Ep. 232: Thriving Under Pressure & Memory Techniques W/ John Graham, U.S. Memory Champion

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by John Graham. John is the most recent US memory champion, having won in 2018, he is an international Grand Master of Memory, and he also is the international coach for the entire Vietnamese memory team. Amazing, right? As if those are not already enough, John has appeared on international TV shows in Russia, Indonesia, and the US - all showcasing his incredible trained memory. He has actually been able to memorize 181 names and faces in 15 minutes, a 282 digit number in 5 minutes, over 22 decks of cards in 1 hour, and many more things. You probably understand how crazy all that is! In this episode, we talked not just about memory techniques, because we've done a lot of episodes on them - instead, I wanted to go deeper with John and find out how he uses all this in his own life, how he makes it into a better quality of life, more success, more happiness, more joy, more connection to other people. I think we did a really good job covering that! Sometimes, you may think why would you ever need to memorize 181 names and faces in 15 minutes, and in this episode, we discover that it is about so much more than that. John and I share the opinion that memory is the gateway to all learning, which then is the gateway to self-improvement. Apart from all that, we also talked about a methodology that he developed for learning how to perform well under pressure, whether that is appearing on stage, competing in athletic events, or anything else. I really enjoyed this episode, and I'm sure you will do as well! - Jonathan Levi