Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us. - Oscar Wilde
A photographic memory can be a very useful thing. You can use it to memorize cue cards for speeches, grocery lists, and phone numbers. Some of the national champions of memorizing can memorize 32 decks of cards, how the decks themselves are in a pattern and how the cards are organized, in an hour. Maybe you don't want to do these things, you just want to have a better memory than 99% of the world. This instructable will show the two methods used to develop this amazing talent.

Step 1: Method 1

This first method is used by national champions of memorization around the world. This method is longer though. If you want to get really good it will take up to a year, but you can miss days occasionally, whereas the next method takes a month and if you miss a day it will set you back one week. To complete this method, grab a deck of cards, I used Uno, draw the top three cards and try to memorize them.

Step 2:

Place the three memorized randomly into the deck. Spread out the deck.

Step 3:

Pick out your three cards. Put them in the order they where in earlier. Do this everyday with three cards for a week. Next week, do five. Then 10, 15, 20, 25, etc...

Step 4:

Do this until you have the ability to memorize a whole deck. Grab a box of dominos

Step 5:

Make a pattern with 10 dominos. Memorize it. Every week add 10. When can do a whole box of dominos, do 2. So on, so on....
This method is extremely effective, if not very fast.

Step 6: Method 2

This method is used by the military to help operatives learn faces and names quickly. To be successful, you must not miss a day. If you miss a day, you have to do it for another week. This technique ingrains pictures into you brain.

Supplies

Small bright light
Windowless room
Paragraph of literature
Piece of paper with a box in it the size of a paragraph

Step 7:

Go to your dark room and set up the light. Turn on the light. Set up your paragraph so the paper with the hole covers up everything but the one paragraph. Look at the paragraph for five minutes. Turn off the light while you are staring at the page. You will have a flash of light where you will distantly see the page.

Step 8:

Repeat this process everyday for a month or until you completely recall the paragraph and read it from memory. Then, if you do this once with anything else it will be memorized. This method uses the light to ingrain the visual into your brain. I would recommend watching this video http://video-subtitle.tedcdn.com/talk/podcast/2012/None/JoshuaFoer_2012-480p-en.mp4