"I almost never misplace my things (keys, wallet, etc) anymore. Mind blocks like, "what was the company's name? I used to know it...", happens less frequently and I can recollect facts much faster. Most importantly though, I have seen a dramatic improvement in the speed I learn and understand things."
This piqued my interest. I find myself forgetting simple things all the time and it's very unsettling given that I'm relatively young. Like JakeSc, I too would be interested in learning more about your experience and any resources that you could possibly share.
The Mentat wiki at http://www.ludism.org/mentat/ is full of related memory tricks. I call them "tricks" - they really do work. I've used memory palace and peg systems to memorise fairly long chunks of recital.
The thing that's always confused me about the "story" approach to memorising is what happens the next time you do it. Isn't the previous story still there in your memory, contradicting and interfering with any new one?
I was worried about the same thing when I started. What I found out is that the most recent memory is much much fresher than the past, and its very rare that you will mix up stories from the past with the ones you just memorized. Seems like our memories has a time dimension to it.
This piqued my interest. I find myself forgetting simple things all the time and it's very unsettling given that I'm relatively young. Like JakeSc, I too would be interested in learning more about your experience and any resources that you could possibly share.