Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Supercharged Success Strategy from Jim Kwik

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's really hard to achieve anything beyond what you believe is possible, especially your belief about yourself. This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping next and cash and checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys?

Starting point is 00:00:30 Welcome to right about now. Brian offered your host. And you know, I think about a lot how we make your lives right, how we make them more now. And look, there's nothing more fascinating to me. I've been digging into the brain a lot lately. Neuroscience is kind of on my mind. Some of my friends are trying to talk me into like this neuroscience investment, all this. But I'm fascinated by what it takes to learn and how the brain works.

Starting point is 00:00:55 So you know what? We've got to go to the expert. And that's Jim Quick. He's the author of Limitless and just a brain badass. That's what I'll call you, Jim. What's up? Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate it.

Starting point is 00:01:09 Thanks, everyone who's tuning into this brain upgrade conversation. Hey, the number one brain coach, baby. You know, like, we got to go to the best. I'm like, I got to sit your book. I'm going through it. I've got my highlighter out. I've got notes. I'm like, okay, how are we going to learn more about the brain?

Starting point is 00:01:28 and how we learn better. And you know what, Jim, I told you this pre-episode, but like I've got four boys and they're young and they're growing up. And, you know, like I see the homework they're doing that I did, you know, myself 40 years ago. And I'm like, why aren't these guys should have a mandated reading of limitless. Yeah, thank you. What do we have to do to make that happen?

Starting point is 00:01:49 You know, limitless is really an owner's manual for your brain. You know, your brain is your number one wealth building asset. Everyone is listening. Nobody is paid. It's not like it was hundreds of years ago where, our value in society was our brute strength. Today, it's our brain strength. It's not your, no longer your muscle power.

Starting point is 00:02:03 It's important to have, but it's also your mind power. The faster you can learn, the faster you can earn. This knowledge stays only power. It's knowledge is profit. And, yeah, it's interesting in school. They teach you what to learn, math, history, science, but there's zero classes on how to learn. And I really feel like that's the thing that's missing.

Starting point is 00:02:22 You talk about, you know, your children. They're learning, you know, in things that may or may not be that relevant, but certainly what is very relevant is learning how to focus, learning how to concentrate, learning how to think, learning how to understand, learning how to solve problems, learning how to get in flow states and master your habits, learning how to remember things. You know, because if you can do all those things, then everything in your life gets easier, right? If you can learn faster, you can apply that towards money, marketing, management, martial arts, music, Mandarin, everything gets easier, right?

Starting point is 00:02:54 So I think it's the ultimate skill to have. It's an area called meta-learning. the science of learning how to learn. And learning could be fun, you know, something that could be easier. I think people are working way too hard to learn to study, to memorize a speech they have to give or on stage or video, sales, you know, sales video or script and remembering names, you know, or they buy books and they sit on their shelf on read and become shelf help, not self-help. You know, I just feel like there's a huge opportunity here for people to upgrade their number one wealth building technology, which is, which is, which is, your brain. And that's the nature of my work. Well, it's going to be required reading.

Starting point is 00:03:32 My son Clayton's 14. And I'll tell you, this one right here with my highlights is literally going to him today. I wanted to have this episode first. I didn't lose it. But Clayton Alford will be getting limitless for a gift tonight at the Alford dinner table. I love it. You got three parts in the book, mindset, motivation, and methods. Those are the keys to being limitless. You know, I would. You'll say if you can master yourself, you can master anything. We're such complex people. And I think we externalize so many things.

Starting point is 00:04:07 It's like, how do I master these things around me? You know, we try to control when we need to focus more internally. Isn't that somewhat a lot of what we're talking about here? Yeah, I think our external world is a reflection of our internal world, no doubt. I think there's a version of ourself that's patiently waiting. I think the goal is we show up every single day until we're introduced to that person. I feel like we're happiest when we make progress. Limitless is not about being perfect.

Starting point is 00:04:37 It's just about advancing and progressing. You know, you control the controllables. And I think the three things you get always control, if anyone feels limited, like the opposite of limit less, if you're not advancing, if you feel stuck, like maybe your income and your impact, your happiness, your learning ability, whatever, relationships. There's only three forces that keep you stuck in that box. right? That box is three-dimensional. And these are the same three forces that will liberate you and give you freedom outside that box. And I think it's either going to be your mindset, your motivation, or the methods you're using. You know, at any time we can control our head, our heart, our hands, you know, our wit, our will, or our way, if you will. And, you know, and so like, let's say

Starting point is 00:05:17 people want to, you know, the methodology is there, right? A lot of people know what to do, but they don't do what they know. Common sense is not always common practice. Originally, Limitless when I was about to submit it was 100% methodology, how to read three times faster, how to learn languages, how to remember names and faces, how to focus and get in the flow stake and a lot of work done in less time. But before I hit send to send to my publisher, I was like, well, 100% of the people who read this book at the results they're hoping for, then my honest answer was no, because what keeps you stuck, and a lot of people know what to do with the methods, but their mindset is, I don't deserve it. I don't. I don't.

Starting point is 00:05:56 I don't believe it's possible. I don't believe I'm capable. Maybe it's possible for you, but not me. Or it's a matter of your motivation. You're not motivated to get out of that box, you know. And so you procrastinate. You put things off. You know what to do.

Starting point is 00:06:11 You have limitless mindset and limitless upgraded methods on how to market and get, you know, angel invest or, you know, to read faster, whatever the methodology is. But you're not motivated. So we broke that book down in the three chapters. and we just recently added a fourth, which is the science of momentum, you know, really creating less friction, things that would advance, things like AI, that could create more momentum through things like neutropics. You know, what are the cognitive supplements that would actually enhance human studies shown to prove focus, memory,

Starting point is 00:06:44 your mood, your motivation, things like understanding your brain type. We added a whole section there. This is interesting. It's the I think I'm probably most excited about is I realize that after 30 years, of teaching people how to have the best brains and perform at their best, you know, whether it's, whether it's in the NFL, the NBA, the U.S. Air Force, I mean, wherever, where I'm training, I realize it's not how smart you are. It's actually how are you smart. It's not how smart your kids are. It's how are they smart. It's not how smart your team is. It's like, it's not how smart they are.

Starting point is 00:07:20 It's how are they smart. Everybody has genius. So we made worth us as a playbook, but we realized they're four different types of brain types when you understand your brain types. Not everything works for everybody. Just like that, every exercise is for each, you know, physiology or not every food is right for every single person, you know. But we realize that not every tip would help people to read, focus, memory based on, but if you find out when they learn their best and how they learn their best, you customize it. So just like there's personalized medicine based on a test, like your DNA test or personalized nutrition based on a microbiome test or a nutrient profile test. We created a four-minute test that's in the book.

Starting point is 00:08:02 It's also online. And I'll tell you your brain animal. And when you understand it, it opens up whole new worlds of possibility and potential, you know. And so it's interesting. People could take the test at mybrainanimal.com. I'm curious which animal you would identify, you know, would be yours. But really simply, I could give people a five-minute summary on it. It would be very practical.

Starting point is 00:08:24 Yeah, let's do that. So practice. Yeah. So this is, people can go through it and they get posted online. They can tag us both. So we can see what the dominant animal is in your community. But remember this word code, C-O-D. The C are your cheetahs.

Starting point is 00:08:39 And if you're a cheetah, your dominant trait is action. These are individuals that adapt extremely quickly. They thrive in fast-paced environments. They have strong intuition. They implement and they act. It's just like the second nature to them. The O and code, so these are your, if you're watching this on video, this is a cheap. I love this.

Starting point is 00:08:57 You got to watch the video. Go to you. Go to plug, right. Jim, yeah, got to go to YouTube to check out the YouTube. This is a audio visual podcast and you got to see what Jim is sharing on screen. Yeah, we're turning this into a masterclass. So the O are your owls and their dominant trait is logic. So these are people who love data.

Starting point is 00:09:15 They love facts. They love figures, the formulas. They're very logical and rational, right? Now, now, even think about it, a cheetah. would learn differently, but they'd also buy differently than an owl, who needs evidence, who needs, he wants case studies, right? The D in code are your dolphins, and your dolphins, their dominant trade are creativity. You have an incredible imagination.

Starting point is 00:09:38 They're great problem solvers. They are often entrepreneurs that could see, they have a vision of their brand or their business that maybe other people can't yet catch up with. They don't see it yet. They're very passionate about it behind it. They're great with pattern recognition. And then finally the E are your elephants. And your elephants, their primary dominant trait is empathy.

Starting point is 00:10:00 These are people who are very compassionate. They are people, people, you know, the interpersonal skills very strong. They have a lot of empathy, so they care. They want people to feel seen. They want people to feel heard. They use inclusive language instead of like me and I. They'll use more words like we and us, right? And it's interesting because these four brain types, they learn different.

Starting point is 00:10:22 differently. You know, it's kind of like if somebody's listening and they're, remember a time where they didn't get something for some reason. They're frustrated. Maybe the way the teacher teaches is different the way that you learn. And like their brain type is different than your brain type and you're like two ships in the night. You pass each other. And there's no connection. You don't even recognize the other ones there. And so everybody has a dominant brain type. It could change over time. But just like if you're right hand, it doesn't mean you don't use your left hand. It doesn't mean you're not strong in other areas, but you have a certain trait that just is dominant and it makes your life easier. Where does this play out? Like we had our team take this assessment, you know,

Starting point is 00:11:00 this is an assessment and we're making it free for your audience. So it's again, mybrainanimal.com. You know, they'll get prescriptions on how to read fast or improve their memory, give speeches without notes, but also how to sell and how to be able to market, how to be able to parent, because that's all brain type. Everything's coming from this control center. you know, this between, between our years. So, for example, our team took it in 100% of our customer service team are elephants. Like, we didn't even hire for that. But when you know what your strength is, you're going to look for places where you're in your element, right? The roles and responsibilities that go to your passions and your power. And so, like in our, you know, it's a

Starting point is 00:11:44 customer service team or elephants. Why? Because they have high empathy. They want people to feel seen and heard, you know, their success is based on. on our student success. There are community builders. They pull people together, right? You know, our CFO is extreme owl. Loves the numbers, loves the data. My business partner, our CEO, she's a dolphin.

Starting point is 00:12:06 She's our visionary. It's holding the vision constant. And so it's interesting. You see us in pop culture, too. I mean, if you take, I don't know, like probably a popular show like Friends, Ross Geller was a scientist professor. He's the owl.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Phoebe was the creative musician. She's the dolphin. Joey is just acts, doesn't even think, goes on intuition, Cheetah. Monica always had all the parties at her place. You brought her little friends together, wanted to host everything. She's the elephant. So once you understand how people's brains are, it also, you would sell to these different brain types different. You would coach them differently. You would market to them differently, right? You would even relate and relate personal relationships differently because it's kind of like lovely. languages. Yeah. I was thinking that same thing, Jim, I was going thinking about my wife and not communicating. I was going, I was thinking, this would work for our communication probably too. So much so, because in love languages, we tend to, you know, express love the way we prefer to receive it. But two people could be on, you know, have different types and then miss each other, even though

Starting point is 00:13:10 they sincerely love each other, right? So cheetahs, even in communication style, you'll see cheetahs are direct and they're decisive. They try to get straight to the point. Their speech is concise. They focus on action, right? They dislike beating around the bush because it just takes time. Owls communicate differently. They prefer details. They prefer logical sequence of presentation of facts and figures and data. You know, they're just more, more rational that way. Dolphins would communicate differently. They would be more expressive. They would often speak about the bigger picture, about future plans, about innovative ideas. They're very passionate and excited about possibility. And your elephants, their communication is keen on understanding,

Starting point is 00:13:52 understanding and validating the feelings and perspectives of others. They're more patient. They take the time to listen. But even when you think about from a sales situation, if you're selling to, because I know you have tremendous success, you know, as a business marketing podcast also, if you're selling to a Cheetah,

Starting point is 00:14:10 they appreciate directness. They appreciate value efficiency. Skip the small talk, you know, present the key benefits, demonstrate how the product service can give them media results. But for an owl, they're different. They respect evidence. They appreciate well-research, presentation, statistics, case studies, you know, be prepared

Starting point is 00:14:27 to answer in-depth questions, you know, give them time a little to ponder over their decisions. And dolphins, if you're selling to them, speak to their visions, you know, show them how your offering fits into a larger picture or how it could pave away to future innovations, engage them in possibility of big ideas. And if you're selling to an elephant, yes, vision is good and data is good. but the relationship is paramount for an elephant, right? So the value relationship, they value trust, do they spend,

Starting point is 00:14:55 you want to spend time understanding their needs, demonstrate you genuinely care about their success, you know, and that you're going to be there post-sale. And so there's different ways, but my point of bringing this up is, once you understand how your brain works, you could work your brain.

Starting point is 00:15:09 And you could personalize it. And then, you know, it's interesting. You know, you text this to your team, text it to your family, your spouse. It just so takes a judgment out of also. It explains their behavior a lot based on their brain type. And it also takes a self-judgment off of ourselves, you know, in terms of recognizing where we're strong and the traits that we have or lack.

Starting point is 00:15:35 I mean, self-awareness is one of the, you know, like the biggest traits. And it's one of those words we kick around, you know, phrases, but like the power of it is so important. And look, let me just say this for our audience. The value that Jim just delivered right there, if you really digest that, I need you to hit rewind, go back and listen, figure out, go take the test and figure out what type you are. But what Jim just broke down for you there, is it just so you know yourself, which is super important? It's so you how you know how to apply yourself against different types to lead to the activities and the actions that you want to happen. And that's real value, Jim. I really appreciate that breakdown.

Starting point is 00:16:14 And I was sitting there going, so here's my problem. I was sitting there listening to you talk and I go, damn, if a cheat and a dolphin had a baby, I'm it. And I'm not sure which one I am, which I know I'm creative probably more than anything. I'm not type A. I'm definitely more creative, but I go fast. And then my wife is an owl, is it owl, elephant? What's the last, the E? Yeah, elephant is empathy.

Starting point is 00:16:43 I also. I know why we're opposites attract, I guess. She's the, we're a brand of those two animals. Yeah, compliment really well. And like you had examples of like focus is a superpower nowadays. We need to be able to generate focus and concentrate to get things done. You know, a cheetah, we prefer short bursts of focus. They use techniques that we teach in limitless like the Pomodaro technique where you focus for 25 to 45 minutes, you know, with intensely for short periods.

Starting point is 00:17:13 Then you follow it. Then you do a little brain break. right but this would this would align with the cheetah's fast-paced nature they could also during these brain rakes incorporate some kind of physical movement because they get a little restless sitting all the time before and after a focus session they you know help them to focus a cheetah would give them clear goals you know cheetahs work best when they have a clear target and a destination so setting specific achievable goals are very strong for them but owls they work a little different you can enhance their focus by like something simple like organizing their workspace minimize clutter, you know, having a structure plan for meetings and tasks, you know, breaking things down into bite-sized bits to keep their, maintain their focus to prevent overwhelms, you know, scheduling deep work sessions, you know, and dolphins different. With our dolphins, we have the mind mapping things, things, which is a visual note-taking, making way that they could see the whole picture. We give them creative breaks to help them reinvigorate to prevent burnout.

Starting point is 00:18:11 We have variety of tasks because dolphins can lose focus if they get bored, right? Elephants are different. Elephants, it's all about their focus comes from other people. So working in teams or groups can help elephants stay focused and stay on tasks. They draw energy from social interactions. They love, you know, maybe even having some, they benefit from constant, consistent routines that involve regular breaks in time for them to connect with themselves and reflect and have empathy. and all that.

Starting point is 00:18:43 But I do believe self-awareness is a superpower. I totally agree with you. There's a sign. I don't know if a lot of people saw it in Matrix, the movie The Matrix, where Keanu Reeves goes to see the Oracle. Neo goes to see the Oracle in her kitchen, I think, and she was like baking cookies.

Starting point is 00:18:58 Yeah. If you look above, because that's like where he's going to get the wisdom, right? Right above the door was a little sign that my, I think most people have missed it, but it says, know thyself. Yeah. And it's so interesting when you talk about,

Starting point is 00:19:10 when you were talking about self-phaliener. awareness that, you know, I think part of our success for everyone here, I feel like if you could relate to this, let us know, but it's having the curiosity to know yourself, right, and then having the courage to be yourself. That's a different game. Having the curiosity to know yourself, which is maybe you go to therapy or you're doing your plant medicine or your journaling or you're meditating, you know, introspection. But then some people really know themselves. They know what they value. They know what their mission is. They know what they stand for, right? They have a not clear identity, but they're not being that person because it takes courage, you know, when other people's

Starting point is 00:19:47 opinions and, you know, other people's expectations and fear looking, you know, a different way. But there's definitely an art and science to, you know, to, to, to, to, to, to our growth and our success. Yeah. But I do think doing these exercises, I think it removes some of those barriers, like it drops some of those walls because I think a lot of people, I mean, look, we're all, we all fear. Nobody likes judgment. I mean, no matter how I feel like I'm as teflon to it as most people,

Starting point is 00:20:16 because I really don't give a shit. But I'm not inhuman. And so I, but it helps when you know yourself, though, because then you're aware of these things. It's self-awareness combined with emotional intelligence. It's like, boom, you know, like, and that's how we do it. We've got to get limitless, baby. So I do like, this is one of my favorite quotes from the book.

Starting point is 00:20:40 I'm going to jump right into it. Knowledge is power. That's lie number four. You'll understand when you read the book. New belief, knowledge has to be acted on. Knowledge combined with action equals power. That's what I mean like I circled that. I think I'd put four highlight colors on it.

Starting point is 00:20:59 I almost colored all the page. When you said it, I got goosebumps. I call him truth bumps. But yeah, in the mindset section, we unravel limiting beliefs. Because your brain is like this incredible. supercomputer and your self-talk is a program, it will run. So if you tell yourself, I'm not good at remembering names. You won't remember the name of the next person you mean because you program your computer not to. Right. If people truly understood how powerful

Starting point is 00:21:22 their mind is, they wouldn't say or think something they didn't want to be true. And that's not to say you have negative thought and ruins your life any more than eating a donut or ruin your life. But if you eat that donut 30 times a day, every single day, there would definitely be consequences. Same thing with our thoughts. You know, when I go to events, you know, and, you know, and speak, I'll do, if there's time, I'll do these demonstrations. Let's say there's 5,000 people in audience will pass around the microphone and 100 people introduce themselves and I'll memorize all their names, right? Or they'll give me, we'll put a whiteboard on the stage and they'll write down 100 words, numbers, or whatever, I'll memorize it. But I always tell people, I don't do

Starting point is 00:21:58 this to impress you. I do this to express to you what's possible because the truth is, every single one of your listeners, they could do that too, regardless of their age or their background or education level, financial situation, gender history, IQ. We just, just weren't taught, right? And so I'm on this mission for the past 32 years. You know, I'm in my 50s. I've been doing it so long time. Limitless. You're like ageless. But yeah, but I think it's a state of mind, right? And but I realized that because I grew up with learning challenges, you know, I had a traumatic brain injury when I was five. I had migraines every day. I thought it was normal. I would have balance issues. I would be very awkward. It took me

Starting point is 00:22:40 three years longer to learn how to read. I was putting special education. When I was nine, I was slowing down to class. I mean, he was pretty harshly. Teacher came to my defense. And from the whole class point to me, said, leave that kid alone. That's the boy with the broken brain. But that label became my limit. So talk about mindset, every single time I did badly in school, I would say, oh, because I had the broken brain. Every time I was in picked for sports, I had a guy of the broken brain. So that was my mindset. And it's really hard to achieve anything beyond what you believe is possible, right? Especially your belief about yourself. At the same time, when I was going through my challenges, when I was seven,

Starting point is 00:23:15 I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's. And it's heartbreaking to anyone's ever, you know, experience the family ever having dementia. You know, especially when I was five, six, she would call me by my father's name. She would repeat something. She just said 30 seconds ago. So we donated all the proceeds to limitless. In the first couple years, he sold a million copies of the book, 40 different languages. We donated all to charity. I mean, we built schools in Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Alzheimer's research, you know, memory of my grandmother. But I bring this up because I think I have this philosophy, you learn to earn to return, right? You know, to have more to be able to give and, you know, have that impact.

Starting point is 00:23:53 That being said, I will do this tirelessly and I'll do this in front of audiences. And even though I'm very introverted, you know, very shy. My superpower growing up as a kid was being invisible because I never knew the answers, right? And I was always being picked on. So I always like slumped down, try to take up. less space because I don't want to be seen. I would sit by in the tall kid in class or sit all all the way in the back. I mean, my two biggest challenges were learning and public speaking because I never knew anything. And the universe has a sense of humor because what do I do

Starting point is 00:24:22 every day is I public speak in this thing called learning. But just a reminder to everybody that our challenges lead to change, that our struggles give us strength. I don't know. I mean, I don't know, Ryan. Maybe you could, maybe you know, like, I don't know one strong person that had an easy life. I just don't. You know, and just, you know, my thing is I believe that our, that we are the pilot of our minds. We don't want to be the passenger. And, you know, I just want to show people really what they're capable of, you know, because I had so much struggles. I've learned some things to compensate and I feel more obligation to share with people. Because shame on me if other people are struggling with, you know, lack of focus, lack of motivation, lack of, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:05 belief in themselves, lack of, you know, like just forgetfulness, you know, all the things that we help brain fog, all the things I was struggling with for, for most of my life. Talk about Jim quick. We're just going to call him the founder of the brain operating system. That's what it should be, the BOS, baby. And so it is. And I'll see how I distill. That's what my brain does. I listen to people talk. I distill things. And, you know, here's what I love about you, Jim. A lot of people write books. Now we've got a lot of knowledge experts out there.

Starting point is 00:25:42 And they don't have a story for why they did it. It's just, you know, regurgitated or things like that. What really comes across in the book and with talking with you is I feel like when you just told that story, I feel the pain and I feel the learning and like what you went through to that's what. It's like that struggle made the BOS. You know what I mean? So like that's what your gift is. You know, you went through that, you know, down in the valley to come back up to the mountaintop, you know, to bring this gift.

Starting point is 00:26:16 And I think, you know, I'm taking my mess and turn it into my message, I really feel that we all, I don't know, like I have this thing in the book that talks about the difference being passion and purpose, right? And for me, the utility of it is like passion is something that lights you up. And I hope a lot of people who are listening have things that light them up. And it's not limited to one thing. You can be very passionate about a lot of things, things that light you up. And I feel like our purpose is how you use your passion to light other people up.

Starting point is 00:26:48 So for example, learning is my passion. It wasn't always because I was a horrible learner. You know, probably worse than anybody listening to this. But eventually became my passion. So that lights me up. Teaching people how to learn lights other people up. So that's my purpose. And I feel like it's hard to stop somebody who knows where they're going and why they're going there.

Starting point is 00:27:10 I think things have to go from your head to your heart, to your hand. People listening, maybe I can relate to this. You have goals in your head or resolutions or KPI or whatever. But if you're not acting with your hands consistently, you're checking with the second age, which is your heart, right, the symbol of emotion. and energy. I feel like even remembering people's names, a lot of people don't remember names because they're not emotive. You don't remember all names, but you don't forget all names. I guarantee you the names that you tend to remember, genius leaves clues. There's a method behind what looks like magic. So it's not happened randomly. You're probably attracted to that person or that person be good for

Starting point is 00:27:45 your business, right? So it happens naturally. So nature of my work is seeing that genius and showing you how to apply that genius in other areas, you know, areas that you're doing really well in, where you can focus, where you can remember easily and effortlessly, where you can get in that flow state, how can you map that over into areas that you don't have that focus or that flow or that, you have that forgetfulness or something else? But it's magical what the mind can do. Like, I'm so excited and optimistic. You mentioned AI. You know, like I'm very excited about that. Like, for me, technology is a tool for us to use and it's just how it's used, right?

Starting point is 00:28:20 Like, fire is in the earliest form of technology. Fire can be used to cook your food or fire. could burn down your home is just really how it's applied right the intention behind it but for AI we have a whole chapter in the updated version of limitless on how to use AI to enhance your hI your human intelligence and for me i think it could be a complete magnifier because for me it's not artificial intelligence it's more augmented intelligence augmented is like a tool or a partner for you it supports you right and curated intelligence exactly and i'm so excited about the future of education because you get a personalized learning, you know, around, around AI, you know,

Starting point is 00:29:00 which makes it a lot, you know, simpler and stronger. But even the things I'm mentioning, like if I mention neuroplasticity, somebody could go into some chatbot and says, you know, explain to me neuroplasticity as if I'm 10 years old. And that could give you a nice foundation, understanding of something. Literally all the techniques and principles you're learning in limitless, you could go into AI. So what I'm talking about mind mapping, you could up, upload something in today I program and say mind map this for me, right? Or build a memory palace for the speech I need to be able to easily remember. Right. So I can easily remember it. It could help, you know, do space review, which is a technique we teach about, you know, where you

Starting point is 00:29:39 quiz yourself on things that you're learning. But I'm just, you know, even we have a podcast, maybe 400 episodes, like a 20-minute show. And sometimes if I'm interviewing an expert and I didn't get their book in time, maybe I got lost in the mail, I could go in there and say, give me a summary of this book or give me proposed 10 thoughtful questions this person hasn't been asked before publicly that my brain audience would would appreciate. So it's a wonderful partner. I don't use anything verbatim, but it's a wonderful creative partner also as well. And so, you know, I feel like AI is a wonderful tool again.

Starting point is 00:30:16 With technology, it's kind of a double-edged sword, though. I just want to make sure that people are still doing the work. It's kind of like there's this term that I talk. talk about the like four horsemen of the mental apocalypse, I think are affecting all of us. And it's like invisible because we're so used to it. It's kind of like the fish in the water. It doesn't know the water's there because it's known it. It's whole life. Right. And you can't see always what's right in front of you. But the first one's digital distraction. Like how do you maintain your concentration in a whirlflow rings, pings, dings, app notification,

Starting point is 00:30:45 social media alerts? And we're getting this dopamine flood for every like, share, comment, cat video, whatever. You know, that's why we have all sections on, you know, flow and focus. And we could talk about, you know, how questions could direct your RAS, your reticular activating system. So you could have amazing focus to remember what you read, to remember. And even taking the knowledge that you're saying, like knowledge is potential power is the truth. It's not power is potential power. It becomes power when you utilize it. And you could change your focus to utilizing information.

Starting point is 00:31:15 Like even asking three questions throughout this podcast, you know, the things I ask every time you listen to this show, right? So everyone subscribe, right? to write about now. You're subscribing, you're listening to it, and you're asking three questions. How can I use this? Why must I use this? And when will I use this? I mean, these are three questions I ask dozens of times a day. And it helps me take knowledge and turn it into real power and profit. So I'm obsessed. Throughout conversations, I'll be like, how can I use this? And I'll think with all these ways. And then why must I use this? Because a lot of people know what they do, but they have no impetus. And without a reason, you won't get the result or the reward, right? Because

Starting point is 00:31:54 we're not logical. You know, how people say they don't biologically, they buy emotionally, and that's definitely more elephants and creative dolphins. But we are not logical. We are biological. You think about dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins. We're this chemical-feeling soup, right? So we have to tap into those emotions.

Starting point is 00:32:13 So I ask myself, how can I use this? Why must I use this? And then when will I use this? Because I think one of the most powerful productivity performance tools we have is our calendar, right? And if it's not in your scale, you're just not going to do it. You know, we schedule a doctor's appointments or investor meetings or PTA meetings or whatever, but are we scheduling our growth?

Starting point is 00:32:32 Are we scheduling our implementation? And so I think a nice guideline for everybody, for every hour you spend learning something, a podcast, an audiobook, whatever. Spend an equal hour putting it into action in your life, you'll absolutely change. So that's digital distraction, you know, and one of the things that help you with your focus again are the questions. So those are three good questions. another one that's getting the way of people's productivity is digital dementia.

Starting point is 00:32:58 I don't if you've heard this term. It's in healthcare. I didn't coin it. It's just that the high reliance on our devices to store memories for us, meaning your phones keep probably your calendar, your to-do list, every phone number that you have, everyone you've ever met. I mean, think about Ryan how many phone numbers you knew growing up. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:33:18 And how many current ones? Yeah. How many current ones do you know? Oh, and I look. I'm going to give you a perfect example of this, Jim. Maps. Think about, like, I turn the map, my map up, like, geo. Even when I'm local now, places I've gone my whole life, they're like 20 miles away.

Starting point is 00:33:35 And like, I'm using that. I'm like, I used to know this. Like, that's the exact example. It's like, because my brain isn't forced to remember it or I rely on it. It's, that's exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I call that the third super villain, which is the digital deduction.

Starting point is 00:33:51 So digital dementia is the high reliance. to memorize, you know, dependent, like the phone numbers I mentioned, right? I don't want, and I don't want to, let me be clear, I don't want to memorize 500 phone numbers, but it should be very concerning we've lost the ability to remember one phone number, or a pin number, or a passcode, or a seed phrase, or something we just read, or something we were about to say or something that was said to us or a person's name, right? I believe two the most costly words in business, or I forgot. I forgot to do it.

Starting point is 00:34:16 I forgot to bring it. I forgot the appointment. I forgot what I was going to say. I forgot what was said to me. I forgot that person's name. It just goes on and on, right? But memory can be a magnifier, right? When you can easily remember client information, product information,

Starting point is 00:34:29 give sales speeches and scripts, you know, from memory. Things get a lot easier. So you have digital distraction, digital dementia. And then what you're illustrating, I coined in the book, digital deduction, which is exactly right. With your Maps app, you don't have to think. So you're not exercising what they call your visual spatial intelligence. We used to have to remember where all this stuff was, right?

Starting point is 00:34:52 but we're not exercising it. And your brain, it's use it or lose it. It's an organ, but it acts more like a muscle. But if you took your arm, like your muscle, and put it into a sling or a cast for a year, it wouldn't stay the same. That's right. It wouldn't grow stronger.

Starting point is 00:35:08 It would grow weaker. And that's what, that's what digital dimension and digital deduction is, the high reliance on technology to do the work for us. So we're not getting the mental fitness. It's similar to, let's map this out to our body. If your office or your apartment's on the fourth floor and you took an elevator every single time, it's convenient. Technology is damn convenient. But if you're not getting your steps in, it could be crippling, right?

Starting point is 00:35:32 If you have to go eight blocks to go to do some bank transaction and you take an Uber, very convenient, right? But you don't get your steps in. So is this kind of that balance? Because I don't want people to, you know, you just rely on AI to do everything because then you don't have to think. And you never get the benefit of keep building that mental muscles and keeping them sure. And finally, besides digital distraction, digital dementia, digital deduction is just the last one, which is digital deluge. This is the overload we're feeling on a regular basis. I did this program for, I do these programs for Google.

Starting point is 00:36:05 And at the time, I remember one time the chairman's like the amount of information that's been created since the dawn of humanity, since humans walked the planet to the year 2003, just what a couple decades ago, that amount of information is now created every two days today. You know, thinking about podcasts and YouTube and, you know, social media, just so much of data. And so the amount of information

Starting point is 00:36:28 is doubling at dizzy and speeds, but how we read it's the same, how we remember a study is the same. That growing gap is digital deluge. And they call it information anxiety, higher blood pressure, compression of leisure time, more sleeplessness, you know.

Starting point is 00:36:40 And so there's a big health ripple effect from this, you know, so that's why we teach people to learn faster, how to read faster, how to understand better. And I think that's why, And all these things, it's not created by technology.

Starting point is 00:36:51 Technology is amplifying all these things, and it's just going to get worse, right? And I think that's more reason why we should be taking care of our brain. You know, your brain, it's about one-third of your brain's potential is genetic and, like, biological, but two-thirds is in your control. So while I teach people out to read faster and sharing some of these strategies to focus and read faster, remember better, that's the software. but you have to take care of the hardware too. So, you know, there are a number of things people could do to have their best,

Starting point is 00:37:23 brightest brain that are science-based, that people should just kind of consider. Because, again, think about how often you upgrade your technology. You upgrade your phone. When the new one comes out, you upgrade apps. But when's the last time we took time to upgrade, you know, your mind? And so I get people this acronym. It's just meds RX, just something to think about for everybody. meds are X. The M is meditation. I don't know if you have a kind of a mindfulness practice yourself,

Starting point is 00:37:52 but for me it's just one of those things where I understand your brain's not supposed to go 100 miles an hour, all. It's just without any breaks. You need to take a pit stop to kind of recover to reset. For me, that's meditation. Meditation for me is not about being enlightened. It's about invariably when I'm sitting or lying down and my thoughts go to a client or dry cleaning or wherever it goes. When I pull back to a mantra, a word, or my breath. And all of a sudden, I'm exercising and flexing my, my focus muscles. So then later on, invariably, when, you know, my, my boy's crying or, you know, Zoom or my mind goes somewhere else, I have the, I've had fitness in bringing something back to what's important for me. Right. So I think that's, that's really important.

Starting point is 00:38:39 The, the E in meds, RX, is exercise. And I know everyone knows this, but I'm going to put a little bit say it a little different way, so it lands. I'm not just talking about working out four, five times a week. That's very important. Strength training, incredibly important. So you create dopamine, serotonin endorphins, which is vital for cognitive health and cognitive performance. When you exercise, you create something called BDNF, brain-derived neurotropic factors, which is fertilizer for neuroplasticity. It literally is like fertilizer for your brain to make new connections. So it's so very important. And the primary reason all of us have a brain, the number one reason is to control our movement. And as your body moves, your brain grooves. So my spin on this

Starting point is 00:39:22 is, is not just doing the physical exercise, you know, like at the gym for 60, 90 minutes. It's how are you moving throughout the day? They say sitting as a new smoking. I don't know if I'm alone on this, but I'm sitting behind screens like all the time, you know, nowadays. And it's so important for me, at least every 45 minutes I set an alarm or so to just take a five minute brain break. And what do I do during that? First of all, I breathe. I do some kind of breathing exercise because I find if people fall asleep while they read or while they're working, a lot of it time is not, it's because they're not,

Starting point is 00:39:57 it's their posture. You collapse your diaphragm, the lower one-third of your lungs absorbs two-thirds of the oxygen. So you're just oxygen-deprives. You need proper airflow. So do your Wimhawk breathing, your box breathing, your fire breathing, whatever it is. During that five minutes, I also, you notice throughout the conversation, if you are watching on YouTube, make sure you subscribe. there too is hydrate. Your brain is 75% water. And a lot of times I had a neuroscientist

Starting point is 00:40:22 nutritionist on our podcast recently and she said if you're just 2% dehydrated, you're impairing your cognitive health and cognitive performance. And staying hydrated will boost your reaction time and thinking speed upwards of 30%. That's not a little lift. That's a huge lift. So my brain break, I breathe. I get some liquids. And then the third thing is I move, you know, because I just don't want to like I feel like also I do my best thinking when I'm moving. You know, there's been studies that have been shown if you listen to an audio book and you're doing something rhythmic, like you're on elliptical or a treadmill or you're going for a brisk walk, you actually understand it better and retain it better also as well.

Starting point is 00:41:01 So that's exercise. The D is diet. So meds are X. Meditation, exercise, D is diet. And we have two chapters in here on an area size called neuronutrition, that your brain is only 2% of your body mass, but it requires 20% nutrients. And some of those nutrients are different than the rest of your body, right? And so we talk about some of the best brain foods. And again, everyone's bio-individual. Some people have certain allergies and, you know, you can't absorb

Starting point is 00:41:27 certain things as well as other people. But some of my favorite kind of go-to, avocados, blueberries are my favorite, you know, very neuroprotective. I call them brain berries. Broccoli has something called sulfurane in it. If you sprout it, it's actually many many, many more times, which is good for cognitive health and performance. Olive oil. If your diet allows eggs, the coline in eggs is really good for, at least the acetylcholine, which is very vital for cognitive health and performance. Helps with your memory. Green leafy vegetables. Good for your brain. Salmon or sardines, because your brain's mostly fat, so getting your omega-3s, your DHAs. Tumric. The active ingredient is curcumin,

Starting point is 00:42:07 which helps the lower systemic inflammation. Walnuts, high in vitamin E, They're very good for neuroprotective for the brain and dark chocolate, probably everyone's favorite, dark chocolate, that milk chocolate, not high sugar, good for your brain. But these are some nutrients that could help you that. And if you don't get it from your diet, I always prefer it. Then you supplement. If you don't have turmeric in your diet, then you can supplement it with curcumin. If you're not getting the eggs, you can supplement with coline. If you're not getting the flax seeds or the wild salmon or sardines, then you can supplement with DHA or omega-3s, right?

Starting point is 00:42:41 And then we talk about neutropics. in the book for the very first time. In 30 years, I've never talked about. So, like, the supplements I mentioned are good for cognitive health, but cognitive health is different than cognitive performance. So, you know, we talk about neutropics, which really are the things that, the substances that can enhance cognitive function, particularly executive functioning, memory, creativity, motivation, things like ashriganda. Ashriganda is an adaptogenic herb, it improves mental and physical resilience and may help you to reduce stress and improve cognitive function. Something I'm very excited about in the neutropic category is this whole coffee fruit extract.

Starting point is 00:43:21 Basically, it's the fruit from the coffee plant. It's a byproduct, usually discarded. It doesn't have caffeine, but it's a very strong antioxidant, has a positive impact on cognitive function. Elthene, which is what I happen to be drinking right now in my green tea. It's a popular neutropic promotes relaxation without the drowsiness and it can enhance brain function, you know, and probably some, you know, other favorites that some of you might be already using, like creatine. Most people use it to work out. They use their five grams or whatever,

Starting point is 00:43:53 but this is one of the most studied substances for human beings. And it's naturally produced by our bodies. It's predominantly found in meat and fish. And it plays a crucial role in energy metabolism. But a number of studies have shown that creatine supplementation can improve cognitive function, you know, especially in tasks that require short-term memory and quicker thinking. It's been shown to help offset some of the negative effects of bad night's sleep. You know, so, you know, there's so many different things. LionsBain, we actually put a list in here, in Limit List, for those you have it, or you can download it for free.

Starting point is 00:44:28 There's nothing to buy. You just go to Brain Nutrition.com, and that's the current list of 30 ingredients with the spelling, that are the things, some of the ones I mentioned. And I linked to all the human studies to be able to. the backup its efficacy. So that's, that's diet. And then last, sorry, this is like turning to a master class, Ned, RX, the is diet, S is sleep.

Starting point is 00:44:51 I mean, I don't know. Ryan, how's your sleep in general? You know, I get seven hours and probably every night. And if I get nine, I feel a little drowsy, and if I get six, I feel tired. I think it's like my magic. Yeah, so it's the quantity of sleep, but then it's also the quality, you know, It's the amount of the REM sleep and the deep sleep. REM in general, I'm being like super high level.

Starting point is 00:45:18 But REM is kind of where your brain recovers. The deep sleep is where your body recovers, right? And the idea here is like we all know how we feel, how our brain feels when we don't get a good night's sleep. You know, we can't focus. We have no mental fortitude or energy. We can't, you know, easily solve problems. very forgetful, you know, things to think about when it comes to your brain and sleep,

Starting point is 00:45:42 when you sleep, you consolidate short to long-term memory. If you have long-term memory issues, you could go to a doctor and they could even, you don't have to do an overnight sleep study. You could, I can send it to you. You do it in the comfort of your own bed. Because some people have undiagnosed sleep apnea or some other thing that they should get addressed. And, you know, I get, every time I mention this, I always get on social media, people like, wow, this saved my life. You know, I didn't realize that this was, I stopped breathing 200 times a night and all this stuff. Also, you know, when you sleep, you clean out the sewage system kicks in in your brain when you sleep. So it cleans out the beta amyloid plaque that

Starting point is 00:46:19 could lead to dementia and other brain aging challenges. So if you're not sleeping, you're not getting that benefit. And the third reason is sleep, if that wasn't, you know, many more reasons. It's where we dream. And I don't think a real lot of people, I talk about this in Limitless. A lot of things in our culture were created inventions, literature. music was created in dreams. Like Mary Shelley created Frankenstein in her dream. Paul McCartney came up with a song yesterday in his dream. A chemist created the periodic table in his dream.

Starting point is 00:46:48 Elias Hau created a sewing machine in his dream. I mean, I could just give me a million examples. But the idea here is your brain doesn't shut off at night. In some ways, it's more active and it's integrating and focusing, coming up with solutions and innovations of what you've focused on that entire day. And so that's why in the book, And if you want to watch an interesting video, you can search my name, Jim Quick, it's spell right, KWIK. My real last name, I didn't change it to do what I do. It's my father's name, my grandfather's name.

Starting point is 00:47:15 But put my name in, how to remember dreams. And you'll see a video with millions of views and just, you know, how to remember your dreams. Because a lot of people do have incredible creative dreams that could help their life with their work and the personal life, whatever. You come up with solutions, but they forget it. So that's why sleep. My favorite sleep tips, I'm curious what yours are, anyone in our listening is. get direct sunlight first thing in the morning. I can't stress this enough. You know, somebody who myself, at the height of my career, you know, I was traveling 240 days a year. You know, I could be on three continents in a week. My sleep, jet lag, everything.

Starting point is 00:47:50 I had very severe sleep apnea. So I stopped breathing 250 times a night. So every time counts as leaves at least 10 seconds. So I'd wake up suffocating. I use CPAP dental devices. My wife thinks it's very sexy. But I bring this up because I know what it's like to have compromised sleep and how you feel when you're not. But direct sunlight, your eyes are the only part of your brain that's outside of your skull.

Starting point is 00:48:14 So it helps to reset your circadian rhythm. Also, most people have an alarm to wake up. Highly recommend you have an alarm to go to bed. Because your brain loves a schedule on a routine, you know, even on the weekends, to go to sleep at the same time, wake up at the same time. And then the two biggest movers probably for most people, as Hunter gathers, other words, we would know it would be time to sleep because the environment would tell us there'd be decreased in two elemental factors, temperature and light. So we sleep better when it's

Starting point is 00:48:42 darker and when it's cooler. The challenges, when it comes to dark, is our devices, you know, because when you're on your device, not only is stimulating you, right, mentally, putting you in your executive mode as opposed to your parasympathetic rest and digest, but the light, the blue light is confusing our mind and thinking it's still daylight. So you don't produce the melatonin, which is the hormone to help you relax, you know, and phase into that sleep. So, you know, as dark as possible, ideally, you know, the best way of changing habits, I think, is controlling your environment, just not have, you know, for us, we put our phones in our, you know, in our bathroom just so we don't have to grab it first thing in the morning or,

Starting point is 00:49:19 you know, late in night. And then cooler. Now we're so cold where you're shivering because that'll keep you up. But even if you take a warm bath or a sauna or a warm shower, when you leave the, the shower, your core body temperature drops. And that's a signal to produce melatonin to help you, to help you sleep better. But yeah,

Starting point is 00:49:40 that's the meds. And then the RX part, meds RX, and that's not a pharmaceutical, ours relationships, you know, having people close to you. It's one of the,

Starting point is 00:49:48 on our podcast, we had the, you know, one of the doctors that's leading the largest study at Harvard on happiness and longevity that decades long. And it says it wasn't exercise and it wasn't nutrition. It was relationships, you know,

Starting point is 00:50:01 that led people to be. happy. And, you know, so I think we all need people to encourage us, to challenge us, the cheerlead for us, to push us, to be kind to us, to call us on our own BS, you know. And if you haven't found that person, I think you have to be that person for somebody else. You know, I've heard you on videos talk about, you know, like, you know, the power of the people you spend time with where the average of the five people, you know, and the reason why is, from a science perspective, we have these mirror neurons, mirror like when you're shaving. It's a reflection. We tend to mirror the people around us that we spend most time with consciously and unconsciously.

Starting point is 00:50:35 And what are we mirroring? I would say watch. The W is words. We use the same words and language as the people around us. The A are actions. Like whether or not you smoke has less to do with your biological networks. It's your social networks. If we're around everyone that's, if everyone would spend time with worked out, we

Starting point is 00:50:54 would work out. If every time we said it's eating right, we would eat right. If they were meant it, we would do that same. Smoking, same thing. So actions. The T are our thoughts. We tend to think. think the same way as people around us. The, the scene watch or character, we tend to have the same

Starting point is 00:51:07 moral compasses of the people we spend time with, the same level of integrity. And finally, the H& watch are habits. And I want to remind everyone, first we create our habits, then our habits create us. But we tend to have the same habitual routines as the people we spend most time with, right? Because we're always marrying it. The mirror neurons create empathy. And that's what allows us to imitate people around us. Children activate that. That's why there's such fast learners watching, you know, other people. So that's the R's relationships. And finally, X are all the extras, you know, that I know you had our mutual friend Dave Aspreon, like biohacking, cold therapy and hyperbaric chamber and saunas, you know, all that is extra. I would put that last,

Starting point is 00:51:49 you know, because I think the foundational stuff is still, you know, the exercise, the diet, the sleep, the relationships, but, you know, all these extras. Yeah. But again, everyone wants know what the magic pill is. There's no magic pill. There is a process. And then I'm really excited about that process. You know, I think it's achievable for everybody. You know, a lot of things I mention, meditation, exercise. You don't have to spend a lot of money to do it, you know, sleep. I mean, these are big needle movers and doesn't necessarily cost. But no, what we have to do is pay attention to it. Of course. And I'm going to leave everyone as we close out here with Jim quick with a quote. It's from his book. It's not his quote. It's underthinking. We can't

Starting point is 00:52:30 solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. And so if you want to change, you got to take action on what Jim talked about today. And if you really want to take action, you need to get this book. Limitless. I've got it. I've skimmed through it and read it. I did my speed reading that I learned from Jim. And because I've only had it for a couple weeks before he came on.

Starting point is 00:52:52 And I'm learning a lot. But I'm more excited for my son Clayton. So, Jim, I can't thank you enough for your time. and your gifts, where can everyone keep up and learn more about everything you're doing? I'll summarize what we've talked about. Go to brainnutrition.com and get our guide, the 30 different ingredients that have human studies that will enhance your focus, your memory. My brain animal is probably the most exciting revelation we've made in personal learner.

Starting point is 00:53:20 It's a free test for your community. It takes four minutes. Text it to your friends and family members to see what brain animal they are. It'll definitely engage some industry in conversation. You also get reports from me on how to sell and market and learn and read faster based on your brain animal. So that's at mybrain animal.com. You get the book anywhere at books are sold. Limonlessbook.com is probably the easiest place.

Starting point is 00:53:42 We have links, you know, and it's around the world. And then, yeah, just connect on social media. I would love everybody to make me take a snapshot of wherever they're consuming this right now. And tag Ryan, tag myself. So we get to see it and share one thing you're going to do for a better brain. You know, because I think like when you share it, you get to learn it twice. It's called the explanation effect. When you learn something with the attention of teaching somebody else, you're going to learn it so much

Starting point is 00:54:07 better. So if you post like the one nugget that you got out of this to your fans, your followers, your family, your friends, then you get to be able to learn, earn, and return, you know, because I feel like that's what we're due. Like how to become limitless in a limited world, we do it together. So I encourage everyone to post it and share like the one nugget, the one action you're going to take, you know, after this conversation, and we'll gift out a few copies randomly of limitless, you know, to your community to people who do post that, just as a thank you for grabbing us on the show.

Starting point is 00:54:38 Great. Jim, I really appreciate you coming on. And we'll have all of that information in the show notes. You know where to find us, folks. Ryan is right.com. We'll have the show notes, the links to these things. And let's go find out what animal you are, baby. You got to know how you learn. When you learn how, when you know how you learn, you can apply that to how.

Starting point is 00:54:58 you learn and grow with others. Thank you so much, Jim. Thanks, buddy. We'll see you guys next time. All right about now. This has been right about now with Ryan Alford, a radcast network production. Visit Ryanisright.com for full audio and video versions of the show

Starting point is 00:55:16 or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.

Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - Supercharged Success Strategy from Jim Kwik

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