Jim Kwik: Secrets to a Smarter Brain

26:40Right. So we have to update that reading memory skills to be able to, to be able to keep up with the, because it feels like you're taking a sip of water out of a fire hose nowadays, right? You think about all the messages we get and all the things we need to keep up with. The next one is digital dementia. And this is a term in healthcare where we're outsourcing our memory to our devices. I mean, think about your phone. It keeps your calendar. It keeps your to-dos. It keeps... How many phone numbers did you know, remember growing up? Many. Yeah. And how many do you currently know? One. Other than my own one.

27:11Right. And here's the thing. I don't want to memorize 200 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 something we just read, right? So that's digital dementia because if you're watching the video, I have a shirt of a brain and it says, use it, but it's use it or lose it. But if you put your arm in a sling, maybe it's in a cast for a year, it wouldn't grow stronger. It wouldn't even stay the same. It would atrophy. So digital dementia is the high reliance on technology to remember things for you. So you don't get the exercise.

27:45It's similar to, you have a beautiful office here. If we take the elevator, which most of us do, technology, it makes your life convenient, but then we don't have to get those steps in. Or if you have to go to the bank and it's eight blocks away and you take a Lyft or an Uber when you could have walked and got your steps in, it's convenient, but we have to keep our mental muscles active. So you have digital deluge, you have digital distraction. You have another one called digital deduction, which is a term I coined basically say, I saw this study saying that this generation, current generation has for the first time, less logical, rational abilities than the previous.

28:25And they were alluding that the contributing factor was technology because technology is doing the thinking for us with algorithms, right? Even if you take something simple, like how to get from here to there before we would have to be able to have visual spatial intelligence and unlock more of that superpower, but we don't have to do it with an app that tells us the GPS app or something like a, you know, back then at the most we had like map quest and we had to print out like four pages of like directions trying to figure out like it's a treasure hunt or something, but we don't have to build that exercise, that muscle.

29:00But the last one is what you mentioned is digital distraction. And that's such a big deal because every ring, ping, ding, app notification, social media alert drives us to distraction. And we wonder why we can't focus in a meeting or in a conversation or when you're with friends or family, because we're flexing those distraction muscles throughout the day. So that's why we teach people how to focus and concentrate because these are skills that anybody can learn, but there's no class called focus back in school. There was no class, just like the things that you teach in terms of, let's wealth management, financial literacy.

29:35That's not taught in school, but learning how to learn wasn't taught either. There's no class on how to study or how to read faster. There's no class called memory. They teach you three hours in school, reading, writing, arithmetic. But what about retention? What about recall? Socrates said learning is remembering. And so the nature of our work is showing people how to be able to overcome those four challenges that are holding us back. It's that time of year again. Everyone knows that the holidays can become overwhelming quickly, so the sooner that you get things done, the better. And for both shoppers and businesses, the best time to score great deals during the holidays is Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend.

30:15Whether you are an established business or whether you are someone who's going to experience their first Black Friday Cyber Monday this year, you know that the most important thing you need is a platform that can handle everything that's about to be thrown at you. You don't want to find out that your inventory is off while orders are streaming in, or you don't want to find out that your point of sale system can't keep up with all the requests, many of which are from new customers who are buying your products for the first time. You need to make sure that your tools and platform are ready for anything that comes your way during the busiest weekend of the year.

30:49And that's why you need Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all e-commerce in the US. from household names to entrepreneurs who will be participating in their first Black Friday Cyber Monday this year. You can stress less knowing that Shopify's award-winning customer support team is on standby 24-7 to help with any issues that arise. And you can attract customers with the ease of a convenient checkout through ShopPay, which is Shopify's expedited checkout, which has been proven to boost conversions. So if you want to give customers the best possible experience this holiday season, you need Shopify.

31:25This Black Friday, join the thousands of new entrepreneurs hearing for the first time with Shopify. Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com slash paula. That's shopify.com slash paula. Go to shopify.com slash paula and make this Black Friday one to remember.

31:48This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart Choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your Progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at Progressive.com. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

32:30Everything has gotten more expensive lately. I mean, my grocery bill is substantially higher than what I used to pay. Because things are so expensive, it can be really easy to overestimate how much things are going to cost. In fact, 72 % of Americans overestimate the actual cost of life insurance. With PolicyGenius, real users have gotten 20-year,$2 million policies for just$53 a month. PolicyGenius helps you compare your options by getting quotes from America's top insurers in just a few clicks, and their team of licensed agents will answer questions, handle paperwork, and lay out all your options clearly.

33:04Coverage amounts, prices, terms. PolicyGenius has thousands of five-star reviews on Google and Trustpilot, and it's the country's leading online insurance marketplace. Secure your family's future with PolicyGenius. Head to PolicyGenius.com to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you could save. That's PolicyGenius.com.

33:34We've been for the last several minutes talking about memory, but there's also some wisdom to forgetting. So you have a particular method called the faster method for learning faster, learning more quickly. And it starts the F in fasters for forgetting. Faster or faster is an acronym to learn any subject or skill faster. And I think, again, an individual or a team's ability to learn rapidly and translate that learning into action is the ultimate competitive advantage. Because if you can learn how to learn faster, then what can you apply that to? Everything. Money, marketing, management, martial arts, music, Mandarin, everything gets easier if you can learn how to learn fast, right?

34:17And so the F, it's an acronym. The F stands for forget, which is weird because I'm a memory coach. But if you want to learn faster, part of what keeps us learning slowly or not as efficiently is thinking we know it already, right? Because your cup is full. And sometimes you have to empty your cup in order to put new information in. your mind is like a parachute. It only works when it's open, right? And so having that sense of curiosity and forgetting, I would say you forget at least two things if you want to learn a subject or skill faster. Number one, you forget about what you know about the subject.

34:54So that way you can be open to entertain a new perspective and then you could deliberate and kind of figure out what works for you. But besides forgetting what you know about a subject, you also want to forget about distractions. And I know it's easier said than done. a lot of people multitask. Multitasking to listeners, it's really a myth. So it's actually something more accurately described as task switching, that we're not actually multitasking when we think we're multitasking. We're actually task switching. We're doing something and then switching to another. The challenges for your productivity, your performance, even your profitability, there's three challenges to multitasking.

35:32Number one, it wastes time. The thing you think you're gaining is the thing you're losing because it could take five or 10 minutes to regain your focus on that new task. All right. Number two is mistakes, meaning the brain can't do two cognitive activities at once. It's kind of like texting and driving. We're not going to do either one and we're going to make mistakes or accidents. I train a lot of medical professionals and we know doctors, surgeons, when they're doing an operation, if they multitask, they're more likely to make surgical errors, which is probably not a good thing. And then besides losing time and making more mistakes by trying to multitask, the third thing that it's costing you is energy.

36:13So if you're focused, let's say you're on email, part of your brain is lit up, right? A cognitive web. And then you go from there to writing. And then all of a sudden you have to shut down this cognitive web, turn on another one. And what does it require? A lot of energy, a lot of blood glucose, right? And so if anyone ever feels a little bit enervated or depleted, maybe you have too many tabs open because when you switch from task to task to task, it uses an immense amount of energy. Your brain is only 2 % of your body weight, but it requires 20 % of the energy and the nutrients. It's like an energy hog.

36:47And so, yeah, I really think monotasking is definitely the way to go to get more done in less time. So that's the F. You forget what you know and you forget distractions. And if something does come up and you're ruminating, just write it down. Or even some people will actually schedule their distractions. If something keeps on coming up in like a client issue, just say, okay, later today at 4.15, I'll worry about it then. But it allows them to clear and release it. The A in FAST stands for active, meaning I want to remind everyone that learning is not a spectator sport. We do not learn. We've discovered more about the human brain in the past 20 years than the previous 2000 years combined.

37:26And we found we're grossly underestimating our own capabilities, but we know the brain doesn't learn best through consumption. It actually learns better through creation and co-creation. And so when I say active learning, you can be more active as people are listening, they could take notes, right? If you want to watch a great video, just search my name, how to take notes, millions of views and the whole brain note-taking technique. Something simple everyone could do is to overcome that forgetting curve that you mentioned, where we forget most things, is, now by the way, handwriting notes and digital note-taking.

38:00I don't know if you have a preference. Oh, I handwrite. I absolutely handwrite. And you're right on. The research shows when students, research studies with college students, when people handwrite notes or digitally note-take, the people who actually handwrite notes have better comprehension and they have better retention. And I could go through all the reasons why. But digital is definitely great for storing, sharing, but handwriting notes will give you better learning. We actually have a process inside of our company where I handwrite everything, including even if I'm brainstorming, what needs to be done?

38:31What's next? I handwrite everything. And then I have an assistant who actually then takes my handwritten notes and puts it into a Monday.com task management. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah, I love that. And that's the perfect blend. So, you know, a simple way of handwriting notes is better. I would challenge everyone. Something simple they could do is put a line right down the page, vertical line, cutting the page in half. And on the left side, you capture on the right side, create. So very subtle difference. On the left side, you're taking notes, how to remember names, how to read faster. On the right side, though, you, instead of note taking, you're note making.

39:09So you're writing your impressions of what you're capturing. So maybe you're writing on the right side, how can I use this? How does this relate to what I know? What questions do I have? And so on. But it's a way of left brain and right brain. And this is an oversimplification, but they see your left brain is more logical. So you're capturing on a logical linear ideas. The right side is more creative and you're creating what you're saying. You're like, when am I going to use this? How does this connect with what I already know? Is this true? That kind of thing. But it's a kind of a whole brain note-taking technique.

39:39That's one way of being more active. Because I just want to remind everyone who's listening, we don't learn best by just trying to push information inside of our head. There's this responsibility that we have to be able to not put it on the teacher or the expert is to put it more, but responsibility on ourself. The S in FAST stands for state. And what I mean by that is all learning is state dependent. State is the mood of your mind and your body. Because one of the keys to a long-term memory is information by itself is very forgettable, but information when it's combined with emotion becomes unforgettable.

40:16I'm sure there's a song you could hear that could take you back to when you were a teenager, or a food or a fragrance that could take you back to your childhood. Because the information, when it's tied with emotion, becomes unforgettable. It's the middle part of your brain. We have this part of your brain looks like a seahorse and that's called your hippocampus when the function is memory. Connected to that seahorse is this almond shaped part of your brain called your amygdala, which is a switching station for emotions. But it's interesting that memory and emotions are connected inside your nervous system.

40:52So we tend to remember things that touch us emotionally, right? So the S in fast is state is never learn something in a dull state. I mean, even if you think about school, what was the primary emotion you felt sitting in class? Or what do you think most people felt sitting in class? Typically boredom. Boredom, right? And on the emotional scale, zero to 10, what's boredom? Zero, right? And if it's information times emotion becomes a long-term memory, if the emotion is boredom or zero, What's anything times zero? Right, zero. And you wonder why you forgot the periodic table or all the stuff we learned back in school.

41:30So what I'm saying to people that are listening, how do you use this is to control your state. Like right now, everybody sit the way you'd be sitting if you're very interested and focused in learning what you're learning, right? And I'm hoping nobody had to move because you're naturally just very enthralled in this conversation. But people know that their physiology could affect their psychology. that when you change your facial expressions or your shoulders or something, it changes it. And if you're on a scale of zero to 10, you feel like, I don't know, five out of excitement, you can gamify it.

42:01Like, how do I feel? How can I make it a six or seven? Right? Because that emotion will help you to retain. You never want to learn something in a bored state. And the thing is, is we control how we feel. Going back to responsibility, I remember I got to introduce two mentors of mine who wanted to meet each other. It was Richard Branson and Stan Lee, the creator of all these superheroes. And I'm very passionate about superheroes because I mentioned I couldn't read as a child. I taught myself how to read by looking at comic books. Something about the pictures brought the stories to life and the words to life.

42:35And something also about the stories, it was like one person can make a difference. These superheroes are flawed, but through their struggle, they gain strength and they could offer people hope and help. And it's kind of like really resonated with me, but Stan, you know, we're in the car and I had to ask, I was like, you've created all these amazing superheroes. Who's your favorite? And he says, Jim, my favorite is Iron Man. And he says, Jim, who's your favorite? And he had this, I posted this on social media and I got a Spider-Man tie going to dinner. And I was like, Spider-Man. And without a pause in his iconic voice, he goes with great power comes great responsibility, right?

43:13And I had three head injuries before the age of 12. And maybe because of it, I reverse things sometimes when I read or when I hear it. And I heard something different. And I was like, you're right, staying with great power comes great responsibility. And the opposite is also true. With great responsibility comes great power. When we take responsibility for something, we have great power to make things better. When we take responsibility for our finances, we have great power to make things better. We take responsibility for our relationship, our happiness, our health, our brain, if you will. We have great power to be able to make things better.

43:48So I just think that I think most important to be responsible for is how you feel, right? That you are, I want to remind everybody as a coach, this is something everyone knows, that you are a thermostat. You're not a thermometer. Like think about the metaphor. Or a thermometer, if it was in this room, its only function is it reacts to the environment, right? It just reacts to whatever the environment's giving it. A thermostat doesn't do that. A thermostat, it gauges the temperature. It knows what's going on, just like we can know what's going on. But what does it do different than a thermometer?

44:24A thermostat sets a temperature. And then what happens to the environment? The environment reacts to it, right? And that's what leadership is in a way, right? You set for you. You've taken the invisible and make it visible. You've built this huge platform, right? And it started in your mind because you set a temperature and then the environment reacted to it. And so I think we could set that temperature, whether it's a KPI, it's a goal, it's a dream, whatever it happens to be. But we take ownership over that. And so while you have a to-do list, I think it's equally important to have a to-feel list.

45:00What are three emotions I want to cultivate today? Maybe it's love or compassion or it's focus, whatever it happens to be. Because feelings are not things we have. They're things that we do. And there's a process for generating that emotion or energy. And then finally, the T in fast, if you want to learn any subject faster, teach it, right? It's called, in science, they call it the explanation effect. The explanation effect says if you want to learn something better, learn it with the intention of explaining it to another person. person. So if everybody who's listening had to give a TEDx talk next week about what some of the takeaways from this conversation, they would focus better.

45:44They would take more enhanced notes. They would post more questions online. They would make it very personal. And so when you teach something, you get to learn it twice. And it's one of the fastest ways of learning something. So whenever I want to learn something better, I use that fast kind of framework. I'm saying, can I set aside distractions? Can I set aside what I think I know about this subject so I can learn something new? Can I be active by taking notes and asking questions? Can I enhance my emotions or curiosity, excitement so my state is in a better place so I don't be bored and I could take responsibility for how I feel so I can learn it better?

46:18And then can I learn it to explain it to somebody else? Simple things, but it's often the simple things, just I imagine with your work, the simple things that people can do that gives them most of what they want. What are some of the biggest misconceptions around learning? Yeah. So these myths are pretty pervasive. I talk about seven lies to learning because a big part of achieving something to becoming more limitless is unraveling and unlearning some of the things that's in our mindset. I had to learn that my - Your BS, your belief systems. Yeah, exactly. Your BS. And because your brain is this incredible supercomputer and your self-talk is the program that will run.

47:00So if you tell yourself, I'm not good at remembering names, you will not remember the name of the next person you meet because you program a supercomputer not to. If people truly understood how powerful 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 one negative thought ruins your life any more than eating that donut will ruin your life. But if you eat that donut 20 times a day, every single day, it's going to have an effect, right? There's going to be a consequence. So you have to unravel these lies. And lie for me is another acronym.

47:31I use a lot of acronyms. Oh, wait, I remember this one. No, I don't remember this. Okay. Limiting. Yeah. Limiting. Oh, the L is limiting. I forget the I. The I is a idea. So it's a limited idea that you're entertaining. So for me, lie stands for limited idea entertain. Like it's not true that somebody is too old or they're not smart enough or what have you. But if your belief is that, then you're not going to be able to do what you need to be able to do because all behavior is belief driven, right? There's a sequence or syntax of success. You be, then you do, then you have, then you could share, right?

48:12But a lot of people want to jump to the have part. They, I don't know, they play the lotto, right? And even a lot of winners, what happens? You probably know, like, what happens to the majority of those lot of winners over time? They end up losing all of their money. Yeah. Relatively quickly. Yeah. And then some too, because they jumped, if it's be, do, have, share, they jumped to the have part. They have millions of dollars, but they were never being a millionaire. So they weren't doing the things that people were - That inculcated the habits, yeah. Yeah. The things that you teach, right? So they jumped to there.

48:44And so there's a syntax to success. And so while it's important to have a to-do list, I think it's very important to have a to-be list. Like even when people are faced with a situation right now or a dilemma or decision, most people say, what do I need to do? I would say more importantly is ask yourself, who do you need to be at this moment? And then go from there because all behavior is belief-driven. So going back to these lies, like an example of one of these lies is that knowledge is power, Right. Even I said it, it's so pervasive. But is it really true? There are a lot of people who know something, but their life is no better off.

49:19So knowledge, the truth is knowledge is not power. The truth is knowledge is potential power. It only becomes powerful when we apply it. Right. And so a lot of people buy books and they sit on your shelf unread and it becomes shelf help, not self help. Right. And but the person who actually reads the book and doesn't do anything with it, their life is no better off than somebody who's illiterate and couldn't read the book to begin with. So I want to encourage everyone, I believe, and I challenge everyone who's listening, for every hour you spend learning something, schedule an hour to put it into practice.

49:53You listen to an audio book or you read a book or you get a lecture or coach or you listen to this podcast, put it into play. There's three questions I ask all the time to take knowledge and turn it into power. Number one, how can I use this? I'm obsessed with this question. So whenever I'm reading something or I'm listening to something, I'm saying, how can I use this? And then I come up with all these ideas. Second question I ask, why must I use this? Because a lot of people know what to do, but common sense is not common practice. So it has to go from your head to your heart, then to your hands, right?

50:23That hard part is the emotion that we talked about. So important, your state. So I asked myself, how can I use this? Why must I use this? And the third question I ask, when will I use this? Because I think one of the most important productivity performance tools we have is our calendar. But a lot of people, they don't schedule their growth or they don't schedule their self-care or they don't schedule their application of what they just learned. And then they're onto the next thing, right? And then they just never get the traction. One of the best pieces of advice that I heard with regard to going to a conference, because many people go to conferences, they attend sessions, they get inspired, and then they go right back into their normal default lives, which is full of email and messaging and deadlines and meetings.

51:10And so they never actually implement any of the things they learn. One of the best pieces of advice that I got was anytime that you go to a conference, set aside at least one or two days at the end of that conference, immediately afterwards, to just focus on implementing what you learned, setting up the systems that allow you to implement what you learned. And when you inform people, hey, I'm going to be out of office to be at this conference, just tack on an extra two days at the end. Tell everybody that that conference is two days longer than it actually is, right? Yeah, it's absolutely critical because again, it's a difference again with people who just, and learning is great, but knowing is half the battle, but action is the other half, right?

51:53And so training yourself to take information, again, And it's speed of learning, but it's also speed of execution. Right. And so again, an individual's ability to learn rapidly and translate that learning into action is by far the biggest competitive advantage anybody could have today. Other myths and misconceptions about learning. So there is one that we use 10 % of our brain. Yeah. I don't know where that came from, the 10 % myth, but we actually use all of our brain. So that's the truth. Just like we use all of our body, right? We use all our body throughout the day. But here's the difference.

52:28Some people just use their brain better than others because it's trained. If somebody is very athletic and they need to go up a hill, they can do it with ease and enjoyment because they have a trained body. Same thing with the brain. You're still going to use 100 % of your brain, but some people use it much more efficiently and effectively because they're mentally fit. right i think your brain while it's an organ it reacts more like a muscle and how do you build a muscle like you go to the gym and you give it novelty and you give it nutrition right you give some kind of stimulus you exercise it you challenge it and then you feed and you nourish it same thing with your mental muscles so there's something called neuroplasticity neuroplasticity is a phenomenon that our brain can make new connections through through challenge right through stimulus through novelty.

53:18And the two keys for neuroplasticity is novelty and nutrition, right? Similar to your body, you have novelty and you can feed it also. There's not a magic pill, but there is a process for accessing more of this. So yes, we do not use 10 % of our brain. We all use a hundred percent of our brain. It's just some people, their brain is more fit so they can get more done in far less time. Yeah. But it's nice to unravel these beliefs because even at conferences, and I know you speak at events, people will talk to you like in the lobby or before or after your talk. And people, once they see I'm there, they'll say like, oh, I know you're a memory expert.

53:56They say, I have a horrible memory or I'm just too old and I'm not smart enough. And I always say, stop. If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them. If you fight for your limits, they're yours. And the simple thing you can do is audit. Once you're self-aware and you know you're having these thoughts, catch yourself. If you find yourself saying, I don't have a great memory, just catch yourself and say, add a little word like yet at the end. I don't have a great memory yet because it opens up the possibility. And those words make a big difference. Right. Our thoughts are our things.

54:29Right. The other day, I did an interview with a guy by the name of Ryan Johnson. He was one of the founders of this company called Opendoor, which is a real estate technology company. and he said something that was really interesting. He said, just as the millennials were the last generation to remember what life was like before the internet, really the first generation to grow up with the internet, Gen Alpha, who are children right now, they are the AI generation. They're going to be the first generation to grow up with AI. What does that mean for them when it comes to learning, when it comes to the brain?

55:08And what does it mean for the rest of us as well? Yeah. I asked myself, how does AI enhance your HI, your human intelligence? So for me, AI is not so much artificial intelligence, it's augmented intelligence. It's there to be a partner or tool to support you, right? In your own growth and your own success. And so some of the ways that we recommend in the book on how to use AI to enhance your human intelligence are things like neuroplasticity that people aren't sure what that is. They could go to an AI chat and say, explain to me neuroplasticity as if I am 10 years old. And then it would give you a nice summary or that starts a foundation for your learning for that new subject.

55:55We have a podcast done about, you have about 400 episodes we've done. And sometimes if I'm interviewing an expert and I I don't get their book in time. And I always prefer to read a print book. It's kind of my bias. Same, same. I insist on a print book. I won't even do an interview without a print book. Yeah. And that's from the same way because it's just, I just, I don't need another reason to be on a screen and reading a PDF or Kindle, ideally. But let's say I don't get their book for shipping reasons or whatever. And then I could go into an AI program and say, summarize this book. I could go in there and say, I'm interviewing this person for the Jim Quick podcast.

56:33proposed 10 questions that they haven't been asked before that would be especially relevant to this audience, right? I don't use things exactly verbatim, but it provides a creative partner. So it augments my intelligence to be able to do that. Speed reading, we have the students at 195 nations, the largest accelerated learning online kind of curriculum out there for memory focus, all those things. We use AI to measure people's reading speed, reading comprehension, the reading rate in all the strategies and limitless whether it's retrieval practice which is the art of asking yourself questions about what you just learned ai could generate those questions for you to quiz you about the the areas that you aren't really well versed or understanding it could do something called space repetition which is in order to learn something you consolidate from your short to long-term memory space repetition is spreading out the learning and reviewing it like an hour later, a day later, a week later, a month later, and help you ingrain that information.

57:36AI could provide also personalized learning. Like for us, we have a Jim Quick bot for our students, and we fed it all of my curriculum and courses and some information that's not out in the public. But you could go there and you could ask it things like, we talk about the power of mind mapping, right? That was another whole brain note-taking technique. Like AI could mind map and take notes for you. You could put like, this is my subject matter. Can you mind map this content? We talk about a memory palace in there, how ancient Greeks used 2 ,500 years ago and a wonderful way to be able to memorize large, vast amount of information.

58:15So AI could produce a memory palace for you to help learn things better. So AI is a wonderful way. I mean, obviously technology is not good or bad. It's just how it's applied. Like fire is probably the earliest form of technology. Fire could be used to cook your food or fire could be used to burn down your home. It's just how it's applied. Because I know a lot of people are a little bit intimidated or even frightened about AI. You know, I tend to be more optimistic. But my question is, how do I use AI to improve my intelligence, our clients' intelligence and their performance? And so we have all these wonderful suggestions that are science-based to help you get an edge.

58:58what are some of the best actionable practices in order to have a better brain? We recently hired two full-time positions through Indeed.com, but they needed very different skill sets. So one of the positions was an executive assistant. The other was a customer support and operations assistant. Those are different skill sets, different job requirements, different types of experience. And so finding the right person with the right skills, that really matters. And you can do that with Indeed. Indeed Sponsored Jobs helps you stand out and hire quality candidates who can drive the results you need because Sponsored Jobs boosts your post for quality candidates so you can reach the exact people that you want faster.

59:40Sponsored Jobs posted on Indeed are 90 % more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. And 1.6 million companies sponsor their jobs with Indeed. We used Indeed Sponsored Jobs to hire for those two positions. We've filled both positions quickly, and they are great members of our team. And with Indeed Sponsored Jobs, you only pay for results. No monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts. And in the minute I've been talking to you, 27 hires were made on Indeed. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results now with Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

1:00:13And listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash Paula. Just go to Indeed.com slash Paula right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash Paula. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring? Do it the right way with Indeed. We've all set health goals. Exercise more, eat better, lose weight. But without a plan, they often fade. That's where Prolon comes in. Its five-day fasting mimicking diet gives you a structured approach to stay on track and see real results. Prolon offers an injection-free way to get help to lose weight, get help to burn fat while protecting lean muscle, and maintain results.

1:01:02In just five days, it can help activate fasting pathways to help support metabolic health and rejuvenate cells, all while letting you enjoy real food. Prolon is a plant-based nutrition program featuring soups, snacks, and beverages that are designed to help nourish the body while keeping it in a fasting state. If I were looking for something like this, this is what I'd use, because Prolon has been shown to support metabolic health, fat loss, and energy. And NextGen builds on the original Prolon with 100 % organic soups and teas and ready-to-eat meals. For a limited time, Prolon is offering listeners 15 % off site-wide plus a$40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their five-day program.

1:01:40Just visit ProlonLife.com slash Paula. That's P-R-O-L-O-N-L-I-F-E dot com slash Paula to claim your 15 % discount and your bonus gift. prolonlife.com slash Paula. These statements and products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition.

1:02:12What are some of the best practices, the best actionable practices that this audience can do in order to have a better brain? to build a better brain. Yeah, building a better brain is really the holy grail. Your brain is your number one wealth-building asset, so you need to take care of it really well. If you're watching this video, then let's say I have a brain on my shirt. I'm always in photographs pointing to my brain because first and foremost, what you see, you take care of. You see your hair, you see your clothing, you see your car, you take care of the thing that you're seeing, but you don't see your brain.

1:02:48So that's why I'm always pointing to my brain to remind everyone to love their brain. Right. For those of you watching on YouTube, I'm also holding a copy of Entrepreneur Magazine. You're on the cover. This is the June 2021 issue of Entrepreneur. You are on the cover of the magazine holding a brain, a skull with a visible brain. And the title is Upgrade Your Brain. Because we upgrade, think about it, like how many people upgrade their phones, right? And the apps and the others. We upgrade all this technology on a regular basis, but when's the last time we upgraded the most important technology that is creating our brains, which creates everything.

1:03:23The book Limitless is very fortunate. It's heavily endorsed by the founding director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Brain Health, the number one Alzheimer's doctor in the world at Harvard. And when I speak at these institutions, we know about one third of your brain's performance is predetermined by genetics and biology, but two thirds is in your control, right? and so and we donated 100 % of the proceeds to Limitless to charity to Alzheimer's research in memory of my grandmother we've also used proceeds to build schools in Ghana Guatemala Kenya all over the world so this is a real mission for us your grandmother had dementia yeah so I lost her at seven when I was seven years old so kind of informed where I was going within my life but going back to your brain when I speak at these institutions There are 10 things that can move the needle that we have influence over.

1:04:12I would encourage everyone, these are all actionable. So I'll go through them really quick. What I recommend people do to make it more active, take notes, they can write it down. And then all I ask people to do is rate themselves zero to 10. On a scale of zero to 10, how much energy and effort, time did you put into this category in the past seven days? So the first one is a good brain diet. What you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. And so there are certain foods that are extremely neuroprotective that this whole area of science in the chapter called neuro nutrition, that your brain requires different nutrients than the rest of your body.

1:04:48So some of my favorite brain foods, avocados, blueberries, I like to call them brain berries, broccoli is really good for the brain. Olive oil is good if you use that in your meals. If your diet allows eggs, the choline in eggs is very good for your brain for cognitive health. Green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach. Wild salmon or sardines, that's where you get your DHAs, your omega-3, which is your brain is mostly fat. And so those fatty fishes. Turmeric is wonderful for the brain. There's an active ingredient called cumin, which is very anti-inflammatory. Walnuts, high in vitamin E, very neuroprotective.

1:05:25And my favorite, dark chocolate. Do you drink alcohol? Rarely. Not so great on the brain. Not so good for my sleep either. A lot of people could use alcohol and they think it's going to help them sleep better, but really what it does is knock you out and you're not getting the deep sleep and the REM sleep as much as being unconscious. But going back to zero to 10 on a scale of zero to 10, because what would get you a lower score is heavily processed foods, right? With all the additives and the chemicals, the neurotoxins, the fried foods, the high sugar that spikes your glucose, not so good. But the second thing besides a good brain diet that will move the needle for everyone is killing ants.

1:06:10It's clinically proven to be good for your brain. And ants, of course, is an acronym, Automatic Negative Thoughts. And we talked about this. How optimistic is the conversation you're having in your mind? Are you beating yourself up? Are you saying I'm not smart enough and all that? But on a scale of zero to 10, because those thoughts matter. We talked about your brain's like a supercomputer of thoughts, so the program it will run. So just be very careful, zero to 10. third one is exercise and yes i mean your general workouts but i mean just also moving throughout the day they say sitting is a new smoking and we're behind screens all day and the number one reason you have a brain is to control your movement and as your body moves your brain grooves right and so we have a one-year-old and he went from crawling to standing to now walking and it's just part of his brain development it's not just his physical development as he does the these cross laterals as he crawls or learns how to walk.

1:07:04It actually stimulates different parts of your brain. Also exercise. When you exercise, you create dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, which are these neurotransmitters that are so important to cognitive health, cognitive performance. When you exercise, you also create something called brain derived neurotropic factors, BDNF, which is fertilizer for your brain for new learnings. And so people can do the exercise and find something that works best for them. Even when you go to mybrainanimal.com, based on your animal, it actually directs what kind of exercises you naturally want to do also as well.

1:07:40So we'll provide that all to you free. And then besides exercise, what I'm saying is moving throughout the day. It's so important to even take a brain break. There's something called the Pomodoro technique that we teach. And they says that after about 25, 30 minutes, upwards to an hour, there's a sharp decline in our focus and our mental vitality. So taking a five-minute brain break to hydrate, because your brain is mostly water, we had a nutritionist, a neuroscientist on, and she said that if you're just dehydrated 2%, it could compromise your cognitive health and cognitive performance. So yes, always be hydrating.

1:08:16Taking a sip of, those of you watching on YouTube, I'm taking a sip of water right now. Because your brain is upwards of 75 % plus water. And so it's very important to hydrate. So when I take a brain break. It's five minutes. What I do, I hydrate. I do some deep breathing to kind of clean the mental cobwebs and I move. So just on a scale of zero to 10, how much did you move in the past seven days? Number four is brain supplements. And this is what fall in this is nootropic. So I would prefer people get it from their diet, but if they're not getting eggs, the choline in eggs, they could supplement with choline.

1:08:47If they're not getting the fish, then they could supplement with the omega-3s, right? But then there's this another class of supplementations that not for cognitive health, but for cognitive performance, human studies that show it improves focus, memory, mood, and memory, right? I mean, memory and mental energy. So nootropics are those classes of supplements. And we put a list of my favorite, most current ones at brainnutrition.com. So just a free list and it's all human studies based. We give you that research or it's detailed in the book, but people haven't had the book, they could get that for free online as a resource.

1:09:23But some of my favorite nootropics, things like creatine, most people associate that with exercise, but it's not just great for your workout. There's so many human studies showing that it's actually really good for your brain. The mitochondria energy production in your brain helps to actually offset some of the bad sleep. If you had a bad night's sleep, creatine is there. Ginkgo biloba, we've heard that a lot. It helps increase blood flow. And if you get more blood flow in your brain, you get more oxygen. Stuff like bacopa is an herb that could potentially help you to have a better cognitive performance.

1:09:57There's another one that I am fond of. It's a whole coffee fruit extract. So it's actually the whole coffee fruit that's usually discarded when you're making coffee. It has no caffeine, but it's very powerful in terms of your cognitive health and cognitive performance. So there are a lot of lion's mane adaptogenic herb. You see people are hearing more about it also as well. So we have a comprehensive list of dozens of things people could get again at brainnutrition.com. That's number four. Number five, positive peer group. And you know this, who you spend time with is who you become because the reason why they say we're the average of the five people we spend time with, or they say if you're around nine broke people, be careful because you're going to be number 10, right?

1:10:42But the reason why from a science perspective is we have something called mirror neurons and we're constantly imitating the people around us. I always tell people, watch, this is what we're imitating. The W's are words. We start using the same language and words as people around us, slang, everything. The A in watch are actions. We start behaving like the people around us. Whether or not you smoke has less to do with your neurological networks, more with your social networks. If your friends smoke, you're more likely to smoke. If they meditate, you're more likely to meditate. If they go to the gym, you're more likely to go to the gym, right?

1:11:13I'm guessing the tea and watch is thoughts. Yes. That's very good. So it's your thoughts because your thoughts are things. We start having the same thoughts as people around us and belief systems and then see as character. We start modeling the integrity and the standards of the people around us. And finally, the H are habits. We do a whole chapter in Limitless about how to create habits, how to break disempowering habits from the latest research. And first you create your habits, then your habits create you. You create your habits of eating well or reading or doing whatever, and those habits create you back.

1:11:44So positive peer group, zero to 10, because we all need people to encourage us, cheerlead for us, challenge us, be kind to us. And if you haven't found that person, be that person for somebody else, right? Especially be that person for yourself. So zero to 10. Because those energy vampires could damage your brain, the people you spend time with. And sometimes they're the people like family members. It's not easy. And a lot of those people have good intentions too. Maybe they're just like, why always listen to those podcasts and going to those conferences and reading those books, but maybe they don't want to lose you because you're growing.

1:12:15Or maybe they don't want you to get hurt and get your hopes up, right? People could be sincere, but they could be sincerely wrong. My general guideline is don't take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from. And don't take advice from anyone who doesn't have the results that you want. completely because the life you live are the lessons you teach. So we can learn from everyone, either as an example or as a warning. So that's number five. Number six is a clean environment. Very simply, we know your external world is a reflection of your internal world. You clean your desk, you make your bed, or you put everything in the right file folder on the computer.

1:12:51You have clarity of thought, right? Because you're not spending a lot of, wasting a lot of mental energy trying to remember where everything is, right? You have too many tabs open. But not just that, clean air. We just did a podcast on that. Just a lot of neurotoxins offsetting from carpets or new furniture, lights. In office buildings, they use a lot of fluorescent lights, which has been shown in rats to make them crazed. It's a challenge, but it's very cheap to have. And so just clean environment. Number seven is probably the big one that most people are struggling with, sleep. Not optional.

1:13:24Yeah, exactly. And it's not a reward. It's a requirement. But when you get a bad night's sleep, how's your sleep generally? It's good. Sleep is a high priority for me. Sometimes that means I miss out on other things. So if I have to skip a session at the gym in order to sleep, sleep always takes priority. I feel the same way. Sleep for your brain. When you don't get a good night's sleep, how's your brain function the next day? It doesn't. You can't remember things. You can't solve problems. You have no energy. You're exhausted. You can't focus. When you sleep for your brain, a few things happen.

1:13:59Number one, that's where you consolidate short to long-term memory. So if you have memory issues, long-term memory issues, check your sleep. You can do an overnight sleep study. They're very inexpensive. You can do it from your home. Number two, it's where you clean out beta amyloid plaque. The sewage system kicks on in your brain when you sleep. So it cleans out those beta amyloid plaque that can lead to brain aging challenges like dementia. And the third reason you sleep is for your brain is it's where you come up with your best ideas. People don't realize this, but in your dream state, like Mary Shelley came up with Frankenstein in her dreams.

1:14:31Paul McCartney came up with the song yesterday in his dream. Like, it's amazing. Elias Howe created the sewing machine in his dream. A chemist created the periodic table in his dream because your brain doesn't shut off at night. In some ways, it's more active, integrating everything it's learned and processing. And so one of the most powerful and popular episodes we've ever done is you search my name, how to remember your dreams. Because a lot of people, they have gold in there, but they forget their dreams, you know, the next morning. So sleep. And my favorite sleep tips for me, because this is really science, direct sunlight first thing in the morning.

1:15:06That's mandatory. You get 10 minutes, not through the window, because the window could filter out certain spectrums of light. but your eyes need to connect with that light because your eyes are only part of your brain that's outside your skull. And what it does, if you could do it first thing in the morning, is it resets your circadian rhythm to help you sleep better that night. Number two, for me, I'm very sensitive to caffeine, so I can't do caffeine past 2 p.m. Some people could do expressos at night. I'm jealous, but I can't do that. So be concerned of the caffeine intake. But the two biggest ones, so the key is to get the melatonin production.

1:15:43And melatonin is the hormone that helps you to relax. And the triggers for melatonin are twofold. Hundreds or thousands of years ago, we would know it's time to sleep because the environment would tell you. It would get darker and it would get colder. But in modern day conveniences, it doesn't have to get colder, nor does it have to get darker, right? You have an in-track lighting and everything else. And so the darker, not so it's so cold though, that it's, you're shivering because that would keep you up. But if you take a warm shower or a warm bath, the Epsom salt, actually the magnesium that you absorb transdermally will help you to relax also.

1:16:20And then when you leave that hot shower or bath, your core body temperature drops and that's a signal to produce melatonin and the darker, right? And so the big thing though, is even if the lights are off and you're on your phone. It's the blue light from the screen that mimics daylight and it fools your mind into thinking it's still daytime. And so you won't go into that kind of rest and digest kind of place. So darker, colder sleep. So how should everyone sleep? And finally, eight, nine, 10, eight is brain protection. Very simple. I had three brain injuries before age 12. Protect your brain.

1:16:54Your brain's very resilient, but it's very fragile at the same times. Wear a helmet, avoids extreme sports. Number nine, big one, new learnings. So important. Learning every day will actually help you live longer. There was a study that was on cover of Time Magazine. They studied these group community of nuns that were living 80, 90 and above. They wanted to research to find what's the key to their long life. Half of it was their faith and emotional gratitude. The other half, they were lifelong learners. They were studying every single day. They were talking deep conversations and so on. And because of it, it added years to their life and life to their years.

1:17:32The study was called Aging with Grace. So have your to learn list, right? And what's on your to learn list. And the best thing for me personally is reading. Reading is the best exercise. Reading is to your mind what exercise is to your body. If people have seen or connect on social media and see me with Elon or Oprah or whoever, people ask, like, how'd you connect? We bonded over books because you read to succeed. Somebody has decades of experience they put into a book and you sit down in a few days and read that book, you could download decades into days. You know, I had the opportunity to meet Warren Buffett years ago when I asked him, is this true that you read?

1:18:09He's like, yes, I read 500 pages a day, 500 pages a day. Because again, the more you know, the better decisions you can make. There's a quote that says, life is the letter C between B and D. What does that mean? B is birth, D is death, life C, choice. And I truly believe these difficult times can distract you. These difficult times can diminish you or these difficult times they could actually develop you. We ultimately decide with these choices that we make. And so the choice to be able to read or to feed your mind or prioritize your sleep, everybody has an alarm clock to wake up. I recommend you have an alarm clock to go to bed because your brain loves that schedule.

1:18:49Even on the weekends, if you could go to sleep around the same time, wake up at the same time, you'll sleep better. And then finally, number 10 is stress management. And I just want to remind everyone that chronic stress will shrink your brain. You're in fight or flight. It holds you hostage in your survival brain, away from your executive functioning, your ability to solve problems and so on. You know, when you're in this corridor, it's all adrenaline kind of place, like zero to 10, how are you mitigating that stress? Are you going to work out? Are you out in nature? Are you getting body work done?

1:19:21Are you meditating? Whatever it is. But on a scale of zero to 10, 10 being the best, how are you taking care of your stress? So there's no magic pill here, but there are these 10 things are the ones that are science proof to show, like, to make a difference. And my thing is, if you did the assessment, I've never met anyone who has 10 across the board, but if there's a couple of areas, you got to do all of this and not sleep well and you're not going to have your best brain. You can do all of this and be nutritionally deficient in certain key B vitamins or vitamin Ds. Your brain's not going to work as well as it could.

1:19:55You can do all of this and be stressed out of your mind and you're going to be in this fight or flight and you're not going to have access to your true genius. So my message for everybody is really there is a version of yourself and your brain that you haven't met yet. And the goal is we show up every single day until we're introduced. And that's the best possible version of your brain. Yeah. Your brain is, so many people also with their mind, they shrink what's possible out of fear to fit their mind. When I say, why don't we expand our mind to fit all that's really, really possible? Wow. Well, thank you so much for spending this time with us.

1:20:35Where can people find you and more of your work? Yeah. Limitlessbook.com is where people can get the book. Again, we donate all the proceeds to charities. Social media, I'm just at Jim Quick. He just has to spell it K-W-I-K. Quick really is my last name. I didn't change it to do what I do. It's my father's name, my grandfather's name. So the fact that you talk about learning faster. Right. Yeah, my destiny was pretty much planned out. Right. Take the brain quiz, everyone. Mybrainanimal.com, what I challenge everyone to do is take a screenshot. We give everyone AI art based on your animal. Take a screenshot and post it.

1:21:10and tag Paula, tag myself so we get to see it. I'll share because I'm curious what the community is dominant of those animals. And when I see it, I'll actually randomly gift out three copies, a few copies of the book to your community as a thank you. Oh, that's wonderful. For having me on the show. And then if you want more about the nutrition, go to brainnutrition.com and see the science-based supplements that could help give you a little bit of an edge, whether you're in school or in your career or in life. But yeah, 95 % of what we put out there is free. Our podcast is probably the go-to. You search my name in your podcast app.

1:21:46We have about 1.5 million people and subscribers on YouTube. We've put a lot of YouTube content out there also. Wow. Yeah. I'm curious as well. Is this community predominantly cheetah, owl, dolphin, or like me, elephant? Yeah. We'll see. Which one are you? I've taken this assessment a number of times. It stays constant. I'm a strong owl, but my secondary is an elephant, actually. I think because I suffered so much as a kid, I have this empathy. And I think it makes me a better teacher because I can remember and feel where people are struggling the way I did. But yeah, elephants have a very strong EQ also.

1:22:26That emotional quotient, which is definitely a superpower. But yeah, everyone who's listening, let us know what your brain animal is and make sure you tag us on social media so we get to see it and share this episode. Absolutely. Because when you teach it, you get to learn it twice. Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Jim. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, Jim. What are three key takeaways that we got from this conversation? Number one, the first key takeaway deals with how to enhance your memory. And it's all about using motivation and observation. Jim suggests that when you meet someone new, you should actively think about why you want to remember their name, because this intention increases your focus and aids in memory retention.

1:23:14He also emphasizes the importance of being fully present and attentive, because a lot of memory lapses or memory issues stem from a lack of observation and attentiveness rather than actual forgetfulness. When you're meeting somebody for the first time, ask yourself for a split second, why do I want to remember this person's name? Maybe it's to show the person some respect. Maybe it's to get a referral. Maybe it's to close a deal. Maybe it's to practice these things that, you know, I heard on Afford Anything, right? And if you can't come up with a reason, you won't remember because reasons reap results.

1:23:52The O in MOM stands for observation, meaning a lot of times we're not forgetting the person's name. We're just not listening for it. And so the first key takeaway is to use motivation and observation in order to help improve your memory. Key takeaway number two. This key takeaway is all about how to learn more efficiently. Jim introduces the explanation effect. This is a strategy to enhance learning and retention. He recommends that whenever you learn something, you learn it with the intention of teaching it to others, because by doing so, you deepen your understanding and solidify your aptitude within that new domain.

1:24:37You know, there's that expression, the best way to learn is by teaching. So if you learn with the intention that you plan on teaching this in the relatively near future, you will learn differently and you will learn better, right? You will more actively engage with the material. You will anticipate, hey, if I had to teach this, what other questions might somebody else have? And how would I be able to answer those questions? Or how can I take what I'm learning and reword this, put this into my own words and explain it to somebody else, right? You personalize the information and that makes it easier to recall.

1:25:14If you want to learn something better, learn it with the intention of explaining it to another person. So if everybody who's listening had to give a TEDx talk next week about what some of the takeaways from this conversation, they would focus better. They would take more enhanced notes, right? They would post more questions online. They would make it very personal. And so when you teach something, you get to learn it twice. And so that is the second key takeaway, learn with the intention of teaching. Finally, key takeaway number three, and this key takeaway is all about improving your cognitive health, consume a good brain diet.

1:25:52Jim emphasizes the importance of a good brain diet, and we're not talking about an informational diet, which is, you know, the news sources that you read or the amount of social media you take in, although that's important too. But here we're talking literally about your diet, about what foods you consume. Jim lists specific foods that are beneficial for the brain. What you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. And so there's certain foods that are extremely neuroprotective that this whole area of science in the chapter called neuro nutrition, that your brain requires different nutrients than the rest of your body.

1:26:28So some of my favorite brain foods, avocados, blueberries, I like to call them brain berries, broccoli is really good for the brain. Olive oil is good if you use that in your meals. If your diet allows eggs, the choline in eggs is very good for your brain for cognitive health. Green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach, wild salmon or sardines. Incorporating more of these foods into your diet may help improve memory, focus, and overall mental performance. Enhancing your memory, learning more efficiently, and boosting overall cognitive health. Those are three key takeaways. from this conversation with Jim Quick.

1:27:07Thank you so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, if you got value from it, please do something really important. And that is share it with someone you know, share it with a colleague, a friend, a neighbor, a sibling, share it with the people in your life, because that is how we spread the message of great financial independence. Podcasts are difficult to be discovered. People don't browse podcast playing apps, the way they browse Instagram or TikTok. And so to spread these ideas, we need you. We need your help. We need this community to go out there and advocate for spreading the message of fire in the way that I teach it.

1:27:49And I, of course, teach a different iteration of fire. It's fire with two I's, financial psychology, increasing your income, investing, real estate, and entrepreneurship. We want to share those five pillars with the world. So please share this podcast, share this episode, or any other favorite episode that you have with the people in your life. You can also follow this podcast in your favorite podcast playing app, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, any other podcast player that you enjoy. While you're there, you can also leave us up to a five-star review and please write a couple of sentences talking about what this podcast means to you, what you enjoy about it.

1:28:31We appreciate every single one of these reviews. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at affordanything.com slash newsletter. And if you want to talk about this episode with members of the community, you can do so by going to affordanything.com slash community. All of this has absolutely no cost to you. Thank you again for tuning in. This is the Afford Anything podcast. My name is Paula Pant, and I'll meet you in the next episode.