I’m not stellar with first names. I’ve been on a mission as of late to improve this skill, especially at our daughter’s daycare where parents are understandably linked to their offspring. Such as Colin’s mom or Audrey’s dad. The kids in my daughter’s class see me and immediately say “Anna’s daddy”. Very cute I must say, yet it does not help me to achieve my Q4 goal.
About six weeks ago we had a daycare picnic. At the weekend gathering, I made it a point to memorize some new names. I learned a few and probably only remember two of them six weeks later. One I do recall is Conrad’s mom, Angela. To reinforce her name we shared her name with Baby Singe. I didn’t really expect her to learn the name or memorize it a full month later either.
A couple weeks ago I went to pickup of Baby Singe from daycare and Conrad’s mom, Angela, surprisingly declares “Anna knows my name. My own son doesn’t know my name“. Huh, biting my lip trying desperately to recall Angela’s name.
“wow, that’s remarkable“, I state. [still not fully remembering her name... got it Angela]
She proceeds to tell me a quick story about how Anna used her name over and over again in class. Personally, I’ve tried the entering names in my BlackBerry trick. That does a pretty decent job, but can be challenging when face-to-face with someone. I use the BlackBerry trick most often when I see someone in the distance who I anticipate will want to chat. It works pretty alright, but does have some drawbacks.
There’s also the word association trick which can work if the name is fairly unique. (Phoebe, Foebe, Feebe… gave me a freebie… got it. Free coffee folks). I think I know about 27 Jennifers and 6 Meg(h)ans so that makes this trick not as successful.
I have four more Q4 goals to set and accomplish before December 31st. I wonder if using my daughter to accomplish MY goal truly qualifies as accomplishing the task? What’s your trick to learning someone’s name?
Your BlackBerry trick doesn’t work if the entry is “Conrad’s Mom”
I’ve never had this name problem. I have a crazy good memory when it comes to remembering mundane things like names and faces and why and where I know said names and faces. Now, ask me important things that I should remember and you’ll get a blank stare.
Priorities, clearly, are what I have here people.
I love your Q4 goals. This is a yearly issue for you and I look forward to them each 4th quarter.
Kirk makes a good point.
I don’t have a name problem, either, which can be embarrassing because everyone else seems to. And I’m like, why am I so forgettable?
Kirk – you’re very right or if I put something derogetory.
SM – well aren’t you lucky? I can’t forget a phone number once I learn it. Names and faces though, just not my forté. Quarterly goals are the bomb. They keep me on my toes and why not make them for my personal life?
SM – Kirk is generally full of good points.
Gwen – you’re take on my misfortune isn’t good. Nobody would ever deem you forgettable, never!
I think using Baby Singe for your goal is absolutely acceptable. Isn’t that why we have kids? To run errands, get the remote and help us remember peoples’ names.
Of course it qualifies. It’a the first in a long line of living through our children.
Golden – we have kids because our egos are through the roof, that’s what I’ve been conditioned to think.
Meno – why not live vicariously through our kids? I mean, they live under our roof and change our lives. The least they can do is allow us to live through them.
Exactly my point!
Yeah…….the association thing can backfire. When I linked my pediatrician’s name, “Clemens” to (Mark) Twain, I can’t believe the next time I saw him I called him “Dr. Twain.” He immediately caught on and got a big laugh out of it as my face turned several shades of red!
Meno – glad to see after some blog absence, we’re still on the same page.
Sunspotbaby – that’s good. My guess is he’s heard it before, but you probably didn’t want it to be from you. Still worth a good chuckle even if it was at your expense.