Thank Goodness It's Monday #448

CAN YOU NAME THE U.S. PRESIDENTS?

IN ORDER?

I can’t.  Probably will never be able to. Even with a visual aid.


Who held the job before the guy who was before Lincoln?

Who replaced Ulysses Grant? Who followed Woodrow Wilson?

(The end of this post fills in the blanks.)

But on this Presidents Day 2014 it feels like something that, perhaps, a patriotic citizen ought to be able to do.

 

Of course I do know someone who, even more than simply knowing the Presidents in order, uses the appeal of that bit of memory mastery to demonstrate the potential of, and train others in feats of, monumental mental dexterity.

Now if I could only remember his name …

 

Just joking. Of course I know it. He’s two-time USA Memory Champion -- 

 

Ron White. You may know him as well from numerous television appearances.

Or perhaps you met him live and in person at programs I was involved with some years ago, produced locally by my friend Eric Taylor.

 

And in that regard, while I do not embody much of what Ron preaches and practices, those among you who know Eric personally may recognize that Eric did learn from the master and has achieved a level of proficiency, particularly in the discipline of name retention.

 

But before this turns into an advertorial …

Let’s get back to the TGIM Presidents Day theme.

 

At those ‘live and in-person” events, after sharing his refined-for-the-21^st Century version of the 2500-year-old Roman “loci” structured memory training and development strategy, Ron used physical cues in the hotel ballroom where the training was taking place to aid the attendees in recalling the Presidents, in order.  And, by and large –

It worked. After a drill or two, folks who were initially challenged (me, too) were pointing at objects in the room and calling out – 

George Washington,

John Adams,

Thomas Jefferson,

James Madison,

James Monroe,

John Quincy Adams,

Andrew Jackson,

Martin Van Buren,

and so on …

Impressive, right?

Well … You’ll note that at the outset of this TGIM I allowed that I could not replicate the Presidents-in-order listing feat.  So you might, quite correctly, conclude that perhaps –

 

I’m not so enamored of the idea.

Before I get down to why, I do want to say I don’t demean the ability to do this kind of memorization. There’s a place for it and usefulness to it, I’m sure. But it’s something I just can’t get enthralled with.

In fairness, I do wish I had the personal horsepower to incorporate the basics of face/name recall into my repertoire. It’s difficult to argue with the legendary Dale Carnegie Principle #6 from How to Win Friends and Influence People: 

“Remember that a person’s name

is to that person

the sweetest and most important sound

in any language.”

And, when I have a “the face is familiar, but I just can’t get the name” moment, I hang my head in shame when I recall Ron’s admonition, “My dog remembers your face, right? And he’s never once gotten a name right.”

Bow, Oww. But about the idea underlying the application of these memory hooks …

I stand with Albert Einstein. (See TGIM #447. Seems I’ve stuck on Uncle Albert these days.)

 

Point is:In response to a reporter’s query admitted not knowing the speed of sound, Einstein is alleged to have expressed the view –

"I never commit to memory

anything that can easily be looked up in a book."

Truth in quoting: The more accurate citation of that sentiment, dating back to the New York Times in the 1920s and alluded to by scholarly  Einstein biographers ever since is:

“[I do not] carry such information in my mind

since it is readily available in books.

...The value of a college education

is not the learning of many facts

but the training of the mind to think.”

AH-HA! Moment: I know the first version of the quote because I’ve heard it enough times to have it “memorized” albeit perhaps somewhat imperfectly. 

AH-HA! Moment in Action: I get to share the more accurate version and get to use it to support my position because I’ve tried heartily to train my mind to question and challenge and think. And then I took the time and trouble to dig down through the search engine layers (somewhat the equivalent of reference books in our wired world) to find trustworthy, vetted, authoritative sources with citations.

TGIM PRESIDENTS DAY TAKEAWAY: We err greatly when we mistake rote learning and accumulating “facts” for gathering knowledge and wisdom and reaching for understanding. 

Consider: No doubt the Presidential giants who come easily to mind on this day embodied the always-be-learning ethos. 

Surely they had a remarkable command of much factual information. But they didn’t let it sit idly in their heads or parrot it back as the unyielding answer to challenges that confronted them. They explored what they knew … added to that knowledge … adjusted their thinking for the circumstances of the moment … gathered input and counsel from others and were open-minded in evaluating it.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: On this Presidents Day, rather than fret about whether we can pass the POTUS-listing test, we might consider it our patriotic duty to take an oath to resolve to be more Presidential in our thinking – emulating the best who held the office (whomever and whatever that means to you; no doubt your list doesn’t match mine).

Hail to the Chief. 

And hail and farewell for today to you.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. They may all be giants. Of course you have an opinion about who are/were the Best Presidents and Worst Presidents. 

We all do. And over the years there have been repeated attempts to gather the objective opinion of historians and political scientists to rank POTUS office holders, focusing on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures and faults. 

In the spirit of this TGIM message I encourage you investigate on your own, if you wish. But as you proceed I’ll share a cautionary observation voiced by John F. Kennedy (who, these days, ranks in the top 20 but seldom in the top 10). 

In 1962, speaking to David H. Donald, noted biographer of Abraham Lincoln, Kennedy voiced dissatisfaction and resentment with historians who had rated some of his predecessors. Kennedy said, "No one has a right to grade a President—even poor James Buchanan—who has not sat in his chair, examined the mail and information that came across his desk, and learned why he made his decisions."