HOW TO GO ABOUT LEARNING THIS TECHNIQUE
¶ The very first step to learning the DOW (Day-of-Week) technique is to understand the formula and the three step process. Go over it to make sure you understand what is going on. The second step is to memorize the Day-of-Week and Month tables, and to memorize the full year values (Step 2) for this year, last year, and next year, which you can get from the Year Values Table. Then just do the calculation for those three years until you have those steps down pat. Only then should you venture into the guts of the Step 2 calculation, which is a lot easier than it looks. And finally, only after mastered the DOW technique should you branch out into the other techniques for finding the Month, Day and Year.
¶ At the end of step 1, you are asked to hold a number between 0 and 6 while you calculate the value for the year in step 2. Since the numbers involved with step 2 will be bouncing around in your head, when in step 3 you go to retrieve the number you are holding in your head from step 1, you may not be able to recall it precisely. Therefore, I suggest you develop some physical way of holding the number until you need it. For instance, you may wish to hold the number on the fingers of one hand (closed fist for zero; crossed fingers for 6).
¶ When you start to use this process in public, be prepared for the wise guys who will want to throw water on your prowess and tell you that autistic savants can do this. I usually tell them that that is the only things autistic savants can do, whereas I can do other things. But then I say, "I assume that all you can do is recite that line." That quiets them.
¶ Start off slowly and build up gradually to doing all of the techniques mentioned here. For instance, do not try doing the Month, Day and Year techniques until you have mastered the Day-of-Week calculation. Also, start off the Day-of-Week calculation by memorizing the Year value of the prior, current and next year and doing the calculation only for those years.
¶ If you master these techniques, you will never have to look at a calendar again (except for your appointments). I have not looked at a calendar since I created the technique in 1986. Look at the time I saved.
¶ If you do the technique for someone and they tell you are wrong, always do it at least one more time. More often than not, they are the ones who are wrong, having been told the wrong day of the week by their parents.
¶ Many people are discouraged by Step 2 of the process, the calculation for the year value. Although that step is expressed in the simplest way it could be expressed mathematically, there are several optional ways to get around going through this step if you are not good at math but great at memorizing. In fact, one of the options would have you memorize only 10 four digit numbers, which would be like memorizing the area codes for the phone numbers of ten friends. If you're interested in looking at these several options, click here. These options are alternatives to step 2.
IS THIS A PARTY TRICK?
¶ If anyone suggests that this is a party trick, make sure you tell them that it is no trick, but a proven, reliable, helpful technique.
¶ If you do this at a party, after you have done it to a few people, ask others what their party tricks are. You will be amazed at how anxious and happy people are to show you their party tricks. But you will also be amazed at some of the tricks that people come up with, especially with the various moving parts (and sometimes non-moving parts) of their faces.
MISCELLANEOUS
¶ I always perform this technique when I see or hear a full date that includes the day of the week because I have often found errors, even in movies. I even contacted a writer in the Wall Street Journal when she incorrectly computed and published some date in the distant future thinking no one would notice. Even in movies where the actor uses the day of the week I have found errors (e.g., 84 Charring Cross Road).
¶ I probably do one or more of the calendar techniques at least two times a day, often a lot more, to keep in shape with the techniques or for useful purposes. As for useful purpose times, most of them are in trying to figure out what day of the week some date this year or next will fall on or to figure out what date a particular day of the week will fall on. For instance, if I am trying to figure out what day Thanksgiving day will fall on this year (2011), instead of looking it up in a hard copy calendar, I just do in my head the following calculation: 3 (for November) plus 6 (the value for this year) equals 9 minus 7 equals 2, and to go from 2 to 5 (a Thursday) I need 3, and 3 plus 21 is 24, so Thanksgiving is the 24th this year. But in addition to these useful purposes, I always ask my waiters and waitresses at restaurants and others their birthdays to bring a smile to their faces and to keep in shape with the technique.
I will be adding more Helpful Hints from time to time.
