How to use a mind palace to remember your Bitcoin seed phrase forever

With the California wildfires in full swing, I thought this might be a good time to share how I was able to confidently remember my seed phrase. I have a fair to poor memory. Today there are likely dozens of people wishing that they could remember their (now burned up) seed phrases.

To remember my words, I learned a technique used by memory competitors called a mind palace. The mind palace technique dates back to ancient Grece and it’s used in some form by every memory competitor in some form. It involves picking a particular space that you are familiar with and projecting images into the space.

For example, I used my finished basement. You can use any room that you are very familiar with … your garage, your bedroom, bathroom etc. Walk around the room in a circle and pick out 12 items. A fireplace, a lamp, a sink, a wall hanging, a chair. Choose 12 distinct and somewhat evenly spaced real items. Then walk from one item to the next and create a vivid visual image the incorporates your seed word with that item. Perhaps the item is a lamp and your seed word is “crush”. Imagine a hand crushing the lamp. Visualize it in detail. The light going out. Pieces of glass flying. The sound of shattering. The more you incorporate all of your senses, the better you will remember … crush. Perhaps your next item is a chair. Your second word is obscure. You imagine a magician sitting in the chair with a shiny object in his hand. When he sees you, he covers it up and then reveals it to you. He does this over and over again. Stand and watch him do it in your mind and say to yourself, “Obscure.”

(Note that there are many meanings to the word obscure. That’s not important. What does it visually look like to YOU to obscure or be obscure. Is it a music artist who nobody knows about? Put them in the chair. Is it a shadowy figure in the fog? …in the chair. Picture it and say obscure.)

Do this for all twelve of your keywords. Physically walk around the room. See, hear and smell them all as vividly as possible. Circle the room once or twice. Later that day, see the room in your mind. Walk around it and say your words. When you enter that room over the next week, walk around and say all the words again. Within a week the words will be ingrained in your long-term memory. They will be unforgettable.

I don’t feel like this replaces the need to write down and store my words in a safe location, which has been discussed at length here. I feel like the safest method is to have one copy in my brain and one copy in the word. If the seed words get destroyed in the world for any reason, my brain is the backup. If my brain fails for any reason, the world is my backup.