Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to remember names. Everyone loves
Speaker 1: to hear his or her own name, and some people
Speaker 1: may be more naturally oriented towards remembering names than others are,
Speaker 1: but everybody can get better at it, and getting better
Speaker 1: at it is a good thing to do. Today's tip,
Speaker 1: like some others this week, comes from Aaron zam at
Speaker 1: Ruddy's new book, The Little Book of Life Skills. This
Speaker 1: book features interviews with dozens of experts on how to
Speaker 1: improve daily life. Her suggestions for remembering names comes from
Speaker 1: Jim Quick, who runs quick Learning, a company that helps
Speaker 1: with memory training. His first suggestion is to believe that
Speaker 1: you can remember names. Telling yourself, oh, I'm not it
Speaker 1: at names is really just about letting yourself off the hook.
Speaker 1: You've learned all kinds of other skills that are necessary
Speaker 1: for your job or your daily life. Learning names is
Speaker 1: really about believing that other people are important. Second practice
Speaker 1: remembering the names of people you meet as often as
Speaker 1: you can. A good way to do this is to
Speaker 1: repeat the person's name as soon as the person introduces themselves. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Ted is followed by hello Ted, not just hello.
Speaker 1: If it seems authentic to the conversation, you might ask
Speaker 1: about the name, the spelling, or where it came from,
Speaker 1: or why their parents chose it. Then come up with
Speaker 1: a visual that helps you remember the name. As Ready writes,
Speaker 1: siding quick, if someone is named Mary, you could picture
Speaker 1: her carrying two little lambs, queuing the nursery rhyme and
Speaker 1: hopefully her name in your next encounter. And then finally,
Speaker 1: when you end the conversation, use the person's name again.
Speaker 1: It was great talking to you, Lisa. This gives you
Speaker 1: two opportunities to hear yourself saying the name, which will
Speaker 1: hopefully help cement it into your brain. Just remind yourself
Speaker 1: why this matters, and stop with the self defeating talk.
Speaker 1: I'm not good at remembering names, can become I'm not
Speaker 1: good at remembering names, Yet you can learn we all
Speaker 1: remember things when we want to. I never used the
Speaker 1: wrong form of there and there in my writing, so
Speaker 1: clearly I'm able to remember details. Names are very important details.
Speaker 1: They are part of being welcoming and gracious. I've seen
Speaker 1: evidence of this at of all places. My kid's karate studio,
Speaker 1: the instructors seem to have a policy that as soon
Speaker 1: as any child walks in the door, even for a
Speaker 1: first lesson, all the teachers will know and remember the
Speaker 1: child its name, and so they do. On little Bobby's
Speaker 1: first day in class, the teacher will be saying, Bobby, Joe,
Speaker 1: Chris over to the right corner. And while I'm willing
Speaker 1: to believe that some people have better name memories than others,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's the primary thing people are hired
Speaker 1: for at a karate studio. That's their karate expertise. But
Speaker 1: it's just a work culture assumption that knowing everyone's name
Speaker 1: is as important as knowing a particular form, and so
Speaker 1: people perform to that expectation. The rest of us can too.
Speaker 1: So today, if you are introduced to someone, make a
Speaker 1: point of remembering his or her name and using it
Speaker 1: multiple times in the conversation. Try introducing that person to
Speaker 1: someone else and using the name again. Maybe make a
Speaker 1: note to yourself somewhere, writing down I met Henry today
Speaker 1: and he told me this. Over time, you will become
Speaker 1: the sort of person who remembers names and as Dale Carnegie,
Speaker 1: author of How to Win Friends, and influence people. Once
Speaker 1: wrote to all of us, our own names are the
Speaker 1: sweetest sound in any language. This matters. We know it does,
Speaker 1: so we can get it right. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
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