the book as I’m sure you will get something from it.

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win/Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
6. Synergise
7. Sharpen the Saw

I have just installed this to have a look to see if this product might be any good. My first impression is that it’s seems to be a cross between Frontpage and Visual Studio with a sprinkling of Dreamweaver. Too early to make any judgements but I do like the css management features. All to often I’m left with a load of redundant styles during the design and build cycle that I never quite manage to get round to deleting. Having said that, like most developers, I’m still hacked off at the lack of uniform implementation of the CSS standards by the major browsers. I think table based designs are still not dead yet. The web would be a pretty boring place if every site had a UI like Google

In the Expressions range I would also like a play with the Graphic Designer product that hasn’t made Beta just yet. I watched a promo videocast covering the features and it did look good.

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Just about every business application will require the use of transactions at some point to complete a complex series of processes a single step. This is very true of parent child relationships in data models.

This article describes how you might implement transactional inserts across multiple tables in SQL Server. The article covers the SQLClient.SQLTransaction class and walks through a real world example.

http://developer.bracora.com/Articles/SqlTransaction.aspx

I find it quite infuriating when I need to glance away from a form based data entry screen to look at some paper based information and then can’t locate the cursor when I glance back up. This is very common especially with high screen resolutions or particularly complex forms.

I have written an article shows how, with a little imagination, you might enhance the user interface of large form based input screens using a mixture on client side events, JavaScript and CSS.  

http://developer.bracora.com/Articles/FormHighlight.aspx

Part 6 - Major System

This is another peg system that allows you to store a great deal of data in an easily retrievable manner. It uses a simple concept of using sounds for numbers to form words of images that will become pegs in your memory. There are different variations that I’ve come across in my reading and research. However, it’s the same principle but each uses different sounds for each number.

What we are trying to achieve is having an ordered list of 100 or 1000 key images that will form our major system.

For me I use the following

• 0. s or z - think of zero
• 1. d or t - have one downstroke
• 2. n - has two downstrokes
• 3. m - has three downstrokes
• 4. r - four
• 5. l - roman numeral for 50
• 6. j, ch or soft g - turned upside down it looks like a small g
• 7. k or hard c - you can see sevens in capital K
• 8. f or v - a swirly f can look like an eight
• 9. b or p - these can be mirrored to look like a nine

Now this leaves the vowels free (a,e,i,o,u) and the letters h, w, and y. So what you need to do is make a key image word  based on the sounds of the numbers you are trying to get to.

For example, number 32 in the major system uses the sounds m for 3 and n for 2. What you are trying to do is think of a key image word that comes into your head when you say these two sounds together. Remember you are allowed to use vowels and/or the other non-used letters as well.

For me, m and n form the word man in my head. However man on its own is not a great image for me to use as a peg. So, again we must use exaggeration and the other techniques mentioned in an earlier post to make this image stand out. For me I have a picture in my head of the sketch by Leonardo called the ‘Vitruvian Man’. This is a very clear image for me to then associate items with.

Now that you have grasped the principle I will list my first 100 entries

Remember these are my key images. Yours will be different. It is very important to go through the major system repeating the sounds in your head until you get a clear word or image coming through. I’ll talk through a couple of my key thoughts.

Number 2 - the sound is n, for me this brings back a clip from a Monty Python film. So when I think about the number two in the major system I’m thinking about the ‘Knights who say nee’

Number 26 - the sound is n and j or soft sh. When I say these sounds together it brings back a memory of a character in the Highlander film called Nash. My thought is of him fighting with his samurai sword.

Number 48 - the sound r and f. For me this brings back the word RAF (Royal Air Force). So my key image is of a Harrier Jump Jet with the RAF target logo printed on it.

Hopefully you can see the process of coming up with your own major system. Again this can be combined with other complementary techniques such as covering each item in oil or a block of ice. This can give you almost an endless supply of memory spaces or pegs.

To make sure your major system stays in your head, just take 10 minutes every day to go back over the images you have.

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Part 5 - Link/Journey/Roman Room System

In this article I will refer to this system as the link system as it comes by many names but with the same basic concepts. Every person is different and some people are a bit more right brained while others have a stronger left side. Most of the list based systems favour the left brain thinkers.

The link system has a slightly different concept in that it uses links to connect the memory locations or pegs in your head. A slight disadvantage is that it can be hard to grab just an individual piece from the chain. You may need to navigate the links to get to the required information.

You can create a link system on real or imaginary events it’s entirely up to you and how your brain works. Here is an example using a recent holiday of mine.

• Drove the car to the airport car park
• From here we took a small shuttle bus
• Lifted the very heavy cases onto the trolley
• We offloaded these at the check-in desk
• Purchased a bottle of my favourite malt whisky in the duty free
• Entered the aeroplane
• Landed and picked up a hire car
• Drove to our holiday villa
• Jumped straight into the swimming pool

Even with this fairly short overview to the start of the holiday we now have 10 pegs to hang items on to. If you have a vivid imagination you may include much more detail (pegs).

You would then associate the items you wish to remember with the pegs from the story. The recall process should start with the replaying of the story in your head.

If needed to remember the following items for a conference I was going to:

• Phone
• Pen and pad
• Entrance badge
• Letters to post
• Business cards

I would then change my story to include these items.

For example, As I got to my car perhaps I could not get in the door because someone had dropped a huge (3ft) mobile phone at the drivers side. So I’d have to physically drag it to the side. Then when I get to the shuttle bus there are pads and pens on all the seats and I have to write my name out 100 times before the driver leaves making me very angry.

Then when I go to get my case, its burst open and 100’s of letters spilling out onto the wet pavement. I manage to get it onto the trolley. But the trolley wheels are locked. It requires an airport Entrance badge to be inserted to release the trolley brakes.

Then when I get to the check-in I notice there are a lot of people there and I start to hand out my business cards……..etc.

Hopefully you get the idea of how you would implement this system. Again use as much exaggeration as possible to bring out the key images in the story.

Some people pefer to imagine a room, house or even an entire town. They then attach/associate the items to remember with the key story images that they have in their head already. It’s very much up to the individual and you need to choose a system or combination of systems that work for you.

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Part 4 - Increase what you’ve done so far by a 1000 per cent

At this stage you should be familiar with at least the Number Shape and the Number Rhyme systems. Each of these provides 10 spaces or pegs in your brain to ‘hang’ things on to. However, we want to make this expandable.

What we do is combine these systems with a complimentary system to expand our total slots. For the Number Shape system we have a swan in mind for the number 2. Now we might cover the swan in a thick black coating of oil (in our head anyway) and use that image as a peg for number 12. So we can think of the oil as being the ’tens’ part of the number. So for our memory address of 12 in the Number Shape system we think of a swan covered in oil.

The location part is pretty important as we may have many references to the number twelve. So you need to be able to work back the way by saying Swan + Oil = 12 in the Number Shape system.

For the Number Rhyme system we have the giants purple shoe in mind. So for 12 we would have a key image of the giants shoe covered in this thick black oil. Therefore Shoe + Oil = 12 in the Number Rhyme system.

I’ll do one more to concrete the concept of what were doing. For 22 in the Number Shape system lets say that twenty’s’ will be a block of ice. So the Swam covered in a block of ice will be 22. We can then attach the item we would like to remember onto that image.

I have used oil and a block of ice here but it’s important to note that we are all inherently different and what images work for one individual it may not work for another. So choose images that mean something to you. I have listed mine below.

• Tens – covered in oil
• Twenties – contained in a block of ice
• Thirties – on fire
• Forties – covered in luminous green paint
• Fifties – at the bottom of the ocean
• Sixties – on the surface of the moon
• Seventies – sitting on the eighteenth green at my golf course
• Eighties – floating in white fluffy clouds
• Nineties – in the middle of a rope bridge over a gorge

So you now have the capability to store items in conveniently number locations in your head. By combining these images with the numerical elements you are using BOTH sides of your brain which aids retention and recall.

A final point, it is important to continually review these pegs to make sure you can always recall them. Review them daily to begin with, then weekly and then monthly. If you continue to use the system there will come a time when this becomes permanently ingrained in your mind.

Part 3 - Number Shape System

This system is almost identical to my previous post on the number rhyme which you can view here. However with the number shape system, you guessed it, we will maintain a memory allocation (or pegs) based on the shape of various numbers.

It is important that you have already grasped the key memory concepts in my earlier post ‘Basics of memory systems’ which you can view here.

For this system I use the numbers one through ten. I will use the number 2 again for the example. When I look at the number 2 I can see the shape of a swan. So, in my number shape storage area in my head I ALWAYS think of a swan.

Imagine I was trying to remember parts for a PC build. We’ll say the second item on our shopping list is a motherboard. My key image would be a giant white swan coming into my local PC store with the motherboard in its mouth.

To make this image more memorable it’s important to exaggerate this scene as much as possible. Perhaps the swan is crunching down on the board and all the components are flying off in all directions making all the customers dive for cover. Get the idea. The more ludicrous, colourful, eventful the scene the better chance you’ll have of remembering it. The recall part should be easy as you always think of a swan when you see the number 2 shape.

I have given MY list below. Yours may well be different.

1. Penguin
2. Swan
3. Seagull
4. Sailing Boat
5. Anglers Hook
6. Golf Club - Driver
7. Cliff
8. Hourglass
9. Balloon on a string
10. Baseball bat and ball

The good part about these systems is that there is a random access element to them. It’s just as easy to recall the list backwards or just pluck one from the list directly

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Part 2 - Number Rhyme – Good for short lists

This is a system that helps you with recall by associating things you wish to remember with items that are already fixed in your memory. Just add the association, exaggeration and senses element and you won’t forget.

Step 1 – Create you memory space

What you need to do is have 10 ‘pegs’ that represent the sounds from numbers one to ten. This should never change. You now have 10 direct access memory slots.

So, if you decide that number 2 sounds like shoe then you would always have shoe representing number 2. Not just any shoe tough, it might be a giant’s shoe, purple in colour, soft and leathery and with perhaps smell of foot odour.

Step 2 – Store items in your memory space

The next step is where the association comes in as well. Say we are trying to remember a table structure and the second field is Telephone.

In our number rhyme system we simply associate the giant’s shoe with a telephone. Again exaggerate the telephone with size, movement, colour, sounds and link it to the shoe. Perhaps, the telephone is on top of the shoe, ringing very loudly. The telephone cord could be wrapped through the eyelets of the shoe.

Now when you try to recall the second field of your table structure you can then think giant shoe => telephone. It’s that easy. I have included a sample for the first ten. These may be different from yours as it must come from your brain not mine. For my son he thinks two sounds like boo so he has an image of a friendly ghost floating around shouting boo!

1. Gun
2. Shoe
3. Tree
4. Door
5. Hive
6. Sticks
7. Heaven
8. Gate
9. Wine
10. Hen

You may be thinking, 10 items, well that’s not going to get me very far. Please be patient, I will cover other complementary techniques that will increase this by at least 10 times and will also allow you to put more than one item in your memory slot.

Next time, the number shape system which again is great for small lists.

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Part 1 - Basics of memory systems

There are hundreds of books regarding ‘memory systems’. Each has its own angle about how you should go about retaining information in your brain. From my experience I have identified a number of concepts that you need to use to improve your memory.

Association

Items that are related/linked to other items are easier to recall because this is how your brain stores information. Think of a relational database. You may want to get to a particular item in a customers order. Therefore you may need to link customers to orders and then orders to order details before you find the answer.

Exaggeration

Things that are unusual or strange are more easily remembered. If you visited a safari park, which would you remember? A pink 50ft elephant that bounded back and forth over its pen, or a gazelle standing grazing in the field?

You get the idea; exaggerate the item as much as possible. Play around with size, colour and movement in your head. You can use this for abstract things as well.

Senses

Things are more easily remembered if you imagine it with more than one of your senses. When remembering freshly baked bread on a Mediterranean holiday you will note it’s lovely colour, it’s smell, the way it feels in your hand as you cut it, the noise as you bite in and ultimately the beautiful taste it has. Using all your senses helps to create a lasting memory.

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