The Memory Expert: AI Is Weakening Your Brain! | Jim Kwik

Is AI making us dumber? Jim Kwik, brain coach and author of Limitless, on digital dementia, cognitive surrender, memory, focus, and how to learn faster in the age of AI, with therapist Marisa Peer.

But first: what if the thing limiting your potential isn't your brain at all, but one sentence someone said about you decades ago?

Transform your confidence, relationships, health, wealth and purpose with Marisa Peer's all-new Upgrade Your Life programme: https://link.rtt.com/3RPeKWu

At five, a traumatic brain injury left Jim struggling to read. At nine, a teacher called him "the boy with the broken brain" in front of the class. That label became his limit, until a second accident at seventeen forced him to ask a different question. Marisa Peer traces how he went from that classroom to becoming the world's leading brain coach.

Together they explore why a bad memory is a belief rather than a fact, how the brain hunts for evidence to prove whatever you tell it, and why memory, focus, motivation and energy aren't things we have but things we do. They also confront what AI is quietly costing us: as we outsource our thinking, Jim warns, our mental muscles atrophy like an arm left in a cast.

If you've written yourself off as forgetful, unfocused or "just not smart," this episode will show you the brain you were given is not the brain you're stuck with.

What you'll learn:

- Why a childhood label becomes the limit you live inside as an adult.
- How your brain works as a proof-making machine, and how to change what it proves.
- Why there's no good or bad memory, only trained and untrained.
- Labels vs titles: why one limits you and the other expands you.
- What digital dementia is doing to your memory, and why AI accelerates it.
- Why the first five minutes after waking shape your entire day.
- How motivation actually works, and why waiting to feel it guarantees you never start.
- Why nothing is hard, only unfamiliar.

Timestamps:

[0:00] The boy with the "broken" brain
[1:00] "My last name really is Kwik, but I was called Slow"
[3:00] The second accident at 17
[4:30] The Einstein quote on a hospital mug
[6:00] The student who read 30 books in 30 days to save her mother
[7:30] "If knowledge is power, learning is our superpower"
[9:00] Labels vs titles
[11:00] Neuroplasticity, multiple intelligences, and why IQ isn't destiny
[12:00] How your brain searches for evidence to prove you right
[14:00] Learning how to learn: the lead domino
[15:00] Post-traumatic growth
[17:00] The damage of labelling children "different"
[19:30] Comic books, X-Men, and finding a story to live inside
[21:00] Nothing is hard, it's only unfamiliar
[22:00] The nun study: what lifelong learners share
[25:00] Neurobics: why newness keeps the brain young
[25:30] The two moments cognitive decline usually begins
[26:30] The counterclockwise study
[31:00] Sleep inertia and the most programmable window of your day
[33:00] "Mind before media"
[34:00] What screens are doing to children's attention
[36:30] Why motivation is a myth and dopamine must be earned
[37:30] The smallest possible step: one sock, one tooth, one paragraph
[39:30] Marva Collins and the teachers told their pupils were geniuses
[41:00] Be a thermostat, not a thermometer
[43:30] Why schools teach what to learn, never how
[46:00] "A bad memory is a lie"
[47:00] Turning the nouns in your life into verbs
[48:00] Digital dementia: what we lost when we stopped remembering
[49:30] Cognitive surrender: when AI thinks for us
[51:00] 1% a day
[52:30] Why declining reading should concern you
[54:00] The amplifier words that expand your potential
[56:00] Fall in love with the unfamiliar

Marisa Peer is a world-renowned therapist, speaker, bestselling author and creator of Rapid Transformational Therapy® (RTT®). With 40+ years helping CEOs, celebrities, Olympic athletes and millions worldwide, she founded the I Am Enough movement and wrote *Your Mind, Your Rules*.

Transform your confidence, relationships, health, wealth and purpose with Marisa Peer's all-new Upgrade Your Life programme: https://link.rtt.com/3RPeKWu

Connect with Marisa Peer:
Website: https://marisapeer.com/
Buy Your Mind, Your Rules: https://link.rtt.com/4x5beGy
Instagram: @marisapeertherapy
Rapid Transformational Therapy® and Training: https://link.rtt.com/4gZCT6S

Connect with Jim Kwik:
Website: https://www.jimkwik.com/
YouTube: @JimKwik
Instagram: @jimkwik
Podcast: Kwik Brain
Books: Limitless and Limitless Daily: 366 Keys to Train Your Brain

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them. It's almost like your brain is this incredible supercomputer and our self-talk is a program we'll run. So if you tell yourself I'm not good at remembering names, you won't remember the name of the next person you meet.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

You're in every way a genius and you've helped so many people through your misfortune. His first book, Limitless, has sold two million copies.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

When I was five years old, I had a really bad traumatic brain injury. It took me three years longer to learn how to read. And I said there has to be a better way. And I discovered there's no such thing as a good or bad memory. There's a trained memory and an untrained memory. The challenge though is digital dementia technology. It's not only remembering stuff, it's thinking for us. I always tell people there have been studies where you do like a digital detox for two weeks, how your brain can look 10 years younger, which is remarkable.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Hi, this is Marissa, and welcome to another exciting podcast, Your Mind, Your Rules. And today I have a guest who I respect so much. I've known him for many years, and he is in every way a genius. His first book, Limitless, has sold two million copies. And here's his brand new book, Limitless Daily, 366 keys to train your brain, one a day. Jim was actually diagnosed as the boy with a broken brain. And I want to ask you about that because one of the rules of the mind I write about, in your mind, your rules is that the strongest force in you is that you must act in a way that lines up with how you define you. So you were defined, labeled, called the boy with a broken brain. Tell me what that did to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah. So um well, when I was five years old, I was in uh school and I took a bad fall. I had a really bad traumatic brain injury, rushed to the emergency room. Um the after effects was uh really my my learning. I was a very poor learner, very, very hard, really struggled in school uh with my focus, with my studying, with my uh memory. It took me three years longer to learn how to read, which was very embarrassing. Of course. You know, at that at that age, really affected my self-esteem, my self-confidence, you know, um how I saw myself. Um when I was nine years old, as you mentioned, like uh I was being teased. My last name really is quick. I didn't change it. It's not like a stage name that I have. It's my father's name, my grandfather's name, but I was called slow. Um, and because I was being teased in class, the teacher pointed to me in front of the whole class and said, Leave that kid alone, that's the boy with the broken brain. And you know, that label became my limit.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Of course, because you have to identify with it even when you don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Yeah, I think I think adults have to be very careful of their external words because they often become a child's internal words and you know, unfiltered. And so, you know, the brain injury, I don't I I come to realize that my brain injury wasn't my biggest challenge. I think a bigger challenge was the the story I was saying about my brain injury. Yeah, I was broken. So every single time uh I did badly in school, which was every week, I would always say, Oh, because I have the broken brain, or if I wasn't picked for sports, I would say, uh, I was I'm the I have the broken brain. You know, you and I get to speak at uh share the stage uh numerous times over the years. And people knowing that part of what I do is helping people improve their memory. Um, and people come to me and say, I'm so glad you're here. Uh, you know, I have a horrible memory, or I'm just too old, I'm not that smart. And I always tell people the same thing. I I say, stop. If you if you fight for your limitations, you get you get to keep them. You know, that they're yours. It's almost like your brain is this incredible supercomputer, and our self-talk is a program overrun. So if you tell yourself, I'm not good at remembering names, you will you won't remember the name of the next person you meet because you're uh because you program your computer not to.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

And of course, you didn't actually have a broken brain, because the brain, as we know, is amazing at repairing itself or having a particular what you had was a broken belief. So it was a belief that was broken, and the good news is a broken belief can be changed. I all the time I hear people who say, Well, I'm not enough, or I'm stupid, or I wasn't wanted, or my dad rejected me because I was gay. And this is a broken belief, and broken beliefs can be changed. And then, of course, at 17 you had a second major accident, you fell down two flights of stairs.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, I I when I was um I was lucky enough to get into uh local university, and I thought freshmen meant I could make a fresh start. So I took all these classes because I wanted to show, I mean, I struggled every day through school up to that age, uh 17, 18. Um, but I wanted to show the world, show myself I could, you know, do do this, that I wasn't uh slow or not that smart. And so, but I did worse, you know, and I had to stay in the library all the time and I wasn't eating, I wasn't, I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't working out, I wasn't socializing, you know, all the things that'd be good for you. And um, one night in the library, I I out of sheer exhaustion, I pass out and I fall down the stairs and I hit my head again. And I woke up in the hospital and it was two days later, um, I was down to 117 pounds. So I lost all this weight, uh, hooked up to IB because I was very malnourished and dehydrated. I I mean, I thought I died. Uh, it was the darkest time in my life. Um, and I said, there has to be a better way. And when I had that thought, a nurse came in with a mug of tea. I drink a lot of tea, and it had a picture of a genius, you know, the opposite of what I thought I was, Albert Einstein. But there was a quote on the mug that said, the same level of thinking that has created your problem won't solve your problem. And it made me ponder, made me think, like, what's my problem? Well, I have I have a broken brain, I'm a slow learner. Well, how do I think differently? Well, maybe I could fix my brain, maybe I could learn how to learn better. And uh, it put me on a path where I started to focus, refocus my energies instead of asking myself, why me? Or, you know, uh why am I broken, or those things that wouldn't be the most useful kind of thoughts or questions? I started thinking about how can I make this better? How can I, how can I be whole, you know, how can I learn better? You know, how does my brain work so I can work my brain better? How does my memory work so I can work my memory better? And I started getting answers. And uh about six, sixty days of studying, uh, you know, everything I could get my hands on about learning and uh growth and the power of the mind, uh, a light switch flipped on and I started to do better. And my grades improved, but more than the grades, you know, it was my my my identity, right? My story. You know, I started to reformulate and rewrite new rules for myself that this was that your brain is not fixed, like your shoe size, you know, that your potential is not limited. Um, and it can improve, just like you can prove your body by exercise, you can improve your mind uh so many different ways. But the reason I'm still here 35 years later is um I started to tutor, and one of my very first uh clients, if you will, she was a college freshman. She read uh she read 30 books in 30 days. Can you imagine, Brissa? Like, not skim or scan. Uh, like a lot of people have books on their shelf they haven't read yet, and it becomes shelf help, not self-help. I help people read faster um and understand more and remember more. And I wanted to find out not how she did it, I wanted to know why she did it. You know, so many people know what to do. I imagine a lot of your audience uh has probably forgotten more about growth or wellness or mental health or performance than most of their friends and family have learned, right? Um, but are we do are we doing what we know? And because common sense is not often common practice. So I wanted to find out how why she did it. And I found out her mother was dying of terminal cancer, was only given doctors gave her mom two months, 60 days to live. So the books she was reading, those 30 books, are books that save her mom's life. And I I wished her luck, prayers. Six months later, I get a call from this young lady and she's crying and crying, crying profusely. And when she stops, I find out they're tears of joy that her mother not only survived but is really getting better. And doctors don't know how or why. The doctors are calling it a miracle, but her mother attributed 100% to the great advice she got from her daughter, who learned it from all these books. And then in that moment, I realized two things. Um, number one, if knowledge is power, then learning is our superpower, and it's a superpower we all have at any age or stage. Um we're just not taught, you know, how to learn in school. They teach you what to learn math, history, science, Spanish, but no classes on how to learn, how to focus, how to study, how to read better, how how to remember things, right? How to think uh um and so on. And so, yeah, but the second thing I learned um and I discovered was was my dharma, my my mission. You know, as the as the kid with the broken brain, I want to build better, brighter brains, you know, no brain left behind. You know, I really want to advance human intelligence in a world of now, you know, artificial intelligence and um, you know, make make people show people their their their real superpowers.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

You know, I was told I would never be able to have a baby. I had cancer twice and was told I'd have to live with that forever. I got run over and was told I couldn't walk for six months and I actually walked in six weeks. And each time I got that diagnosed, I thought, no, this is my mind, my rules. I bounced back from cancer. I had a perfect baby. I recovered from being run over super fast, and I used the techniques in this book. In fact, I wrote this book while I was in plaster, having been run over, because the things that made me bounce back will make you bounce back from relationship issues, wealth issues, childhood issues, confidence issues. If you want to live your life on your terms and have love, success, health, wealth, even the body of your dreams, it's all in here. Buy it and change your life forever. Interesting that it was Albert Einstein as well, because Albert Einstein was labelled educationally subnormal. He was told at school, this kid is subnormal, and he was actually a genius, and geniuses, of course, get very bored in class and they learn differently. But I love the fact that it was someone labelled subnormal educationally who helped you realize that the brain is not what we think it is. And of course, now you're in every way a genius, and you've helped so many people through your misfortune. But you are correct that when you label someone, you limit them. So when you label this kid is slow, this kid is never going to be good at sport, or this kid is not academic, it's such a bad thing to do. Even when you say this kid is brilliant, or this kid is good, or you're the good one, or the helpful one, or the smart one, it's better to have a title than a label. A label will limit you. But a title, I'm the greatest, I'm the king of, I'm the queen of, I'm the master of, I'm the goat, is very good. So if you're listening, don't give yourself a label. I've got the worst memory in the world, I'm just no good at coding, I'm terrible at maths. Give yourself a title. I'm a freaking genius, is a good one because this is a proof-making robot. And when you tell itself, it begins to prove it. And we know that because we say I get every cold going, every summer I'm besieged with hay fever, I'm just no good at math, I'm terrible at confrontation, or I have a phenomenal ability to do maths, I'm great with people. So, what are you asking your brain to prove every day? And of course, when the teacher said the boy with a broken brain, your brain really had no choice but to prove it because it's not a thinking, it's very much a feeling. But when you began to change it in that hospital bed and said, I can change my brain and start to say things like, You want my brain is phenomenal, I'm a phenomenal learner. If you can put words into other words, I'm a phenomenal, outstanding, impressive learner, you're really giving this proof making robot something exciting to prove. Anyway, I'm just a bit meh. It doesn't really know what that means. So here you are today, the boy with a broken brain is a genius. You've helped people all over the world. What did you do to go from the boy with a broken brain to the full-on genius that you are today?

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah, uh, thank you. Well, I I think genius is uh comes in many different forms. Um, and I uh there's multiple intelligences, but sometimes school only kind of measures one or two of them. You know, I don't believe in an IQ test where someone takes a test when they're eight and they're so that's their potential when they're 88. Um, I also feel like uh that because of neuroplasticity, we have the incredible ability at every age and stage with novelty and proper nutrition to be able to get um mentally stronger and to change, change our thoughts, right? And um and update our rules uh and our identity also as well. Yeah, I think that that that forced that you talk about to remain consistent with our identity. Uh, if I see myself as broken, then I start looking for evidence to validate that. And that becomes you know in that becomes the cognitive bias, right? I start seeing the things that validate what I think is true because that's familiar to you, right? As opposed to something that's unknown and scary.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

And people get very confused. Go, well, if that's the case, why can't I just say I'm a brain surgeon? I know I'm not going to be a brain surgeon, but you're absolutely spot on. The brain looks for evidence. So if you say I'm super smart, I've got a great memory, I'm good with people, it will look for some evidence. Actually, yeah, three years ago, you gave that talk and you were really good. And there are some people that really like you. If you say I'm a brain surgeon, there's no evidence. If you say I'm an Olympic athlete, there's no evidence. If you say I'm getting really good at paddle, the brain will find evidence. So the brain is always searching for evidence. Is this true or not true? And if you give it evidence, I don't have a broken brain, I have a broken thought, and I can teach myself in a different way, it will always find evidence. And the good thing about your story is you give other people evidence. Well, look at Jim Quick. Look where he can. That is evidence that if he can do it, I can do it. So people like you are great because they give us evidence. Oh, so this is not written in stone. I'm not condemned to be stupid, broken, alone, unhappy, unsuccessful, because it's a bit like an athlete who jumps. I go, Wow, this is a human being, and I'm a human being. You're giving the whole world evidence that our brain can change. I think it does.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

I I think the life we live are the lessons we teach. You know, I think uh we can learn from everybody. Uh, I I also think that the people who really grow are the ones that are also remain curious, right? In terms of what really is possible and asking themselves that that question to maybe question their assumptions about their own potential, their own growth. Is it really true? Uh, maybe create some doubt off of those eliminating beliefs, or even is something someone says, I don't have a great memory, even if they put a little word, they catch themselves with the self-awareness, right? That metacognition, and then they say, Yeah, I don't have great memory yet, it just it it's not transformation, but it just it puts you in a little different direction. And if you're heading this way and you take just uh one degree this way, you can end up in a totally different destination or destiny with your life. But um, how I was able to overcome this as you know, I is the software I learned that learning was something that I could update, right? That I could learn how to learn better. And I think it's one of the most important skills, learning how to learn. Because if you can learn how to learn, you can learn how to think and focus and get in flow and remember and read better, then you could apply that towards anything, right? Manifestation, money, marketing, martial arts, uh, music, everything gets easier. It's like a lead domino. So I started focusing on that and becoming an expert on that area uh because that was where I struggled. And it's interesting that our struggles often become our strengths. Like my challenges were learning. My two biggest challenges growing up were learning in public speaking. Because I remember I would always shrink down because I didn't want to be called on in class or I didn't want to be bullied and seen. Um, and so I was phobic of public speaking, not just a fear. I was trem, I would tremble, not be able to breathe. Um, which, you know, the universe has a sense of humor because all I do is public speak on this thing called learning. But adversity can be an advantage. We hear a lot about post-traumatic stress. We don't hear a lot about uh post-traumatic growth. You know, I I imagine some of your listeners or viewers, they've gone through something that they wouldn't wish upon anyone, but some of them would probably honestly say they wouldn't change it for themselves because through it they found something meaningful. They found a mission, they found a trait, they found a strength, they got clarity on something, right? And for me, you know, uh I was able to turn it into a growth experience. But I think we grow so we have more to give. I called these people, these individuals uh grow givers, right? As opposed to just giving, giving, giving and being empty or getting, getting, getting. You grow to give, right? And I think everything nature does that. So I'm very motivated by helping other people because when I learned these things, I was really upset that I suffered and struggled every single day for almost a decade and a half. Um, you know, sleepless nights and everything, is studying three times harder than everybody else and still being on the other side of the bell curve. Um, I was upset that there were things that weren't taught. So now my mission is really to bring some of these ideas um and give people very small things they could do. Because the other way easy to change something is yes, you can see somebody as an example that this is has the potential, you know, and with the work you and I do with rapid transformational therapy, uh, with my work, we get we get fast results.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Very fast.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

And so, and and I think that becomes evidence for that person. So it's not even just outside of you because Marissa or Jim could do it. It's like they see evidence in themselves. Like when I work with somebody or they read Limitless or go through one of our courses, like speed reading, they they double their reading speed within a couple of days, or they can memorize 20 random words or or 10 faces, names, and faces in just one session, then they start believing what else is possible, right, for themselves. Like, oh, I didn't know I could do that, but if I could do that, maybe I could be around.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Yeah, I've got some evidence. I can do something I thought I couldn't do. I've got some evidence, and the evidence is going to spur you on. So I work with a lot of autistic children and children with aspirations. In fact, one of my clients said, My kid's just being diagnosed without what shall I tell him? I said, Tell him he is a genius. He's got a genius brain. Because some of my children, the children with the savants, I mean, their memory is phenomenal. But the the hardest thing for them is that they feel different. The hardest thing is not that they have a different brain and they're they're very into order and figures and numbers and memorizing it, they're not like other kids. And often their parents have them on this special diet because they think it's gluten. And so they feel so different. But when I've worked with children who have aspergators or autism, say, darling, look, you just have an amazing brain. You're like every kid in the world. You're the same. You like the same food, the same thing, but you have an incredible brain.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Which is different than a label.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Yeah, it's different than a label. It's something to be proud of. Oh, I've got an incredible brain. Maybe I learned differently, but I I and I'm the same as every kid. Of course, because they're not the same because they can't go to Burger King because they're not having gluten, they can't have ice cream because their pants are gone of sugar. So they they live in this world where they feel so different. And that I think is a curse for a child to feel different, which you must have felt a kid with a broken brain.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

I definitely stood stood out when I wanted to just kind of blend in uh and not have that attention. But I I I and I would say also, we get to work with um, you know, people with uh along the spectrum, or you know, I I take a very strength-based approach to things like ADD, ADHD, uh dyslexia. Because also there are there are numerous examples going back to um, you know, evidence of of some of my most amazing clients, you know, would fall underneath that quote unquote category. And but that's how they were able to create the success that they did because they don't think like everybody else. So they're able to get you know different kinds of results. So there's also evidence. You could always find evidence for anything. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

But that's the problem. Children who feel different feel find evidence for it. The kids don't like me, I'm not the same, I'm not in particular, I'm pulled out to speak to a therapist every week, and they feel different. And I know that you said that you identified very much with comic figures like X-Men because they were like you. They were different, they didn't fit in, they were outside.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

So they called them mutants. Mutants, you know, and they were persecuted and marginalized. And yeah, I yeah, I I I I taught myself because it took me so much longer to learn how to read, I taught myself how to read comic books. And part of me indulging in comic books was me escaping from school and you know, me being being teased and everything. Uh, but also that it's like the the images brought the words to life for me. And and I realized, and also the story of a superhero, they're all different, but a superhero is someone who doesn't just have superpowers, they use their powers for purpose, right? Somebody can be very strong or have powers, but if they're not a superhero unless they're doing some good with it, you know, and I feel like you know that's what we're here to be able to do. Um also on on this idea of like learning and and and reading, you know, my identity became like it gave me hope and it gave me help. Like I was seeing there there's another another possibility. It was just another example, right? Even if it was fiction.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yeah, I might have got you should read Pippi Longstocking, and Pippi would always say, I don't know that. So I guess I'm going to be amazing at it. Well, that's such a great message. And she loved it, I don't know it. So I must be really good at it, which is an interesting message to give a kid. But she loved that message. So if you're a parent listening in and you think your child is different, do not label them as different. Don't say, Well, you're different to all the other kids. Tell them they are the same. That's my message. But what is your message of people who say, Well, I can't change? Change is so hard. This is who I am. Or change just takes so long. Because we know that isn't true.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Yeah. Um, I I would say for for the kids and the parents or everyone in between, you know, every age of stage, it's not how smart I I realize it's not how smart you are. It's it's how are you smart. It's not how smart your kids are, it's how are they smart, right? So they could be, they could belong, you know, in certain ways or similarities, and they could also be different, because that's what makes people, you know, that's what makes you know the world so amazing that if everyone was the same, that wouldn't be so interesting. Um, I would say that through the science is saying that your brain could change, you know, throughout our entire lifetime. Uh it just obviously biology plays a role, right? But no one would doubt, regardless of someone's genetics, right, that that if they did certain things, they ate, you know, they ate better or they moved more or they did their meditations, uh, then they would be healthier. And same thing physically, same thing, same thing mentally. Um, actually, there was a study done on these nuns, it was on the cover of Time magazine. Um, they were it was a longevity, uh, they were living 80, 90, and above, and they scientists want to find out, researchers, what was the key to their long life, and they said half of it was um their faith, their their emotional gratitude. The other half, though, they were lifelong learners. They were always reading, they were always writing, they were always having discourse, meaning, you know, like uh debate conversations. So they're very mentally active, and they're saying that trip contributed to their long life, not only adding years to their life, but life to their years. The study, if people want to look it up, is called aging with grace. Um, so yeah, it's it's amazing that you know, I I have a lot of clients that are in their 70s and 80s, still learning new subjects and new skills. And uh, yeah, and that that this is meaningful to me. Like when I was seven years old, I I lost my my grandmother to Alzheimer's to dementia. And it was hard as a five-year-old with my bro quote unquote broken brain, then not understanding even at five years old, even if I didn't have a broken brain, to see her change um for people. And so we donated uh most of the proceeds for Limitless to uh Alzheimer's research for women, because women are twice as likely to experience Alzheimer's than men. Yeah, most of the research is done on men. Um, and also to build schools uh for children in Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, uh who didn't have schools in their in their access to schools and healthcare and clean water. But it's really a mission for us to be able to help people through learning, through, through brain. And so I would say whoever's watching this or whatever, I'm you know, I'm 53, you know, I'm I'm I'm concerned about brain, but I also know that my brain's never been better, you know, even when it was, you know, in the 20s and 30s.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Do you think women had this? Because women, of course, the women who are coming up to eight in their 80s now probably weren't working. They weren't learning something new every day. They were at home, and I wonder in the next 50 years if that will change because women are now doing the same as men. Because studies show that university professors, artists, and composers have incredible neurons. Their brain is as sharp as attack. We know that professors are still working in their 80s, uh, composers or composing in their 80s, and painters are still painting like Lucian Freud in their 90s, because of something called neurobics. And neurobics means if you introduce the brain to newness, it stays new. So if you can just start reaching for your phone with the opposite hand, clean your teeth with the opposite hand, stand on one leg as you clean your teeth. With my mother, she always did the crossroad in the paper, and I got her to do it on the computer and then on an iPad because it was giving us something new. So the brain loves newness. And of course, as you're saying, when you're a professor, my father died at 89. He was so sharp. Because he was always learning, he was always a professor in his brain, always reading, always studying, always um conversing. But I wonder if my mother, of course, she didn't have a career, so she probably would have been right to get Alzheimer's because that generation of women were raising children. They weren't doing what a professor might have been doing. Some, of course. But I do you think that that might have something to do with it?

SPEAKER_01 26:57

It's been this is anecdotal, but we have we have students in every online students in every country in the world of all ages and stages. And I've I've seen like I I think two markers for cognitive decline is when people graduate school because some youngsters believe that they're that education is learning, but then when education is done, their learning is done. Sure. So they stop using it. The other one, though, is more is more paramount, is when people retire.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Because often when people retire out of their jobs or their careers, they often retire their their mind. They're not using their mind as actively unless they fill that with something else, um, you know, when the when they when they leave their their careers.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Do you know that expression when hope dies, old age runs to meet you? So, and retiring is such a terrible word. I mean, I'm never going to retire. I'm going to work. I love what I do, and I never plan to retire. Do you know the Ellen Langer studies where she took people and they had to pretend they were 20 years younger? They went to a closed retreat where let's say it was 1975, but the pictures from 1955, the books, the magazines.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Black and white television.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Yeah, and in 10, and they wore a badge for themselves 20 years younger, and they had to unpack their own stuff, nobody was carrying their cases. And within 10 days, their grip changed, everything changed, their balance, their vision, because the brain actually believed they were younger. And then they did another study where they took people and told them they were fighters and put them on flight stimulators, and their vision changed. And of course, it isn't possible for your vision to change like that, but their brains, believing they were fighter pilots, started to work much harder to improve their vision. So the question is: what are you telling your brain? Your psychology is having a full-on conversation with your biology. Tell it I'm a fighter pilot. And it actually starts to work to improve your eyesight. Tell it I'm 20 years younger. And it starts to work to do that.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

And they do see even, you know, uh for younger kids where they'll have them dress up like a superhero like Batman, and then they'll stay hard. This they'll stay longer, considerably longer, trying to solve a problem than um than if they didn't have that new identity or that new rule that they're they're subscribing to. Um we had we had Dr. Ellen Langer on our podcast, and she's amazing. Yeah, it's called the counterclockwise study. And they not only was their vision better and their strength, um their memory was better also as well. They took pictures before and after the going into uh this living quarters, and then they asked the focus group which one's the younger one, you know, which one's like the earlier one, and they all said the later one because some of those men who went in there were you know using canes and everything to be able to walk, and then they didn't have it walking out even, so they were even physically stronger. And that's just after a very short period of time of quote unquote pretending, you know, that it was 20 years earlier.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

I mean you're actually lying to your brain. I think you should do that every day. I should say this is amazing. The BBC replicated that, by the way, and had exactly the same thing. But they also put people in a room, it was say 60, and the room just had words all around the room fragile, delicate, old, careful. And when they left, they kind of walked out like that. But the next group, they had words that said young, spirited, fiery, youthful. They practically leapt out of the room. It was just the words and the brain's interpretation of the words. Because you know, words are our reality. We make our language our reality. So give our audience some advice. I know we have 366 keys, and some of these things are amazing. And and also they're not hard. I've got to do this chanting, I've got to meditate for an hour.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

That sounds stressful.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Well, you're not gonna do it if it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

But it's not hard, it's actually just unfamiliar. I would think you should never say this is hard. Yeah. When you say it's unfamiliar, the brain hears, yes, and it's gonna become familiar. I mean, doing the plank is unfamiliar, but if I do it every day, it's familiar. It's not hard.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

I like that.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

Could you pick yeah, I love it. I'd say to don't ever say this is hard. Just say it's unfamiliar. You know, when if I got up my Blackberry phone now, I would have not a clue how to operate it, even though I used it for three years. Because when I moved to an Apple phone, it became unfamiliar. Right. And the Apple phone became familiar. And if you go to a country where you drive on the other side of the road, or you switch from a manual to an automatic, or you switch from a desktop to a laptop. This is not hard, it's simply unfamiliar. And unfamiliar is a great word because the brain hears, but it's going to become familiar. And also the brain only likes what is familiar. We go to what's familiar and we try to avoid what is unfamiliar. That's a fact. Another fact is you can make anything you like familiar, particularly going through these 366 keys.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Wow, what a great lead-up. Um, so Limitless, I wrote in six weeks, uh less than two months, um, when it came out in 2020, because I had 30 years of just material and teachings. And um, but uh Limitless Daily, the new book uh took uh took over it took a year. And um, but one of the biggest questions we have with Limitless is like this is an owner's manual for your brain on how to read faster, improve your memory, uh change your mindset, how to master your motivation, uh, which I don't, you know, motivation is is more of a myth where it's it's it's it's it's around purpose and energy and small, simple steps. Um and but people said, where where where do I start? You know, because it was a lot to consume. So I broke it down in just five minutes a day. And and the idea here is you do it first thing in the morning. So when I was doing the research for this book, I didn't not only was they thinking about what they could read, but when they could read it. Because the syntax matters, the sequence of how you do something matters in life, just like a telephone or number or combination lock, right? And so there's something called sleep inertia. And sleep inertia is when you wake up and you're transitioning to that wakeful state. And in that window, that's called sleep inertia. Your mental input in that window has a disproportionate effect on the rest of your day. And so that's very high leverage, meaning that limitless is you have a limited amount of time, right? Everybody has 24 hours in a day. It's the only thing that's equal. Not everybody has equal education or context or income or whatever, but everybody has the same amount of time in a day. And so I'm always looking for how to get the most out of something the easiest, most enjoyable way. So um, that window, if your mental input has a disproportionate effect, then what does it affect the rest of the day? Your focus, your framing of situations, and your feelings, your mood. And and people could they know this because what do most people put, what do most people grab first thing in them in during that sleep inertia window? They grab their device. Of course. And then so what's being what's what's gonna amplify their focus, their feelings, their framing? Well, depending on what they're going, it's gonna be distraction, it's gonna be comparison, it's gonna be war and conflict, whatever they're looking at, right? You know, lo and behold, they're more likely to focus on those things later on because this area is, let's say it's more quote unquote programmable, you know, than others. So I ask people that that's why, by the way, instead of grabbing your phone, that's why prayer, meditation, self-hypnosis, affirmations, a visualization of what you want to create that day has has could also have a great impact, also, right? So I I always tell people mind before media. Like you never just you never wake up and invite 200 strangers into your bedroom to talk about whatever they want to talk about. That would that would be insane. But we kind of do that if we go on like our device first thing, or if it's not distracting you that way, it you're reactive. So what you're magnifying in that window is reaction, meaning you get you pick up your phone first thing in the morning and you get a WhatsApp message or a social media comment or an email, disturbing email or or something, right? A text message that just puts you in a mood for hours. And so what I would say is mind before media, right? Intention before interruption, direction, set your direction before disruption.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Yeah, I turn on my phone black and white because the brain is not used to such novel experiences and such bright colors every minute.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Especially children.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Yeah. So I was going to ask you that question: what are phones doing to our children? I know that Sweden's just taken all iPads out of schools. They said children can't read anymore. They're just on these screens. And I've seen with my own friends' children how quickly they become addicted. Even at two, they they're really addicted. I see in restaurants, you know, every kid gets out their phone or mum's iPad. You don't really see kids so much with the colouring books anymore. What is this doing to children's brains?

SPEAKER_01 36:00

Yeah, and I could totally understand, you know, we my wife and I, we have a we have a toddler and an infant, and I could totally understand the pressure, you know, of you know, keeping their attention. Or it's tough that children now with uh being addicted to screens or being so used to it where it's routine and hip habitualized, that they can't be by themselves and just be bored. Yeah. I think that's so very important for children. It's not like when when a lot of us were growing up, you know, the stuff was a lot more subtle with not all the lights and the sounds and the and the flashing and the and the cutting, you know, right? It was it was a lot um less uh stimulating, right? Um, but certainly there have been studies where even you even adults, if you get off, if you do like a digital detox for two weeks, how your brain could look 10 years younger, uh, which is remarkable, right? So our brains didn't evolve and you know much over the last you know a few hundred thousand years, um, and certainly not with this technology that we have, much less AI and everything, everything else. So it is a challenge. Um, I don't envy, you know, my mother became a special education teacher to help me with my learning disabilities. She just, you know, you know, a few years ago retired out of the New York public school system uh because she has a passion for helping children. You know, the and I don't envy teachers or even parents now because of what they're they're growing up, like my generation was growing up on video games, right? Which was much more mild than what social media is, where people are scrolling through and their attention span is not only their attention being hijacked by so many different things, um, it it's short. It's shortening it. Like we can't sit with an idea for more than two, two, three seconds before needing the next thing.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

That's scary, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 37:47

There's this dopamine flood, right? And one of the challenges, you know, for all of us who's listening, I know you have athletes and coaches and so many, you know, educators, is it is a lot of dopamine. So dopamine is a molecule of motivation, but most people don't have to earn it because they could just doom scroll and they could get that that hit.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Yeah, and that's the addiction. That's where we're addicted to our screens, because we are addicted to dopamine.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yes. And then then, or they're binge watching something on television, or they're junk or they're just grabbing the junk food snacks all the time. They don't have to earn it, right? That that's why it I think it's a myth that motivation, you need to be motivation to take action. You take the action, then you earn the dopamine, and then the dopamine is reinforcing more action, right? And so, and and it, and if you're not taking action like going to the gym or doing something or reading, you know, 20, 30 minutes a day to exercise your mind, what I would say is to break it down into small, simple steps. Like maybe going to the gym is too hard. So exercise is great for your body, right? And but it's also great for your brain. You create dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, you create BDNF, which is brain-direct neurotropic factors, which is like fertilizer for neuroplasticity. Um, but if you're not working out, as an example, like maybe it's too big of a step and too unfamiliar, right? And do something familiar, like put on your workout shoes. You know, that's one small, simple step. Uh, because you know, for working out, they say the the heaviest weight at the gym is the front door, right? But if you can just get that, or you know, if I want to teach my son just to clean his room, that could be overwhelming with the way his room sometimes is, but can't even put one sock in the hamper. Yeah. Like one small, simple step. Because inch by inch, it's a cinch. Yard by yard, it's it's very it's it's too hard. So I would say for anyone listening that hasn't made a positive change, the question I ask myself all the time is what is the tiniest action I could take right now that will give me progress towards this goal where I can't fail.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah. Because that's true. You know, motivation is never there when you need it. And we're waiting to be motivated, but motivation turns up. So as you say, you put your socks in the laundry basket and then you pick up more laundry. You think I just tidy up my closet a bit and suddenly you've done the whole thing. Yeah. I don't really want to go to the gym. I just I'm just gonna skip, I've got a skipping rope or a remote, I just do that for five minutes, and suddenly 20 minutes later, you're still on it. Yeah. So that we're all taught, you know, motivation is gonna turn up, but it doesn't. And actually, another superpower is you have to learn to be self-motivated. In a world where we're working from home, we're self-employed. If you can't self-motivate, how are you gonna make it? But how you self-motivate, as you say, is you do one thing. I'll tidy up one shelf, I'll clean up one closet, I'll put away the laundry in one room, and suddenly you're motivated to do more.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Well, Rob read one paragraph. Yeah. Like everyone, even and it works for even when you're coaching somebody else or you want them to buy something, you just break it down into something small.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Yeah, because motivation happens when you take action.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Right. Like um, my my son is like, you know, flossing his teeth is unfamiliar. So I get him to floss one tooth.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

But he's not gonna stop at one. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

It's like making you could eat one blueberry or one grape, then they have more. Do you know? Have you heard of Marva Collins? She, because I thought you'd know. Marva Collins was an amazing teacher, I think in Chicago, was it in the 70s, who was working with inner city kids in a very deprived area. And she told them all they were geniuses. She told each kid, You are a genius. And she had these kids reading of mice and men when they were five. They believed it, their parents believed it. And of course, there was a study done about the same time where one particular school took some teachers and said, We've noticed that you have an extraordinary teaching ability, far and above any other teacher in the school. And we've picked these children who are geniuses. I'm just going to teach them for a year. So we had genius teachers with genius children. After a year, they said, These results are amazing. And by the way, it was just a random test. We picked random teachers, random, we gave them a title, An Extraordinary Teacher with Extraordinary Gifted Children. And if a teacher thinks a child is gifted, they notice they spent more time with them. Yeah. They were more encouraging. They they believed they could expand them more. So, what does that study tell us?

SPEAKER_01 42:17

I think sometimes we sometimes we will rise to the expectations, you know, of ourselves and others, because all behavior is belief-driven. And and part of the reason I think one of the reasons why they say who you spend time with is who you become is like we're social creatures. It's not just our neurological networks or our biological networks, it's our social networks. Like human beings, like we borrow on uh someone's belief in us to give us courage, right? You know, we borrow from, we regulate around people. People who are calmer will calm other people, you know, also, because there'll be that resonance. And so what I would say is we're thermostats and we're always adjusting our thermostat, and we don't have to be thermometers. A thermometer on the wall reacts to the environment. And sometimes as human beings, we react to the weather, to politics, to how a client treats us or whatever. Um, but it but the people who are most successful, and I would include happiness, is identifies more with the thermostat because the thermostat doesn't react to the environment. It gauges, it knows the temperature, right? So you can pay attention to things, but what does it do? It sets a temperature and then the environment reacts to it. And I think setting that temperature is this is a standard. Like uh, like sometimes we don't rise to a level of our own expectations, sometimes we do. But under pressure, though, we usually fall to the level of our systems, our state, our standards, and and our stories. I mean, like our our our self image.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:52

And our story is something we've told ourselves over and over again until we identify with it and believe it's fixed and it can't be changed. But your story. And of course, someone like Joe Dispenser, they use their story to change other people's lives. So that means you forever have meaning, purpose, and impact, which is really what everybody wants meaning, purpose, and impact.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

Yeah, I like that. I guess Scott Goospe-I call him truth bumps.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Well, you know, most people don't fear dying. They fear dying having never made an impact. My father, who was an eminent teacher, at the end of his life, he sort of had a wonderful life. And he didn't fear death. My mother had a very different experience. But people who've left a legacy behind don't really fear death because they've done something that made their time here so valid, which is what you've done. So I'm going to ask you some quick fire questions, if you don't mind. First question: can we really change our brains at any age?

SPEAKER_01 44:45

Yes, absolutely. I mean, genetics definitely plays a role. You know, even what uh when we think about Alzheimer's, the analogy that I that is often heard is like genetics would load the gun, but it's our lifestyle or environment that will actually pull the trigger. Um, but uh we have huge amounts of influence on uh our our brains and it could grow just like uh any like a muscle. Yeah, it's an organ, but it acts more like a muscle, but you have to use it or lose it.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Why are we not taught to use our brains effectively? Why is that not being taught when we know this to be the case?

SPEAKER_01 45:19

So it's like we lived in this industrial age where we also borrowed on that assembly line metaphor for an education. Everything has a manufacturing date, so we have you know grades by by age and everything. Um it was assembly line more cookie cutter, like every one size fits all. Uh back then it was meant to educate you know workers to be able to follow direction and give them basic knowledge. And uh they taught you what to learn, math, history, and science, but um how to learn, it's it's it's different, right? And and and I I if I was to inject anything in school um amongst you know, social intelligence, emotional regulation intelligence, it would be meta-learning, you know, the art and science of learning how to learn, uh be metacognition, right? Thinking, teaching people, especially children, how to think about their own thinking. Um, and so I I think systems are slow to change often. So I don't, it's not this is not a is I don't it's not I'm not talking about teachers. Teachers are some of those caring, compassionate individuals, uh and competent individuals. I'm saying the system hasn't changed, much like many systems. Yeah. They're antiquated for the world that we live in now. And so I'm very concerned with the education system preparing them for a world that uh where people will feel the young will feel ill-prepared.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

And in Germany, they don't really start teaching until they're seven. They say for little boys, especially, they cannot sit in a desk and learn by road. It's so bad for their brain. And of course, in Scandinavia, children already self-select their lessons and they have forest schools and they learn very differently because when you make a child who isn't scientific study science, they just feel stupid. Whereas when you say, Look, you're gonna be a coder, you're gonna be a design, you're gonna be an athlete. My father did that in the 1970s. He had all the children self-select lessons, and he had children who were labeled educationally subnormal, which is a terrible lesson. He had them working in the carpentry, working in the making lunches, painting the school, because he knew that's where they would go, but they always felt very involved and they didn't feel different. So here's a question I wanted to ask you Is having a bad memory a belief that can be changed and not a fact?

SPEAKER_01 47:35

I absolutely believe that um somebody that that says they have a bad memory, it's a it's a lie. A lie for me is an acronym, limited idea entertained. It's a limited idea that you're entertaining. Yeah. Just like a genius is born. It's not born, it's it's built, right? It's a lie again. And so the new the truth is um there's no such thing as a good or bad memory. There's a trained memory and an untrained memory. Yeah. Like you go to somebody, like going to a kid and say, remember this or study this or focus on this is like going to somebody say, play the ukulele, who's never or the didgeridoo, who's never taken a class on how to do those things, but we were never taught how to do those things. And so, you know, and and by the way, like part of this is self-hypnosis. Like, I think the nature of some of our work is transformation, but also transcendence, helping people end the trance, right? This mass hypnosis through market or media that we're broken, that we're that we're not enough, that we need to be fixed, or the self-hypnosis that we're saying to ourselves, like, I'm too old, I'm not smart enough, or whatever it is. Um, I would say also that one of the things we're putting ourselves in trance is saying, I don't have a good memory, or I don't have focus, or I don't have motivation. These are not things you have, these are things you do. So part of what I teach people is to take the nouns in their life. This is what we do in Limitless Daily. There's a lot of entries on there, but on how to take the nouns in their life and turn them into verbs. Because what does that give you? Like you wake up and say, Oh, I hope I have some motivation and some creativity so I can write my book, right? But hope is a horrible strategy. So, but what if you wake up and say, treat it as a verb, right? Because there, there is, there is, you don't have motivation. There's a process for motivating yourself through purpose, giving yourself enough energy. Because sometimes people are exhausted. That's why they're not motivated. Or maybe the thing's too big and intimidating, so they haven't broken down in small, simple steps. You don't even have a memory. Memory is a verb. You you make a memory, so it's you in three stages. You encode, you store, and then you retrieve. And so um, you don't even have energy, you generate energy. There's a process for having more energy by sleeping and nutrition and everything. So I would say um memory is not something you have, it's not fixed, and it can grow with a little just like your muscles grow through through through use. The challenge though is digital dementia. Digital dementia is where we're relying on technology to remember it now, it keeps our to-dos, it keeps our calendars, it puts out grocery lists. I mean, how many phone numbers did you know? Did you remember growing up? Like, like all we remembered all of them. Yeah. But how many phone numbers do we know now?

SPEAKER_00 50:09

My husband said, I don't know my number because he's in the phone as a chunk.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

And I don't want to memorize, you know, no one wants 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. Yeah, or what are people taking pictures of where they parked or taking pictures of like their hotel rooms.

SPEAKER_00 50:25

Yeah, and you know, yeah, and people can't draw. My husband goes out the sat, I'm like, you don't need a sat nav. We're going to someone we've been to for 10 years, but he gets a sat nav out to go to a journey he knows. And that's a problem too, that we can't read maps anymore.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

And that's so I that's why I wrote about limitless in 2020. So there's digital dementia, there's digital distraction, which is a big digital deluge, the overload. That's what we teach people how to learn faster, read faster. But then I coined the term digital deduction, where now technology is not only remembering stuff like a second brain, it's thinking for us. So early forms like GPS, you know, where it's tell it's the third piece of uh third-party piece of technology tells you when and where to turn, then you don't have to exercise your visual spatial intelligence. And the challenges that will atrophy. It's like a muscle. If I put my arm in a cast for a year, it wouldn't grow stronger, it wouldn't even stay the same, it would get weaker, right? Same thing with our mental muscles. Now, exponentially more challenging is artificial intelligence because now it's actually thinking. And so let's say what happens in a world where we are outsourcing, we're cognizant, they call it cognitive offloading our thinking to a technology and we don't have to think for ourselves anymore. Yeah. Right. And then so we never get to build those muscles. And so what happens to our our our our mental fitness around judgment, logic, you know, critical thinking, you know, and so that that should be very concerning. You know, I always like to think before I go to AI so then I can have some. So I don't, it's like taking an elevator to the sixth floor, if that's your office or apartment. Yes, it's convenient. That elevator is technology, like AI. It's very convenient, but then we don't take the stairs, right? If you take an Uber or Lyft to go to the bank eight blocks away, very convenient. That's technology, but then we don't get our extra steps in. And so my my challenge is cognitive surrendering, where we don't get to keep up our cognitive fitness. Um, and that that can be a challenge. You know, and that's why Limitless Daily, it's a brain exercise every single morning, a little thought experiment that's fun, that has the science behind it, and it gives you a two-minute exercise that you could do and a new affirmation there around being limitless. So you, you know, over the course, a little by little, over the course of a year, you become unrecognizable, right? If you just improve one percent a day over the course of a year in any area, that's 37 times better, right? And so my my my goal is I think that there's a version of every specifically for the book, and I I'm I'm passionate about this book because it's uh it's my best work. I actually wrote it for my daughter. Um when my daughter was born, uh, I I was in the the hospital with my wife, and you know, our our son was there. And because I started my family in my 50s, you know, I I'm I was consistent, you know, thinking about where, you know, God forbid I'm not around 20 years, something she could have a note from me. Specifically, I'm writing to her as if she's has it woke up with a challenging day. And and I started writing to her, because I always wrote before every morning, you know, gratitude or my goals that day. But I started to write to her and my son for what they for them to read when they're older to to do things like, you know, what if they have a fear of failure or imposter syndrome or self-esteem issues like I did, or they're just really distracted, or they're self-sabotaging, or they're procrastinating, or you know, or them negative thinking or whatever it could be, or burnout or something. And I started writing every day on a different topic. And then uh it became it became this book. And the only thing different is I added the science, you know, the default mode network, or I started talking about psychology about why this would help them. And my promises in one page a day, um, you could be unrecognizable at the end of a year. Plus, you get your reading in, and and reading is on the decline. Um reading and attention. Only only about 16% of people read every single day. I'm not talking about social media reading it like a book or a magazine, something. Um, and 51% of the populace across age, ethnicity, gender, um, don't even don't even read one book.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

And spelling too. And the brain is very brutal. It's got something called use it or lose it.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:41

So if you don't use your attention span, if you don't research it, if you don't spell, if you don't read, you will actually lose the ability to do that frighteningly quickly.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

And I would say also when people are listening to this podcast or anything else, whatever we don't use, like like knowledge by itself, it's another lie, limited idea entertained. Knowledge is not power. Knowledge has some potential to be power. It only gives power when we activate it and we apply it. But if we don't use the things that we're learning, then we lose that too. And we wonder why we forgot it. If anyone's ever read a page in a book, you know, and forgot what they read or listened to a podcast and forgot to apply it, I would say for every hour you spend learning something like this, spend an equal hour putting it into action, which is which is that's why I put an action step on every single page. So everybody starts on the same date. You go to the date of whatever the day is, and we all read it here, and then there's one action step, one identity statement. And because that's what you're putting in your sleep inertia, and it'll affect what you focus on later that day and how you feel that day and how you frame the world. And it's it's the biggest multiplier I could think of in only five minutes a day.

SPEAKER_00 55:48

And then add to it, I have a phenomenal, outstanding, impressive memory. Really amplify something you want the brain to get excited by because the brain only works in the present tense, it only responds to words that make a picture. It doesn't hear no, not don't. So if you say, My memory is good, but if you say my memory is phenomenal, impressive, outstanding, and extraordinary, you're really amplifying something. And of course, you don't know your potential. As you move to it, it moves. But once you move that brain to a new dimension, it doesn't go back. So when you're doing all these things, add in a little statement. I'm a phenomenal speaker, I'm extraordinary at retaining information, I have an impressive ability to code. Whatever it is, put some exciting words in front of words because you've amplified something. Whereas when you go, I'm not bad, it's all right, you're you're actually not expanding to your potential, you're contracting. What is one rule that you think people need to stop living by?

SPEAKER_01 56:48

I think one rule that's people are living by, and I'm guilty of this, you know, definitely more in the past, but um that I am I am just this way.

SPEAKER_00 56:59

This is the way I am, and I can't change.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

Yeah, and and we know that people can change. And here's the thing it's not always just through one epic event, you know, a lot of change and and long-term transformation is just that little little each day, right? You're showing evidence that you are this person. You know, what I love about, you know, with with Limitless Daily, what I'm doing is like I'm giving people people are committing and creating evidence that they're doing that they are the person that they say they are, right? That they are limitless, you know, that that they they are a reader reading each day, right? That they they do what they say they're gonna do, which I think is one of the most important rules is that you keep your own promises.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

So finally, what is one new rule you think everyone must start to live by? Just one rule that we must start to live by.

SPEAKER_01 57:48

I think it's important to start falling in love with the unfamiliar.

SPEAKER_00 57:52

Yeah, make the unfamiliar familiar and make the familiar unfamiliar. Yeah. So make what's good familiar and make what's not good unfamiliar.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

Yeah. Because I think, you know, while the comfort zone is a nice place to visit, nothing grows there, right? And life is sometimes difficult for one of two reasons. Either we're leaving our comfort zone, you know, going to that and familiar, or life is difficult because we just stay in the familiar. Yeah, of course. You know, and that's a challenge.

SPEAKER_00 58:17

Because the brain likes what is familiar because that's what kept us safe. We didn't leave the tribe or the walled city and wander off alone because it might kill us. So the brain is very motivated by, am I safe? And the old brain believes that you were safe if you stayed the same, stayed in your community. This that's why two-year-olds won't eat anything they don't recognise, because it's not in their brain, it's not safe. But if you signal to your brain, I'm safe to change. So I'm going to end this. I just want to put there's a line on the back of my book, and it's so you. It says, What if I told you that everything you believe about yourself, your limitations, your fears, your bad habits, it's just a story your mind has told you. What if you could rewrite that story? And here is Jim Quick, who rewrote the story for himself, but for millions of people, two million people have bought your previous book, Limitless. Thank you. You have rewritten everyone's story. You're such an inspiration. I'm gonna shake your hand. Thank you for coming. I love you. I'm so impressed by you. Thank you. We're so lucky to have Jim. And remember, some people watch podcasts, but some people use them. And again, use it or lose it. Don't just watch this, apply it. Make what is good familiar and what is not good unfamiliar. Don't say it's hard, say it's familiar. Never say I'm trying, because trying implies failure. So I'm doing it. Never say I want it, because the word want comes from lack. I require a phenomenal memory, I require huge motivation, I require discipline. And if you require it rather than want it, your mind will help you get it. Thanks for tuning in. Thank you, Jim.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Thank you so much.