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We weren’t taught how to learn, how to focus. But Jim Kwik, author of Limitless - Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, Unlock Your Exceptional Life and host of Kwik Learning, has created a fantastic framework for learning and improving brain function that he developed over years of research and experimentation.
Jim Kwik, his real name, is the brain coach to notable personalities including Elon Musk, Will Smith, and the cast of X-Men. He is the founder of Kwik Learning - a global platform for accelerated learning - providing courses ranging from speed reading to memory improvement for clients in 195 countries. He is the host of the top education training podcast Kwik Brain and author of the book Limitless - Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, Unlock Your Exceptional Life. His mission: No brain left behind.
No brain left behind — that’s the mission of today’s guest, Jim Kwik, the author of Limitless - Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, Unlock Your Exceptional Life and the founder of Kwik Learning.
After experiencing a brain injury when he was only five, Jim struggled through school, dubbed “the boy with the broken brain.” So, Jim is well aware of how much untapped cognitive potential we all have, even those of us who have been told that we’re cognitively deficient in some way or were abandoned by the traditional educational system.
But there are very few of us living up to our brain’s full potential. The sad truth is that most of us were not taught the best ways to learn, were not taught habits that contribute to our cognitive development, and are constantly exposed to environmental factors that further erode our ability to learn, remember, and focus.
However, there is a silver lining: it’s not too late!
An old dog can, in fact, learn new tricks. And, in this episode, Jim is going to share the fantastic framework for learning and improving brain function that he’s developed over years of research and experimentation.
08:45 — Jim’s new book, Limitless - Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, Unlock Your Exceptional Life
22:00 — How to stop self-limiting language and negative self-talk from interfering with your life and goals
01:08:10 — How devices ruin our ability to focus (and how you can fix it)
01:18:55 — How Limitless will give you your power back
01:29:20 — Cocooning in self-isolation, lockdown, and/or quarantine
More about this episode.
Watch it on YouTube.
[00:00:00]Luke Storey: I'm Luke Storey. For the past 22 years, I've been relentlessly committed to my deepest passion - designing the ultimate lifestyle based on the most powerful principles of spirituality, health, psychology. The Life Stylist Podcast is a show dedicated to sharing my discoveries and the experts behind them with you.
[00:00:27] Jim Kwik back for your second appearance on the Life Stylist podcast. It's really good to see you, dude.
[00:00:33]Jim Kwik: Luke, it's a real pleasure to be back. And thank you, everybody, who is listening to this and looking forward to this conversation about how we could all be limitless and in very turbulent times because that's all it is.
[00:00:44]Luke Storey: Me too. And for those listening to the podcast right now and not watching, although this will be also a YouTube video, as always, you're perfectly framed with your Limitless T-shirt, and you've got two of your books in the background on your very abundant bookshelf. Like the only guy I've ever seen with a bookshelf more packed than that is Neil Strauss. He has a true like reading library. So, you're catching up with him.
[00:01:07]Jim Kwik: It's a good company.
[00:01:09]Luke Storey: So, let's just jump right into talking about your book because I'm sure that's what's most exciting, Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, Unlock Your Exceptional Life. What's the premise of the book generally? And then, we'll get into some of the nuts and bolts of it a little further. I just want to kick it off with that.
[00:01:26]Jim Kwik: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, as I'm going through this, I want people to imagine, we can make this interactive until like a little master class. I want you to think about one area of your life where you feel limited, where you feel like you're not making progress. Think about an area of your life where you're not dancing and you feel held back. Maybe it's in your relationship. Maybe it's in your career. Maybe it's in your income. Maybe it's in your health and wellness, your body, or your business, your brand.
[00:01:54] In the case of this book, it's about learning. So, if you ever felt held back in your focus, in your memory, your ability to process information, your ability to make decisions and solve problems, limitless, well, let me first tell you what it's not. It's not about being perfect. Limitless is about advancing and progressing beyond what you currently believe is possible. And at the heart of Limitless is three-part model that I call the limitless model.
[00:02:27] It's a framework for not only learning any subject or scale faster, it's a framework for unlocking human potential. Because initially, as you and I have had this conversation before about methodology. On your previous episode that I was on, we talked about speed reading, memory enhancement. And initially, this book was 100%, when it was first written, on methods. It was a textbook on how to learn languages, how to build your business vocabulary, how to give a TED talk from memory, how to optimize your brain health, how to change your habits, how to speed-read three times faster, and understand all that you read.
[00:03:08] But I realized that a lot of people know what to do, but they don't do what they know. And I've been really bugged, this is my 20th year of teaching that not everybody gets the results, even if they know what to do, they're not doing it. I teach them very simple ways of remembering names or easy methods to double their reading speed and focus, and yet, people still don't do it, so the eternal question in this performance space or personal self-help space is why is common sense not common practice?
[00:03:40] Like we know we should be working out, we know we should be journaling, we know we should be meditating, we know we should be eating the best foods ever, we know we should be getting sleep, and doing all this stuff, but few people do it. And so, I built the model as the answer for that, the why people don't take knowledge and turn it into real power because let's get real here, all the podcasts and coaching programs, all the books in the world, none of it works unless we work.
[00:04:07] And what makes a difference? That makes a difference. People would take an idea, they implement it. And other people who procrastinate, they put things off, they feel like buying a book is just enough, and their book is their shelf, as you mentioned. It is just full of books that are unread or even if they're read, they're unused. and it becomes shelf-help, not self-help. You know what I mean? It's just like buying a book is a different set of skills than actually reading that book. Just because you're great at buying a book at Barnes Noble or on Amazon doesn't mean you're great at reading that book, and there's a difference.
[00:04:48] And I think the difference that makes a difference in people's lives so that people who are able to take that knowledge is potential power and turn into real power by applying it. So, this is a three-part framework. Now, we'll show you and explain to you why you're stuck in a box. And the box could be learning, it will be a label like I was labeled broken with my traumatic brain injury as a child. When people see me on stages like the events you and I attend and speak out together, they'll see me memorize 100 people's names in an audience or a hundred words or a hundred numbers.
[00:05:21]Luke Storey: For anyone that's not seen that, firstly, I don't want to use limiting language, especially not in front of you because I know you'll call me on it, but watching you remember a hundred names in a live audience, and it's obviously not fake because there's no way you could stage that, but it is spectacular, especially for someone like me, that historically, in the past, I have found remembering one name at a time challenging. So, anyway-
[00:05:48]Jim Kwik: Yeah. And I would say that to address that, I don't do it to impress people, I really do this to express to them what's possible, because the truth is we could do that, all of us who are listening could do that, and a lot more, regardless of our age or background, and I'll explain why. Career education level, financial situation, gender, history, IQ. We learn more about the human brain the past 10 years than the previous thousand years combined, that what we found is we're grossly underestimating our own capabilities, our own potential.
[00:06:18] And the reason why we can't do it is that we just weren't taught. If anything, we were taught a lie. And I call a lie a limited idea entertained. And in the book, I talk about seven lies under the mindset's area that's holding us back around learning, like genius is born or we use 10% of our brain or that intelligence is fixed, like all these lies that somehow we picked up that keeps us in this trance. And this conversation you and I are having now, this book is about transcending. It's about ending the trance. This mass hypnosis-
[00:06:52]Luke Storey: Trance-ending. Your wordplay are-
[00:06:52]Jim Kwik: It makes it memorable, right? We're ending the trance.
[00:06:53]Luke Storey: I keep wanting to jump in.
[00:07:04]Jim Kwik: Go ahead, yeah.
[00:07:05]Luke Storey: The rhythm of an online podcast recording is so much different than a live conversation because there's a time delay and, I don't know, it's almost like the flow of emotional intelligence, and subtle cues and nonverbal cues is so much harder when you're looking at a computer screen, but there's something about your work. You really have a knack for those acronyms and those play on word statements that you make. I love those. There's like so many good ones in there. You must have a really easy time tweeting because almost everything you say is like the perfect tweet. You speak in tweets almost. I want to go back to one thing, though, Jim, and then we'll resume the rest of the book.
[00:07:49]Jim Kwik: Of course.
[00:07:50]Luke Storey: Interesting. But when you're talking about those books that haven't been read, I had the impulse, and I'm going to see how this works with my webcam here, see all my video equipment, that bookshelf right there is a book shelf, and I have many more books that I have read. But that bookshelf is, I would say, 90% unread. And there's a couple of reasons I wanted to remind me later because you're good at remembering things why that might be the case. And I think your book touches that. But there's something that's really—I mean, part of it is because I interview a lot of people, and they send me their books, and I can't keep up.
[00:08:24]Jim Kwik: Right. And you get the meat of it from these conversations.
[00:08:27]Luke Storey: But there's more to it than that, which it involves attention, but we'll get to that. But there's something that's really key that you're bringing up, and that is the principle of application when it comes to taking in knowledge. And I think biblically, it could be said faith without works is dead, right? Information without application is just head knowledge, and it just sits there, and uses up hard drive space. And this has been a really valuable lesson for me, primarily in early recovery when I first got sober.
[00:08:58] Many moons ago, there were certain books that you were directed to read if you wanted to stay alive and well. And it was always said that if you don't take those books, and read every morning, and actually apply what your readings, spiritual books and whatnot, apply what you're reading throughout your day, then your character will remain unchanged because you're not actually applying those spiritual principles that you're reading about. So, that message to me comes so close to my heart.
[00:09:24] And also, being someone now that is in a position to inspire other people as you do, I get so many messages from people about, for example, in terms of the biohacking world, which is not even my main thing. It's kind of a hobby. But now, I've become somewhat known for it, which is funny. It's not really my mission, per se, but someone will say, "Well, I don't have the money for all these fancy things, what can I do?" And there's, of course, a limiting belief in there that they can't afford it ever, and I point that out. But then, the things that I point out will be like meditation, wake up and watch the sunrise every morning, do breath work.
[00:10:02] All the stuff that really works is mostly free, and I find that people won't do it. They want the gadget, the supplement, the thing that they can afford as an excuse to not change, and not get the desired result that they're going for, which is more peace in their life, vitality, whatever it might be. So, I love that you're really creating a framework to teach people how to break out of that really bad habit of not applying the information you learn because, as you said, the information's there. We're in the absolute information age. So, there's no excuse for anyone not to be having the life they want.
[00:10:36]Jim Kwik: We have untethered access to the world's information. We have more information at our fingertips than President Clinton had when he was in office. So, it's an exciting time. And going back to your point, I think that knowledge really is, again, potential power only because power when we choose to utilize it and apply it, and everyone is looking for that pill. In fact, on the cover of the book, Will Smith's quote is really awesome, talks about how Jim gets the maximum out of me as a human being, but the foreword is by our friend, Dr. Mark Hyman.
[00:11:18]Luke Storey: Oh, nice.
[00:11:18]Jim Kwik: He wrote the foreword and part of his foreword, people think about limitless, some people think about Bradley Cooper and Robert DeNiro, that movie, where he goes from zero to hero by taking this pill.
[00:11:31]Luke Storey: The modafinil movie.
[00:11:32]Jim Kwik: Exactly. It turns him to like this genius, and he's able to focus and pick up languages. And he gets super organized, and he's able to write his book very fast. And he has a surge of motivation. In the foreword, Dr. Hyman says, "There is no genius pill, but Jim Kwik gives you the process for having your best brain and your brightest future." Because there's a process, not a pill. Because everybody is looking in different areas. They're looking for that pill that's going to fix everything in their life or that one device.
[00:12:06] And we know it's a series of things that when you stack them together, you create something magical. And so, I believe that this framework is the explanatory schema for why we are held back in a box where we feel like we're contained. And also, it also allows us to liberate ourselves. And again, Limitless, it's about redrawing the borders and boundaries around our life that got imprinted on us through expectations, through experience, through our environment. Because when we're born, when I was nine years old, because of my brain injury, a teacher in front of the whole class said, "That's the boy with the broken brain."
[00:12:50] And that label became my limit. And in what area do you feel like you put labels on yourself or maybe people around you put labels on you, and it put you in that box. And so, my passion is helping people go through a process of unlimiting. It's just a word I coined years ago. Unlimitiong, not unlimited, but unlimiting is the process of removing these limits that keep us from being, doing, having, sharing the things that we desire and we most deserve. And so, yeah, let's go into the model, and then we'll have a conversation around this.
[00:13:24]Luke Storey: Cool. Okay. I want to ask you one one thing about that, in terms of limiting. Going back to the example I gave of somebody that sends in an email to my website or a direct message on social media and says, "Hey, I want to improve my life. I hear all these things you talk about, but I can't afford it."
[00:13:43]Jim Kwik: Yeah.
[00:13:43]Luke Storey: Or, in my case, and I've been really working on ferreting out subconscious limitations that I have in terms of wealth and abundance, financial security, et cetera, and how I'll notice that with myself is I'll observe someone who is perhaps a peer or someone that I know that has much more wealth than I do or I'll walk through my neighborhood sometimes. I live in Laurel Canyon in LA, and there's a lot of crappy houses in Laurel Canyon.
[00:14:16] It's like a hodgepodge, but there's some really beautiful homes as well, depending on what street you're on. And I'll find myself, every once in a while, walking by a really cool house, and I go, oh, man, inside my mind, that house is so dope, I wish I could have a house like that. And then, this little demonic voice from who knows where I picked it up will come in and say something to the effect of, Luke, that's for those people, right? Like who are you kidding?
[00:14:42] Like you got to have the one down the street that you have, which I'm very grateful for, it's fine, but you always are in expansion and growth, and it's in the nature of us universally that we want more. We're just kind of wired that way, right? So, I'm grateful for what I have, but I'll see that little voice in the same way, perhaps that that person messaged me and said, you know, "I can't afford this supplement or this biohack, the red light therapy", whatever it is, and it's actually not true that they can't afford it because they can on one plane of reality, right?
[00:15:15] Maybe not right in that moment, but it is possible for them to have the financial abundance with which to buy whatever they want. It's out there in the same way that it is completely possible for me to have the house five houses up that I like better than mine if it weren't for that thought subconsciously that now is becoming more conscious that says I can't. So, what I'm observing is that person up the street that has the house that I want, probably, the only difference between them and me is they don't believe that they can't have it, so they found ways to make it happen.
[00:15:47]Jim Kwik: Yeah, I'll give you three reasons because the model explains it perfectly. And so, let's use this as an example. I can't afford X, this house, this Joovv light, whatever it happens to be, and that could be one of the beliefs. And for people that are something else's, it's their health, I can have a great relationship, or start a business online, or be able to to to read a book a week, whatever it happens to be. Let's think about that and hold that in our space. And I'll just walk you through this process.
[00:16:27]Luke Storey: Okay. Cool.
[00:16:28]Jim Kwik: So, there's three forces that keep you limited in that box that are invisible. And so, when I say box, it's a metaphor, right? It's a 3D box or a cage. And the three dimensions are these three Ms of the limitless model. And so, you're right. I alliterate everything. I use mnemonic devices and acronyms. And I have these kind of quickisms because they're easy to remember, and they're easy to share with other people. That's why people re-tweet them and post them because they have their solid ideas, and making them more memorable helps them to have this sticky effect, right? Okay.
[00:17:10] So, the limitless model, I want you to, actually, if it's possible to take out a piece of paper. If you can't do it, if you're listening right now, just imagine it in your mind. If you can't imagine it, I want you to imagine you can imagine. I love it. And so, we are going to draw three circles, but they are three intersecting circles like a Venn diagram. You're familiar with a Venn diagram, it looks like Mickey Mouse. So, here, actually, the difference actually, it's actually Mickey Mouse two ears and the face. So, it's kind of like in a triangle format.
[00:17:49]Luke Storey: Got it.
[00:17:52]Jim Kwik: And I'll go through it in specifics. But basically-
[00:17:56]Luke Storey: How is that?
[00:17:58]Jim Kwik: Perfect. Exactly that.
[00:17:59]Luke Storey: Okay.
[00:17:59]Jim Kwik: And then, you can show the people at home and basically, let's talk about the one in the top left. These are the three Ms to becoming limitless. And remember, this is if you want to remember names, read three times faster, make more income, have greater influence, start that business, deserve that house, whatever it is, these are three Ms that must be in place. And if you're missing one, you're likely to have a gap between where you are and where you want to be.
[00:18:27] So, the first M is your mindset, which we kind of delved into a little bit. Now, mindset, I am defining as this set of assumptions and attitudes we have about something. These are basically what we believe is possible, what we believe we are capable of, what we believe we deserve. So, looking at that house five doors down, it's like, yeah, do you believe it's possible? Do you believe you are capable of achieving that? Do you believe you even deserve that?
[00:18:57] And people could be thinking about this, about that perfect mate. Do you believe you're capable of meeting that person and having a relationship? Do you believe you deserve it? Do you believe that you deserve to lose that weight, or live longer, or start that business? Do you really believe you're capable of being that online thought leader, influencer, whatever? Because all behavior is belief-driven because we are like thermostats. When we set an unconscious temperature, we tend to create the environment to match that temperature.
[00:19:33]Luke Storey: Oh, that's so good.
[00:19:36]Jim Kwik: And that temperature could be a weight. It could be your body mass index. It could be your income. It could be that kind of person that you feel got that house, whatever that is, but that are what we believe. We always level up the set point, whether it's our identity or our capability. So, the first area is mindset. We can go deeper into that. In the book, I talk about seven lies, limited ideas entertained that are really BS, they are belief systems that hold us back.
[00:20:09] And I've identified seven fundamental ones. And we've covered some of them, intelligence is fixed. Genius is just born. If somebody is just born, they're born to have that house as opposed to the truth, which is genius is built. I'm not talking about IQ genius, I'm saying somebody who is excellent in their field or having a perfect and wonderful health or relationship that is built so that people aren't necessarily born.
[00:20:34] Now, granted, we know when it comes to your intelligence, your memory, one-third of it is predetermined by genetics and biology, but two-thirds is in your control, and a lot of stuff. Now, some people believe, with epigenetics, we have 100% control over how our genes express themselves. But we have more control than people think. So, that's your mindset. Now, here's the thing, I could teach you in this book how to remember names and how to remember facts, figures, foreign languages, everything.
[00:21:07] But if your mindset is, I'm too dumb; or your mindset is, I'm too old; or your mindset is I'm slow, then you're not going to be able to take advantage of that method because all behavior is belief-driven. Even our self-talk, when people come up to you saying, "I can't afford it." People come to me saying like, "I have a horrible memory. I could never do this. I'm too old." And I would say, "Stop. If you fight your limitations, you get to keep them."
[00:21:37] So many people are arguing their limits. And if you argue your limits, they're yours, right? And so, that self-talk is so important, and we could address it here that our brain is like a supercomputer, and our self-talk is the program it will run. So, if you tell yourself, I can't afford that house, I can't afford that, I'm not good at remembering names, you will not remember the name of the next person you meet because you program your supercomputer not to.
[00:22:05] If people truly understood how powerful their mind is, they wouldn't say, think, or feel something they didn't want to be true. And I'll say this again, if you truly understood how powerful you are, your mind especially is you wouldn't say, or think, or maybe even feel something you didn't want to be true. Now, that's not to say you have one negative feeling, one negative thought, self-talk, it ruined your life any more than eating that junk food is going to just ruin your whole life, right? Junk food is interesting, right?
[00:22:36] Because I don't see it as a thing. They're like junk and there's food, but I don't know what junk food is. But the idea, though, is if you did it consistently, you eat that junk food, then it would have an impact. A lot of us have this consistent, habitual self-talk, like we're not enough or we can never afford that, right? And so, you want to be mindful of your self-talk. And self-awareness is a starting point because catch yourself. I'm not good at remembering names yet. Just add a little word there, like yet. And then, once you're aware of it, then you can begin to change it. So, that's the mindset part.
[00:23:13]Luke Storey: That's really good because as you're describing that mindset, I busted myself on quite a few of them. One of them that comes to mind that I caught myself saying a lot as I became aware of this was that I'm not a morning person, and in fact, I just agreed to do an Instagram takeover for this company, Wanderlust, and I was really excited about it. And because everyone's in quarantine right now, so everyone's live-streaming, I'm going to do a takeover for them. And I sent them some copy for it and kind of my thoughts on an outline what I was going to offer, and I was really excited. Then, they sent me an e-mail. They said, "Cool. So, here's the thing.
[00:23:50] Just log in at 8:00 AM and the flier says 8:00 AM, and I was like, excuse me, 8:00 AM? You obviously don't know me very well. I don't do anything except maybe meditate at 8:00 AM. And so, I reached out to them and I said, "Is there any way to change it?", and there's not. And then, I was talking to my girlfriend, I said, "Dude. What am I going to do? I'm not a morning person." There it is. How many years have I been telling people I'm not a morning person, I'm not a morning person, and actually furthering that narrative, and ingraining that to make myself tired in the morning, and not actually able to do takeover at 8:00 AM or whatever I might want to do?
[00:24:27]Jim Kwik: And that's perfect evidence of the power of our own words to have over our physiology. And so, if you argue for your limits, and they're yours, and you put yourself in trance, remember, this is a conversation about transcending, ending that mass hypnosis, and some of it's coming from marketing, some of it's coming from media, but some of it's just coming from inside. And we can control that and stand guard to our mind, especially more than ever now, right?
[00:24:55] With everything that's going on, there's a physical threat, a pandemic, but also, there's this virus of the mind that is having all—it's really just empowering because chronic fear, anxiety, stress, I mean, what it does to the brain, it shrinks your brain. We know that chronic anxiety and stress shrinks your brain. We know what it does to your immune system, how it makes you more susceptible to colds and flus, viruses. There's whole area of science called psychoneuroimmunology.
[00:25:30] The power of the mind over your immune system, so if you're under threat all the time. And just a just because this conversation is timely right now with everything that's going on, it's like you have a part of your brain called the reticular activating system or RAS for short, and it determines what you let in to your filter because primarily, your brain is a deletion device. And let me qualify that. At any given time, there is a billion stimuli that we could be paying attention to, a billion things.
[00:26:02] So, primarily, your brain's trying to delete it and keep it out because if it let everything in, we would be insane, right? It would be way, way too much overload. And so, what comes in are the things that we care about, the things we focus on, the things we ask questions about, like the example that I use in the book is years ago, my sister would send me postcards and photographs of a very specific kind of dog. It's a pug dog, specific breed, right?
[00:26:29] Smooshy faces. You can dress them up as ballerinas. They don't care, they're very docile. And I was like, why is she sending me all these postcards, emails of these pug dogs? And I realized her birthday was coming up, and she's quite a marketer, right? And she's kind of planting the seed. And a funny thing happened, Luke, I started seeing pug dogs everywhere. I would be at the grocery store. Imagine me in Air One and the person in front of me is carrying like a pug dog at the cashier.
[00:26:56] I'm jogging in my neighborhood and somebody, I swear to you, is walking six pug dogs. And my question for everybody who's listening is, where were these pug dogs before? Did they magically appear in the universe in my neighborhood? No, of course not. They were always there, but those are part of the billion I was keeping out of my brain because it wasn't important until I started asking questions, then it became important. I started spotting them everywhere.
[00:27:20] But here's the thing about your mind when it comes to your mindset, and why it's important to feed your mind positive, productive, peaceful things, is that if you just focus on what's going on, and I'm not saying be ignorant and not be aware of what's going on in the world, but also understand how media works. If it bleeds, it leads, that if you could die and you need to find out at 7:00 what the new news is, right? So, I understand that.
[00:27:46] But what I don't understand is the indulgence where people are spending all their time wrapped up in this because here's what happens, your mind has an algorithm, much like social media. Have you ever been scrolling through like Facebook, Instagram, and if you love cats, you start liking all the cat posts that you see in your friends' feeds, and then what happens? You start seeing more cat posts, right? Because there is an algorithm that's there. And same thing with your mind, there's an algorithm.
[00:28:14] If you just focus on all the fear and all the darkness in the world, life starts feeding you, your mind just starts processing that. But what happens is you don't have enough bandwidth to shine a light on what you could be grateful for. You're missing out. You're deleting what the opportunity is or the possibility is. And that's the danger of really not standing guard to those doors of our mind, right? And also, what other people say, their expectations, their opinions about who we believe we are and what's possible. And so, that's mindset. Now, that's-
[00:28:49]Luke Storey: Before you jump out of mindset, that's just, as you said, so timely right now with everything going on in the world, which I'm sure we'll be feeling the repercussions of by the time this comes out in a few weeks as well. But I've noticed over the years, especially going back to mornings actually in the morning routine, that if I fall out of the discipline of doing my meditation, my gratitude work, just really going within the very first thing when I wake up, maybe take a shower, just kind of wake up, but if I jump on Twitter and start looking at politics or current events, it will color my whole day and I'll have a much crappier day. And if I wake up and really get centered within myself, remember who I am, what my mission is, what my dharma is, like what my day is about, if I don't determine that, it will absolutely be determined by whatever inputs I give it.
[00:29:41]Jim Kwik: Isn't it crazy?
[00:29:42]Luke Storey: Yeah, it's incredible to watch that happen. And even knowing that for all of these years, sometimes, I still find myself lacking the discipline because it's just so tempting to get that dopamine hit, or that sort of familiar feeling of anxiety that comes with checking in with the world, or even getting on emails, or text, or whatever before I really am grounded in who I want to be that day and how I want to respond to whatever inputs come. And of all times in the day, I think it's really important for us to remember that the morning really does set the tone for what direction your mind's going to go.
[00:30:19]Jim Kwik: It does. I have a video online. We covered this in our podcast three different times. One of the videos has 9 million views basically talking about what you already know. And what you're talking about is the benefits of not touching your phone the first half-an-hour, hour of the day, pre-input, meaning that when you wake up. And I'll give you the science reason for it, is just when you wake up, you're in these very suggestible brainwave states, alpha and beta. You're in this relaxed state of awareness and you are extremely suggestible. So, if the first thing you do is pick up your phone, and what you're rewiring your brain to do is, number one, to be distracted. And distraction is a muscle.
[00:31:01]Luke Storey: Oh, man. That's so true. That's so true.
[00:31:02]Jim Kwik: Distraction is a muscle. It is a muscle, just like focus and presence is a muscle. Mindfulness is a muscle, but distraction is a muscle. And whatever we're doing on a regular basis, we're getting better at. And so, you're training your brain in this relaxed state, very suggestible state to be very distracted because every like, share, comment, cat video, whatever, is that, exactly what you said, it's a dopamine flood, and then the learning motivation receptors, systems of your nervous system, it makes it addictive.
[00:31:34] So, you're training yourself to be distracted and you wonder why, later that day, you can't focus in a meeting; or you can't focus in class; or when you're reading, you read something, you forget what you just read because you cannot focus, because you're building your distraction muscles. But the second reason why you don't want to pick up your phone the first time right away in the morning is not only is it rewiring your brain for distraction, it's rewiring your brain to be reactive.
[00:31:58] Like you used a very powerful word, use the word respond. Respond is very different than reacting to things. And so, what do I mean by that? Just like you said, you could get a message, a voicemail message, a text message, a social media message, some kind of email or whatever, and it could color your whole day, right? It could put you in a bad mood, and it hijacks your brain, and automatically, you're on the defense, you're fighting fires. It's like, oh, this is what's going on with my team, or this, or client, or whatever. And then, you're reacting, not properly responding.
[00:32:33] And we've all heard the phrase, if you want to win the day, you have to win that first hour of the day, you want to prime your mind. We did a whole episode on the 10 things I do every morning. People, just search Jim Kwik morning routine. Ten things I do every morning just to jumpstart. It's different than Tim's, and Oprah's, and everyone, and Tony's, mine focuses on getting my brain. And one of the things that I don't do is touch my phone the first half-an-hour of the day just for those reasons. I want to be present. Things I do, though, are things like brush my teeth. And people think, like you said, you know what the other excuse is it's a lot of money or it takes a lot of time.
[00:33:12]Luke Storey: Right.
[00:33:13]Jim Kwik: I don't want to do that, it takes time. And like what I'm saying, brush my teeth, they're like, what does that have to do, Jim, with my brain? I teach people how to brush their teeth with the opposite hand. And it's subtle, right? But what it does is neurologically there's a brain-body connection. We know that if someone has a stroke on their left side of their brain, that if there is paralysis that manifests, it will happen on the opposite side of your body and vice versa. Then, it's not just the brain-body connection, there's a body-brain connection. And using certain parts of your body will actually stimulate new parts of your brain. We know jugglers, a study done at Oxford University, create more white matter, right? So, as your body moves, your brain grooves. That is tweetable right there. As your body moves, your brain grooves.
[00:33:58]Luke Storey: I wonder if that's true of drummers. Have there been any studies?
[00:34:01]Jim Kwik: Yes, very much so.
[00:34:02]Luke Storey: Ambidextrous nature of drumming itself, it has always fascinated me that a human being can actually do that, or piano players.
[00:34:11]Jim Kwik: We find that they are better readers also, which is interesting. We have students, we have an online month program on speed reading to triple people's reading speeds. We have students in 195 countries, so we have a lot of data. We find that the best readers, naturally, they tend to be left-handed, they tend to be women, and they tend to play musical instrument, just like what you said, especially an instrument that requires both hands because it stimulates both sides of the brain.
[00:34:43] And so, it's very, very interesting. But the reason of brushing your teeth with the opposite hand, first of all, it helps create new connections, neuroplasticity on the other side of the brain. Number two, it's difficult and I think it's important for us to get comfortable being uncomfortable, that I believe that if you just do the easy things in life, procrastinate the things off, if you do the easy things in life, life is hard.
[00:35:12] But if you do the hard things in life, life becomes easier, right? If you do those hard things, if you work out, if you do the ice bath, all the stuff that you do on your shows and on your socials, like they're difficult, but your life gets easier because you get stronger and better because of it. So, brushing your teeth with the opposite hand is difficult a little bit. And just challenge yourself. And that grid comes out when you need to go on stage or when you have to go into that meeting, where you're a little nervous.
[00:35:42] You're comfortable doing uncomfortable things. But the real reason I have people brush their teeth with the opposite hand as one tip to start off the morning is it trains you to be present. It's the opposite of checking your phone or like most people, their mind is everywhere, they're distracted, thinking about signs, shiny objects, whatever. When you're brushing your teeth with the opposite hand, it forces you to focus and be here, be now.
[00:36:08] So, it's a meditative mindfulness practice. Brush your teeth with the opposite hand because you have to focus on doing it, so your mind is here as opposed to somewhere else where you're training your distraction muscles. So, simple things like that, which doesn't take any time, right? Even in my morning routine, I take a cold shower or on Instagram, you see me every week doing like full-on five-minute ice baths or whatever.
[00:36:30] Yeah, I hate the cold. I hate it. Like I grew up in the Northeast. Right now, I'm in New York. I don't like the cold, but I still do it because your training is besides the benefits of lowering information, resetting your nervous system, great for your skin, and everything else, it's doing difficult things and challenging yourself. And that takes us to actually the second end, which is motivation. So, the second circle to the right-
[00:36:55]Luke Storey: I'm going to write this down for those watching. It's weird and it's backwards, but you get the idea.
[00:37:03]Jim Kwik: Exactly. So, yeah, mindset is one and motivation is the second thing. So, what keeps you in this box, I want everyone to think about that box, about, oh, I can't get that housed, or I can't get that significant other, or achieve that business, or whatever, right? Part of what keep you there is your mindset. Not believing it's possible, not believing you deserve it, you're capable of it. But also, let's say you have an infinite mindset, you have a limitless mindset, what could keep you from not getting it is lack of motivation.
[00:37:37] Here's the thing. When I say motivation, it's a tainted word because some people, when you hear the word motivation, they think, oh, get excited at a seminar and jump on chairs, and the next day, nothing changes. They get excited in the moment, they call it motivation, but the evidence that somebody has motivation is they're taking action towards that goal, right? If they're not doing something, they're not motivated. So, that's clear. Now-
[00:38:08]Luke Storey: So, motivation isn't a feeling of enthusiasm, motivation is actually executing something that you're motivated about.
[00:38:14]Jim Kwik: Exactly, and I'll give you the three-step formula. This is what I've found through not only all the research that I've done the past three decades, but this is 28 years of field-testing top athletes, and actors, and founders, and educators, and genius leaves clues, that's just a belief that I have, that when somebody is amazing at something, there are clues sort of to be able to create that. There's always a method behind what looks like magic. So, when people even see me do these memory feats, there's a method. I show them exactly how to do it, right?
[00:38:50] So, let's take away two of the lies, limited idea, entertain, right? The first one is that it's just getting excited, right? It's not about getting excited because that's not sustainable. People have compared it to a warm bath, it's really nice and cozy, but then, it cools off and you got heated up again, and you're heated up again. I'm not talking about getting hyped up. The other lie I would say is you don't have to enjoy that activity. People think in order to be motivated for something, they have to get a lot of joy and pleasure out of that activity. But I just mentioned, I never miss a cold shower in the morning. Never.
[00:39:29]Luke Storey: Me either.
[00:39:29]Jim Kwik: Or, an ice bath, and I hate it. So, I don't enjoy it, but I still do it. So, here is an example. This is the formula for sustainable motivation, because in the movie, they take a pill, right? Bradley Cooper takes a pill and he has a surge of motivation. But after that pill wears off in 24 hours, he goes back down to his level set, right? So, I want sustainable motivation and the formula for sustainable motivation and drive is this, P times E times S3.
[00:40:04] I mean, this really is three books in one, it's mindset, motivation, and then, the final M. The motivation formula, the key, if you are not motivated, if you are procrastinating, if you are putting things off, if you just act sometimes when it's convenient, and you're not consistent about it, one of these three things are missing P times E times S3. The P stands for purpose. So, I don't enjoy cold showers. And I'm not saying don't bring the joy, you can choose to bring joy into it, but I'm just saying it's not a prerequisite for being motivated.
[00:40:42] I'm saying, like, I was having this conversation the other day with Tom Bilyeu. He wakes up every morning very, very early, 4:00 or 4:30 in the morning, and he works out. And I was like, "Do you enjoy it?" He was like, "No, I hate working out", but he never misses a day, so you can't deny he's motivated. And so, motivation is you don't have to enjoy it, but the P stands for purpose. Purpose are the reasons that you have for doing that action or activity. You have to have a clear reason. So, give me an area of your life where you have endless motivation, you just do it, like very rare exception do you not get this thing done.
[00:41:25]Luke Storey: That's easy. Doing interviews.
[00:41:28]Jim Kwik: Interviews.
[00:41:29]Luke Storey: Everything I do in my life that would one could consider work, and I guess it's one of the ways I make a living, so it is work as a vocation, but interviews to me are just automatic, fun. I'm always motivated to do them. I always get them done. They're always great.
[00:41:46]Jim Kwik: Now, what about it? Can I ask you why? Why do you think that is that you have this sustainable motivation? What's your reason behind? What does it give you?
[00:41:55]Luke Storey: Well, I'm going to cheat, but it just came to mind because it's so true is the purpose. What's the purpose of doing these interviews? There are multiple purposes. The benefit, of course, that I derive from talking to fascinating people, and connecting with people, and using communication skills, and getting better at that. And then, also, the end result of other people benefiting, and being of service, and contributing something to society by doing the interviews, and then sharing them.
[00:42:25]Jim Kwik: And that's perfect, Luke, because this is the perfect example of how this limitless model works. You have sustainable motivation. You don't have to force yourself to do it because you found your reasons. And with your reasons come results, the reasons for learning, for connecting, for helping other people, you're so crystal clear, and even if someone can articulate it, if they feel it in their heart, that's what counts, is the feeling.
[00:42:51] Some people, intellectually, can know with all the reasons they should read a book a week or something, but they don't feel the reasons, they don't feel the pleasure, or they don't allow themselves to even feel the pain because pain can be very motivating also. Like who's counting on me? I know somebody recently who changed their diet big time and their way of life big time, their amount of exercise big time because they had a triple bypass surgery.
[00:43:17] And the reason for changing wasn't the bypass, it was their daughter because they wanted to walk their daughter down the aisle. And that loss or the fear of loss, now, all of a sudden, they don't have to motivate themselves to move every day, to be able to eat right because their reason is so crystal clear. So, the P in the formula is purpose, that you don't necessarily have to enjoy that thing, eating that food, that green juice, that maybe it tastes nasty or whatever, or the hydrogen, whatever it may be, you don't like it, but you still do it because you have a reason for it.
[00:43:51] You're clear about it. Pain or pleasure. You feel it. The E in that equation, P times E times S3, the E stands—so, coming back, how I came up with this formula is there's a lot of misinformation about motivation, and drive and its function, right? And so, I was like, okay, if somebody has a reason, will, they always 100% be motivated? And I was like, is there any case where they won't be motivated? And I was like yes, they could be missing the E.
[00:44:21] The E stands for energy, meaning somebody could have the purpose for working out, but if they didn't sleep for the past two nights, they're not going to be very motivated. They're not going to exercise because they lack the sleep, they lack the vitality to do that. So, in the book, in the section on motivation, I have a whole chapter on purpose, finding your life purpose and how it's different from your passion, how to be able to cultivate it, and feel, and motivate, and create leverage in yourself.
[00:44:51] And there is this whole section, there's a whole chapter on energy. And these are really the 10 things that I cultivate to have unlimited vitality. Because energy, another myth, a lie because I'm going through all the lies here. A limited idea entertained is that you have energy because we say it all the time, I don't have energy or I have lots of energy. You don't have energy, you do energy. You don't have focus, you do focus. You don't have motivation, you do motivation.
[00:45:20] You don't have creativity, you do creativity. And when you take a noun and turn it into a verb, it gives you your agency back because you get your power back because you know what to do, as opposed to hoping we wake up, and I hope I have creativity to make videos today. I hope I have focus today, so I could write. I hope I have motivation, so I can get these things done on my to-do lists. That's the trance.
[00:45:45] And at the end, that trance is we're putting ourselves in trance with the language we're using, saying the word have. These aren't things you have, these are things you do, right? And so, when you turn into a process, or a practice, or a routine, then it gives you your power. So, I talk about the ten keys for having unlimited energy. Everything from the best brain foods to optimizing your sleep, to reducing your stress, to energy vampires, in all 10, could be different, right?
[00:46:12]Luke Storey: That's really good. I love that distinction, man. That's really good because I'm thinking about you watch certain people, I'm thinking of a guy like Tony Robbins or Joe Dispenza, two people that I've watched operate in their workshops, and especially Tony, I mean, he's such an obvious example, but you're going, how does this guy have the energy to do this for that long? And even I was at a recent retreat with Joe Dispenza, and then he's got a different vibe, but still, I mean, this guy's going for nine days at this retreat and we're getting up at 4:00 in the morning and doing like four-and-a-half-hour pineal gland meditations.
[00:46:52] And he's right there with everyone. We're tired as well. I mean, I can barely do it. And I probably lead, I'm going to guess, on paper, a healthier lifestyle than Joe Dispenza, probably, based on hearing him talk, he drinks wine, he eats cheese, he lives his best life, he doesn't seem to care about biohacking, and all this stuff, and he's kicking my ass relatively speaking, right?
[00:47:15] And I've observed people like that, and it's like, well, where do they get that energy from? They seem to have tapped into this endless resource. And I'm finding myself, at times, wondering how they do that. But when you frame it as not a noun, but rather as a verb, that it's something that you're doing, not something you have to go, and get, and put in you, but it's something that you're applying and exercising.
[00:47:40]Jim Kwik: Okay. So, let us stress that because I know both those gentlemen. First of all, they have their reasons, right? They're very clear on their mission. They're very clear. But also, the context also, being on stage is their platform. Like right now, you mentioned you have another interview right after this. Lot of people could watch you and say like, oh, my God, how can get this guy interview so many people in just a handful of days? Right? So, everybody has their stage of life?
[00:48:10]Luke Storey: That's true.
[00:48:10]Jim Kwik: And also, get energy speaking from somebody who does 10-hour days, four days straight on my own events also, you also get a lot of energy from the audience also as well. That fuel you also. And so, there's all kinds of ways. And then, that's one of them, is one of the ten keys energy is that positive peer group that you're always around because, again, you could want to—you're being motivated or have a purpose for reading a book a week or reading it an hour a day, but if you would just eat a lot of processed food and you're in a food coma, you're not going be very motivated to read that book.
[00:48:48] So, that's why energy is important or you're spending time with someone who is close to an energy vampire, some people are batteries included, but some people are batteries just are not included. And they're just stealing your energy and you're just like not motivated to do anything right now because I'm just spending so much time, you know what I mean? To be in a room full of people who are enlightened, I mean, thousands of people and all that, that we feed each other our energy.
[00:49:12] So, energy is number two. Then, my mind goes up at P times E your purpose or clear reason, you feel it, and you have unlimited energy, do you 100% always act? Is this person always motivated? I'm doing this thought experiment, and I'm thinking no, I can find one more exception. If somebody has the purpose and they have unlimited energy, what will keep them from doing something is something that I call S3. They don't know the small, simple step because instead, in their mind, is, oh, what are they motivated to do?
[00:49:49] They say they're motivated to build the next multi-million-dollar business; or to have find and develop their relationship with their soulmate, which they haven't met yet; or have the perfect body. It's this huge thing. And in their mind, they're not motivated because it's either too big or it's too confusing, you know what I mean? Like they don't know where to start. And so, that would keep somebody unmotivated, even if they had a reason to build that business, or reason to be in their relationship, or reason to have the perfect body, they have unlimited energy, they're not starting someplace.
[00:50:25] They have something that's too ambiguous and too intimidating, maybe, or too confusing. And a confused mind will never do anything. All right. So, a small, simple step would be, an example is not saying that you're going to read 45 minutes a day is like, I'm going to read one sentence because who's going to stop at one sentence? It's such a tiny, small step, you cannot fail, right? And like our friend, Dr. BJ Fogg, who I've interviewed a number of times, he heads the research lab at Stanford University for behavioral psychology.
[00:51:00] And he's a master of tiny habits. He's like flossing is good for you, it helps you live longer, but some people don't floss. And I mean, they have to break it down into a tiny habit, what I call small, simple step. Don't try to floss all your teeth, plus one tooth, right? There's no reason to stop at one tooth, right? Say, I'm going to work out today, maybe it's just, I'm going to get to the gym or I'm going to put on my running shoes, right?
[00:51:24] Such small inch-by-inch, it's a cinch. Yard-by-yard, too hard. So, that's the motivation. And that keeps you in a box. If you could have the unlimited mindset that you're not motivated because you lack purpose, you lack energy, you lack what to do first, it will keep you in that box in your relationship or lack thereof, your health or lack thereof, your business or income, lack thereof. Now, somebody could have like this limitless mindset and limitless motivation, but the third circle are the methods that you're using, the methodology.
[00:51:57] And again, this book used to be 100% just on methodology, me telling people how to remember names, how to learn languages, how to speed-read, how to be a great listener, how to think clear, how to do things, teach your kids. Exactly that. So, it's the methodology, it's methods because somebody can have a limitless mindset. They can have limitless motivation, but they could be practicing a method that is old or antiquated or just wrong.
[00:52:26] Like I remember a certain thought leader like 20 plus years ago, I heard him say like, hey, every morning, have fruit juice, every single morning. And I remember being in college, I didn't have any money in college. And I would take the quarters and the change that I would scrape up, and I would walk two miles to the grocery store, buy two pounds of organic oranges, come back and squeeze all that, and it took all this time, money I didn't have. And then, later on, the person recants and be like, don't drink fruit juice, too much sugar, it's going to grow candida, and all these things, but I was motivated, I had the right mindset to be healthy, but I was using a poor method, right?
[00:53:09] People could be motivated and have a mindset for business, but they could be using poor practices in advertising or in learning, I document all of like the old ways of learning, like ancient just old repetition, right? That is not the best way of learning something, memorization. Like sub vocalization is not the best way of reading. What I mean by that is you ever notice when you read something, you read a book, you hear that voice inside your head, hopefully, it's your own voice, it's not somebody else's voice.
[00:53:39]Luke Storey: Yeah. There are a few people, a whole committee of people.
[00:53:42]Jim Kwik: Exactly. The reason why it's a bad or antiquated method is because if you have to say all the words inside your head, you can only read as fast as you could speak. That means your reading speed is limited to your talking speed, not your thinking speed. That's why people could be listening to this right now at 2X or 3X because they could they can think that fast, but they can't talk that fast. And it's a myth.
[00:54:08]Luke Storey: So, you're saying you can actually read without internally verbalizing the words. I don't even know that was possible. That's the only way I've ever read.
[00:54:16]Jim Kwik: And that's why. But dissect this back into the limitless model. When you apply it, it's that we learn this method of reading, how old were you the last time you took a class called Reading? How old were you?
[00:54:32]Luke Storey: Five or six.
[00:54:33]Jim Kwik: Exactly. So, most people still read like a five- or six-year-old. That sub-vocalization got there because first, you had to read out loud because you had to, the teacher needs to make sure you're saying the words phonetically, reading phonetically, right? But later on, your teacher taught you to put the symbol by saying, read quietly to yourself or read silently to yourself. That's where you took that external voice and you internalize it and you said, in order for me to understand it, I have to hear it aloud or inside my mind.
[00:55:03] Now, here's the lie. It's a limited idea entertained because is it absolutely true that you have to say all the words in order to understand the word? Like when you see a stop sign? Nobody says stop in their mind, but they understand 100 percent what it means. 95% of the words in all our books, they're sight words. They're words you've seen thousands of times you don't have to pronounce because words are symbols just like punctuation marks are symbols.
[00:55:32] You don't say comma. You don't say period, question mark, explanation mark. You don't say those things. We don't say and, there, the, because, of, this, that, those are filler words, right? And so, we know that the fastest readers, what we do when we train them is to reduce sub-vocalization because you start seeing the words and the meaning as opposed to hearing because you don't have to hear it. But anyway, this is an example of an old antiquated method that we learned, and so, we're just upgrading it in this book.
[00:56:05] Like here's how you should memorize today. Here's how you should read today. And there's five areas that we talk about, right? Focus, study because you have to be able to concentrate, so a whole chapter on how to focus because there are no classes on how to focus. You going to your kid and saying, "Hey, focus", is like going to kids, say, "Hey, play the piano." And the kid does not know how to play the piano, never took a class, but they've never taken a class on focus.
[00:56:32] You tell this kid to study, they've never taken a class on study, right? So, focus, study, memory is the largest chapter in the book, speed-reading, and then critical thinking skills. Do you realize that kids are tested, they have lower analytical abilities than previous generations because of technology? Because technology, number one, digital dementia. You're outsourcing your memory toward devices, so we cannot remember phone number anymore.
[00:57:01] Not that you want to memorize 200 phone numbers, but isn't it concerning we can't remember one, or a pin number, or a phone call, or conversation we just had, or what we're going to say, or someone's name? Memory is a muscle, right? And you have to keep that fit. But there's a new term in healthcare called digital dementia, high reliance on technology to do the remembering for us. It's equivalent to, if you took Lift or Uber to go five blocks or you take the escalator, the escalator or the elevator every single time instead of taking the stairs, there's a physical toll, there's atrophy, and there's atrophy here for not using our brains.
[00:57:35]Luke Storey: Wow. That's really interesting what you're saying about the critical thinking, though, and I'm going to sound like a crotchety old man now at 49 years old, but I definitely have noticed in the past, say, 11 years, that I became a business owner, and had employees, and would hire people considerably younger than myself that I have been repeatedly shocked at their lack of ability to think critically. And usually, when they would stumble on something, the answer to me, and this is my own laziness, too, but I would always think, you could have just looked that up online.
[00:58:12] Like even the critical thinking to go somewhere for the answer, they seem to be lacking oftentimes. And I wondered, generationally, what the hell, like no one my age, no one I know is that inept. It's like these people were not intelligent, or great people, or talented, and all those things, otherwise, I never would have hired them, but just repeatedly, my business partner and I would be like, what the hell is wrong with this generation? I don't know if they're millennials or maybe the one after that. And you just described the phenomenon that's very present.
[00:58:46]Jim Kwik: Therefore, technologically driven phenomena that are creating health issues, and productivity issues, and peace of mind issues. Really simply, there's digital deluge, information overload, information anxiety, which creates higher blood pressure, compression of leisure time, more sleeplessness, too much information. We're drowning information and we're not taught how to swim today because the amount of information is way more than it was a generation ago, right?
[00:59:13] So, that's why we teach speed-reading study skills. The second one is digital deluge. After that is digital distraction. We talked about the phones. How do you have focus, how do you get things done in a world full of app notifications, social media alerts, rings, dings, pings. I mean, it's just, our attention is everywhere, right? And so, that's why we teach focus, a whole chapter on focus. And then, there is digital dementia, which we just talked about.
[00:59:37] We're outsourcing our memory to our smart devices. That's why we train memory, a whole chapter on memory. And then, finally, the last super villain, the fourth horsemen of the apocalypse for like our mental potential is really digital deduction. Digital deduction is where we're relying on technology to do the thinking for us. It's like GPS. It tells us where and when to turn. And we never have to develop those visual, spatial, locational skills.
[01:00:06] Digital deduction is where everything is recommended for us. I love the convenience of all this. I love the convenience that I don't have to look up the number, I could just hit a button, or say it, or something like that, or I could just hit in an address, I love that convenience, but technology is convenient, but it could also cripple us if we just rely on it in totality. So, I'm not talking about just fake news, where everything is spoon-fed for us.
[01:00:30] So, kids nowadays and even as adults, we don't have to have critical thinking skills. We don't have to be able to rationalize. We don't have to be able to use analytical skills. And so, that's why in the in the book, we have a whole chapter on how to think because school teaches you what to learn and what to think, but not how to learn and how to think, how to make decisions, how to solve your own problems step-by-step. And so, that's in the method section. So, we have mindset, right? All three of them, this is triple M, you have the mindset, you have the motivation, and you have the methods to be limitless. Now, here's-
[01:01:05]Luke Storey: So, in the third circle here, for those of you watching the video, you'll see my little Mickey Mouse head, the methodology is included within that? Is it the S3, the small, simple step?
[01:01:17]Jim Kwik: So, small, simple step, I'll still put in the motivation as the motivation chapter. And so, I tell people how to take things, and make them small, simple steps, and have clarity. And then, I go into flow states and habits because ultimately, in flow states, it's in motivation because when you're in flow, you're in that zone, you lose your sense of time, and self, and very little effort. That's when it requires no motivation, right? But in order to get there, there are certain habits to help trigger that. That's in the motivation.
[01:01:47] But here, watch this, when you look at your Venn diagram, where mindset crosses over with motivation, that crossover is inspiration. And we all know maybe three Is as the three Ms. So, here are three Is, where we all know that there are experts on mindset. There are books on mindset. And one of my favorite books, Dr. Carol Dweck, wrote a book called Mindset. Amazing book, right? And there are speakers, and experts, and books on motivation, where they cross over, you have inspiration.
[01:02:21] You have inspirational speakers, inspirational quotes, and movies that give you the right mindset, and they motivate you a little bit. So, that's inspiration. Where mindset crosses over with methods, you have the second eye, which is ideation. Mindset is in your mind. You know it's possible, you know what you deserve, and methods are in your mind, you know the process for achieving it, but it stays in your mind because you lack the motivation.
[01:02:49] So, where mindset and methods crossover, you have ideation. And finally, where you have motivation crossover with methods, where motivation, you have motivation, you have drive, purpose, energy, and you know what to do, you have the methods, you have implementation. That's the third I, implementation. But you're just still stuck in that box because you only implement to the point where you believe is possible or to believe you deserve, right?
[01:03:18] You could have been motivated to get in a great relationship. You could have taken relationship classes, so you know the methods on how to meet somebody, and how to cultivate a good relationship, and have a great marriage, but if you don't believe it's possible, you're not going to get that result. And if you don't believe you deserve it, you're not going to get the results, right?
[01:03:35] So, that mindset has to be there or you can have the mindset and know the methods, but you're not doing anything because you lack the motivation, so you're still stuck in the box or you can have the mindset and the motivation, that's there, but you don't know what to do, right? And you'd use old things or you rely on just luck and you don't get that optimal performance because you're not doing all the things that you even talk about. Like a lot of the shows that I listen of yours, whether they're in performance or biohacking, those are those methods. So, this works altogether. And where all three circles come together is a fourth I, and that's integration. A
[01:04:11]Luke Storey: Oh, wow. This is so good, dude. Congratulations.
[01:04:15]Jim Kwik: Thank you.
[01:04:15]Luke Storey: This is really cool.
[01:04:16]Jim Kwik: This is the limitless state. And so, map over that house that you want and it becomes the explanatory schema. You look at that Venn diagram, the limitless model, and saying, why don't I have that house yet? Is it my mindset? Am I not feeling the purpose? Am I not having enough energy? Have I not broken it down to an actual step. And how the small steps relate to method, the method is a series of steps, right? The method is the actual process for doing something.
[01:04:48] But a small, simple step gets you momentum and moves you in the right direction, so you can activate an actual method. So, not only is it an explanatory schema where we feel stuck, I don't have that relationship, why? Do I feel like I deserve it? Do I believe it's even possible? Am I not motivated to get into that relationship or do I not know how to meet that person, or how to go deeper with that person, or communicate their love languages, or whatever?
[01:05:11] Now, I map it over to learning because I think if there's one skill to master in the 21st century, the first and foremost skill is your ability to learn faster because it's a meta skill like metamorphosis or meta-thinking, thinking about your thinking. Meta-learning is learning how to learn because if you learn how to learn, you can apply that towards management, music, marketing, Mandarin, money, anything gets easier after that.
[01:05:39] That's like you being able to grant your own wish. And that's why the model is so strong. So, it used to be, again, a methods book, and then I added the mindset and the motivation, and it's like three books in one, and it unlocks human potential. And also, not only can it explain why you are where you are, it can also be a model or a framework to role-model genius that if somebody is getting results you want, use this model and break it down by chapter saying, what's their mindset?
[01:06:12] What are their global beliefs they have around this thing? Right? How do they look at it in terms of deserving this or maybe, what is their reason or purpose? How are they cultivating sustainable energy? What are their small, simple steps they are taking in their days or what's the method for them investing or having that body mass index or whatever happens to be? It becomes a learning model for everybody.
[01:06:41]Luke Storey: That's so amazing, dude. Really, really impressive. It's funny, obviously, when someone has a project, an online course, a book, a retreat that they want to promote, they'll kind of do the rounds of podcasts and things like that. And of course, as a host, I always want to oblige the guests and help promote whatever it is that they're doing because they're spending time, and they deserve to sell books or whatever too.
[01:07:07] But I have to say, usually, for me, it's kind of like I won't base the whole conversation on a book, yeah, yeah, tell us about the book, and then I'm going to selfishly ask the questions that I already had in mind, but this has like been incredible, and I want to keep going. I'm not saying it's ending, but it's actually been a really incredible episode, and we have really stuck to the book. So, I'm going to just really encourage people, go buy this freaking book. This is insane. Like, this is cool. I want the book. Please send me one.
[01:07:33]Jim Kwik: Yeah, Luke, can I tell you what we did for people?
[01:07:35]Luke Storey: This is so cool.
[01:07:37]Jim Kwik: Can I tell people what we did?
[01:07:39]Luke Storey: Yeah.
[01:07:41]Jim Kwik: We created something very special at limitlessbook.com. And I'm very proud of this because I grew up with learning challenges, right? I was labeled a boy with a broken brain. That label became my limit. My caregiver growing up was my grandmother who passed away of Alzheimer's and will go through my learning challenges, and my traumatic brain injury while she was losing her memory, it just put me on a certain selection point in terms of, my mess became my message.
[01:08:10] So, for 28 years straight, all I've done is focus on helping people have their better brain that they desire, and that they deserve. My mission is no brain left behind. And this is my very first book in 28 years. And the reason why I put this out is because I could've delayed this book because of circumstances that are going on in the world, in terms of our conferences being canceled, media being hijacked. I feel like this is such an important book because it gives you your power back. It reminds you of who you really are, right?
[01:08:41] It helps you to manage your mind, being focused and productive if you're working from home, learning from home, to be able to support your kids, support your team, to be able to have a grip over your attitude, and to have real methods to be able to adapt today, where industries are just going away overnight. How do you learn faster, read, and apply? So, what we did is, my goal for this book is for it to be the most read book of 2020.
[01:09:08] Now, I'm not saying the bestselling book of 2020, the most read because we started this conversation where a lot of people buy books, and they're still sitting on your shelf, 90% unread, how I'm going to help you to do this is when you get this book at limitlessbook.com today, I'm going to gift you a 10-day program to prime your brains. When the book arrives, you're going to read it faster. It's like a 10-day audio-video course on Limitless.
[01:09:39] And the first days, I go through the model and draw it out for you in detail. And the second day, I talk to you how to remove limiting beliefs that keep you from achieving, and finishing this book, and saying you don't deserve it, you're not enough. And then, tactically, I go through and show you how to energize your brain, how to find your purpose, and also, how to find these small, simple steps to read faster, have better focus, and improve memory.
[01:10:04] What does that allow you to do when the book arrives? All of the sudden, you're going to finish that book because you are equipped with skills to read faster, to remember what you read. But not only that, what I'm going to do for everybody is a life coaching. We're going to create a four-week book club on Limitless. So, after everybody gets their book, we're going to go through four sections of the books, one intro section and one on each of the three Ms, is what I'm going to do is every single week, we're going to cover one of those sections.
[01:10:32] So, we're all going to read it that week, and then come together at the end of the week together like this. And I'm going to answer your burning questions. I'm going to show you how to memorize everything in that section. And more importantly, how to apply everything, in the intro, in the mindset, in the motivation, and in the methodology. So, that's what I mean about, I want everyone who gets it not to let it sit down on your shelf, but actually read it.
[01:10:57] And then, I'm going to include two bonus chapters, which sounds like a lot, but people are asking questions right now like, can I apply limitless to my kids? And so, we're adding a bonus chapter digitally, limitless for children. It's great for educators, it's great for parents. Anyone who has a child in your life, because a lot of being limitless, limits are learned. I wasn't born with this idea I was broken, I learned that. And there's a process of unlearning it. But if you can get to a child early and teach them the speed-reading memory like mindset ways, they have such a huge advantage.
[01:11:34] And then, the second bonus chapter besides limitless for children is limitless for teams. If you have a team of two, three, four, or 400 and you want to create a learning organization because your number one asset is human capital, it's the biggest line item, payroll. And if you want to up-level your team and make them limitless in terms that they know it's possible, they have motivation because over 80% of employees feel disengaged, right? And methodology, if you won't give them the best methods for being focused and being productive, then this is the bonus chapter, and you can get it all at limitlessbook.com.
[01:12:14]Luke Storey: That's awesome. We're going to definitely put that in the show notes. And I know your book, I think, is going to come out a bit a couple of few weeks before this episode drops, but we're definitely going to put all that in there. And it's funny, as you're describing the whole not only by writing the book, and I didn't realize it was your first book either. That's really wild.
[01:12:33]Jim Kwik: That is the comment I get all the time.
[01:12:35]Luke Storey: That's funny. I just assumed you had a bunch of books, but it's really interesting because I can hear the model that you must have used your own model in order to complete the book, like to conceptualize, and actually execute the book, and then figure out how to launch it in a way that's creative and useful to people. It's funny. It's like you're obviously practicing what you preach in that whole thing. So, that's really cool.
[01:12:57]Jim Kwik: And I'm glad you're sensitive to that because that shows the level of expertise and acuity you have. This book is not just a book on accelerated learning, the way it's actually mapped out, it maps out in the beginning with my map, with the hero's journey, and actually take people on a call to adventure, ask them if they're going to take the blue or the red pill. So, they are Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz or they are Neo or I become like their Yoda or Miyagi. And when-
[01:13:26]Luke Storey: Hey. Jim, this being your first book and as someone who's obviously been teaching for 28years with other mediums, how did you learn to actually write a book? Did you work with a writing coach, or read books about writing books, or how did you learn how to actually put it all together? Because you have the knowledge, right? That's abundantly clear. How did you learn how to put it together in a logical way that someone wanted to publish and that's going to make sense to people?
[01:13:55]Jim Kwik: Yeah, I appreciate that. Because I struggled for a-decade-and-a-half with my own learning challenges, I'm hyper-aware of the distinctions that make something digestible, and learnable, and applicable. And so, I reverse-engineer like I do a presentation onstage or if I'm doing a full-day training, I go from the outcome, what do I want to do with this team of 20, and then I go backwards and say, how can I organize this? Here's a perfect example.
[01:14:24] It's a very, very, very short story. Years ago, I get called on a Friday night and I don't recognize the number, so I picked up. And he's like, you don't know me, but we have this mutual friend, and I really need your help. Give me your number, please help me. And then, the mutual friend was a very close friend. And I was like, "What situation?" He's like, "I have a conference tomorrow in New York City. And my speaker, my keynote speaker canceled."
[01:14:51] And I'm like, "Well, I am in New York City, but I usually book out six months in advance, I'm sorry." He's like, "Please, you have to help me. These people are really counting on me." And I was like, "Well, for the sake of just interest, what's the topic?" And he tells me the topic. And I'm like, "Why are you calling me? I don't know anything about that." He's like, "Yes, but he wrote a book." I'm like, "So, what?" And he was like, "Well, our mutual friend says you're a speed reader."
[01:15:19] And I'm like, "Yes. So?" He's like, "Well, can you show up a little bit early, and read this book, and give the keynote talk?" And I was like, "Wow, this is-" I literally said, "This is going to cost you." I literally said that. And I show up at 10:00, I read his book. And around lunchtime, right after lunch, I give the presentation and humbly, it was the highest rated talk of those three days. I mean, I haven't had a minute of public speaking training, I'm so on purpose when I'm on stage that all I care about is I'll do anything to help people with what I used to struggle with.
[01:16:04] And it was the highest rated talk, but it was really skill development, right? I have this set of skills of reading, not just speed-reading, but smart reading, reading something, understanding it, remembering it, and also organizing it. And I also have this set of skills of how to teach it in a way that is enjoyable, that's interactive, that really pushes it in deep and makes it personal for people. There's a whole chapter in the book that the opening chapter is like, how to read this book and every other book? Like what book teaches you how to read the book from the beginning?
[01:16:39] So, I teach people how to read it, and it's the same principle of how I wrote it because I wrote it in a way that it's going to help people to focus in it with the storytelling and through the questions that I asked throughout it. And there's different parts of it in terms of how it's reviewed and everything else like that. But I mapped it out working from ending results, I want this person to be limitless. When they come out of this book, I want to help them transcend and transform who they are going in.
[01:17:09] Right now, we're cocooning, right? Right now, we're in this cocoon phase. And while the beauty is in the butterfly, the growth happens in the cocoon, right? And right now, people are in solitude. They're socially distancing themselves. What a wonderful time to get clarity and self-reflection on your life. What a wonderful time to put into self-care in terms of not just doing the practices of yoga and meditation, but also, just self-care is just giving yourself permission to rest and not have to do everything.
[01:17:44] Maybe this is a big global reset for some people, and care for yourself through all the practices that we know. Maybe this is a wonderful time to contribute and add, to donate, to be able to do things like this. Anybody could share on their Facebook, on their YouTube some message that their community or somebody listening at home that really needs, so we can contribute. This is a wonderful time. Also, is capabilities.
[01:18:11] And then, I just noticed, these are four Cs in a row. Clarity, care, contribution, capability. What a wonderful times up-level our skills right now. So, as we're in this cocoon, it's funny because it's the struggle the caterpillar has to do to push its way out of that cocoon that actually make that small hole. When it pushes itself through, it moves the fluids from its body into the wings that nourishes the wings that allow it to fly.
[01:18:42] And right now, I think we're in a certain metamorphosis right now globally, and maybe not only the environment, but our internal environment. What a wonderful opportunity to check in with ourselves and get clarity on our life purpose, on what's most important to us, the relationship, and our behavior is aligned with those things. Anyway, buddy, I could talk to you forever about this.
[01:19:04]Luke Storey: You didn't tell me that you also possess the power of ESP because I literally, as you were kind of explaining your book-writing process, I wanted the segue into how you're dealing with your mindset and emotional state during this crisis, and then you went on to explain it essentially, which is, of course, looking at, to put it very simply, in an elementary way of the glass being half-full, and that's the same thing I've been doing myself, is I hired a writing coach, I am working on my first book starting right now.
[01:19:39] And it's interesting because looking at the model here, the P times E times S3, that's exactly what I needed to hear. And that's inherently what my writing coach has been doing, is helping to lay it out for me in that way, especially the S3 part, because that's daunting. Being a first-time author, the daunting part is like, what, I have the idea, but it's so big. But in my life, I get up every day, and I drive up the hill, and I watch the sunrise, which is a practice that I've been wanting to instill in my life for a long time.
[01:20:16] And I've been very spotty with it since I moved to this location because I have to get in the car, it's cold, it's dark, whereas my last place where I lived, I could see the sunrise on the horizon because I was lower in the city. And so, I've been looking at all of the ways in which my life is actually improving as a result of this, otherwise, catastrophic state of affairs. And so much of it really is in the perception. And that's not to negate people that are sick, and dying, and the obvious economic repercussions of this situation, which we're going to, no doubt, see unfold in the coming weeks, and months, and possibly even years.
[01:20:54] But I think our ability really is in having license and authority over our own thinking and looking at it how we want to look at it. So, I love the way you frame that, and that, wow, this is actually a great opportunity that we can use to refine our focus. And that's exactly what I've been doing, too. I'm doing all sorts of things that have been on my to-do list for a really long time, and sort of I'm just chasing them, and really executing so many of those things that they're not urgent, but they're things that do need to get done. So-
[01:21:24]Jim Kwik: Yeah, I have this quote in the book that I would just remind everybody again, just repetition, is that sort of a French philosopher that says, "Life is the C between the B and D." Life is the C between the B and the D, B is birth; D is death; C is choice. And life is a series of choices that we make at any given time. And we can always choose our mindset. We can always choose our level of motivation. We could always choose our methods. And we shouldn't be shrinking our dreams down to this current situation, we should be expanding our mindset, our motivation, and our methodology to be able to meet our destiny. These difficult times, they could define us, they could diminish us, or they could develop us. We decide.
[01:22:15]Luke Storey: I'm curious in terms of you being poised with this great book, and getting ready to launch, and having all of your 30-some odd speaking engagements that were booked, I had, I don't know, five or six myself that have been postponed, if not cancelled, we'll see, how have you reconciled that with here, you've been doing this work for 28 years. You have this body of knowledge and experience. You have a huge audience. You're ready to just crush it with the release of this book, and a lot of the ways authors do that is by public speaking. How have you dealt personally with the wap, wap of the timing of this. Like how have you been able to turn around some of the existing facts to the contrary for your own-
[01:22:58]Jim Kwik: No, I appreciate it and I appreciate you being sensitive to that. This is a legacy work for me. And I'm donating my author proceeds from the pre-launch even to charity. We build schools everywhere from Guatemala to Kenya. We fund Alzheimer's research, the things that I'm very passionate about that I don't talk about a lot. So, I could've delayed this book into the fall, which by a lot of people would recommend it, but my reason for putting it out now is I'm so purposeful, just like when I'm going on stage or getting on international flights, I do it because I'm on purpose.
[01:23:37] And I want to get this book out to people now because this will help people get their power back. When you gift this book to somebody else, it's reminding them of their own power. And how I limited on this is just the same way I teach in the book, is that, again, there's this external environment, but it's not about those resources, it's about our own internal resourcefulness. And for me, I can't do anything about what's going on necessarily in the environment with over 20-plus conferences where I was keynoting canceling or postponing, that was a big platform for me to build awareness of this book and to have it do really well.
[01:24:18] And maybe it'll take a hit and maybe not because I'm also not smart enough to know that people are home and they're reading it right now. they're looking for help. They're looking for real help right now, tangible. Everything in the book is very, very practical. It's not just get motivated, this is how to get motivated. It's not just get energy, this how to have energy. It's not just about acknowledge your limiting beliefs, this is how to fix and liberate yourself of it. It's how to speed-read, how to do these things that are going to make you more valuable.
[01:24:48] So, I would say that my thought process, I teach a thinking process in the thinking chapter on how to pivot because I feel like the businesses, and the brands, and the individuals that succeed are the ones that can learn the fastest, and adapt the fastest, and be quick to change. And so, as soon as all those conferences got canceled, I had no saying that, but then, you and I connected. And it's like, hey, this is something that you and I can control and we can add value to the community of people who are on this path.
[01:25:23] If you're watching this right now or listening to this right now, we're on the same path. It comes in different forms, but we're on this adventure to realize and reveal our fullest potential, and express, and be able to do that. I believe the adventure we're on and that's documented in the book as this hero's journey. And you learn, so you could earn, so you could return. You learn, so you can earn, you get all the treasures, and then you return to be able to give back.
[01:25:49] And just like what you said, you said it so eloquently, you don't have to force yourself to do these interviews. You do them all the time because it lights you up, that's your passion, right? It is that. And then, your purpose is sharing it with others because you learn, so you personally earn, then you want to return it to other people, and share those ideas. That's the hero's journey. I mean, what did Neo do after he got his powers?
[01:26:09] He went back into the Matrix, got on that payphone and he talked to the Matrix, basically said, "I'm going to show people here what you don't want them to see, a world without limits, a world where anything is possible." He brought that treasure elixir back to the world. And just like Dorothy, Glinda said, "You had the power the entire time, you just had to learn it for yourself." She had those ruby red slippers as a metaphor to go home.
[01:26:38] And she brought that love and that adventured back to her family. And so, we're all on this adventure together and we're not alone. And even if we're cocooning still at the time this comes out, what a wonderful way to connect through podcasts, through community, that will be the fifth C, on top of caring, clarity, and contribution, and capabilities, is our ability to commune, to check in with our neighbors, to be able to to connect online, and using the wonders of technology.
[01:27:10] But I think the ultimate technology is the human mind. And it doesn't come with an owner's manual. It is the only infinite resource on planet earth, is human potential. There is no limit to your imagination. There is no limit to your creativity. There is no limit to human determination. These are the things that we want to forge right now in this fire of everything that's going on, so we come out of it not bitter, but we come out better.
[01:27:36]Luke Storey: Damn, that was good, dude.
[01:27:41]Jim Kwik: Can I challenge everyone to do something real quick?
[01:27:43]Luke Storey: Yeah, go for it.
[01:27:44]Jim Kwik: I challenge everyone to take a screenshot of this episode. And I believe another tip to be able to learn anything faster is learn with the intention, have the intent of teaching somebody else. I think, Luke, I know you personally, we spent personal time together, you live your story, like you literally live your story because the life you live are the lessons you teach. Nobody's perfect, right? But we teach the things we most want to learn and also be able to live.
[01:28:11] And I feel like if everyone could just take a screenshot of this episode and share one thing you got out of this conversation, like so you could teach your followers in your community, tag Luke, tag myself @JimKwik, KWIK, and share like your big aha or one thing that you got out of it or where you feel limited, is it in your mindset, motivation, or in your methodology, or what area are you just kicking ass in, like doing really well, and share something like that. And I will actually re-post some of my favorites that I get tagged on myself.
[01:28:50] And I'll actually send a signed copy of the book to one person just randomly just as a thank you for listening to this show, for supporting this show, and know that when we talk about cocooning, about that butterfly coming out, the metamorphosis, that life is kind of like that cocoon, that if a boy cut open that cocoon, that butterfly would not be able to fly because it never had to build the strength in the struggle. So, if life is like an egg or a cocoon, that an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. But if it's broken by an inside force, life begins. Great things begin on the inside. And if you're listening to this still, you have greatness inside of you, you have genius inside of you. And thank you for allowing us to talk about it and let some of that out.
[01:29:41]Luke Storey: I want to call you every day, dude. I'm like getting all pumped up, man. This is great. Jim, tell me who three teachers or teachings have been in your life that have influenced you because you've taught us so much today. I'm curious who you've learned from, who are some of your go-tos, the masters that you've followed throughout your path.
[01:30:00]Jim Kwik: Yeah. So, I struggled until I was 18 years old. I had a first mentor, taught me the power of reading that leaders are readers. The person's not famous. It was really a stranger, the father of a friend of mine. I was ready to quit school with my learning difficulties when I was in a local state university that we could afford, and I was failing out again, so my friend was like, "Hey, let's get some perspective. Come home with me."
[01:30:27] And the father was pretty well-off, and he became my mentor, asked me like questions like, what do you want to be? What do you want to do? What do you want to have? What do you want to share? He made me make my first bucket list. He took me into his home, which is full of books like a library, just like maybe not like Neil's library, but it is a very big library. And he starts handing me these books and says, "Leaders are readers. I want you to read one book a week." And he got really interested.
[01:30:50] So, that was one. My parents will count collectively as two. My typical immigrant story. My dad came here when he was 13. He lost both of his parents when he was 13. So, they were very, very young. It's very impoverished third-world country, and didn't speak the language. They came here to live with his aunt because they couldn't afford to feed him. I learned a lot from my dad. We grew up in the back of a laundromat that my mother worked at. So, they had many jobs.
[01:31:19] So, I learned the power of discipline. I learned the power of putting equality, to being kind to people. So, there was a lot of love there. We didn't have a lot of external resources, education, networks, money, that kind of stuff, but I achieved my values there, so I hit the lottery there. And then, the third person that I would say besides my first mentor and my parents is I would say everyone.
[01:31:47] And I know that's a kind of a cop out, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't learn something from somebody. I have this global belief that everybody has a different set of life experiences, and I can learn something from everybody. And it keeps me very humble. At the same time, because whether it's a child and because everybody, they've had different lives, and I'm always seeking that wisdom in others, and honoring it. And I'm always wondering what I can learn from somebody to be able to pass it on, much, much like you. It's just like the world can be our seminar or the world can be our podcast all the time.
[01:32:24]Luke Storey: I often joke about my guru, my spiritual teacher is my housekeeper. And she is the happiest person I have ever met in my life, period.
[01:32:39]Jim Kwik: Amazing.
[01:32:39]Luke Storey: I mean, I only see her for a few hours a week or every couple of weeks or whatever it is, and yeah, her name is Odelia. And when my girlfriend moved in, I said, "Tell me what you notice about Odelia. I'm not going to say anything, just give me your take on her", totally neutral and not giving away any clues. And my girlfriend had the same things like, "God, she's really happy." "I know", she figured it out, she cracked the code.
[01:33:03] And for my perception, I think, oh, God, poor lady here. She's vacuuming and doing the laundry. God, what a crappy job or she must really hate her life. And she has mastered the art of having an attitude. I mean, there's a little bit of a language barrier. She speaks a bit of English. I speak a bit of Spanish. So, we groove. But one of these days, I'm going to ask her like, what's your secret? She must have a great relationship with God or something because I literally have never met anyone that's so kind and so happy.
[01:33:34] And every time she comes over, I go, Luke, look at that, do that, what she's doing. Yeah. It's incredible. And some of the most influential people in my life have been people that aren't noteworthy at all. They're just people I observe energetically. And I think, man, they've cracked the code. They get it. They get it. And they're not writing books about it. They're just a good person. They just exude positive energy, like, hello, that's it.
[01:34:02]Jim Kwik: Yeah, the life we live are the lessons we teach, for sure. Those examples, people don't know any of them, my early mentor or anything, but we have that ability. And talk about butterflies, there's a butterfly effect also that a butterfly flapping its wings in LA to create a tsunami and change across the globe because of complex systems. And I feel like it's been demonstrated with what's going on in the world from a negative standpoint, how everything's connected, but there is a power where kindness can be that powerful as well.
[01:34:39] And it could spread like that as well. And kindness is free. So, we should be sprinkling that stuff everywhere. I gave a talk in the United Nations on the 50th anniversary of the astronauts landing on the moon. So, it was me and a bunch of scientists and astronauts, right? And there's this one speaker talking about the overview effect. And the overview effect, she is documenting how the majority of all these astronauts who have left earth's atmosphere looking on the earth have this emotional, spiritual experience of oneness, right?
[01:35:13] Because when you're looking on it, you get this literal spiritual and emotional experience that you don't see borders, you don't see boundaries, that we're literally all connected. And maybe what's going on in the world at the time of this recording is proof that we're all connected, that we all touch upon each other. And it could be, in a way, that's potentially negative or potentially, could be a huge ripple of kindness, and love, and compassion, and learning, and transformation, but ultimately, comes back down to that choice. Life is a C between the B and D.
[01:35:50]Luke Storey: Awesome, dude. In closing, so we've got limitlessbook.com.
[01:35:55]Jim Kwik: Yes, sir.
[01:35:55]Luke Storey: We've got your Instagram @JimKwik. Any other websites, your home site?
[01:36:00]Jim Kwik: Yeah, it's just all social medias @JimKwik, K-W-I-K, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. And my podcast, I'm very proud of our podcast. It's only 15 minutes long, but they're short, and it's like how to remember names, how to read faster, how to change your habits, what are the best brain foods, how do you unleash the female brain, like fun conversations that we talk about here, just kind of goes deep into one topic. And you can get that at kwikbrain.com, K-W-I-K-brain.com.
[01:36:31] And there's a bunch of memory videos on how to remember names, where I demonstrate, I bring people on stage and show people how to do these things or you search a podcast app for my name, Jim Kwik in any platform. But I want to take a moment to really honor you, like I just love watching you as a person, and you as your brand, and your reach grow, the way it's growing. So, I appreciate not only watching you, but the manner you do it. And sometimes, at events, we're always at the same event speaking or attending these events, so this is wonderful time to go deep. And when you have your book ready, come on my podcast.
[01:37:09]Luke Storey: Thank you, sir. I will.
[01:37:10]Jim Kwik: And we'll chat about it. I look forward to it.
[01:37:12]Luke Storey: I know. I will. Thanks so much, man. It's great to see you again. And hang tight there in New York. Stay warm. And I look forward to seeing you again in person one of these days.
[01:37:35]Jim Kwik: Yes, very soon.
[01:37:36]
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