March 14 is 鈥淧i Day,鈥� a celebration of the irrational number pi.
Six-time USA Memory champion has memorized hundreds of pi digits. He talks about how, and other techniques to improve memory in his new book 鈥�.鈥�
9 questions with Nelson Dellis
You just recited to me several digits of Pi. How you鈥檙e doing that?
鈥淵eah. So, I鈥檓 going through a fun little story, navigating through my high school. And obviously the three, point, everybody knows that. So, I start recalling from the 14159. And that鈥檚 Sam Neill, the actor dressed as 鈥業ron Man鈥� on the steps there. I鈥檓 visualizing that. Then I make my way down the parking lot in front of the school. And it鈥檚 my childhood friend. We call her baby Ellen two, six, five. And she鈥檚 doing the thing from 鈥楪ladiator,鈥� the emperor, where he puts his thumb up or down. And so that鈥檚 the three, five. So, it鈥檚 two, six, five, three, five.鈥�
So, you鈥檙e assigning each individual number or numbers to an image in your head that you鈥檙e then locking in place in your brain. Is that roughly how it goes? You call it a memory palace in your book.
鈥淓xactly. There鈥檚 two things at play here. One is turning the numbers into pictures so they鈥檙e easier to visualize. And then anchor it or attach it to like you said, this is called a memory palace where you choose a route that you mentally walk through and you can attach or imagine certain images strewn about along the way and that鈥檚 how you can recall it in order.鈥�
What I love about this book is what you write really early on. You say, 鈥楾he gap between ordinary thinking and extraordinary thinking is much smaller than people believe. What separates a genius from everyone else isn鈥檛 some mysterious gift bestowed at birth.鈥� So, are you saying we can all do what you just did?
鈥淵es, 100%. I believe that genius is something that we can unlock and build rather than it being something that, you know, the lucky few have been given from birth. I would forget things just like anybody else. And I trained this skill. I learned it from another memory champion and practiced the hell out of it until I was able to do it.鈥�
Why did you decide to make this memory thing a mission of yours?
鈥淎round 2005, 2006, my grandmother developed Alzheimer鈥檚 and she eventually passed away from it in 2009. And it was from watching her decline over the years that I was inspired to just investigate what it means to have a healthy brain. And in my research, my rabbit hole diving, the thing that kept coming up was this competitive memory competition.
鈥淎nd I immediately thought, OK, well, that鈥檚 for people who are savants or who have photographic memories. And I was quick to learn that the people who do well in these competitions, the people who win, are just people kind of saying what I鈥檓 telling you now, that they never had a good memory. They learned memory techniques like the memory palace, for example, and then just practiced it.鈥�
What is a memory champion?
鈥淪o, a memory champion is somebody who competes in the U.S. memory championship or any other memory championships around the world. But it鈥檚 a competition where there are certain events like memorizing a 500-digit number in 5 minutes, 250 names in 15 minutes. We had to memorize decks of cards as fast as possible. So, it鈥檚 all these different memory tests that are timed, and it鈥檚 whoever can memorize the most in the time most accurately ultimately gets crowned as a memory champion.鈥�
One thing I would love to do is I would love to be better at remembering people鈥檚 names. What about that? Can you show me some other tips?
鈥淪ure. The process is very similar. If you kind of unpack what I did with the numbers there, I took the data, the numbers, and I turned it into a picture and then I stored it in some way that was easier to retrieve. So, what I teach people when they鈥檙e memorizing names is to choose a distinguishing feature about the person. You know, when you meet somebody, you鈥檙e usually looking at them in the face and we notice things. A beautiful smile. They have a little dimple, a mole. So, you can choose those as the anchor. And just like in the memory palace where I was placing pictures, you can place a picture for the name on that feature.鈥�
And I鈥檓 kind of afraid to ask. What would you do to remember my name?
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the first thing that comes to mind for the name Peter? For me, I think of Peter Griffin from Family Guy. I could picture him, you know? And so that鈥檚 my image now. Now I attach it to a feature. And so, your hair is the first thing that kind of talks to me. It鈥檚 kind of like flowy hair. Yeah, flowy. That鈥檚 the word. So, I鈥檓 going to attach Peter Griffin to your flowy here. Right. So, I鈥檓 going to picture him kind of making fun of your flowy hair with that funny laugh he does. And he鈥檚 just maybe like combing your hair, running his fingers through it. So very silly, bizarre, over-the-top.
鈥淭he tamer, the image is the less memorable, honestly. So, you really want to try to go as wild and crazy as you can?鈥�
How long will that memory stay in your mind?
That鈥檚 a great question. Our brains are phenomenal for getting machines. They鈥檙e designed to forget most things because imagine if we remembered absolutely everything, how distracting, how noisy that would be. So how do we get our brain to make things stick for the long term?
鈥淚, first of all, will use that name in practice right around the time that I memorize the name. So, I鈥檒l say your name. 鈥楬i, Peter. Thanks for having me on the show.鈥� If I鈥檓 in a social setting, I might introduce Peter to other friends or be like, Hey, Joe, meet Peter.鈥� Not in a weird way, but I would use it enough so that I鈥檓 testing myself. Another thing I do is before I leave a situation, I鈥檒l mentally test myself, right? So I may not say it out loud, but I鈥檒l be like, OK, that鈥檚 Peter, blah blah blah.
鈥淎nd then one more thing I do is I keep a name journal. I don鈥檛 have it with me right here, but I keep track of everybody I meet: the date I met them, the image that I use, and any other facts that came along with our conversation or interaction. And I review that. It鈥檚 a fun game that I play and it pays off so much because especially as a memory guy, everybody expects me to remember their name. I can鈥檛 mess up, right? So, I really take that to heart. And I鈥檓 always training and remembering and reviewing the names that I learn.鈥�
What鈥檚 next on the horizon for you?
鈥淢y number one goal and the reason why I write my books, I want to share this with as many people as possible, that you have this ability within you and not just with memory, but other, you know, mental feats. There鈥檚 a lot left in our minds that we aren鈥檛 fully aware of or tapped into that we can unlock. We鈥檙e at a really important juncture right now. And with AI and tech, that鈥檚 threatening to take a lot of that away from us completely. And so, to be able to kind of take agency over our own minds and keep hold of what makes us human, I think is even more important than ever. If I can show somebody how a memory technique works and they can do it, and they鈥檙e surprised because they鈥檝e always thought they had a terrible memory. That鈥檚 such a powerful thing. And the floodgates can open. I mean, that鈥檚 what happened to me. I was curious. I learned a little technique and then boom. And I鈥檓 a memory champion.鈥�
This interview was edited for clarity.
Book excerpt: 鈥淓veryday Genius鈥�
By Nelson Dellis
Excerpted from 鈥淓veryday Genius鈥� by Nelson Dellis. Copyright 漏 2026 by Nelson Dellis. Published and reprinted by permission of Abrams Press. All rights reserved.
Correction: An earlier version of this story had the incorrect date for 鈥淧i Day.鈥�
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