Jun 4, 2026 · 1 hr 17 min · 12 segments
Nelson Dellis is one of the world's leading memory experts, having won the USA Memory Championships six times and earned the title of elite Grandmaster of Memory. He is also a successful mountaineer…
Nelson DellisGuest
Gary BertwistleHost
And so it does come down to committing yourself, doesn't it? I mean, that seems to be hearing you talk about it, reading your books, and now hearing that even the conversation with Carl.
It does seem to come down to you need to be very intentional if you want to or need to remember something.
Yeah, I mean, that's what it all comes down to when, you know, we want to remember something is that we have to pay attention to it.
And we have to kind of instruct ourselves or mark the thing that we're trying to remember as important to our brain.
Obviously, everything, on a surface level, you'd say, oh yeah, I'd love to remember everything.
I could use it all later, somebody's name, an experience that I had, a phone number.
But what you think is important doesn't necessarily align with what the primitive brain thinks is important.
You said for something to be remembered for the long term, It should invoke an emotion and also have a kind of a visual type of moment.
That then makes something easy to remember, which obviously our last interview had Nisa.
But in a business sense, if somebody is a company owner hearing this today, in order to improve the things they can recall, Would you say that's the basis of it? Is there need to invoke some sort of emotion and they need to create some sort of visual picture in their mind?
Yeah, so if you think of most intensely emotional moments of your life, you probably remember them in more detail than the day-to-day, mundane, similar experiences.
If you can generate an experience from a memory or for something that you're trying to memorize, you will remember that better.
If it's linked to some kind of emotional response or emotional charge, you will remember it better.
Now, that's easier said than done, right? Obviously, the kinds of emotional things we're talking about are...
But again, we're using our imagination and we can tap into thoughts and ideas that might make it feel like, obviously in a created way, a fictional way, that we are feeling some of that emotion.
And if you can generate that somehow or a fraction of it, you are already in a good place to help you remember something.
And that, hearing you, looking at your work, it seems to rely on almost strategies.
And I read an article this week by Gabrielle Principe, professor of psychology at the College of Charleston.
And so it does come down to committing yourself, doesn't it? I mean, that seems to be hearing you talk about it, reading your books, and now hearing that even the conversation with Carl.
It does seem to come down to you need to be very intentional if you want to or need to remember something.
Yeah, I mean, that's what it all comes down to when, you know, we want to remember something is that we have to pay attention to it.
And we have to kind of instruct ourselves or mark the thing that we're trying to remember as important to our brain.
Obviously, everything, on a surface level, you'd say, oh yeah, I'd love to remember everything.
I could use it all later, somebody's name, an experience that I had, a phone number.
But what you think is important doesn't necessarily align with what the primitive brain thinks is important.
You said for something to be remembered for the long term, It should invoke an emotion and also have a kind of a visual type of moment.
That then makes something easy to remember, which obviously our last interview had Nisa.
But in a business sense, if somebody is a company owner hearing this today, in order to improve the things they can recall, Would you say that's the basis of it? Is there need to invoke some sort of emotion and they need to create some sort of visual picture in their mind?
Yeah, so if you think of most intensely emotional moments of your life, you probably remember them in more detail than the day-to-day, mundane, similar experiences.
If you can generate an experience from a memory or for something that you're trying to memorize, you will remember that better.
If it's linked to some kind of emotional response or emotional charge, you will remember it better.
Now, that's easier said than done, right? Obviously, the kinds of emotional things we're talking about are...
But again, we're using our imagination and we can tap into thoughts and ideas that might make it feel like, obviously in a created way, a fictional way, that we are feeling some of that emotion.
And if you can generate that somehow or a fraction of it, you are already in a good place to help you remember something.
And that, hearing you, looking at your work, it seems to rely on almost strategies.
And I read an article this week by Gabrielle Principe, professor of psychology at the College of Charleston.
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