10 Epic Lessons Derren Brown Taught Us About Life

7. Your Brain Can Do More Than You Think

Remember when Derren memorised an entire dictionary in 20 minutes? Or the time he mesmerisingly recalled the exact amount of coffee beans on a plate? Those are a mere glimpse of the extraordinary things that go down in le brain a la Derren.

In his book "Tricks Of The Mind" he explains how he uses linking systems to remember long lists; by associating words with a person, action, object and/or feeling. If you try his method in the book, the burning image of flaccid sausage telephones and cabbage covered fingers will remain in your mind for a good week. That's all we're saying.

Another fun technique for remembering things is the "Memory Palace" - a method which dates back to Ancient Rome. You take buildings, rooms or locations that you know, then condense things you want to remember into memorable and bizarre objects and place them into this building inside your own mind. If you need to call your grandmother, for example, imagine walking into your living room and seeing her gnawing on the telephone in a zombie-like fashion. When you get home from work, you'll see the telephone and, voilà! You suddenly remember the feverish granny you need to call.

As for the displays of photographic memory, there's no evidence to prove this exists - therefore there's only one possible solution. Derren Brown is a wizard.

What We Learnt...

The tricks - if you immerse yourself in learning them - work for pretty much anybody. In fact, you'll surprise yourself how much they can impact your life. At some point, we all need to memorise a number. Whether it's a hotel room, pin code or phone number - the "Loci system" Derren Brown discusses in "Tricks Of The Mind" comes in very useful for remembering digits. Make sure you grab a copy of the book, and next time you pull and your mobile dies (before you write down the attractive party's number), just thank Derren.