I have a pretty fair memory.
I can remember as a kid exactly what I was doing in what playground when I first heard a DJ play “Satisfaction” on the radio.
I’m a guy who never forgets his wedding anniversary (or most anyone else’s).
And I play a cutthroat game of Trivial Pursuit.
But actress Marilu Henner has me beat hands-down.
She can accurately tell you about landing her role on the TV series Taxi more than 30 years ago.
“It was June 4 of 1978,” she recalls. “It was a Sunday and I found out at the Grease premiere party. The very first rehearsal was July the 5th of 1978. That was a Wednesday and our first show was shot the 14th, a Friday.”
Thing is, Marilu can also call to mind every other single moment in her life, whether earth-shattering or inconsequential.
Throw her a date — like, say, May 21, 1987 — and she sees “all these little movie montages, basically on a time continuum, and I’m scrolling through them and flashing through them.”
Marilu is one of 12 people on the planet who’s been diagnosed with hyperthymesia, or Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM). Everything sticks in her mind. Forever.
Just think. If all your customers were like Marilu Henner, you’d be up you-know-what creek. They’d remember your every mistake and business slip-up.
More likely, though, your problem is just the opposite. You haven’t made yourself sticky enough to succeed. You haven’t securely implanted yourself — your personal brand — into the minds of your prospective customers and clients, which is where the money lies.
Fortunately, there’s a remedy for that…
Don’t count on people remembering you. Help ’em along.
