Audiobooks Vs. Physical Books, Neurostacking, & Cognitive Flexibility - With Jim Kwik

21:14Jim Kwik:because when your amygdala is set off, then you're under threat, right? There's saber-toothed tigers everywhere. So I think gratitude is a wonderful way to calm down your nervous system, to slow your heart rate also as well. And the simple exercise I do to be more grateful is something like, if you want to feel wealthy, count all the things you have in your life that money can't buy. You know, if you're blessed to have any of your senses, like, you know, what would you, would you, would there be any price you would take to be able to give that away? You know, or what if the only things you had tomorrow is another mental experiment.

21:58Jim Kwik:What if the only things you had in your life tomorrow were the things you express gratitude for today? You know, and it's just, it just lands different. Yeah. Right. And that the expression is what's important. And you can't just like mentally, oh, yeah, I'm glad I have a place to live and a job and people in my life. But when you feel it, it just changes. So, yeah, do you have some kind of gratitude practice yourself or prayer or like at the dining table or what does that look like?

22:27Shawn Stevenson:Of course, that's how I start off my meditation. You know, after I do, you know, maybe do some breath of fire, maybe, you know, just do some kind of breath work. Then I'll sit for a bit. But once I get into more active versions of it, gratitude is the first thing. We've been doing that for many, many years. And as a family, whenever we sit down to eat a meal together, we go around and share three things that we're grateful for from that day. And we've been doing that for years as well. And truly, especially when you're dealing with a negative feeling, situation, emotion, gratitude is like an antidote for so many, things that we deem to be negative.

23:07Shawn Stevenson:It's just like an instant perspective shift. And it's like a muscle though too. Sometimes being able to tune into that gratitude station can be a little bit difficult if we haven't trained ourself, but it can really help to pull us out, reframe. And also as far as that family context, it's like a, it's a unifier. It gets us talking, it gets us thinking and starting to also search through the day unconsciously for things to be grateful for, because we know we're gonna be talking about it later. You know, it's just so many, there's nothing but upside when it comes to gratitude.

23:40Jim Kwik:So it activates that we've talked about in previous episodes, that reticular activating system, that RAS, where you start observing things that you can appreciate more. And you start seeing that just like when those exercises where they say, you know, close your eyes and think about everything around you. That's the color green. Right. And then you think about you don't seal up and then you open your eyes, you do. And then you say, OK, close your eyes. What's red? Right. It shines a spotlight on those things that's always there because our brain primarily is more of a deletion device. Because if we let everything in, we would be overloaded and overwhelmed.

24:15Jim Kwik:But what we decide to let in are things that we're interested in, things we have questions about, the things that are important to us. And I think gratitude is the primary emotion for creating or manifesting anything you want in your life. because I know, I mean, how many of us know people who have a lot of, let's say, a lot of material things, but they're not very happy, right? Gratitude is the antidote for fear, for stress. And when we're in that state of appreciation, I feel like we perform better. And, you know, even giving is another part of it. When you give, you teach your nervous system that there's there's enough.

24:55Jim Kwik:And, uh, and so being very intentional and what you just did at that meal, you're doing neuro stacking, right? You're eating a healthy meal. You're communing with people that you love and, uh, and gratitude is greatest grounding. So it's like stacking it. So it doesn't take necessarily more time. And it's also, it's not just what you're doing. It's what you're not doing where most people are working while they're eating and that puts them in a stress state they're in the sympathetic state so not digesting so it's not even just like what you're eating of course you want to eat the best foods um possible that are nourished because what you nourish flourishes but it's also you know when you're eating and how you're eating it because a lot of people are not even tasting their food nowadays because they're just focused on whatever

25:41Shawn Stevenson:whatever else there is yeah wow um and by the way shout out to everybody who's watching on their phone right now. Thank you for having lunch with us or dinner, whatever the case might be. But that's a neural stack as well. You can do it intentional and be able to sit with people who are virtual friends and mentors from afar, things that we can never do before. It's such a blessing.

26:05Jim Kwik:And with those mentors too, if there's conversations, then you're getting the novelty and the nutrition at the same time, right? You're learning and building that, making those new connections because neuroplasticity, right, which is the phenomenon of our brains, our ability, our nervous system's ability to make new connections, right? We could, we could think new thoughts. We could have new feelings. We could, uh, have, uh, we could change our beliefs and the way we look at the world. So it requires novelty, like building a muscle, right? You give it some kind of stimulus, some kind of novelty, you work it out and then you give it the proper nutrition to build.

26:41Jim Kwik:Same thing with neuroplasticity, novelty and nutrition. So having great discussions around meals is you're getting your nutrition while you're getting the novelty of new ideas. So you're feeding your mind and your body.

26:53Shawn Stevenson:Got a quick break coming up. We'll be right back. If you grew up anything like me, you had your fair share of candy bars, Nestle Crunch, Snickers. The Milky Way was my top joint. Butterfinger, when that came out, that was crazy. Bart Simpson was the mascot, all right? These candy bars were undeniable, these and many others. And so when I was trying to get healthier, I pivoted away from eating these childish candy bars. And I'm going to eat these cereal bars, right? I'm going to have these very mature Sure, cereal bars from like the Quaker folks and from Kellogg's is a much healthier choice. But little did I know or understand at the time.

27:38Shawn Stevenson:We're looking at sometimes equal amounts of sugar, highly refined, ultra processed. Now there are these quote cereal bars or these food bars that are these ultra processed forms of trickery. Now, the thing is, the convenience factor is real. Having that bar on the go is such a valuable thing in today's kind of fast-paced world. But is there anybody doing it right? Is there anybody who are utilizing whole food ingredients and making sure that the bars actually taste good? Well, the food bars that I always keep on hand, that I travel with, that I even keep here in the studio for my team and for my guests.

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29:41Jim Kwik:And now back

29:42Shawn Stevenson:to the show. We've already covered so much to make our brains stronger, but just like our physical body, our brain also needs flexibility. It's something that we can develop that can help us to be more resilient, that can help us to perform better. And this is something I'm so excited to talk to you about. Again, having access to you and insights like this is priceless. It's changed my life like 20 000 times but let's talk about cognitive flexibility what is that so just like

30:15Jim Kwik:physical flexibility which everyone's familiar with when you're more pliable you're you're you're you're not you're less rigid right you're less prone for injury you want to be mentally flexible cognitive flexibility i think is one of the most important traits to cultivate especially in the age of technology and information and artificial intelligence, what it allows you to do is to be able to solve problems, to be more creative, to be able to be, as you mentioned, more mentally resilient when you're faced with difficulty. You know, I'm thinking about cognitive flexibility where you're not stuck and rigid where you're going to break as opposed to bend, which is a big difference.

30:58Jim Kwik:And so some people are so rigid in their thinking. It's like the, you know, all the examples, Kodak was very, they had the brilliant engineers back then, but they weren't cognitively flexible to be able to adapt, to be able to change, to be able to evolve when digital cameras came out. Right. That would be an example. Or Netflix and Blockbuster. Right. People stuck and being cognitively inflexible to a certain way and doing the same thing and not evolving. And so I feel like now especially it's important because the amount of information, the half-life information is getting shorter and shorter, which means in X amount, a very small amount of years, that information is outdated because of new research that comes out and new information.

31:49Jim Kwik:I feel like your mind is like a parachute. It only works when it's open. But sometimes, even when I do corporate training, I train maybe 200 of the 400 to 500 companies out there on accelerated learning, building learning organizations, speed reading, memorizing sales scripts, names and faces, those kind of things. And some people in there, especially when I got started 34 years, I'm 52 now, 34 years ago, like I'd be in front of a corporation, an executive team, and people there are two, three times my age. and they say like, oh, I have 30 years of experience in this sales or whatever it happens to be.

32:25Jim Kwik:And then when you have a conversation with that person, they're not cognitively flexible because they haven't adapted or evolved because when you really find out, it's not that they have 30 years of experience, it's more accurate to say they had one year of experience that they've repeated 30 times, right? And so they're not improving and changing and evolving and adapting and learning and growing. And then you become outdated. then we become more extinct. And so cognitive flexibility is just like physical flexibility is your ability to adapt, to be able to be kind of like, uh, it's like mental parkour, right?

33:02Jim Kwik:It's like, you'd be able to go and jump and go and not be stuck in one place. And I feel like knowledge. Yes. You have more knowledge. You can make better decisions and, and create a better life or business or whatever your pursuits are. Um, but I think really, human beings it's not it's more our ability to adapt and adapt intelligently and and quickly to be able to respond because it's like your operating system if you have an opportunity to get these software updates in real time in these patches in real time that's like the greatest advantage ever as opposed to having the old things that was five years ago because then you're just going to slow down.

33:43Jim Kwik:You're going to make mistakes. There are going to be bugs and blind spots. And so I think cognitive flexibility would be in one of my top superpowers to cultivate because it's not something you're just born with. It's something like everything else, like gratitude, something that's trained, right? And you have to be able to have the, make the decision, the self-awareness that's important and, uh, and, and introduce yourselves. Even now people are so tied to certain identities, right? They have a certain way of knowing something. And really what they're doing when they're faced with something else that's an opposing opinion, there's that threat.

34:21Jim Kwik:There's a psychological threat which lights up your amygdala where you feel like you're under attack and then you go into defense mode and then you get your state changes into one of fear or anger and you're not really thinking about what they're saying as much as you're thinking about how to protect your own identity right so because our ego gets in the way also as well so how do you remain cognitive flexible in a world when you see like opposing information right something contrary to your worldview and um and that can be a challenge right when we i mean i'm sure all of us have a belief that we used to have that we'd be embarrassed to say today.

35:04Jim Kwik:Maybe it's a health thing. Like for me, 30 years ago, I heard someone very notable saying you should juice all these oranges every morning. And when I was in college, I didn't have any money to get organic oranges. And I would have to walk to the grocery store and with the little money I had to get these oranges and walk all the way back and spend all the time juicing them thinking it was good for me. And I didn't realize that this was gonna affect my insulin and my glucose and all these spikes long-term, but that was what my current belief level was. But being open and cognitively flexible to new ideas based on new research allows you to make different choices, which allows you to do different behaviors and get different results.

35:48Jim Kwik:So yeah, mental parkour. I love it, parkour. Yes. Shout out to that episode of The Office.

35:55Shawn Stevenson:You know what this reminds me of? there's a amazing quote and it's just it really um it really compliments that story that you shared this is a quote from muhammad ali he said the man who views the world at 50 the same way as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life i love that quote and this also has me thinking about what we're talking about before the show and i'd love for you to share this story uh we were talking about and i just asked you do you have you watched boxing recently you know because a big fight just happened canelo versus crawford and and um i asked you when's the last time you know you you saw a fight and then you said share that story oh well i don't want to i don't want to drop names but uh

36:40Jim Kwik:i work with a lot of people in hollywood helping them speed read scripts remain focused on sad when they need to uh memorize their lines and all those those many pages of scripts and i got i get a message from Sylvester Stallone when this Mayweather-Paccio fight was happening years ago. And he says, you want to watch the fight together? And because he was kind of hosting a watch party at his home. And I was like, yeah, of course, I want to watch the biggest fight with Rocky, right? So I go over there and we're in his, he has his home theater and I'm sitting on the couch and right next to me is Sly Stallone.

37:17Jim Kwik:And this is great. And then right a few minutes afterwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger comes in and sits right next to him and I swear if you take a picture of that couch people would be like who photoshopped that Asian dude in that in that photo but I'm also curious like I mean the fight you know went went the distance wasn't too thrilling but I always feel like genius leaves clues so I want to ask these two individuals like you know what did you think about that fight and and I was like what's the difference between you know somebody at that level and somebody like an amateur and because i feel like wherever you are in your stage of growth it's just important to remember that every professional was once a beginner right every expert was once what's an amateur right and we're just showing up every single day and growing and we all start you know in kind of that place um and arnold looks at me and he says the difference between you know those individuals and those who we don't know who they are is um you know they're they're willing to, I mean, it's, it's kind of cliche about working hard.

38:21Jim Kwik:Um, but this is like, they're willing to do what other people aren't willing to do. Right. And then when you're willing to do what other people aren't willing to do, you could live a life that most people, most people can, right. If, if they're willing to push past the pain to be able to get that thing that they really want, you know, it's that like, it's kind of like that marshmallow test that they do with kids where they put a marshmallow in front of a child and said, this is yours. Um, but if you don't eat it for, if you wait for 15 minutes, we'll give you three marshmallows. There's something like that.

38:50Jim Kwik:And they follow up years later and those people could delay gratification, um, which is also a superpower, you know, tend to, uh, have, be more happier and have more wealth and abundance and health and all that good stuff. But yeah, that was a fight to,

39:06Shawn Stevenson:to remember for sure incredible so basically also you don't be watching fights no i don't just to be clear obviously boxing and fighting is not good for your brain at all to be absolutely clear and

39:19Jim Kwik:i'm honestly kind of torn because i i enjoy you know i go to occasional ufc fight i like i like seeing people in in sports especially because i think there is a great metaphor um i like i have this human excellence, especially the mental component to it. But I'm not a big fan of concussions and TBIs. And maybe I've been traumatized with my own as a child and work with so many people who struggle with those focus issues and brain fog and migraines and all the things that I had from my injuries. Yeah, yeah, the same.

39:54Shawn Stevenson:I'm a big fan of excellence. I love studying excellence and witnessing it, getting proximity to it. It's contagious. and this Crawford Canelo fight, like these are those generational fights. These don't happen very often. Two undefeated, well, Canelo, he's like 62 and two. He lost two fights and Crawford's undefeated. I think he was like 39 and 0. And undisputed champions, they both have all the belts, belts on belts, but it's a great example with Crawford who won that fight, which again, beating Canelo is, I mean to say it's extremely extremely difficult to do Mayweather is you know one of the only people to to beat him and nobody's ever knocked either these fighters down right in all these fights but Crawford was a fantastic example of cognitive flexibility and and Canelo even shared that and in in so many words he shared that he couldn't figure him out in all of his years of experience and his dominance in the sport, he said, I couldn't figure him out.

41:00Shawn Stevenson:And it's because Crawford was so dynamic and flexible in what he was able to do, right? He can literally, there's a orthodox stance where your right-handed stance, and then there's a southpaw stance where it's the left-handed stance. And he is arguably the greatest fighter ever to be equally as effective with both. And he utilized what was working best as well as his footwork with keeping Canelo from being able to do what he wants to do, right? And so I'm watching and I'm witnessing these small things and I'm just like, this is so incredible. It's a chess match. It's a chess match. And again, not to glorify getting punched in the head, but to witness excellence is something special.

41:45Shawn Stevenson:And just to like put a little cherry on top with the fighting and the brain trauma, one of our mutual friends, Dr. Daniel Amen, he has the largest database of, in the world by far, of brain scans. He's scanned everybody's brain from Muhammad Ali to Justin Bieber, you know, to, of course, tons of everyday folks and executives and athletes. And his data was used for the big NFL study. And so one of those obvious things was that came from his data. Yeah. Combat sports, worst thing for your brain. Football, that's up there in the top three as well. But surprisingly, soccer. Soccer players have some of the worst brains.

42:29Shawn Stevenson:And it was when he first said it, it was, then I was like, oh, but the ball seems so like light. Like that's not, but it's the jarring of the brain because the brain is existing in this fluid. And he's just like, basically it's like shaking up a pickle jar. Like your brain being a big, you know, two pound consistency of butter organ in this pickle jar and just getting shaken up all these times when you're hitting the ball so we need to be aware of this stuff not to take away from the joy of sport but one of the things he advocates and so do you brain protection brain protection

43:04Jim Kwik:yeah where where where even simple things like wear a helmet and avoid those kind of those kind of micro concussions or those micro impacts which could really add up to to big he talks about changing your brain and changing your life. I went to Dr. Amen in 2010 to get my brain scanned. And yeah, it was a challenge because of my TBI as a child. And I've also flipped off bikes. Back then, it was different, right? We were out there and just, we'd climb monkey bars and there'd be no mat or anything. It would just be concrete or gravel right below you. It was those times. I remember I was I wasn't very well supervised my parents were you know they immigrated here and they had many jobs so I was just gonna home alone a lot and I would climb up to the attic and I remember falling down from the attic straight down and just like just alone yeah these kind of things right Koli-Colkin out here it was definitely a do we traveling yourself yeah we definitely have to protect our brain you know but it also affects our cognitive flexibility because I mean the brain is very resilient but it's very fragile but also when it comes to our mental state.

44:11Jim Kwik:And, you know, I think one of the things people could do to develop more cognitive flexibility is to introduce, you know, kind of like CrossFit for your brain is challenging yourself with new things and new ideas. You know, when something could be like something as simple as your frame of the way you look at things. Like we have an event that we do annually, a brain performance event that you've spoken at. and I remember when you that one particular one that you spoke at what could we kind of bring together the Avengers of performance you know and uh and and we have one coming up uh in in December which we're so excited to be the best we've ever done three days of just deep immersion and performance um but uh this one Quincy Jones was there yeah and I pulled him out of the audience and, you know, a legend.

45:02Jim Kwik:You know, he was in his 80s, and he's just, you know, this amazing producer, music, thriller, founded Oprah, like all this, you know, Will Smith, all of that. And so he won all these Grammys, and when they pulled him on stage for Fireside Chat, kind of an impromptu, he was like, I was asking him, like, everybody knows your successes. We are the world and all this. I want to know, like, about your problems. And I don't know if you remember this, but he said that I don't have any problems. I'm like, what do you mean? Like everybody has struggles and problems. And he's like, no, I don't have problems.

45:38Jim Kwik:I have puzzles. So that would be a reframe. That's being more cognitively flexible. Because all of a sudden you put a new label on something and you perceive it completely different. I'm like, wow. Like that was a big aha for me. Even if we have the video, like my face changed. Because I've never looked at problems the same way. because problems are something you dread, right? Problems are something you have to deal with. But a puzzle is like, at least when I grew up, puzzles were like fun. They were challenging. There was a solution to it, right? So you could change the frame and that changes, helps you become more cognitively flexible.

46:14Jim Kwik:It opens up more options, more solutions. And another one is just leveraging these micro stimulus where you could do something different. like i've been talking about this for 30 years try when you're brushing your teeth use your opposite hand you know that helps to helps you to be more cognitively flexible you're challenging a routine and it's not just potentially it's engaging a different part of your brain right these cross laterals that one half of your brain controls the other half of the body um god forbid you know somebody has had a like a stroke if it happened on the left side maybe they're paralyzed they're going to be probably likely if there's any paralysis on the right side right because one half of the brain controls the other half of the body below the neck but it's not just that you know it's just not the mind body connection it could be a body mind connection where using certain parts of your body could stimulate different parts of your brain that's why the cross laterals are so important so important for children to learn to be able to crawl because the number one reason you have a brain is to control your movement and as your body moves, your brain grooves.

47:20Jim Kwik:So something simple as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand. Okay. So potentially it's activating a different part of your brain, or maybe even using your opposite hand while you're using a visual pacer going back to reading could challenge a different part of your brain. But not only that, there's two other benefits of doing it is it forces you to be present because if you never brush your teeth with the opposite hand, you're not going to do anything else. You're going to focus on that activity, right? So especially first thing in the morning, you get to flex your focus muscles as opposed to your distraction muscles, right?

47:50Jim Kwik:Multitasking while you're brushing your teeth. And then the other thing is, I think the biggest benefit, it becomes a gateway habit. Wow, I've learned to brush my teeth with the opposite hand. That's a new habit that I do now. What else can I add? What else can I do? So I actually can change my habits. I don't have to be kind of like, as a reminder that you could be the pilot of your mind, not the passenger. So little things like that, challenging yourself to do new things. If it's safe to be able to do things with your eyes closed, with sensory deprivation, help enhance your coordination, develop other senses.

48:30Jim Kwik:That'd be a way of flexing your cognitive flexibility. And also having conversations with other individuals that hold opposing views. So many of us, especially with algorithms on social media, we tend to see the things that we engage with the most. And it becomes this, you know, this echo chamber, where you just hear the same thing, you're validating, you're looking, you see the same evidence. And so many people, because it thinking is the hardest activity, what's the quote, thinking is the hardest activity there is. That's why few people indulge in it, because it takes a lot of energy to change, you know, are thinking for things, but generally we're not looking for new ideas.

49:11Jim Kwik:We're looking to reinforce what we already know. And with algorithms, we only see that, but we don't see the opposing view. And then when we are in a conversation with somebody and they have, you know, and there's this whole idea where you could have your strong convictions loosely held. Not my idea, right? It's just this idea where if you're presented with new information or new facts or new research, that you're open to that. But sometimes we get defensive. like somebody has an opposing view in politics or some other area, which, you know, there's a whole stressor and fear around that. But when you feel like your, your amygdala is on fire, right?

49:46Jim Kwik:It's on fight or flight because you feel like you're being threatened, you know, and then it's how do you create psychological safety when you're communicating to somebody that you care about and you're holding this like deep emotional, like charge over some thing, some situation or some, some ethos um you know and that's why i think it's so important to negotiate to make that person feel safe right because it's really hard to change them with new ideas or another thing is somebody holds an opposing idea get curious yourself you know like if you had to argue for that point of view for five minutes what would you say and you know and so you get to exercise your own empathy and you also through mirror neurons you demonstrate that this is okay that like when you're talking to somebody with an opposing view that you're vulnerable, that you're curious, that we don't, it's humbling because we don't know it all.

50:35Jim Kwik:And that makes them feel more safe also, also as well. And then maybe instead of spewing facts, which is because people are just going to just delete and distort to reinforce what they already know, right? That's part of the human condition. You could talk about stories, which tend to be more, the narrative tends to go in easier, you know, talking about when you talk about stories and we used to be talking about storytelling telling to be able to remember things like the greatest teachers in the world use parables and metaphors you know it just allows people to feel a little bit safe and open to new ideas and you don't have to switch somebody let's say you want to talk to somebody who's cognitively inflexible you could demonstrate your own flexibility you know entertain that nobody's 100 right but nobody's 100 wrong you could get curious which is a superpower because that keeps you learning and and growing and uh when you're talking to them you don't have to switch them to 180 degrees maybe just try to shift their perspective even five degrees you know a little a little bit and start putting some momentum and some kind of uh mutual understanding um so that people and can you

51:40Shawn Stevenson:find understanding within yourself try to understand them yeah where they're coming from their perspective ask questions especially with their own cognitive biases that we all have that's something that I'm so grateful. I don't know where it came from, but I have this check-in with myself, you know, occasionally, especially when I start to, it's kind of like that Mark Twain quote, you know, when you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect. And so questioning my biases, questioning what I believe to be right, and just inquiring. And I think it's healthy because it keeps you, it keeps you more balanced.

52:18Shawn Stevenson:and I think it also makes it easier to understand people. And there's that great quote from St. Francis of Assisi, seek first to understand and then to be understood, right? And so by me having that open ability to question myself, it makes it so much easier and more graceful to ask questions and try to understand someone else.

52:42Jim Kwik:Yeah, and that openness is cognitive flexibility in action. you know and when you're flexible and you have more options and in game theory everything else being equal the person who has the most options will win it inevitably win right i mean and that's the thing it's just it allows you to see more opportunity allows you to see more solutions and and it allows us to evolve right like it's the same thing with this idea where you i mean who wants to be the same person that they were like you mentioned five ten twenty fifty years ago you know like in and down the line and you know for me i don't want to put my head on the pillow at night as the same you know mentality or understanding as the one that woke up on that same pillow right and i feel like we're here all to grow like in nature you you grow and if you're

53:31Shawn Stevenson:not growing you're you're sliding right obviously we're talking a lot about transforming our brain and our results and our performance in our lives, one of the most powerful ways to do that, and I would argue has been the most powerful thing in my life, is going to a live event because of the immersion. So many of my experiences, you just mentioned that Quincy Jones experience. I came to this event. I spoke at the event. Daniel Amon spoke at the event. All these other superheroes, like you said. And Quincy Jones comes on stage. It is so visceral. I have chills right now. I can see it. I see it.

54:09Shawn Stevenson:I feel that experience. It changed the game for me. And I remember you also asking him about how he stays so youthful and so creative. And he said essentially to make it a practice to never stop learning. And that's one of those things. And he's had decades, decades upon decades of influence that a lot of people don't realize. You know, of course the music side, Michael Jackson, Thriller, all that good stuff. Him being an artist himself, but also the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, just all this cultural influence and to learn from people like that, that's the kind of thing that happens around you. And as you mentioned, you've got an event coming up in December.

54:47Shawn Stevenson:I'm gonna be a part of it. You've got these other superstars who are gonna be there as well. And of course you're gonna be speaking and teaching. And if you can, can you let people know where they can get information about the event? Come and hang out with us. Oh, that'd be so fun. And listen, when I tell you, let me give one more example. Being around you, an event that you put together, is where I met my literary agent. Since then, Sleep Smarter has now translated into almost 30 different languages, 30 different countries.

55:16Jim Kwik:I just got goosebumps. I call them truth bumps.

55:19Shawn Stevenson:Man, it's just, it's so powerful, you know? And also the manifestation of podcasting and me being a part of that, you know, maybe 14 years ago, we were at an event together. And just, that's where the idea came from. And so I cannot stress enough how valuable it is to attend live events. And also, again, come hang out with me and hang out with Jim. So let everybody know about the event coming up.

55:43Jim Kwik:You know, I feel like the world needs people who are going to step up. And really, it's about the story of human evolution is around going from limitation to becoming more limitless, right? Going from the limitation of self-doubt or lack of self-confidence, lack of self-worth or self-belief or lack of a certain skill set or tool set or mindset. Every movie is about that freedom, that liberation. And it starts with the mind. But where do you learn how to do that? I love podcasts. I absolutely love books. Nothing has changed me as much as deep immersion around people who are at the best of what they do.

56:28Jim Kwik:in different areas. So, you know, everything I've done in my career has been what I wish I had, right? And when I didn't know how to read, I did the research and created a reading program to help people read around the world three times faster with better comprehension. Or when I had lack of memory, we created memory improvement. You know, when I couldn't find a supplement for, you know, for our brain, we created a, you know, quick mind, the nootropic to help with focus and memory and mood and mental energy. And when there's no books on an owner's manual for your brain, you know, I wanted to write limitless things that I wish I had to give me that edge.

57:06Jim Kwik:So, you know, people don't have to spend literally a million dollars like I have on learning all this. And three decades of my life, I did the work for them, paid the cost for them and made it easier for them. But the best thing is in person, right? In a world where we're kind of on screens, where there's no distractions, you could just be three days and learn from individuals and insights and then also be surrounded with people who are on the same path, who are on the quest to reveal and realize your fullest potential. And I think it starts with the mind. So we created an event called Limitless Live.

57:43Jim Kwik:And it's a three day deep immersion event live in person where there are no distractions, where I've handpicked my superhero friends, people that are mentors to me, people that I respect, people that have changed my life. and yeah, I'm so grateful that you're one of those individuals, you know, and so we have at this event, everyone from Dr. Mindy to Dr. Gabrielle Lyons coming to Jamie Kern Lima talking about self-worth. Billionaire Jamie Kern Lima. Yeah, we have everyone from, and for entrepreneurs out there, we have Jason Pfeiffer, who's the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, talking about forecasting for the future and how to be able to adapt.

58:28Jim Kwik:And also other speakers that you might not have heard from because they don't have books, but like the creator of MacGyver is coming. And what is MacGyver known for? Be able to solve a big problem with duct tape or a paperclip or whatever. How to use the resources that you have to be able to tap in to solve problems, to make your life better, to save the day. So it's not a matter of your resources, but more your internal resourcefulness. So we've handpicked 20 of the most amazing experts. And I asked them to share something that they don't really share publicly, really tailored for that group.

59:08Jim Kwik:And my goal is for every one of those sessions to be people feel like it was worth the time, travel, tuition just to come for that one session. Plus you're in a room in the past, as you mentioned, Quincy Jones has attended. We've had the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, attend multiple times. We've had the CEO of Sprint. I mean, that room, the person to your left and to your right, you'll get as much value as the people on stage. And plus, it's in this five, you'll love this, it's a five-star wellness resort outside of San Diego. I mean, for the people who really prize health, it's like farm-to-table, organic gardens, not chlorinated, but saline pools.

59:50Jim Kwik:I mean, it is like a paradise of nourishment for your mind, your body, your spirit. So three days, Limitless Live, it's all about activating your mind. It will take you on a journey where you become the superhero of your own story. And I can promise you, it'll be an event people will never forget. My life was also changed by events. So I know the power of it. It'll be fun. And so people go to limitlesslive.com and get all the details and spend time with you. And a lot of our authors and speakers will be doing book signings there and photos. And it's a different experience because we don't just teach you how to learn faster and perform better.

1:00:32Jim Kwik:We actually do it. So everything detailed from the food to the music that puts you in alpha states or theta states in the morning. We have activities of breath work and movement and cold plunge, like all the fun stuff. but um you know i believe that one step in another direction right changes your destination or your destiny and we want people to come here to leave feeling limitless to really win in uh 2026 so yeah it's it's going to be a blast it's going to be so much fun i mean we have mental it's just so much experiences there in the past you know we've set up ping pong tables and dr amen has uh challenged A lot of people we bring in like chop, you know, chess players and we do it.

1:01:16Jim Kwik:It's an experience. You'll always remember.

1:01:18Shawn Stevenson:Yeah. I can't wait. I cannot wait, man. Again, I just thought about why you were sharing that. I thought about somebody else who attended the event and he came as an attendee and he was a little known actor at the time. And now he just played Mr. Terrific in this new movie. Yeah. Right. So it's just like the most incredible people come there and their lives change. Like it changes the course of your life being around you, man. And I'm so grateful for you. I share this all the time, but I don't think you are ever going to understand how important you've been in the trajectory of my life. And I'm so grateful for you, man.

1:01:53Shawn Stevenson:And it comes from such a good place. And you really are about that life. You show up and you deliver and you give. And I'm so grateful for you.

1:02:03Jim Kwik:I feel the same way. I mean, I'm echoing something that I know all your listeners would agree with. You're an inspiring force of nature. You're an unstoppable force for good. I can't tell you how much you've helped me personally, my family, our team also as well. It's great. I think we're all, if you're listening to this right now, I think there's a reason. And certainly that there's a version. I want to remind people that there's a version of yourself that's patiently waiting. And the goal is we show up every single day until we're introduced to that person. because sometimes it could be lonely on this path.

1:02:44Jim Kwik:People are like, why are you going to those events? Why are you reading those books or listening to that podcast? Maybe your friends and family don't understand. Everyone in that room will understand because they're on the same path. I believe the life you live are the lessons you teach. You could come and make those changes, become more, be more, do more, have more, share more, so you can be a living example and inspiration like you are for so many other people in your life because nobody does it alone. When people ask, like, why is it limitless? It's just, limitless is not about being perfect.

1:03:13Jim Kwik:Limitless is about advancing and progressing, you know, beyond what you believe is possible. So one of the topics we'll talk about is to develop more your cognitive flexibility. But that's only one. I'll be teaching accelerated learning, speed reading, memory, all of that. But we've brought in the Justice League or the Avengers, depending if you're DC or Marvel, of performance. You know, and most of all, it'll be fun. You know, I feel like education is one thing, but education with entertainment really leads to real empowerment for people. Yeah.

1:03:46Shawn Stevenson:Right now, LimitlessLive.com. Go and check out the event, get your tickets, come and hang out with us in person. I can't wait, man. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for coming and sharing today. Thank you, Sean. The one and only Jim Quick. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode today. What a wealth of information. and we're just scratching the surface, all right? Make sure to head over to limitlesslive.com and come and hang out with me and Jim and these other incredible speakers for a full immersion. All right, come and hang out with us. I'd love to meet you in person. And truly, these events don't come around all the time.

1:04:27Shawn Stevenson:And I wanna reiterate this point. My life personally would not be what it is and what I've been able to accomplish, the lives that I've been able to impact had I not met Jim Quick. He's been an incredible friend. He's been an incredible mentor. He's been an incredible supporter. And he lifted up my voice early on when no one else did. But he was able to see my heart and my intention and my potential very, very early on. I've been in this field now for about 23 years. It's that Jordan number. All right. But this is like early, first few years. And I was able to be on a conference call. This is back in the day of conference calls.

1:05:14Shawn Stevenson:All right. With Jim Quick. And he asked me to co-host one of these calls with him that was reaching all these people. And I was just like, oh my goodness, this is the greatest opportunity. And I was so grateful. And we've been great friends ever since. And just being around him, being in the environment, coming to these events. I've got friends, lifelong friends from these events. I've had experiences that are just like, they are so visceral and so vivid in my memory. Like being able to sit there and listen to Quincy Jones in person left a true mark on my life. And not to mention just learning, I learned how to juggle at one of these events.

1:05:55Jim Kwik:Like what?

1:05:56Shawn Stevenson:Like just all these incredible things happen when you are around Jim Quick and his incredible team and these events. So limitlesslive.com, head over there, get your ticket. Can't wait to see you there. We've got some amazing masterclasses and world-class guests coming your way very, very soon. So make sure to stay tuned. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon. And for more after the show, make sure to head over to themodelhealthshow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes. You can find transcriptions, videos for each episode. And if you've got a comment, you can leave me a comment there as well.

1:06:30Shawn Stevenson:And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome. And I appreciate that so much. And take care. I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.