Don Michael Vickers: the conversation

Mornings in the Lab · Interview transcript

We've all been there, nation. You meet someone, then forget their name 10 seconds later and feel stupid. And let's be frank, it's not just names. It's passwords, meetings, finer details, and the fear that your brain is slipping. Well, we're all in luck. We've got a world record holding memory athlete in the lab. Yes, Nation, that's a thing. Don Michael Vickers trains memory like an athlete trains for strength and mobility. This guy holds a world record for memorizing 50 random words perfectly in 32.42 seconds. He can take a full deck of cards and memorize the exact order in about 25 seconds. And this year, he's competing in the Memory League World Championship as one of the top 16 memory athletes globally. But he didn't start as the guy with insane memory skills. In 2020, he truly believed he had a poor memory. He was a hockey player who lost vision in one eye. Determined to rebuild his edge after hockey ended, he discovered memory sports and found a new competitive outlet. Today, he's on a mission to prove memory isn't a gift. He calls photographic memory BS. Memory is a skill anyone can learn. Nation, get ready for an awesome conversation. Don, welcome to the big show. Can you remember my first line? Uh, this guy joining us today can memorize 50 random words. Johnny, only 50, like one out of 100, faster than you can clean your shoes. He's a world record holding memory athlete who used to think he had a terrible memory and that it was just over four years ago. Today we're going to talk about how your photographic memory is apparently BS. Let's bring him up. Don Michael Vickers this morning on Mornings in the Lab with Keith John and Friends. What's going on, Don? >> Hey, good morning Keith. Good morning, John. >> How are you, man? >> What's up, brother? How are you? >> Doing pretty well. Yeah, I like the intro there. Your guy has a lot better hairline than me, but I'll take it. >> Where are you joining us from, Don? >> I'm in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, Canada.