Jim Kwik’s Limitless Daily to Train Your Brain & Master Your Mind 🧠 E172

16:51Jim Kwik:Yeah. And I feel like people remember, and we are our memories too. Like, not only do we train people, like we have the number one memory program in the world, but online, but not only facts and figures in foreign languages and what have you, it's just like we remember our whole life is our memories. We lost half our, like, you know, I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's and yeah. And I was seven and it was really, this was very confused. I just had my head injury a couple of years earlier. I was already like really slow and challenged, but that was very confusing seeing her like repeat herself or call me by my father's name.

17:25Jim Kwik:Yeah. And so we, so we funded like with the first book, Alzheimer's research, you know, remembering my grandmother, but, um, you think Alzheimer's curable?

17:35Dan Fleyshman:I feel like it's going to be cured in our, in our lifetimes.

17:38Jim Kwik:I'm extremely optimistic with things like AI, you know, um, you know, the numbers, I'm very hopeful, you know, we, the limitless was endorsed by the number one Alzheimer's, number one Alzheimer's researcher, um, at Harvard, you know, by the the Kleeman Clinic Center for Brain Health, the director over there. And so when I speak at these institutions, you know, it's amazing. The brain is very, it's very resilient, right? Under the right conditions. You know, the analogy is like genetics could load the gun for Alzheimer's, but it's your lifestyle and environment that would fire it. You know, so we have more influence than we think with, you know, optimizing your sleep, good brain diet, stress management is really important.

18:23Jim Kwik:community is huge for that. I mean, that's the number one on our, on our podcast. Uh, we had, uh, we've done just north of 500 episodes. We had the, the director of the longest study on longevity and happiness at a Harvard, you know, 80, 80 plus years. They've been doing this longitudinal study and they found out, yes, diet is important. Yes. Exercise is important. What's more important is connection.

18:45Dan Fleyshman:Yeah.

18:46Jim Kwik:Connection, you know, and think about how much, more important it is in a world of AI with people on screens and kind of disassociated. That's why, you know, your events do so well, right? Because it's an opportunity for people to come together. And we are, it's not just your neurological networks, it's your social networks. We've all heard who you spend time with is who you become, right? We're the average of the five people health-wise and business wealth-wise as the people we spend time with. It's because we are communal creatures. We tend to imitate. We have something called mirror neurons where we're We're always imitating people around us consciously, unconsciously.

19:17Jim Kwik:You know, I usually watch, W-A-T-C-H. We imitate their words. We use the same language as the people we spend most time with. A is actions. We tend to behave like the people we spend time with. Like whether or not someone smokes has more to do with their friends smoking, or whether they exercise, or whether they read, or whether they meditate, or build a business. You're an entrepreneur, or they're super fit, right? The T in watch are thoughts. We tend to think the same way, about whether it's politics or other things, you know, business, entrepreneurship. Like, you know, if you grow up in an entrepreneurial family, you just kind of think like everyone should be an entrepreneur, right?

19:47Jim Kwik:As opposed to not having those, being around people who don't. The C is character. We tend to have the same integrity or moral compass as the people around us. And then the HR habits, you know. But it's also just, it's important when I'm going to talk about community, because we do our events also as well. It's memory driven. Like whether somebody has like confidence, like confidence is remembering, you know, your wins, right? You know, fear can be remembering your failures. You know, wisdom is remembering the lessons. Your expertise is remembering your experience. It's all, it's all comes down to memory, you know, and for social creatures, it's interesting because, you know, with individuals we're talking about, cause we borrow, you know, we have confidence cause we borrow someone's certainty and belief in us sometimes.

20:32Jim Kwik:We get courage that way, you know, from family or friends, people that we admire, mentors, you know, we, we also regulate, you know, our nervous system regulates. When you're around a calm person, you will, you will become more calm, right? We all know that person that, you know, you spend a little time with, you hear their voice and you just kind of sink in. And there's people on the other side of the extreme where they just like, you know, you just cannot relax because you're picking up on them. So yeah, I love events. That's why, especially for entrepreneurs and investors, people that want to build wealth, it's, it's, it's so much of it's driven through community.

21:03Dan Fleyshman:So I'm going to take it down a personal route.

21:05Jim Kwik:Yeah.

21:05Dan Fleyshman:So I think it might help some people that may be able to inspire their parents or grandparents to stay more fit or stay more active. So my grandmother was in her 90s and she would go swimming every single day. And she would take her bicycle, more like a tricycle, to go swimming. But she was actively cooking for us, hosting all the events. Like she was an active, even though she was in her 90s, very active. My grandfather was still teaching Yiddish at Beverly Hills High School for senior citizens into his 90s as well. Wow. So my grandmother hurts her knee and so she can't swim for three weeks and gets Alzheimer's.

21:43Dan Fleyshman:And it was very intense, especially for my mom because she would treat my mom like it wasn't her daughter. You know, she did a different name, not just different name, but like it was very intense. And it's like core memory for me because it impacted my mom. Grandmother passes away quite quickly after getting Alzheimer's. And then my grandfather, who was a healthy character, who's actively teaching at the school, driving himself, riding the bicycle he was like an Arnold Schwarzenegger type figure to us passed away yeah because he lost love his life what are your thoughts about the staying active and fit and what people can do to inspire their parents and grandparents how important is activity to the mind yeah so there's something

22:25Jim Kwik:called the cognitive reserve and cognitive reserve is like kind of like a retirement account and it's so every single time you learn something you know Or like it can be a language, it can be a new business terminology, it could be a musical instrument or anything. You're building your cognitive reserve. And usually a big dip of when we see in terms of cognitive performance, because we have students in every country in the world, we have a lot of information, is usually when people retire. Because often they retire their mind, and they're not using their minds the same way. And your brain is like a muscle.

22:58Jim Kwik:It's an organ, but it acts like a muscle. It's use it or lose it. um you know i i've had similar experiences with family members um you know they break a hip and then they can't move and so the the key though for cognitive reserve and just brain span in general so we hear about lifespan adding years to your life right anti-aging there's you know there's also the health span having healthy years you know for me i focus on brain span which is you know maintaining your independence as you get older and maintaining your focus your memory your your thinking, your wisdom, right? And a lot of it is based on physical activity, mental activity, and social activity.

23:35Jim Kwik:You know, some of the biggest needle movers for that is dance, racket sports, because they're physical, they're mental, and they're social, you know, also as well. You know, they say racket sports, you could add nine years. Wow. You know, that's why you see Dr. Amen also playing table tennis, right? A lot of people doing pickleball because it's reaction time. It's, you know, thinking speed. It's strategy. It's these sprints, right? You know, highly engaged. Dance, you know, putting your mind into your muscle, you know, and it's rhythm. It's music, right, which is the brain. It's usually have a partner also as well, you know, so it has the mental, physical, and social.

24:14Jim Kwik:So, you know, there was a, and then the learning is what really was key, right, with both your grandparents. There was a study done with these nuns, and they found out they were living 80, 90, and above. It was on the cover of Time magazine. It's called Aging with Grace. So half of it was their fellowship, their community, their emotional, the faith, the other half, though, they're mentally active. I mean, they would be reading, they would be having debates and discourse and conversation and writing. And they saying that was a large contributor, adding years to their life and then life to their years also.

24:44Jim Kwik:So, yeah, being active. And that's the challenge with AI that I have. You know, I'm very optimistic. We use AI, you know, to scale our work and everything. but the challenge is something that's new. It's called cognitive offloading. We've always done this. Our minds have always changed since spoken word, since writing was invented, since printing presses, in terms of how I remember. Yeah, the calculator, GPS, all of that. And so for me, it's about technology. Is AI using it as a crutch or are you using it as a coach or a companion? you know so it's not so much artificial intelligence maybe it's it's augmented intelligence it's meant to expand you right like all technologies helps you to be able to to be able to expand and amplify but it just again it's just what you're bringing to it and that that's i think the challenge and also there's something called cognitive surrendering that i talk about where it's just like some people don't even want to think like your brain is only two percent of your body mass but requires like like 20 of the energy it's an energy hog like i've worked with you know, amazing chess players competing and they'll burn like seven, 8 ,000 calories just sitting in a chair because the amount of like, like, uh, of calories that you're building, you know, burning just with your, with your brain.

26:02Um, and so, you know, I think one of the

26:05Jim Kwik:challenges, some people aren't thinking because it takes so much energy, right? Like, and there's this cognitive rigidity, you know, as opposed to cognitive flexibility that we talk about in Limitless Daily, where it's, you're like doing mental parkour, right? You're challenging yourself, You have hobbies. You can see things from different points of view, as opposed to being cognitively rigid, because then you end up with like a blockbuster video. They were, they were very not flexible. They're rigid, right. In terms of they didn't adapt or you have a Kodak that developed, you know, the backbone for digital photography and they shelved it, you know, and they stayed rigid and then where, where are they now?

26:37Jim Kwik:And so, you know, all these brands and you know, your brand, your business, your bank account, it's all comes from decisions of the brain. So I feel like your brain is your number one wealth building asset. And so, you know, without the cognitive offloading, what I would focus on is you build before you borrow. So there was this MIT study where they took groups of people, ABC, and they had to write essays. You know, these students, A, use ChatGPT, B, use Google, and C, didn't use either. And they mapped their, they scanned their brains to see which one's most active. Obviously C was most active because they had to do the heavy lifting and A was hardly ever because it was just copy and paste.

27:12Jim Kwik:Then they tested them on memory of what they remembered from the essay and group A had the least recall. And that's the challenge is because the goal here is like convenience. Like you could take the car to go 10 blocks or you could get your steps. So I want people to be mentally fit. Because what happens in a society where we're just off loading our thinking and that judgment gets weak, then we become a civilization that's easily manipulated by authority, by agendas. We can't sort through misinformation, all the slop that's being created, you know, or critical thinking. And then also from an entrepreneur's end, then we'd be at derivative.

27:49Jim Kwik:Everything we're creating is generic then because it's all the same. Like what makes it stand out? And so I would just really quickly tell people to build their intelligence before they borrow. The B is, so before you go to AI, you brainstorm, right? So come up with your own ideas before you go to AI, even if it's two or three minutes. The U is understand and really understand the problem, right? Einstein said if he had like a, you know, an hour, he would spend most of the time trying to figure out what the problem is. Because I feel like, especially in business, people are optimizing around the wrong question or the wrong problem, right?

28:22Jim Kwik:And then so understanding. And then the I in build is imagination. Like, you know, look at this problem and come up with three, you know, answers to this problem before you go to AI to give it to you. Or ask questions like, what would somebody 10 times smarter than me, how would they answer this question? or what would one of your favorite business mentors, how would they look at it? Or what would a five-year-old look at this problem as? And they might see the elusive obvious. And then the L in build is leverage AI. Then you go to AI for that. And not just to spit on the answer, use it to show your blind spots, right?

28:56Jim Kwik:What could go wrong here? Make an argument, a strong argument against what I'm saying here or distress test a business idea or whatever. That would be really intelligent way of you to leverage AI. And then the end build is decide. Because ultimately AI can process and compute, give you a lot of data. But human beings, we have to decide out of all this information what's important, right? Like what it means and also what to do with that information. Because AI doesn't have that, they don't have the reference for that. And so I'm all about HI before AI, human intelligence before artificial intelligence.

29:35Jim Kwik:Build before you borrow.

29:37Dan Fleyshman:So what about investing into our stomachs, the things that we eat? How important is food, and are there any foods, drinks, snacks, things that we should be doing for our memories and brains?

29:46Jim Kwik:Yeah, in Limitless I wrote about neuro-nutrition. And so your brain is, what you eat matters, especially for your brain matter. Some of my favorite brain foods, and everyone's a little bit individual, some people are allergic to certain things and everything, but some of my favorite, avocados, blueberries, I call them brain berries, very neuroprotective. Broccoli, if your diet allows. The surforafane in broccoli is really good. Olive oil, good for the brain. Eggs, the choline in eggs, very good for cognitive health. Green leafy vegetables, wild salmon or sardines, like you get your omega-3s, your DHAs.

30:23Jim Kwik:Turmeric, actin green is curcumin, which is anti-inflammatory. Walnuts, high in vitamin E, very neuroprotective. dark chocolate yeah not milk chocolate but dark chocolate generally what's good for your mood is good for your mind you know and also on the other side staying away from the highly processed foods high inflammation you know it's not the not the best for the for the brain the glucose spikes high sugar foods you know with your insulin resistance could wreak havoc on your on your mind so when

30:53Dan Fleyshman:people go out there and see there are seemingly infinite books out there in the ecosystem and out in the ether. Um, your last book, Limitless did extraordinarily well, and we expect Limitless Daily to do the same thing. How do you stand out in the book space? How does people gravitate towards you? You're on a roadshow right now going to different cities. Like what do you, what do you do to stand out? Someone out there wants to be an author.

31:17Jim Kwik:So for me, like I'm, I'm very mission driven, right? I think you learn to earn, to return, right you learn to be able to earn to be able to return and so i my mission is to build better brighter brains daily it always has been for 35 years i'm agnostic how it happens through our podcast or youtube we have courses you know we have supplements we have we do we do all this right speaking i'm kind of agnostic how it gets the impact happens you know we're doing stuff with ai um so i feel like we're a movement that happens to have a book with it and i think that's very important today. If you want to build a speaking practice, I've given 22 keynotes for corporations and companies and conferences.

32:00Jim Kwik:And I, I, I had the worst, I guarantee you, there's nobody listening here is more phobic of public speaking than I was, especially with my brain injury and my learning disabilities, you know, like, but life has a sense of humor because all I do is, you know, public speak on this thing called learning. But I would say for one of the building out of brand, I was very clear. It's hard to stop. It's hard to stop somebody who knows where they're going and why

32:21Dan Fleyshman:they're going there.

32:22Jim Kwik:You know, I, for, I feel a moral impetus to help people because shame, I think we're best suited to support the person we once were. I mean, I feel like, you know, the work I do is what I wish I had. You know, instead of the critic that we have inside our mind saying, you're not good enough, you can do this. I think that critic in our minds, the negative, the one that has the negative thoughts. That's if you're listening to this right now, is turn that critic into a coach and a coach, they're honest with you, but they're kind with you and they move you forward. And I feel like changing that voice makes a big difference.

32:53Jim Kwik:But in terms of building the brand, you know, I mean, yes, this book happens to be purple. It stands on the shelf. Purple is also very significant to me because it's meant to be read first thing in the morning during that sleep inertia time where you're attentional priming and getting magnitude results because all entrepreneurs, investors want higher leverage. And so using that time instead of grabbing your phone in the first five, 10, 20 minutes is to read one page of the book. It stands out on the shelf, obviously, for branding. I think it's better to be different than it is to be better. You know, a market leader in an industry will on average own like 74 % of a market in a lot of industries and everyone else is fighting for the other 26%.

33:33Jim Kwik:So we own a good part of, you know, the accelerated learning space. Like we've done nine figures in our online programs and it's just, you know, we have a very strong base in this. But I think we wanted to own, you know, quick learning, KWIK is my last name. We wanted to own that category, you know, the blue ocean idea. So, and the purple also just from a branding standpoint, it stands out not only in shells, but in people's minds because there are not a lot of purple books. Also purple is specifically, you know, when I, when my son and I was three, we watched the sun come up, you know, together in the morning, the sky, I color matched it to this guy, and it's very purple.

34:12Jim Kwik:And purple, if you learn in color psychology, is sovereignty and wisdom. And I want to remind people that, you know, they have agency in this world, you know, as dim as it could get sometimes and as challenging and difficult, and give them a little bit of wisdom. So I actually wrote this book for, you'd appreciate this, for my daughter. You know, when she was in the hospital, I write every morning. I've always have. But when I was in the hospital, when she was born, looking at her, I started writing to her. and like, because I'm an older father, I'm in my fifties. And, you know, I just, if I wasn't there 20 years from now, you know, what you need to hear from me, you know, going through a hard day first thing in the morning.

34:50Jim Kwik:So I wrote about imposter syndrome. I wrote about fear of failure, negative thoughts, distraction, burnout, you know, everything that could kind of hold us back and be limited. And then a friend of mine was going through a stage four cancer. I showed him some notes and he's like, you know, It really uplifted his attitude and his healing and his performance. And so I was like, this could be a great book. Because everyone with Limitless was like, this is an ordinary manual for a brain, but how can they live this daily in just five minutes? And so then I put the science in there and everything to back it up.

35:21Jim Kwik:But it's my best work. It's like you upgrade your phone, your apps, your newest AI. When are we upgrading this technology? So this is just five minutes every morning. And so it's not a book you put on your shelf and just let it sit there. It's a practice. And, you know, I think if you want to win the day, you got to win that first, you know, five, 10 minutes of the day.

35:40Dan Fleyshman:So normally we cover three core topics, how to make money, how to invest money, how to give it away to charity. This episode, we dove deeper into the brain, the mind and those, those things. But I still want to ask one of each question for our traditional audience. On the make money side, if someone wants to go from becoming a free speaker that speaks at free events or they speak at their local church, they speak at local pop-up events. How do they go to actually get the first thousand bucks, five grand, 10 grand? I mean, you charge over$100 ,000 for a speech. How do they go to that process to get paid to be a speaker?

36:09Jim Kwik:I've definitely done my shares of free talks. I think the most important thing is you learn it, you live it, then you earn the right to be able to teach it. And so I think it's very important for a speaker to be able to solve a very specific problem. And for me, I'm dealing with limits of the mind, people feeling slow. and I want them to be faster. And it's very clear in terms of the benefit. I think when you could articulate the problem so well, people automatically think, they assume the solution. And especially a problem that people are facing that's keeping them up late at night, people will pay it.

36:46Jim Kwik:Because it's not the price of the speech, it's the cost of what happens if my team that you're being hired for doesn't fix this distraction or the memory loss or the overwhelm or the burnout that they're dealing with. because I feel like that's the big, that's the big cost. Even with this book, someone could buy the book or not buy the book. If they buy this book, like with your books, that's not going to change your life at all. If someone buys your book or doesn't, but it could change their life big time, huge, right? Or even your, the events, if they don't attend, no big deal to you, right?

37:16Jim Kwik:Your lifestyle doesn't change at all, but it could change their lifestyle completely. And so, you know, and with this, so I would say, solve a very specific problem, be known for being able to be able to solve that problem. And that's my mission. and then, you know, I build my brand around it and hopefully I make it different so it stands out and people always pay for that. Always, because I could speak on a lot of things. I mean, I could read a book and teach a book on sales, you know, just well by doing that, but I stay in my lane without a doubt. On the investing side, real estate, stock market,

37:47Dan Fleyshman:cash flowing businesses, you know so many people, you speak at so many events, so people are bombarding with angel investments and private equity deals, invest in my fund, blah, blah, blah. How do you decide for yourself what you're willing to invest capital into?

38:00Jim Kwik:I've done 20, not a lot, 22 angel investments, and they're usually in things that I understand and things that I can move forward. So I do advisory work also as well, like you do. And so these are things that, I won't mention the brands, but there are things that I understand in this community that I can move forward that is not dependent on me. Obviously, for me to do business with somebody, I need three Cs, I need competence, I need to know leadership is competent because I feel like I'm world-class with what I do. I want to be working with people who are world-class in what they do. C is character, right?

38:35Jim Kwik:Because, and just like even any kind of business, somebody could be incredibly competent but not have integrity and that doesn't work. Or someone would have a lot of character and they're not competent to get the job done. That doesn't work either. That doesn't work. And then the third C is I tend to invest in things. C is not to get metaphysical, but it's consciousness, meaning I can think of a lot of ways of making a dollar. I need the things I'm involved in to also feel like they're making a difference. because that goes with my ethos. And I'm more able to get behind something like that where they don't need me, but they have the three Cs and I can move things forward.

39:06Jim Kwik:That's a sweet spot for me.

39:09Dan Fleyshman:And then on the charity side, why do you think it's important for a brand, a company owner, a business to have some type of charity component for their investors, friends, employees, customers, et cetera, to see them actively involved in some type of charity?

39:22Jim Kwik:Yeah, I would do it. And I would say this, I would do it as performance, performative, like a lot of stuff that we do, we don't announce. If I announce it, it's because I want people to see that they can be part of this movement and make a difference. But everything in nature has two things. Everything in nature has to grow or it dies, and everything has to give back or else it's eliminated in the ecosystem. And I feel like that's why we're here. My mythos is learn to earn, to return. then so I feel like not less performative in terms of posting about it and that's fine also as long as you practice what you post and I feel like business could be a force for good you know without a doubt like at a certain point you know why are we doing what we're doing and so I feel like you know especially all our events just like you know you you raise a ton of money for such a great such great causes you know and part of life is you know the legacy you You know, not how people remember you, but just I think the life we live are the lessons we teach, you know, and I want to be with that of service.

40:24Jim Kwik:And I always feel like that even with my career, you know, as a coach or as a speaker, as an expert, that I just want to be valuable. I want to leave people better and brighter than they were beforehand. And if I can do that at scale with people who are suffering and struggling, you know, because we have, you know, we live in a society that's very, you know, abundant. Like we optimize for convenience. I mean, we have more, you know, luxury now than kings and queens and emperors in time that we could hop on a plane and we have all this access on our phone. We have temperature control and all this stuff.

40:54Jim Kwik:I just, I think one of the things is with gratitude because I think when you give, it makes you, reminds you there's enough and you can be grateful and what you appreciate appreciates. Like if you want greater wealth, like think about all the things you have in your life that money can't buy. Like if you list those things or here's a thought experiment. It's one of the ones in Limitless Daily. waking up and just saying like, you know, what if the only things you had in your life tomorrow were the things you express gratitude for today? You know, like how much like would you feel it and let other people feel, you know, appreciated.

41:27Jim Kwik:And I think that's a stronger base than scarcity, you know, long term, like in terms of what drives us, you know, knowing that there's enough, that you're not doing things out of desperation, like that, how's that sale going? Or that negotiation, if you feel like you're desperate and, you know, in need.

41:43Dan Fleyshman:Where can people find you on social media? Where can they find the book? Tell us everything.

41:47Jim Kwik:At Jim Quick, K-W-I-K-I, just spelled right. And everything's about this book. It's my best work. It's LimitlessDaily.com. We have some amazing special gifts as a thank you. And I want to thank you for your friendship, not only in what you do, but the manner you do it. You're one of those individuals that practices what they post. So it means a lot. And you're an incredibly busy guy. And I appreciate how you show up for me, but also so many other people.

42:16Dan Fleyshman:All right, guys. As you know, this podcast was not just for you, although there's a lot of tips for you. But there's for sure parents, friends, kids, employees, staff, people you haven't even met before that you should be sharing this episode with. Because the things that you teach them about even just remembering someone's name, the things you teach them about the food that they eat, all the little tips and tricks that you heard throughout this last 45 minutes with Jim can literally change the course of their life. Think about the hundreds of people that your child's going to meet over the future.

42:44Dan Fleyshman:Thousands of people, maybe. Think about the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times they eat per year, and all of a sudden they add blueberries, and now it helps them with their brain just a little bit, hundreds and hundreds of times for the next 72 years. It all compounds from little tips and tricks that can trickle down for the rest of your life. I appreciate you guys. Visit us at themoneymondays.com. Check out Jim Quick, Limitless Daily, and we'll see you guys next week here at themoneymondays.com.