Unlocking Your Brain’s Potential with Jim Kwik

22:03Jim Kwik:No so I would say a couple things so if people seen pictures of me on social media if we're connected there with Oprah or Elon or whoever Bill Gates or whoever people always ask how we connect to be bonded over books, right? You read to succeed. And even Warren Buffett, you know, is to read 500 pages a day. Because if somebody has decades of experience, like you do, and you put into a book like you did, somebody could sit down and read that book in a few days, they could download decades of wisdom and experience into days. That's the fastest way to succeed, right? Because you're learning from other people's experience and insights.

22:33I mean, if you're a young person watching this or listening to this, this is like one of the best pieces of advice you're going to get today. Because, I mean, I didn't go to college and I started my first business when I was 18. as a laundry business. And I realized very quickly that I loved entrepreneurship, but I knew nothing about business. And so I read all the great biographies. I mean, I read Richard Branson's, Howard Schultz, you know, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Sam Walton. I mean, I literally, David Geffen, I mean, Michael Eisner. I mean, I went from every single possible biography. And honestly, those were my teachers.

23:06And I got literally all those lives experience in like a couple months of reading these books. And that's an incredible advantage, right? Yeah, a huge advantage. You don't have to make the same mistakes and the challenges that. And that's the thing I love about biographies is if someone is successful enough to write a biography, they're also comfortable enough to talk about all their mistakes. Right. And that's where you really learn, right? It's the mistakes. So I love that you brought that up, especially for young people, because it's just there's just so much knowledge out there from biographies.

23:35It's like one of my favorite things.

23:36Jim Kwik:Yeah. So I would say scheduling 30 minutes on your calendar where you could just read for 30 minutes is so very important. Great. Something that would elevate your life. I read mostly nonfiction, but at night I read fiction. Yeah, me too. I can't read something nonfiction because it gets me in that executive brain. When I want to go into parasympathetic rest and digest, I don't want to be thinking about science or business. and also there have been studies showing that people who read fiction have higher levels of emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity, and it's very soothing especially at nighttime to kind of phase you into sleep.

24:15Hello everyone. I decided not to take advertisers for this first season of No Magic Pill. Instead, I want to use a break to talk about a few things that have had a huge impact on my mental wellness journey. The first thing I spoke about in my episode with Michael Pollan. It's an AI therapy app called Sonia. Now I was super skeptical when I first heard about this, but I met the founders at a mental health conference. They encouraged me to try it. They say it was HIPAA compliant, totally secure. I've been using it for six months now. I still have my therapist, but I don't know about you, but like at 4am when I wake up with a ton of anxiety or I'm up late at night ruminating about something I wish I hadn't said, like my therapist isn't available at those times of day.

24:57So that's when I go with Sonia and it has had such a huge impact on my mental health. So the company just launched, it's in the Apple app store and they let you try it free for a couple of weeks. So whether you have a therapist or not, it can be so helpful. I've told all my friends about this, my dad's using it, my sister-in-law, and I'm even using it like a life coach as well as a therapist. Like I tell it like, hey, send me a text on Mondays and Wednesdays and make sure that I'm actually in the gym. So I want to show a real short clip of me actually using Sonia so you can get a feel for it. Come here.

25:30What's on your mind right now? Oh, I'm just feeling a little stressed about things right now because I feel like I've got so much going on and I really don't know how to prioritize it. When everything stacks up at once, it can blur what actually matters and make that old not enough story get louder. Let's slow this down by picking one thread to start with, what feels most pressing in this moment. The important reframe is this.

25:55Jim Kwik:The projects did not cure the depression. They arrived because you healed. And when you overwork to prevent relapse, you actually undermine the things that keep you well, like sleep, presence, movement, and connection. When that edge shows up, it is a signal to reduce load and restore choice, not to push harder. Do you read differently when you read nonfiction and fiction? because again, for people who aren't familiar with your work, I mean, you're one of the great teachers of how to read fast and comprehend. And so that to me feels like something I want to do when I'm reading nonfiction, when I'm reading to learn or for information.

26:30When I'm reading, you know, I don't know, a John Grisham thriller on a vacation or at night before bed, I'm not trying to rush through it. I'm actually just trying to enjoy it.

26:41Jim Kwik:So do you read differently? So there's a misnomer with speed reading. Traditional speed reading has long been associated with skimming, scanning, skipping words, getting the gist of what you read. And we train a lot of attorneys, financial advisors, and medical doctors. And you don't want your medical doctor to get the gist of what she's reading. So the goal here is that smart readers read at varying speeds. They could read faster when they're trained to do so. The challenge is reading is a skill. It's not something you're born with. When's the last time we took a class called reading? Not like a college lit class, but a class called reading.

27:16Jim Kwik:We were like six, seven years old. So we're still reading the same way we were last taught. And that's the challenge. We haven't upgraded those skills. But when reading is just like we just came back from a trip and we have a three-year-old that's learning how to ski. And it's just like that. It was not fun necessarily if you're not good at it. But when you're good at it, you're going to do it more. Same thing with reading. If you read a page in a book, get to the end, and just forgot what you just read, or your mind distracts you, it wanders, you use reading as a sedative, then you're probably not going to do it as much.

27:51Jim Kwik:Like if I played, I don't play much golf because I'm not very good at it, but if I was good, then I would do it more often. Same thing with reading. I see. So I think it's important. Like we have the, we have - Sorry to interrupt. This is, I have an 11 year old right now. And one of my biggest battles with him is how much he's reading. Right. You know, and he, his sister is eight and she reads all the time. So she just naturally is good at it and she's into it. He can still read great, but he just doesn't want to do it a lot. And it's like this battle. How do I, as a parent, because there's a lot of parents, I'm sure, listening and watching.

28:25Like, how do we get our kids to buy into the importance of reading and make it fun for them?

28:31Jim Kwik:Yeah, I would say two things. In psychology, they have something called a confidence-confidence loop. That the more confident and the more confident somebody gets at something, the more confident they are at it. okay um and so like upgrading the skills so learning how to read properly yes um like we have the number one speed reading program in the world we have students in every country in the world online you know in 21 days triple someone's reading speed with better comprehension and focus so when you could do that when you get through a book and you know a third of the time it's more fun absolutely and it's not and it's not frantic fast you never read any faster than you can understand yeah so going back to fiction i don't i could slow down and speed up but nobody could do explaining to somebody what it's like to read in terms of how all of us are capable of is like trying to explain to somebody what a rose smells like who's never smelled a rose.

29:22Jim Kwik:Nobody could do what you could do inside. No director of a movie, you know, Michael Bay, George Lucas could do what you could do inside your own mind. Got it. You know, or James Cameron with Avatar, because your imagination, you are the director of your mind. So I would say number one, upgrade skills, because then it's just more fun because you're better at it. Got it. Just like skiing or snowboarding. Number two, I think it's important for kids or adults to read something they love until they love reading. Yes. Right? Like it's the topics that they're interested in. So very important also. And also part of it is also this friction we get for changing our habits.

29:58Jim Kwik:Yeah. Like if we're not used to doing that each day, like it is a necessary, non-negotiable, like brushing your teeth. Sure. Then we're out of the habit. Yeah. You know, but I always say, you know, inch by inch is the cinch, yard by yard, it's too hard. Breaking it down into a small, simple step. So if someone wants to exercise, which is great for your brain, maybe going to the gym three times a week is too big of a jump for someone who doesn't do that. Yeah. Putting on your running shoes is a small, simple step. Like on our podcast, we had a biological dentist talking about oral hygiene and brain health.

30:28Jim Kwik:And we're talking about beyond brushing, like oil pulling and tongue scraping. And we talked about flossing. I was like, how do you get kids to floss their teeth? Get them to floss one tooth. Yeah. Because nobody's going to stop at one tooth, right? Because little by little, a little becomes a lot. So anytime you feel stuck or stalled when it comes to motivation, break it down. The question I ask myself all the time, if anyone's listening and they know they should do something, but they're not doing it. Like they can't eat the elephant. You do one bite at a time. I would say, ask this question.

30:58Jim Kwik:and I would write this down for everybody. What is the tiniest action I could take right now that will give me progress towards this goal where I can't fail? What is the tiniest action? Repeat that again, that's great. What is the tiniest action I could take right now, operative word now, that will give me progress towards this goal where I can't fail? Yeah. Right? So maybe the kids, you have to be on them to clean their room and that's like too big. Again, put one sock in the hamper. Yeah. Right? If somebody is not reading, for example, that's too big of a chore, 30 minutes a day, read one line because nobody's going to stop at one line.

31:30Jim Kwik:And then what does it do? We've talked about when you're on our podcast, dopamine. Dopamine is a molecule of motivation, right? And so when you take that small, simple step, you've earned that dopamine. And so so many people feel like when they need to motivate themselves, they have to get motivated. When taking a small, simple act will give you the dopamine that will reinforce the action over time. And so breaking things down to little pieces makes a big difference. I love that. And you also talk a lot about the importance of repetition when it comes to learning. So how do you pair those strategies?

32:08The take one small step, then also the need to create repetition to learn a new skill.

32:14Jim Kwik:Yeah. So I mean, Tony Robbins says repetition is the mother of skill. I mean, part of neuroplasticity, which is, so neuroplasticity is your brain's ability to make new connections. and through novelty, right? You need a new stimulus. Just like if you wanted to have stronger muscles, you would give it repetition, right? You would lift weights, you do more reps and then your body would respond. It would adapt. Same thing with your mental muscles. But it requires repetition to be able to change a habit, to be able to have a new thought, a new affirmation that you are enough, right? And so the repetition helps to, let's say I have a thought of learning something and I have a new idea.

32:54Jim Kwik:when you repeat it, it's, you make like a little strand, like think about it like a, like a, like a thread, or if you're walking on a path, maybe you're in a field, you walk that path, but after repetition, you do walk that path numerous times and there's a trail. Yes. Right. And so, and I think habits are so very important. You know, we talked about when you're on our podcast routines, you know, until they're so agrained that we're not necessarily rising to a level of our, you know, our dreams, we're falling to a level of our habits, right? And first you create your habits, then your habits create you.

33:24Jim Kwik:Totally. But what habits have we created by design for our brain health or mental health? And 40%, according to Duke University, they did a study, 40 % of our behavior each day is unconscious. It's habitual. But when did we sit down and actually design those habits? I see. Because those habits are creating our whole life. Wow. I totally relate to that. And I think especially when it comes to the messages we're telling ourselves. You know, we've talked about before, you know, that like, you know, you have this acronym ANT, automatic negative talk, right? Right. And I, when I was really suffering, one of the biggest unlocks for me to get out of my suffering state was realizing that for 40 years, I had had this ANT, this automatic negative talk of I am not enough.

34:13Right. And that one simple phrase was constantly going on my brain was wreaking havoc on my entire life.

34:19Jim Kwik:Yeah, one of the challenges, and I have to credit Dr. Daniel Amen for the ants, automatic negative talk or automatic negative thoughts. Yeah. You know, I realize at events, I do these memory demonstrations if there's time when I'm on stage where I'll memorize 50 people's names or 100 people's names in an audience, right? I love that you say that so casually. Like, I mean, I would love for the number of people that can memorize 100 people's names on stage to please send me a DM. I'm going to get zero. And I think it's very important, like, skill in life, right? because people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

34:51Jim Kwik:And how are you going to show somebody in your work that you're going to care for their business, their future, their health, their finances, whatever you have to offer them if you don't care enough just to remember them, right? So I think it's number one business etiquette skill, period. But it's a trained skill because my memory, as I mentioned, I struggled with for a decade and a half. There's no such thing as a good or bad memory. There's a trained memory, an untrained memory. But memory was never a class. They teach you three R's in school, reading, writing, arithmetic. Obviously, spelling is not one of them.

35:18Jim Kwik:But what about recall? What about retention? Socrates said, learning is remembering. So I think two of the most costly words in life sometimes are, I forgot. I forgot to do it. I forgot to bring it. I forgot what I was going to say. I forgot to go to that meeting. I forgot that person's name. But on the other side, memory can be a magnifier, a multiplier. When you can easily remember client information, product information, give speeches without notes, this life is so much easier. And also, we live in this expert economy where knowledge is not only power, knowledge is profit. And the faster you learn, the faster you can earn.

35:48Jim Kwik:The more knowledge that you have, you can make better decisions. There's not only this gap between those who have and those who don't have, there's a gap between those who know things and those who don't know things. That's why reading is so very important because they can make better decisions, more informed decisions. And so when it comes to a memory, everybody can learn how to remember names a little bit better. What are the top tips? Yeah, there are a number of them. And so I would say remember to be suave. And I'll just make a quick acronym, S-U-A-V-E. S, you meet someone, you say their name.

36:19Jim Kwik:Jasmine, it's nice to meet you. You repeat it, so then you get to hear it twice. The U is you use it. Use it three or four times in the context of the conversation. The A is ask. When you meet somebody's name, who's a name that you haven't heard before, everyone's favorite topic is themselves. Ask like, oh, how do you spell that? Afzal or Riddiger. Where's it from? What's it mean? Who are you named after? you know and then all of a sudden you know you have a deeper connection to that information and then the v in suave is visualized for people who are good at imagining things you can meet somebody and uh one of the people here in the studio dj like you can just imagine for a split second they're they're djing at a party for a split second yeah and it's kind of childish but children learn so quickly yes right and then once you know the information it's gone from your short to long-term memory the pictures just disappear yeah right and so you meet somebody carol and there's Christmas caroling someone named Mike they're singing on the microphone it's kind of you know and so after you get it wired in and then you just do it unconsciously um and then the pictures just disappear and then finally the e is uh in suave is you end end every conversation saying goodbye using their name because if you could walk Blake into a straight into an uh room full of strangers meet 20 strangers and leave saying goodbye to every single one of them by name you're I mean it's amazing yeah like literally it's a superpower like I mean we're You can stop the podcast right now.

37:40And if they just learn this from you today, their life is going to be influenced by.

37:45Jim Kwik:Because all those 20 people are going to remember you. Yes. Because that's a standout skill. And it's a way of showing that connection. So it's not just about what we learn. And it's not just what you know. It's who you know. But it's also who knows you also as well. But then also, when you're talking about self-worth, that confidence-confidence loop, you feel more confident when you're around people because you have that superpower that we all have. we just weren't we weren't we weren't taught yeah no i love this acronym i learned it from you a long time ago but i was excited to ask you today so we could share it with everyone because i have practiced it and i mean especially like the the saying it right away i mean and then and then understanding it like i mean it's just it makes a big difference oh it's it's it's like literally i'm telling you if you're watching this it's like fail proof if you follow this I guarantee you go to a room and you will remember it at least 85 % of the people's names.

38:38Jim Kwik:And then once, yeah, once you have the skill, it gets easier. Like it just like learning how to drive a car. Exactly. And it's just one thing that's, it's like a lead domino. The earlier you learn it and you can learn at any age or stage. You know, we have people going through this and well in their fifties and sixties, and it's a great exercise of practice and also being present. And even if you take a word like listen, and if you're taking notes and return this in a little master class, you write down the word listen or imagine the word listen in your mind as a brain exercise, you could scramble the letters and it spells another word perfectly.

39:11Jim Kwik:It spells the word silent. Like a lot of people aren't forgetting the name. They're just not even hearing the name. Because they're thinking about what they want to say. Exactly. Or they're looking around and seeing who's more important, whatever it happens to be, but they're not focused and listening. And I think that the art of memory and the art of Learning is the art of attention. It's interesting. It's one of the big healings I had around my core wound of not feeling enough, I think came because when you don't feel enough, you're either stuck in the past because you're thinking about all the regrets you have, all the shame you have, all the reasons you're not enough.

39:47Or you're thinking about the future. What can I do to feel enough? Where can I go? What job can I have? Whatever. And so once you really start to heal that and feel enough just as you are, then you're in the present. And so I think that's like the byproduct of the work that I've done is I'm so much more in the present than I ever was back in like the Tom's days.

40:04Jim Kwik:And you show up different. Yeah. You know, like we spend time together. Like you have this glow because you know how much energy it takes to regret the past or worry about the future that we're expending. Like your brain is only 2 % of your body mass, but it requires 20 % of the energy. So a lot of people are exhausted just because like they have these different image bodies. They're projecting an image to the people, like to the world that they want people to see them as. There's this also image that they're holding of the person they fear that they are. And then there's their real self. When you could free yourself, I mean, how liberating or limitless amount of energy you could put that towards being here.

40:43Jim Kwik:Yeah, totally. And now, and going back to the self-talk and the ants at these same events where I'll do these demonstrations as a kind of open up their mind and then teach them how to do it. people come to me in the lobby and they'll say, Jim, so glad you're here. You know, I have a horrible memory, right? I'm just too old. And I always say, stop. I literally say this every single time. And some of the people listening who follow our work, you've heard me say this, you say, stop. If you fight for limitations, you get to keep them, right? If you fight for limits, they're yours. And all a belief is that you're not enough is a thought that we've had repeated going back to repetition, right?

41:19Jim Kwik:It's wired in. It's that trail that we talked about that's so finely grooved that it just seems automatic. And it's just a thought through repetition that becomes a more of a core belief. Yeah, well, I mean, that's why you're wearing the bracelet and I'm wearing the bracelet because every day we see it. It's a reminder. It's a reminder, that repetition of enoughness. This year, I met some engineers from Nike who invented a new type of office chair that has not only changed my life, but actually saved my back, especially because I am on about five hours of Zoom calls every day. The MoveLab chair has two different pivot points under the seat, which keeps your body in continuous micro movements all day.

41:58The founders told me it is the equivalent of taking 3000 steps and all the lubrication of your joints and the blood flow is why my back no longer hurts. And I can focus on my work so much better. I love this so much that I actually joined the team as a co-founder and I will be sending one to every person I know when we launch this fall. If you're interested in learning more or pre-ordering one, we only have 500 in the first run. You can check us out at Movelab.com. And that's spelled M-O-O-V-L-A-B dot com. I decided not to take advertising for the first season of No Magic Pill, so I could actually use these moments to talk about something I'm super passionate about.

42:42Now, one of those things is my morning routine. And every morning, it starts the same way. I drink morning water. I take this packet, I pour it into this bottle, and I drink it. Now what's in this packet? It has creatine, L-theanine, magnesium, many other supplements, electrolytes, basically all the things that I use to have to take so many supplements pour. I mean my kitchen counter, it looked like a pharmacy. I mean it had bottles of pills and pills and pills, and half the time I would even forget to take them. So now it's all in this simple formula that my friend Austin created, and I do it every day.

43:16And this month we're giving everyone a special offer. Go to morningwater.co forward slash no magic pill. And when you sign up, you'll get 25 % off your first month. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Okay. I want to switch to another topic that I think you've spoken a lot about and I've become like really, really focused on in my mental health journey. And that is sleep. You know, I, the other day, I hadn't had any major depressive of episodes or anxiety in well over a year. And I woke up and I felt like I was back in it. It was so scary. I woke up and I literally went down to make coffee and I didn't feel like getting out of bed.

43:58And I didn't have any excitement for the day, even though I had some fun things planned. And I was just like, what the heck is going on? And I was kind of suffering through it for a few hours and a little bit nervous and about ready to call my therapist or a friend. And then I realized, oh my gosh, I'm super jet lagged. I'd just come back from Africa with my mom. And at that moment, I realized that for me, the closest way to explain what severe depression feels like to someone who's never had it is imagine the worst jet lag of your life. And so how important, what that led me to and what I wanted to talk to you about today is, well, if you're super jet lagged or just sleep deprived in general, then your brain is not operating at a high level.

44:40So how important is sleep in the work that you do? And maybe we can give some people some great tips on sleeping better.

44:47Jim Kwik:Absolutely. So how I help increase performance to the almost limitless kind of level is there's two parts. It's like a computer. You have software and you have hardware. So software, we teach people how to, how to focus, how to get in flow states, how to read faster, how to remember more, how to study and so on. But you also take care of the hardware, which is your brain. Yeah. Right. And, and so that's why a good brain diet and sleep, all the exercise, so very important for that, that organ itself. Yeah. I don't talk a lot about this publicly, but I had severe sleep issues. I mean, severe life threatening.

45:20Jim Kwik:Okay. So from 2010 to 2014, 15, I slept on average 90 minutes to two hours a night on average. Oh God, Jim, that sounds crippling. And I'm busy like everybody else. And on top of it, now part of it was... I just felt my heart rate get faster. Yeah. Like literally in my, I mean, I even get a little bit. That was crazy. When you told me that, I just had this like full body like panic. I wouldn't have never cracked three hours. And here's the thing. I mean, part of it, it was how I grew up, right? Like I'd had to work, pull all these all-nighters as a kid to do, you know, I thought do better in school.

45:54Jim Kwik:As my career, I could be on three continents in one week speaking. So I have jet lag and wake up in foreign environments and not sleep and everything. So part of it was that lifestyle. But part of it was I would have this breakfast, kind of a regular thing with Larry King in Los Angeles. And I was telling him I just didn't sleep the night before because I went two nights without sleep. And he literally grabbed me by the hand, walked me down to his ENT. And shortly after, I was in head of throat at UCLA doing this diagnostic test. And I found out I had severe sleep apnea. where I would stop breathing 250 times a night.

46:35Jim Kwik:And a time counts if you stop breathing at least 10 seconds. So the doctor was like, no wonder you're not sleeping. It's like somebody coming into your bedroom and putting a pillow over your face 200 times a night. And so I would stop breathing and I would wake up. And I've tried CPAPs and dental devices, everything. Nothing really worked for me. And they did this surgery. They call it a UPPP. They took out my uvulus off palate, tonsils, everything, which is very kind of painful as an adult, you know, and to create airflow, like in more of an airway. And so my sleep jumped to four hours. Not a lot, but significantly more than 90 minutes, right?

47:12Jim Kwik:Because when you're not sleeping, I mean, that's how they torture people, right? Yeah, no, I mean, literally, if you made me not sleep for three days, I would be right back into the mental hospital I was in. Yeah, and I went through some deep, dark places outside of my brain injury as an adult, because you feel this calling, you found this purpose. i'm going to build better brighter brains no brain left behind one billion brains on this big mission and i'm not sleeping and then what's the effect very personally and you know when you i mean how do you feel how's your brain perform when you're not sleeping the night before works right you have the brain fog the mental fatigue you can't focus you can't remember all that your willpower you know goes to goes to the floor no sex drive no everything gets compromised right because literally lack of sleep impairs every physiological function yeah right and so since then i've improved my sleep because, you know, we've done dozens of episodes on it.

48:02Jim Kwik:We talk about a limitless. And so sleep is, is critical. I would say tips. And by the way, going back to enough, because I was in a very dark place and I don't even want to revisit it because it's just, it's just too tender. Especially struggling. I believe that I mentioned with just like adversity, there's an advantage, you know, the post-traumatic growth, you find, you wouldn't wish that adversity on anybody, which you wouldn't change it for yourself. Sure. I'm sure some of the listeners could, you know, could identify with that. Absolutely. They, maybe they went through a hard time, but they found something.

48:38Jim Kwik:They found a mission. They found a purpose. They found a strength. And I always ask myself, where's the gift in this, right? Like if I didn't have that brain injury, if I didn't lose my grandmother, who is my care at seven years old to Alzheimer's, if I, if this didn't happen, like my two biggest challenges growing up were learning and public speaking. Because I would do a book report, I would work hard. But if they asked me to present it in front of the class. No way. Yeah, because I just, my identity was like, oh, I'm just not that smart and everything. And life has a sense of humor, right? Because all I do is public speak on this thing called learning.

49:09Jim Kwik:But it's just so if I ask, what is the gift in not sleeping? I'll tell you two things. Number one, it forced me to live what I teach. Because I could wake up at two o 'clock, and I could roll out of bed at two o 'clock in the morning to have this conversation because I live it, right? Just like you've lived your journey, right? And so I'm just sharing what's worked for me. So it's forced me to teach, practice when I post, right? But the second thing it did, which has trained me to do is everything in my life, when you're sleep deprived and you have a limited amount of energy or temperament focus, you only do the things that you could do.

49:46Jim Kwik:And so I stopped over committing to things. Oh, interesting. you know and it's interesting because the whole good to grade you say no to good so you say yes to great yeah everything for me is a heck yes or heck no like there's nowhere outside rather be blake than here yeah you know even if i didn't sleep the night before because i have a you know very too young very very young kids and three-year-olds like that right yeah not honestly not very helpful for my sleep at all but i'm here because i freed up that energy because there's no outside really be like for me when things opportunities come or whatever i say like i i say if this doesn't help me to glow grow or flow it's a no like that's my whole life glow grow it helps light me up yeah right grow it helps me to develop and evolve yeah or if it doesn't help me get in some kind of flow you know state then i just everything's a no no i love it so i'm gonna start practicing that that's definitely something worth writing down it's either gotta glow grow or flow it forces you to be present yeah because then you're only where you want to be with who you want to be able to be with.

50:46Jim Kwik:But those were gifts that came out of lack of sleep. But how do you improve your sleep based on science? A few of my favorite. First thing in the morning, I have to get sunlight. Your eyes are the only part of your brain that's outside of your skull. It helps to reset your circadian rhythm, even if it's haze, not through a window, because that could block certain spectrum of light. But going outside help to reset your circadian rhythm, help you sleep better at night. Right. I would say I'm very sensitive to caffeine. so I can't do caffeine past 12 o 'clock because I could stay in my system 10 hours plus.

51:20Jim Kwik:We have an alarm clock to wake up. I would highly recommend people have an alarm clock to go to bed. Your brain loves routine and a schedule even on weekends and nobody gets this perfect. I certainly don't, but to the degree you could fall, go to sleep at the same time, wake up at the same time. Overall, your sleep would be better. And then remember, it's not the quantity, it's the quality of your sleep, the quality of your REM sleep and your deep sleep. But two of the biggest factors that people are familiar with, but I'll remind you. As hunter-gatherers, we would know it'd be time to sleep because the environment would tell you there would be a decrease in two environmental factors, temperature and light.

51:54Jim Kwik:So the cooler and the darker, you'll sleep better. And so like I would say, when it comes to light, what gets in the way are phones, right? And having that, and you talk about that, not having the phone in your nightstand. And because the best way when it comes to habits, I just want to remind everybody, is controlling your environment. You want to make the things that are good for you easier in your environment and the things that are not good for you more difficult. That's why I highly recommend, I've been doing this for years, actually even gave them to many of my friends years ago, is old-fashioned alarm clocks.

52:27It's huge. Because if you have an alarm clock, you're not going to wake up and immediately look at your text message or emails. And the problem is, is when you wake up and you use your alarm on your phone, then you're, even if you think, oh, I'm only going to use it for my alarm. I'm not going to look at anything. You will. And then you just can't fit the temptation. And then what happens is, is now you're letting someone else decide how you start your day. And so having an alarm clock is like one of the great hacks, I think, in terms of starting your day right.

52:56Jim Kwik:And you'll sleep better because what keeps you up is that the blue light, which we hear a lot about. Yeah. When you're looking at your screen or your pad or whatever, it fools your mind and thinking it's still daylight. Got it. So you don't create the melatonin, which is the hormone to help you relax. What about Kindle? Does a Kindle do that or no? Anything that doesn't emit screen. I mean, so I'd say in general, the less ambient light or there's certain spectrums of light, there's settings on your devices that you go into night mode. There are glasses you could wear that could block out certain spectrums.

53:26Jim Kwik:The best is three is an old-fashioned book. I'm more analog because I'm not looking for another excuse to be on an electric device myself personally. And then the other part, so it's not only that, but it's also what you're consuming. Yeah. Because if you're going through, it's like you're getting super stimulated, right? Obviously, the cortisol, the dopamine, everything, especially depending on what your algorithm is, could keep you up. Yeah. And the last thing besides dark is temperature. So even, you don't want it so cold where you're shivering and that will keep you up. Yeah. And even taking a sauna or a hot bath or a hot shower, especially if you're doing a bath like Epsom, like the magnesium that helps you relax also as well.

54:11Jim Kwik:When you get out of that bath or shower or sauna, your core body temperature will drop, and that's a trigger for your nervous system, create melatonin, which is a hormone that lets you and reminds you to phase down and sleep. So a nice hot shower, sauna, or bath before bed is great. Yeah, and then when you leave, your core body temperature drops, and then you create that melatonin, which helps you to sleep. Do you have a very specific temperature that you think is ideal to sleep at? I know I talked to Larry David once, and he was like 68 degrees. no matter what hotel room his staff has it at 68 degrees when he comes in there.

54:42And I was like, okay, and I've done it 68 ever since.

54:44Jim Kwik:There's, mine is in the 60s for sure. But also they have mattress, I'm not associated with this, but they have mattress cover pads that can regulate, you know, cold and everything else like that. Or if you have a partner, you have to find, you know, find a thing that works. Okay, these are great. And so sleep, and then the other one I think that is so important with our brain health is our nutrition. And so I want to dig into that. that I told you before the show, I've been drinking the brain smoothie for many years now. I think it was like, I don't know where it was, but I just saw a YouTube video of you doing it.

55:14And I just said, this is great and I love it. So first off, what is a brain smoothie? Because I love it, but let everyone else know. And then how important is nutrition in this ingredient?

55:25Jim Kwik:And so I always prefer people get their nutrition from food. I do supplement myself also because we live in a kind of, especially when traveling and everything else like that. And the soil is an argument that says that it doesn't have the same nutrient value as previous generations. But it's a whole chapter on Limitless. I talk about neuro-nutrition. So neuro-nutrition is the science of nutrition for your brain. So your body and your brain is part of your body. So your brain requires some different nutrients to be optimized and be healthy than the rest of your body. And so what you eat matters, especially for your grain matter.

55:59Jim Kwik:Okay. So some of my favorite brain foods. Now everybody is bio-individual. Just like the brain types we talked about, everyone learns a little bit differently. Everyone's physiology, their gut, their allergies, it's all different. So you do nutrient profile tests, allergy tests, but find more works for you. Some of my favorite brain foods, avocados, high-end monounsaturated fat. Your brain is mostly fat. I love berries, especially blueberries. I call them brain berries. The antioxidants, very neuroprotective. Broccoli, very good for your brain. Something called sulforaphane, which is good for cognitive health.

56:33Jim Kwik:Another one, and just no particular order, olive oil. Very good for your brain. Eggs, if your diet allows, the choline in eggs is good for cognitive health. Other things I would say, green leafy vegetables, like kale and spinach. Again, the eggs I mentioned. The omega-3s, the DHAs, you get through fish, like wild salmon, sardines, are good. Turmeric, has the active ingredient is curcumin, which lowers systemic inflammation. And do you need, I have a question on that. Do you need black pepper with the turmeric? Because I've heard that it only works with the black pepper. Is that true or is that a myth?

57:10Jim Kwik:I don't know to that. I do put black pepper in, I make like a golden milk kind of thing with almond milk, some turmeric in it. I do some black pepper, a little bit of honey and it's just so soothing for me. And then walnuts, high in vitamin E, neuroprotective, dark chocolate. Before you skip over walnuts, this is something I've been wanting to ask you. Do you think it's odd that a walnut looks exactly like the brain? Have you ever noticed that? It literally is like, if you look at a walnut and you look at a brain, they're like literally look the same. It looks like a mini little brain and it's supposedly one of the best foods for your brain.

57:51It's wonderful, especially when you pair it with blueberries.

57:53Jim Kwik:God has a really good sense of humor. Walnuts and blueberries are an incredible combination for a brain snack. And a lot of these things you could put into a smoothie. Sure. But you could put avocados, green leafy vegetables. I put all of it but eggs, basically. Right, right. So you could do it for convenience also. I don't know if there's science behind it, but some people look at the word signature, sign of nature, and they say, oh, carrots, if you cut a carrot, it looks like an eye, and carrots are good for your eyes. Or if you cut a tomato has four chambers, like your heart, and it's good for your heart, right?

58:25Jim Kwik:Wow, I've never heard that. And so, walnuts happen to look like the brain, but I don't know the science that it's supporting the organ. I think it's a good memory device to remind you that it helps with it. Well, I appreciate that. Now, one thing, when you talk about nutrition, and you talked about earlier that, you know, you try to get most of your nutrition from whole foods, which I do as well and highly recommend. But there are times that we do supplements. And you've talked about, you've written some about nootropics. It's like these smart drugs. For someone who's never heard the word nootropics, what is a nootropic and which are the ones you think are the most powerful and why?

59:01Jim Kwik:Yeah. So supplements out there. Now, by the way, if you're not getting these foods in your diet, then you could supplement. So if you're not getting the turmeric, you could supplement with curcumin, right? Or fish oil. You can fish with fish oil, right? Same thing with the other ones. If you're not getting the sulforaphane from broccoli, you could supplement with sulforaphane, right? Or if you're not getting the antioxidants from berries, you get something with antioxidants, right? What I would say is, so that's for cognitive health, right? But cognitive performance is a different category. And that's where nootropics come in.

59:32Nootropics are studied substances that have been shown by science to enhance focus, memory, mood, mental energy.

59:42Jim Kwik:And that's performance, right? So eat the good foods or take the multivitamin for cognitive health. and then there's substances that can enhance cognitive performance, which is helping you to get more done and perform better. Yeah, creatine, very, very powerful. A lot of people associate that with working out. It's very inexpensive, but it's probably one of the most studied substances out there. It's not just good for your body, but it's also great for your brain. And I love, and we'll get into this in a second, but I love that that science has now come out Because for a long time, we thought creatine was just for like bodybuilders and muscle, but it's turning out to be incredibly helpful for your brain.

1:00:21Jim Kwik:It could also high doses. There's studies that show that it could potentially offset some of the negative effects of lack of sleep. Yes, I love that. Which is amazing. But it also supports your energy levels cognitively, which is amazing. You know, and so you could do that. Most people start at about five grams. Right. Right. And there are other things. And I put there's over 30 ingredients in Limitless. people could actually get the list for free, brainnutrition.com. So I put that list with all the studies in there and they could see. So some things that are worth noting, COPA, and again, you could look at it.

1:01:00Jim Kwik:Transparency, I've never promoted a supplement in 30 years. And again, I do take supplements, but people ask about certain things. So I work with a team of medical doctors, nutritionists, and I was on a stack, a neuro stack of five ingredients since 2018. And we bottled that because I didn't, I don't like opening up a lot of bottles. And plus it can be very pricey, especially when, even when you travel, you have to carry all this stuff in, put it into a supplement. It's called QuickMind, KWIKMind.com. And that's available, but it's, and it's pure, it's like a, you know, gluten-free, it's vegan, no caffeine, like all that stuff.

1:01:40Jim Kwik:But yes, there's, but brain nutrition will give you a list of different supplements, you know, and all the protocols and the research behind them. And, but yeah, I think it's for people. I would always say dial in your meditation. I call it, it's your meds. Meds are X, right? So good brain health leads to better mental health. The M stands for meditation. Do you have some kind of mindfulness practice yourself? I do a mantra practice around enough, actually, where I just repeat the mantra, I am enough, I've always been enough. And I do that for 20 minutes, and it takes me into a deep, deep meditative state, which I think is incredibly beneficial for my ability to be present later in the day.

1:02:22But it also re-informs that repetition to counteract the core wound I dealt with for so much of my life that I wasn't enough.

1:02:29Jim Kwik:So it's my special practice. And it can help you learn better also as well. You know, when you're studying something and you take a brain break to meditate or just, you know, be with your thought, helps you to be able to learn faster also as well. Just like with building muscles, you're not building muscles when you're at the gym, you're building muscles when you sleep. Yeah. Right? Same thing with your mental muscles. Also, when you sleep, you consolidate short to long-term memory. So you have long-term memory issues. You could do a sleep study. And nowadays they can do it at home. You don't have to go to a stale clinic where you're hooked up to everything and cameras everywhere.

1:02:58Jim Kwik:They can send it to, you know, the device at home. also when you sleep you clean out the sewage system in your brain kicks in and that's where you clean out the beta amyloid plaque that can lead to brain aging challenges like Alzheimer's so that's why sleep is so very important and so meds are ex meditation, disconnect to reconnect it also loads cortisol levels, calms down your migdial parasympathetic, rest and digest all great brain benefits the E is exercise which we could talk about but it's just as your body moves your brain grooves Yeah. Right. And I don't just mean going to the gym four days a week.

1:03:32Jim Kwik:I mean, they say sitting is a new smoking and moving throughout the day. Like you could work for whatever sprint, 30 minutes an hour, but taking a five or 10 minute brain break, do some rebounding or some calisthenics. Also, when you exercise, you create dopamine, serotonin, endorphins. I mean, it is just, it's so very important. I love that you said sitting is new smoking. So one of the companies I'm a co-founder of is called the Pivot Chair. And it sees these engineers from Nike. They were there for 30 years. And they recognize that sitting is new smoking. So they developed a chair that has two different pivots, dual access.

1:04:04It's the only chair. They have a patent for this. And I invested in them and I've been advising them. But basically, it's a chair, an office chair, that you basically have to keep your core engaged all day long. Oh, I like that. And you'll fall off of it. Oh, that's so good. It's like the equivalent to thousands of steps. And what we found was fascinating, and this could be a conversation for later, but people who have ADHD find it so much easier to focus by sitting in it because they're doing something else besides just focusing on what they're doing. I definitely want to order one of those. You will get one of the very first ones.

1:04:35That's so amazing.

1:04:37Jim Kwik:So movement is so very important, exercise, you know, throughout the day. And I could talk about all those studies for walking, to resistance training and everything that's good for you. the D. So yeah, meditation, exercise, the D is your diet, which we talked about. Totally. Because what you get matters, especially for your gray matter, the S is sleep and meds. Yep. Right? So these are the core ones. That's it. And then if it's meds, Rx, the R is relationships. Okay. You know, and you know that, that power, you've had conversations with a lot of mutual friends, like, like Chip Connelly and other individuals, the power of community.

1:05:07Jim Kwik:Yeah. You know, and it's not just solo, it's social that you're, it's not just your neurological networks, it's your social networks, because who you spend time with is who you become. And I'll tell you why, from a nervous system standpoint, from how your brain operates, we have these mirror neurons and these mirror neurons, you have, you know, these neurons, which are your brain cells, mirror neurons imitate the people around you. That's why children like learn through what they're watching also as well, but we're just big children. And I always tell people to watch, W-A-T-C-H, which is an acronym for easy remembering.

1:05:36Jim Kwik:We start to imitate the W words. We use the same language as people we spend most time with. Very much. The A, actions. we start behaving as the people we spend the most time with. Whether you smoke or not has less to do with your biology and more does dear friends smoke. The tea and watch are your thoughts. We start thinking the same way as the people we spend the most time with. I suffer with a lot of entrepreneurs. You're thinking that's how you build business. You start thinking that way. It goes from everything from power to politics to purpose, anything. The C is your character. We tend to have the same character or integrity as the moral compass as the people we spend time with in the H, going back to the power of habits.

1:06:15Jim Kwik:We tend to have the same habits. Whether we exercise or read on a regular basis or eat well on a regular basis, over-charging habits, is like we do our friends and our family do those things also as well. So you always want to watch those five things. So that's the relationships. And we had on our podcast, the director at Harvard, the longest study, 80 years plus, on longevity and happiness. And they said, yes, exercise is important. Yes, nutrition is important. But what outplays that is your connections. Not just romantic connections, but the depth of people. All different types. Absolutely. And I think it's so important for men.

1:06:55I mean, especially men our age. Like, I mean, you know, and I always say this, the best piece of advice I give to a guy in his 20s is like invest in your male friendships right now. because those are the relationships that are going to get you through the hard times because you're going to have hard times

1:07:10Jim Kwik:in your 30s, 40s, 50s. And we all need people, this is a reminder for everyone who needs to hear this. We all need somebody to encourage us, to challenge us, to be kind to us. And if you haven't found that person, be that person for somebody else. Ooh, I like that. Especially be that person for yourself. Yeah. You know, a reminder that part of self-care, self-care is not selfish, but part of self-care is not just eating the best foods and exercising. Part of self-care is looking in the mirror every day and loving the person that's looking back. Totally. You know, that's been through so much, but it's still standing.

1:07:39Jim Kwik:Yeah. Right? And so that's the R. And the X, Meds Rx, the X are the extras. That's the nootropics. That's the cold plunges. That is all the biohacking, everything else, the neurofeedback, all the extras. But I would say the other ones are all free and more natural and just do those because all the biohacking is usually to imitate the environment. Yeah, totally. Right? And I like that. Meds Rx. I mean every single letter up until the X is basically free yeah outside of your diet yeah right which you're gonna pay for food anyway you have to pay for your food but um but I like that and the X is the extras and so I think unfortunately so much of you know whether it's social media or podcast or whatever are really focused only on one thing the X yeah but so much of the of the importance is that all the letters before that yeah and those are the foundations right and so Just like going back to the theme of the show, there's no magic pill, but there is a procedure or process.

1:08:36Jim Kwik:Yeah, well, I think it's great. And I'm definitely going to make sure in the show notes that all these acronyms are in there because whether it's WATCH or MedsRx, they're super helpful. And I love the way that you teach using acronyms. And I think this is like the perfect way to close because I was going to ask you, you know, for someone who really cares about their brain health, who maybe has had brain fog, has felt stuck. like what would be the best piece of advice but i think you've just given it to us with this meds rx i mean really focus on those things yeah i would challenge everybody to you know because i think the best way you learn something just like they do in medical school you you know you you learn it then you do it then you teach it yeah right one of the fastest ways of learning something is to teach it to somebody else they call it the explanation effect yeah because when you have to let's say somebody had to give a tedx talk on what they learned in this episode next week you You know, when you're re-listening to it, you're going to take better notes.

1:09:30Jim Kwik:You're going to pay better attention. You're going to own that information. And so I feel like one of the things people could do is take a screenshot wherever they're consuming this and post on social media. You can tag Blake, tag myself, and share the one thing you're going to do for a better brain or a better life. I love that. That's a great challenge. And by sharing it, you're getting it. Yeah, your fans, your followers, your family, your friends get to, you know, because you get a new idea. Like, it's not like money where if I give you a dollar, you give me a dollar, no difference, right?

1:09:59Jim Kwik:But if I share a new idea with you and you share a new idea with me, all of a sudden we have two brand new ideas that we can make better decisions on to make. I think you change your brain, you change your life. And I'll challenge somebody right now. What does it take? Now, this is going to hit, this is going to be real raw. For you listening right now, answer this question to yourself. What would it take for you to feel enough? What would it take for you to feel enough? And if the answer is anything but nothing, then this is where the reflection comes in. This is where the work comes in. You know, the hard to visit those places and have those hard conversations and truth.

1:10:40Jim Kwik:Because I think life changes with two things. You have the curiosity to know yourself. That's why you journal or meditate or go to therapy, the introspection. But once you have the curiosity to know yourself, the other part of the game is having the courage to be yourself. in a world that I think part of the shared work that so many of us do is about helping people transcend. Trance and if you listen to the word ending the trance, there's this mass hypnosis through marketing or media that we're not enough. That's a massive hypnosis. And that you're limited, that you're broken. Because then they can sell more things and they can control, yeah.

1:11:21Jim Kwik:And consumption and control. And so, or it's self-hypnosis by saying like, why am I never enough? Right. We have this dominant question. Why can't I remember people's names? Right. All of that with those limitations. And so I feel like today so many people downgrade their dreams and their goals of what they want to be, do, have, or share in the world to meet their current situation. When maybe we don't downgrade those dreams to meet our current situation, we could upgrade our mindset, our habits. you know all those things that that kind of and i always say that sometimes we're burnt out not because we're doing too much sometimes we're burnt out because we're doing too little other things that that make us come alive that was me for a long time that that light us up yeah right and i feel like you know life i mean the truth is as a coach i've just had to say that sometimes change can be scary yes right activates your amygdala you're in fight or flight Right.

1:12:16Jim Kwik:And change can be, you know, growth can be hard. Yeah. Right. Doing the work. But nothing is as scary and hard as being stuck somewhere you don't belong. And while I teach people how to remember things like foreign languages and facts and figures and all these things, I think the most important thing to remember is who you are. Yeah. Right. I spent a lot of time because my parents were always working different jobs. My grandmother was raising me and I lost her at a very early age of Alzheimer's when I was seven. And I spent a lot of time in senior centers and nursing homes. And I certainly helped them with their brain health and helped polish off memories and learn so much wisdom.

1:12:53Jim Kwik:Because I feel like that's one of the benefits of getting me in my 50s, just life experience. But I also hear a lot of regret. And I just want to remind people. And it always comes down to somehow they felt they limited their life because of what other people expected of them. Like they followed a career because their parents, you know, like impose that on them or they didn't, they didn't pursue a relationship because what other people would think about that relationship or somehow they were limited. And I just want to remind people, and this is just, I've had a few life death kind of experiences.

1:13:30Jim Kwik:I think there's a lot of their near death experiences, also more tragics in your life experiences. um like even limitless when it came out in 2020 and people thought i had dozens of books um but i would i never want to be famous like that wasn't my drive it was just i want to help people but i didn't want to be known for it because i'm still that kind of introverted and but i was in a car accident in 2018 and i almost died and maybe i should have you know could have or whatever but um it made me just think gives you perspective yeah right and you know part of his legacy and And I just want to think like what I, what I left and then I signed the book deal next day.

1:14:07Jim Kwik:Yeah. You know, that's been all offered to me for years and years. And I just feel like a reminder that when we're taking our final breaths, going back to that senior center, none of other people's opinions or expectations are going to matter. What's going to matter is going to, is what's going to matter is how we learned, how we laughed, how we loved and how we lived. Yeah. And the life we live are the lessons that we teach, you know, to everybody else around us, you know, and I just feel like, you know, life is difficult for one of two reasons. Either you're leaving your comfort zone, talking to that person, starting that business, you know, facing your challenges or life's difficult because you stay in your comfort zone too.

1:14:48Jim Kwik:Yes. You know, and so, but we choose our heart. Yeah. I mean, I appreciate so much. And I think that this is something that a lot of people relate to. And I know I did. And I look at so much of my suffering is because I was not living authentically. Like I was not living the life that my heart and my soul knew that I was born to live. I was living a life on base what everyone else thought or wanted for me. and it was scary and hard as hell to make changes to disrupt that and literally blow up my life. But that was one of the key things for me getting through what I went through. So I appreciate you sharing that at the end here.

1:15:33I appreciate all that we learned today. This has been such a great conversation and yeah, I'm so excited to share this with the world. So thank you. Thank you, Blake. If this episode spoke to you, please share it with a friend, family member, or someone you love. Because No Magic Pill is not just a podcast, it's a resource to help us all live better lives. Hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode and let us know what you think by leaving a comment. A quick note that this episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical questions or concerns you may have.

1:16:21There's more No Magic Pill with Lemonada Premium. You can listen to every episode ad-free. Plus, subscribers also get access to exclusive bonus interview excerpts from select guests and special behind the scenes content. Just tap that subscribe button on Apple Podcast or go to LemonadaPremium.com to subscribe on any other app. You can also listen ad-free on Amazon Music with your Prime membership. No Magic Pill is a production of Lemonada Media and the Enough Foundation. The show is produced by Wubatu Shimalash, Catherine Barnes, and Keegan Zema. Additional production by Ivan Karayev and Kristen Lepore.

1:17:08Post-production by Oranda Studio. Jackie Danziger is head of content at Lemonada Media. Executive producers are me, Blake Mycoskie, Jessica Cordova-Kramer, and Stephanie Whittles-Wax. Special thanks to Jillian Delorio, Jennifer Song, Maggie Wertz, Andrew Fine, James Johnson, Devin Robbins, Emily Ledbetter, Chris Orwig, Sean McGurk, Jasmine Burgess, and the entire Enough Foundation team. The Enough Foundation's mission is to spread reminders in every form, bracelets, messages, actions, and community until feeling enough becomes the cultural default. To learn more, visit weareenough.co. If this episode spoke to you, please share it with a friend, family member, or someone you love.

1:18:00You can help others find our show by leaving us a rating and writing a review. Thanks so much for listening and watching. See you next week.