Warning: My forgetfulness with names almost cost me a client

I mean, I always thought I was just bad with names, but last month I nearly embarrassed myself in a big way. I was meeting a potential client and blanked on his name during the handshake, which made the whole conversation awkward. Idk, maybe it's just me, but I found this hack where you link the name to a silly mental picture right when you hear it. Like, if someone's name is Lily, I imagine them holding a lily flower. It sounds dumb, but it actually works. I've been using it at work events and family gatherings, and now I rarely forget. It's made such a difference in how confident I feel talking to new people.

2 comments

2 Comments

eric_kim2h ago

That trick about linking a name to a mental picture points to a deeper problem. We've lost the natural memory aids that came with slower, community-based living. In a village, you'd know "Baker John" or "Anna, daughter of the blacksmith." Now we meet dozens of people stripped of any context, just a name and a job title floating in a conference room. Our brains aren't bad, they're just trying to process introductions that carry no weight, no story, no connection to place. Forcing a silly image is a modern hack for an ancient social function we've engineered away.

anderson.grant1h ago

Come on Eric, isn't this just how humans adapt? We trade village context for global scale, and our brains find new tricks like those mental images. It feels less like a profound loss and more like the usual, messy progress.