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Hala Taha: What's up YAP fam? I am beyond excited to bring you today's episode with someone who truly knows how to make those neurons fire on all cylinders, Jim Quick. We first played this episode in October 2022. It was episode 190. Jim has been a huge influence in the world of memory improvement and brain optimization.

For over three decades, he's been the go to expert for celebrities, CEOs, and even world leaders who want to sharpen their minds and achieve more. But here's the kicker, Jim wasn't always a brainiac, in fact, he started out as the boy with the broken brain. And that's because he struggled with a traumatic brain injury that left him learning challenged.

Fast forward to today and Jim is a living testament to the power of the human mind to heal, grow, and absolutely crush it in life. In this Yap Classic, we talk [00:01:00] about techniques that you can use to improve your focus, boost your memory, and learn anything faster. Techniques like Be Suave for remembering names.

And I love his purpose multiplied by energy and small simple steps formula. That's basically the secret sauce for limitless motivation. Whether you're trying to remember names at a networking event or simply want to keep your mind sharp, this episode is packed with actionable tips that will help you get there.

Before we get into it, I wanted to let you know that this is my AI voice. At Yap Media, we've been experimenting with AI to see just how far we can push it. Could you tell I didn't record this in person? Send me a DM on LinkedIn or Instagram or send me an email to let me know. So, if you're ready to make your brain your best asset, let's jump right into my interview with Jim Quick. 

 Talk to us about those early years when you were the boy with the broken brain and tell us about this boy you were before you started your transformation.

Jim Kwik: Wow. Okay. Let's, let's go back. [00:02:00] You mentioned my traumatic brain injury when I was in kindergarten and I was rushed to the emergency room and where it really showed up the effects was in school. I had trouble learning. I couldn't focus. I had a horrible memory. I couldn't process information like everybody else.

Teachers would repeat themselves over and over again. And I learned to pretend to understand, but I really didn't understand anything. It took me A few years longer just to learn how to read and now those are really, there's a lot of anxiety and stress for, for a kid. You remember sitting in those reading circles, they would pass around a book and you don't have to read out loud when he came to you and I just, I would look at the page and the words meant nothing.

And yeah, I thought I had the broken brain and every single time I did badly on a test or it wasn't picked for sports in school, which was a very, very often, I would always say, Oh, cause I have the broken brain. Adults have to be very careful with their external words because they become a child's internal words.

That became my self talk. Even when at events, when people see me do these demonstrations, I never do it to impress them. I really do them [00:03:00] to just to express to them what's possible, because the truth is every single one of your listeners could do that and a whole lot more. We just weren't taught, if anything, we're taught a lie that somehow our potential, our intelligence is somehow fixed, like maybe our shoe size.

And we've discovered more about the human brain. Here's the exciting news. And we're in the past 10 years and the previous thousand years combined. And we found is we're grossly underestimating our own capabilities. That really is not even the sky's the limit. It's really our minds are the limit. And so my mission really is to build better, brighter brains.

No brain left behind. I know what it's like to struggle, to be distracted, to not feel confident in your own mind. And I really feel that, you know, your brain is your number one wealth building asset and the faster you can learn, the faster you can earn because today knowledge is not only power knowledges.

A lot of what your show is about, it's about profit. And I don't just mean financial profit, I mean all the treasures of your life gets better when you understand how your brain works. You can work your brain and when you can learn and focus and remember and [00:04:00] apply, you could apply that towards anything, money, management, martial arts, music.

Mandarin, everything in your life gets so much easier. And so my, my message to everybody really is that limits are learned and that it's just our school system didn't really teach us how our brain works. There's no class on focus or memory. And so when we beat ourselves up because we can't concentrate or we can't understand something, it's not, I realized after years of doing this, it's not how smart we are.

It's really, how are we smart? And we're all smart in different ways. And I think the most important skill for entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs or people who really want to get to the next level is, is learning how to learn. And then that's really, really a focus on. 

Hala Taha: I really relate to you and I was so excited to bring you on because I think this is such an important topic.

And I think a lot of people have been through a similar struggle. I remember, like, I wasn't always good at math. They would always put me in the poor math class when I was younger. And then I had this stigma [00:05:00] that I was like always terrible at math. Then I get to college and I'm great at math. And you just kind of have this transformation once you realize that these are actually just labels and limitations and you can get over it as an adult.

But so many of us spend years. It's believing this lie that adults told us when we were little, or like one thing happened, and we go on believing forever that that's just who we are. 

Jim Kwik: The word you use is absolutely, I use it in the book Limitless, lie. You know, we believe these lies, and a lie for me stands, everything's kind of turned into an acronym or some kind of mnemonic to make it easy to recall, but lies for me stands for a limited idea entertained.

It's not true that you're not smart enough. It's just a limited idea that we're entertaining. It's not true that you're not smart enough or that you're not, you don't have the resourcefulness. And so it's really about transcending. I think the nature of personal growth is about transcending. It's about ending the transcending, this mass hypnosis, maybe [00:06:00] through.

We got in our, from our parents or marketing or media that somehow that we're, we're broken somehow that, uh, that somehow we could only, you know, have only a small amount or be a small amount or, or share, you know, a small amount. And we found that, that it's, that we shouldn't be, I find, especially of recent that the big mistake people make is they.

They shrink all that's possible to fit their minds when maybe we should explore expanding our minds to fit all that's really possible. 

Hala Taha: I love that. So let's fast forward to your college years. So your label became your limit from your age of 5 to 18. You were sort of put in this box. You didn't believe you could be better necessarily or you didn't have the tools.

And you were a freshman in college, you still had a difficult time learning, like your peers, and you were actually ready to drop out of school, but you ended up meeting a mentor, it was your friend's dad, he gave you a new direction, and it was a very pivotal point in your life. I'd love for you to share that story [00:07:00] with us, and why that moment in time was so eye opening for you.

Jim Kwik: So as you mentioned, I, I thought getting into school would give me a reset, like if I thought freshman meant fresh start. I took all these classes and I wanted to show the world and, you know, show myself really made me make people around me proud. And I did worse and it was so difficult for me and I didn't have the money to be in school to begin with.

And so I was ready to quit. And when I had that thought, I was talking to friends and a friend said, Hey, that's a big life decision. Why don't you get some perspective and he invites me to visit his home over the weekend where he was gonna just kind of get some time off and I agree. And, you know, when I get to the This person's home.

It's, it's, it's beautiful. Didn't kind of sound the water. And the father walks me around his property and before dinner and asked me a very innocent question. And the question is how school and that is, I mean, I'm just getting choked up even like thinking about it right [00:08:00] now because it's, um, I didn't, that was the worst question you could ask me.

And I start bawling in front of the stranger because I have so much pressure that, you know, I haven't told anybody. Yeah. And I told him my whole story about having my brain injury and not feeling enough and like, school's not for me and I'm ready to quit. I don't know how to tell my folks. And he said, Jim, in this question, one question changes everything, right?

He said, why are you in school? What do you want to be? What do you want to do? What do you want to have? What do you want to share? And completely, completely honest, I didn't have any answer because I didn't know why I was in school. I just thought that's what you do, right?When I start thinking about it, I go to answer him and he says, stop. He reaches out his back pocket, takes out a notepad and just asked me to write down, you know, all the things I want, you know, if anything is possible and if you can't fail, what would you, what would you do?

And I started writing these things down and I don't know how much time goes by, I kind of lose track of time. When I'm done though, I start folding the sheets of paper to put in my pocket [00:09:00] and he rips them out of my hands and I'm freaking out because he starts reading them and I've never shared these things, my dreams or my desires, my goals with anybody.

I didn't even realize some of these things I wanted until he, I went through this exercise and I'm freaking out because I'm afraid of being judged like, like anybody. You don't want to be judged. You don't want to feel like, you know, that, Oh, that you're not good enough for all these things. And, you know, when he's done.

He starts, he looks at me and he says, Jim, you are this close to everything on this list. And he's, for those who are watching on video, he's spreading my index fingers about a foot apart. And I was like, no way. You know, I'm not that close. Give me 10 lifetimes. I'm not going to crack that list. And he takes his index fingers and he puts them to the side of my head.

Meaning what's in between is the, is the key that would unlock those achievements and meaning my brain and he walks me into a, his home that I, into a room I've never seen before. It is [00:10:00] wall to wall, ceiling to floor covered in books and at this point I've never read a book cover to cover. Um, I still have, you know, some reading issues, ability issues and I'm freaking out.

It's like being in a room full of snakes. You know, for people who are phobic of, you know, and an anxiety around something. And what makes it worse is he starts going to the shelves and grabbing and grabs these snakes, if you will, and starts handing them to me and, uh, just book after book. And I started looking at the titles and there are these biographies of some incredible women and men in history and some very early personal growth books.

I mean, the classics, Norman Vincent Peale, the power of positive thinking, thinking, grow rich, Napoleon Hill. And he says, Jim says, leaders or readers, I want you to read one book a week. And my honest reaction was, have you not heard anything I've said to you this entire time? I have learning disabilities. I have challenges.

I can't read very well. I have so much schoolwork. And when I said I have so much schoolwork, he said, Jim, don't let [00:11:00] school get in the way of your education. And I didn't realize it was a Mark Twain quote at the time, but I was like, wow, it's really Profound. And I can't promise to read a book a week. And then very smart man, he reaches into his pocket and he takes out my goals, like my bucket list.

And he starts reading every single one of my goals out loud and something about hearing like your goals and your deepest desires said by a stranger, like encanted out into the world and mess with my mind and my, my spirit, honestly, something fierce and a lot of things on a list for things I wanted to do for my parents.

Things that they can never, they would, even if they could afford to, they wouldn't do for themselves. And with that motivation, you know, in those reasons, I promised to read one book a week. Well, fast forward. Now I'm back at school and I have all these midterms. I'm sitting at my desk. I have a pile of books I have to read for school and a pile of books I promised to read, and I already couldn't get through pile A.

So what, you know, where do I find the time? So I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't socialize, I don't [00:12:00] work out, I don't do anything. I just live in the library day and night for weeks and weeks. And one night I pass out at the library 2 a. m., I fall down a flight of stairs, I hit my head again, and I woke up two full days later in the hospital.

And at this point, I was hooked with all these IVs, you know, I was malnourished, dehydrated, I was down to 117 pounds, I mean, I was wasted in a way because I'm just taking care of myself. And it was the darkest point in my life. And at that point when I woke up, something else woke up inside of me also. And, you know, a kind of renewed sense of, like, Purpose and I thought, and it's interesting because I, I just, I didn't know what to do and the nurse came in with a mug of tea and had a picture of Albert Einstein and, uh, you know, a genius, but the words, the quote was one you've heard before.

It's at the same level of thinking that has created your problem, won't solve your problem. And it made me ask a new question, the power of questions again, what's my real problem. [00:13:00] My problem is I'm, I'm a slow learner and I was like, how do I think differently about it? Maybe I can learn how to learn faster.

So I put my schoolwork aside and I just start studying the art and science around learning. I want to understand how my brain works so I can work my brain. How does my memory work so I can work my memory better? How does focus work? I started studying ancient methodologies of What did ancient civilizations do before there were printing presses?

How do they remember things and you know new brain science and after a couple of months of studying this a Light switch just flipped on and I started in school understanding things for the very first time in my life I started to have this renewed focus and interest in learning. I started to be able to read, be able to retain and do better.

My grades shot up and then, but not only that, but my life got better. 

And I started sharing some of the things I was doing with friends, and I started tutoring, and one of my very first students, I was teaching her how to speed reading.

She read 30 books in 30 days. [00:14:00] Can you imagine? 

Hala Taha: It's a lot. 

Jim Kwik: So many people are really good at buying books, and that's a different skill set than reading those books. They, people buy books, they sit on your shelf, you become shelf help, not self help, and, and I start, um, I wanted to know not how she did it, but why.

And I found out that her motivation was her mom. Her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Doctors gave her mom maybe two months to live, and the books she was reading were books on health and wellness, books to save her mom's life. And I find out six months later, she calls and she's crying and crying, and when she stops crying, I find out they're tears of joy, that her mother not only survived, but is getting better.

Doctors don't know how or why, the doctors were calling it a miracle. But her mother attributed the great advice she got from her daughter, who lent her from all these books. 

Hala Taha: Wow. 

Jim Kwik: In that moment, I found my, my mission in life because I realized in that moment, if knowledge is power, we hear that a lot and, and reading and learning is our superpower.

And I realized it's the most important superpower [00:15:00] and it's a power we all have inside of us. 

Hala Taha: Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that incredible story. So I'm going to take us down a rabbit hole. I wasn't originally planning this, but as you were telling your story, I couldn't help but start thinking about immigrant parents and sort of like.

The pros and the cons of immigrant parents. So I came from immigrant parents. I'm assuming you came from immigrant parents. Am I correct? Yes, and I remember like all my friends. I actually had a sick. My dad was a doctor But even though my dad was a doctor nobody helped me with homework when I was a kid like I remember like I it was kind of like on my own because my mom didn't speak that great of english My dad was busy at work providing for the family So I felt like I was always alone where I feel like other people, peers that might have had American parents, probably got help with their homework and things like that, or, or better guidance.

Like you had that conversation with you when you were 18 and nobody ever told you to write your goals down before, because when you have immigrant parents, they're kind of figuring out how to navigate [00:16:00] the world and provide, and they're kind of on this lower rung than everyone else trying to figure it out.

I feel like sometimes you don't get the advice that you need when you're a kid. Talk to us about that. Does that ring any bells for you or I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Jim Kwik: Let's go there. Yeah, my, my, my dad came to the United States when he was 13, he lost both his parents. And so, um, didn't speak the language, didn't have any money, came and lived with, uh, his aunt who I knew as my grandmother and mother grew up, they lived in the back of a laundromat that my grandmother worked at.

You know, it's interesting because sometimes we think about resources and growing up, you know, we didn't have any network or connections or money or education or those kind of things. But if I feel like a lot of it comes to the resources we have inside, and I think again, most important is the resource of our own mind is really truly limitless.

 My two biggest challenges growing up were learning for long for a decade and a half and [00:17:00] because of it, my other challenge was public speaking because my superpower growing up was shrinking down. I didn't want to be seen because I never had the answer.

Never. If I was ever called on in class, I would never know what the right, what the solution was. I never wanted the spotlight and my insecurities, my inadequacies kind of like seen by everybody. And so my superpower was being invisible and the universe has a sense of humor because what do I do? My life is like for a living.

All I do is public speak on this thing called learning. And so I really think that our disadvantages can be an advantage that through our struggles lead to strengths that through. Their challenge leads to change. My parents, they're remarkable. I attribute it, in all fairness, that anything that's good that's come out of me has come from them, and anything that's fallen short is really on me.

You know, I take that responsibility because they're the reason why, you know, I learned to do what I say that I'm gonna do. Discipline, kindness, working hard. [00:18:00] And I really do think that if somebody is, you know, They do the right things for the right reasons. They're kind, they're willing to learn and make mistakes and.

And then I feel like there are results will speak for themselves. My challenge is sometimes where we give up our power outside of us. We give up our agency by making an excuse or complaining. And the truth is, we can't be upset by the results we didn't get from the work we didn't do. And then, so I feel like it's, it's so important that especially if somebody is on the path of building wealth or starting a business.

In the beginning, it's, it's really hard because you've never done this before. There's a learning curve. The results don't show up right away. You're right. It tests your persistence, your patience, your commitment also, and you have to feed your dreams. You have to feed your business until your business or your dreams feed you back.

And then in the beginning, you're, you're grossly underpaid if anything. But if you're consistent and. You know, you're you work hard. You're always learning. Then I feel like at some point it [00:19:00] switches. 

Hala Taha: Oh, yeah. 

Jim Kwik: And you get overpaid for the things that you do because of all the work that you did before that.

And so I feel like Jim Rohn has this quote that what you do, like you're rewarded in public, which, you know, for the work you do in private. And I feel like everybody right now that's struggling, that's putting in the hours and the early mornings or the late nights, you know, I just feel like part of it is just taking care of yourself and believing in yourself.

And, and we hear this all the time for me, believing in myself is, I saw this bird the other day and I realized, you know, while it's singing its song and it's calm and it's confidence, it's calm and its confidence doesn't come from putting its trust in the tree branch. The bird's calm and confidence comes putting its trust in its own wings.

And I feel like that, you know, when we, we have to know ourself and have the curiosity to know ourself, but then also trust ourself and then having the courage to be ourself also, this is different practice. 

 [00:20:00] 

Hala Taha: So let's talk about the ability to unlimit ourselves, right? So I think that's really important, being able to believe in yourself like you were just saying. And so I'd love to understand the importance of motivation. Related to believing in yourself. 

Jim Kwik: So motivation for me is not something that's abstract.

It's something very, very tangible. This actually came from, I have a formula that I use to motivate myself and motivate clients that I get to work with. And it's very simple. And people, it's just a little master class. I encourage everyone to take notes. It's P times E times S3, three factors for limitless motivation.

So if you struggle with getting yourself to do what you know you should do, because knowledge by itself is not power, it only gets power when we apply it, when we implement it, right? P times E times S3. And so, well, we could do a thought experiment. Everyone think about something that you're not motivated to do, you know, [00:21:00] something that you know you should do, but you're not doing it.

Maybe it's in meditation or maybe it's working out, maybe it's reading each day, whatever it happens to be. So the P stands for purpose. And I don't mean our life's purpose. We could talk about that, but I mean the reasons like without reasons, you won't get the results. Even if you want to remember names, which I think is one of the most important skills, networking, business skills, business etiquette skills, because how are you going to show somebody you're in care for their future, their family, their health, their finances, whatever it is you sell them.

If you don't care enough just to remember their name. A lot of people will remember names better if they just, you know, had a reason to remember their names. Like, ask yourself, why do I want to remember the person's name? Maybe it's to show the person respect, maybe it's to practice these things I learned from this podcast, right?

And so it has to go from your head to your heart to your hands. Meaning, if you could have visualization, if you visualize in your head, you have goals in your head, a bucket list, KPIs, whatever in your head, and you're not acting consistently with your head, [00:22:00] check in with your hands. Check in with a second age, which is.

Our heart and the heart is a symbol of emotions because we are not logical. Even people don't buy logically, we know that people buy emotionally, right? Because we are not logical. We are biological. You think we're not logical or biological. You think about dopamine and oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins. We are this chemical feeling soup and, but we don't do things unless, unless we feel it.

And that's really the key to a longterm memory. We tend to remember things that are charged with emotions. There's a song you could hear that could take you back to when you're a teenager, or a fragrance or a food that could take you back to when you're a child, right? Because information by itself is very forgettable, but information when it's combined with emotions become unforgettable.

Because that part of your middle brain that's, uh, your amygdala is processing all these emotions and it's connected to your hippocampus, which is your memory. And so we remember things that make us feel a certain way. And when it comes to motivation, we have to start with that feeling. So when I say purpose, it's not intellectual [00:23:00] purpose.

We all know we should do these things, but common sense is not common practice unless we feel it. And so allow yourself to feel the sensations of who's counting on you to play your A game. What are the rewards you're going to be able to enjoy if you're able to follow through? So purpose. Now, like let's say it's to do something like reading each day, you know, leaders or readers of anyone see me on social media with.

Elon or Oprah or Bill Gates or, you know, whoever, be bonded over books, you know, because you read to succeed. If somebody has decades of experience and they put into a book and you can sit down in a few days and read that book, you could download decades into days. That's the biggest advantage there is in the world.

Hala Taha: Yep. Best ROI on your time. Yep. 

Jim Kwik: Absolutely. And so people intellectually know that, but if they're not doing it, part of it is they might not feel the benefits of doing it. After that though, somebody could have limitless purpose and still not read each day. Absolutely. Because they need the E, and the P times E times S3, the E stands for energy.

Such an important [00:24:00] component and element of sustained motivation is sustained energy. And here's the thing, here's a trick when it comes to energy. Energy is not something you have. And people are listening, you're right Jim, I have no energy. It's something you do. And like one of the principles I subscribe to for accelerated learning is get in the habit of taking your, your nouns and transferring them into verbs, transforming them into verbs, meaning we hypnotize ourself with the language we're using on a regular basis, right?

And your brain is this incredible supercomputer and your self talk is the program that will run. So if you tell yourself, I'm not good at remembering people's names, you will not remember the name of the next person you meet because you program your supercomputer not to. Same thing with saying, I don't have energy.

Because you don't have energy, you do energy. Just like you don't have focus, you're like, Jim, yes, that's my problem, I have no focus. You don't have focus, you do focus. There's a process for focusing. There's a process for generating energy. You don't have creativity, there's a process [00:25:00] for being creative.

Right? Even you don't even have a memory. There's a three step process for memorizing something. And the benefit of taking some, a noun and turning them into a verb is all of a sudden you turn into a process, right? It's a strategy now that you could execute on. And so that's really my goal is to take these processes and show people there's a method behind what looks like magic.

When I can memorize and in front of an audience, 50 people's names or a hundred people's names that pass around a microphone, a hundred random words under it, random numbers or a shuffle deck of cards or whatever. There's a time, obviously I couldn't do that. I was worse off than most people who are listening.

There's no such thing as a good or bad memory. There's a train memory and untrained memory. Just like there's no such thing as a good or bad brain. There's a train brain and an untrained brain. So the second part for motivation is not just having purpose. Yes, you have purpose to read to succeed to make more money to have greater impact, but if you're not doing it, maybe you lack energy.

Maybe you ate a big process meal and you're in a food coma. Maybe you're, you're, you're waiting to read at [00:26:00] when you're most tired in the day and you haven't slept and so you're depleted and you can't get yourself to act right because you lack the energy. And so, you know, we talk about in our podcast, in the books.

10 different ways you could optimize, like what are the best brain foods? What's the best way to reduce stress? Because stress uses up a whole lot of energy. How do you optimize your sleep now after purpose and energy? Let's say you have a limitless purpose, you feel it and you have lots and lots of energy and you're still not following through working out, you know, or reading or whatever, making those sales calls, whatever.

And S3, the final part, three S's, small, simple steps. Here's the thing. So a lot of times people are not motivated because this thing is too abstract and a confused mind doesn't do anything. Just like even if you're marketing to somebody, right? And if you make it too intimidating, they're not going to do anything because you have to break it down into small, simple steps that they could see themselves following through on.

So maybe working [00:27:00] out an hour a day is too hard for someone. That's not what they normally do. So maybe it's putting on their running shoes. Maybe it's getting them getting to the gym. That's a small, simple step. Maybe if you can't get a kid to floss their teeth, maybe it's getting the floss one tooth or clean their room is too difficult.

It's too intimidating. It's like climbing a mountain, but maybe putting one sock in the hamper. So inch by inch, it's a cinch yard by yard. It's way too hard. And my, my thing is, how do you find the small, simple step? I asked myself simple question, what is the tiniest action? And people can write this down.

 what is the tiniest action I could take right now that will give me progress towards this goal, so tiny that I can't fail because you eliminate the friction. So then you can create that positive momentum.

So for me, you don't have motivation, you do it. And the process is purpose, energy, and small, simple steps. 

Hala Taha: I love that because I feel like you're giving people ownership over their brain. A lot of people feel like they're born a [00:28:00] genius, right? They're, that you've got to like, have these smarts and you're born with it or you're not, you know, they're living with these labels.

So I think everything you're saying is really impactful and also really practical. You're giving us, steps that we can take to actually improve our brain. So let's talk about myths, because a lot of people think that we only use 10 percent of our brain. You say that's not true. I've heard that a thousand times.

And I'd love to hear some of the myths that you've heard over the years about learning and our brain. 

Jim Kwik: Yeah, let's, let's name a few of them. The lies or the BS, the BS stands for belief systems. So the limited ideas entertain. One of them is exactly what you mentioned, that we use 10 percent of our brain.

The truth is that we actually use 100 percent of our brain. And it's just, but here's the caveat. Some people use that 100 percent differently than other people. It's kind of like we use 100 percent of our body. Most people use 100 percent of their bodies throughout the day. But some people are just more physically fit.

They have endurance, they have [00:29:00] flexibility, they have a level of agility and strength because they've trained those muscles. Well, I think the most important muscle, which is an organ, but I metaphorically, it's more like a muscle is, is the mind and it's use it or lose it. But if I put my arm in a sling for, A year, it wouldn't grow stronger.

It wouldn't even stay the same. What would happen to muscle? It would just atrophy. It would get weaker. That's a lot. That's what happens with our mental muscles. We're not utilizing them. And so we actually use 100 percent of our, of our brain just to use 100 percent of our body. But if somebody needed to climb, go for a hike, and it's a pretty steep incline, some people are just going to navigate that easier than others.

And same thing when people are reading. Some people will navigate through a book with greater speed, efficiency, focus, understanding, retention, enjoyment, because they're just mentally fit. And so again, there's no such thing as a good or bad brain. There's a trained brain and an untrained brain. That's the truth.

Another myth is that genius is, as you mentioned, genius is born. You're either born with it [00:30:00] or you're not born with it. And the truth is that it's not how smart you are. It's how are you smart? There's a story in Limitless, and I don't want to go and get all audible right now, but um, maybe I could read this anecdote.

I talk about how genius is, uh, is actually built. So the story that I, that I share in here says, the king was watching a great magician perform his act. The crowd was enthralled, and so was the king. At the end, the audience roared with approval, and the king said, what a gift this man has, a God given talent.

But a wise counselor said to the king. My lord, genius is built, not born. This magician's skill is the result of discipline and practice. These talents have been learned and honed over time with determination and discipline. The king was troubled by this message. The counselor's challenge had spoiled his pleasure in the magician's arts.

Limited and spiteful man, how dare you criticize a true genius? As I said, you either have it or you don't. And you, most [00:31:00] certainly, don't. The king turned to his bodyguard and said, Throw this man into the deepest dungeon. And he added for the counselor's benefit, So you won't be lonely, you can have two of your kind to keep you company.

You shall have two piglets as cellmates. From the very first day of his imprisonment, the wise counselor practiced running up the stairs of his cell to the prison door carrying in each hand a piglet. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, the piglet steadily grew into sturdy boars. And with every day of practice, the wise counselor increased in power and strength.

One day, the king remembered the wise counselor and was curious to see how imprisonment has humbled him. He had the wise counselor summoned. When the prisoner appeared, he was a man of powerful physique, carrying a boar on each arm. The king exclaimed, What a gift this man has, a God given talent. The wise counselor replied, My lord, genius is built, not born.

My skills are the result of discipline and practice. These talents have been learned and honed over time with [00:32:00] determination and discipline. 

Hala Taha: Oh, I love that story. 

Jim Kwik: It's one of those ideas that people don't see as we were talking about earlier, the work that goes on behind the scenes, what you've done for to build your business, to build your brand.

They don't see that. And so it's the tip of the iceberg kind of theory. But the idea here is that people aren't born, they are actually with genius, it actually be built. And I believe genius leaves clues that when somebody is exceptional, and you've had so many of these guests, you know, that are exceptional in certain areas.

That you're helping them to deconstruct with what they do and making it, you know, the methods more clear, you know, conscious for people who are listening and helps them develop their fast track, their shortcuts, if you will. And so, um, yeah, I really do believe genius is something that's available to all of us.

Hala Taha: Yeah. One hundred percent. And doing is so important. Like you're saying, the reps, the repetition, the consistency, I feel like that's really the key to everything. I feel like, so I always talk about this on my podcast, like get the skills, get the [00:33:00] experiences, do the things. And like you said, it's not an overnight success ever.

It's, it's years and years. And then people just see the tip of that iceberg usually. So let's talk about memory. I love this. Memory is so foundational to everything that you say. You actually have said in the past that no learning is happening without memory. So talk to us about how memory plays into everything that you teach.

Jim Kwik: So I believe two of the most costly words in life are I forgot, like how often do we say these words? Like I forgot to do it. I forgot to bring it. I forgot that meeting. I forgot what I was going to say. I forgot that conversation. I forgot that person's name. Every single time we have that, those thoughts.

We could lose time, we could lose trust, we could lose, we could hurt, lose a sale even. And so I believe on the other side that memory will actually make you money. When you could easily remember facts and figures and talking points, product information, client information, right? And you have it at your mental fingertips because [00:34:00] everybody who's listening here, nobody, it's not like it was a hundred years ago or generations ago.

It's not like you're compensated for your, your brute strength. Today, it's your brain strength. It's not like it was agricultural age where you're paid for your muscle power. Today, it's your mind power. And so memory is foundational. Socrates said, learning is remembering the challenges. Memory wasn't a class back in school, right?

I always thought it should have been the fourth hour reading, writing arithmetic, but what about retention? What about recall? What about remembering? And so. There's certain things we could do to be able to improve our memory. And so a lot of times people come to me and say, um, Jim, I do want to get better at my memory.

And I say, that's like saying I want to be better at sports. What, what area specifically, what sport specifically? So let's say, um, let's go back to remembering names. 

Hala Taha: Yeah, I love that. 

Jim Kwik: Yeah. So I think there are three keys to remembering names. The first one I mentioned already. And I use, I use the acronym MOM, M O M, and [00:35:00] it's like the mother of all, you know, memory techniques.

The M stands for motivation. So just a reminder, when we forget something, we usually aren't connected to the reason why we want to remember it. And here's the thing, we don't remember all names, but nobody listening to this forgets all names either. And remember I said genius leaves clues, and you're probably motivated to remember those names that you did remember.

Maybe you're attracted to that person, maybe that person could be good for your business or something. 

Hala Taha: Hiring manager or something, right? 

Jim Kwik: Exactly. And you could ask yourself, you could connect with that again by asking yourself, why? Why do I want to remember this person's name and come up with just one reason?

Because if you can't come up with one reason, you won't remember. The O in mom stands for observation, and this is, this is so simple, but it's usually the simple stuff that people forget to do. Observation means your attention. A lot of people aren't forgetting a name, they're just not paying attention.

You could remember one or two words, right, a name, but most people, what are they doing? They're thinking about how they're going to reply or, or what they're [00:36:00] going to say in response or waiting for their turn to speak. And so a lot of people, they're not forgetting, they're just not listening. And the art of memory is the art of attention.

So I would remind you, imagine, uh, and if you're writing this down, write the word listen. And here's a brain exercise. Kind of like a wordle. Change the letters around, scramble the letters, and what word does it spell perfectly? Also, like, if you scramble the letters and listen, it spells another word.

Hala Taha: Silent. 

Jim Kwik: Silent. And that's all I would ask people to do. If you want to improve their memory, remembering names, ask yourself why, come up with a couple reasons and then just be silent. Right? One of my, uh, favorite books by my men, one of my mentors, Dr. Stephen Covey, he wrote Seven Habits. A highly effective people and one of the habits is seek first to understand, then to be understood.

Seek first to understand, then to be understood that we don't have to be the most interesting person in the room, but I think to have greater impact, have greater income, certainly have greater influence. Instead of being the most interesting person in the room, [00:37:00] try to be the most interested person in the room.

Right? That curiosity and, and, and get seek first understand, and it starts with the person's name, right? Because how are you going to, again, show you're going to care if you don't care enough just to remember their name, because people don't care how much, you know, until they know how much you care. And so that's so important.

So just pay attention. And the final M in mom are the methods, you know, the things that we have in our podcast and our book, and we can talk about some of them for remembering name, something simple like. Be suave. So, six steps on how to remember names and faces, if you've seen me do this at a live event or on video, be suave.

Very very simple. The B, believe. Because if you believe you can or believe you can't, either way you're right. And you want to limit the negative self talk, because remember I said your brain is like a super computer, your self talk is the program you're on, so if you tell yourself I'm not good at remembering names, you won't remember the name of the next person you meet.

So many people at events come to me and they, they talk to me about their lives. They say, I'm too old. I'm not smart enough. And I say, stop. If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep [00:38:00] them. 

Hala Taha: That's so good. 

Jim Kwik: If people truly understood how powerful their mind is, they wouldn't say or think something they didn't want to be true.

So you want to be able to keep it encouraging. And so the B and B suave believe the E exercise, and I don't mean physical exercise, although people who are more physically active, like if you're listening to this podcast right now and you're on an elliptical or you're going for a brisk walk, you'll probably learn it better.

Because as your body moves, your brain grooves. When you move your body, you create brain derived neurotropic factors, BDNF, which is like fertilizer for neuroplasticity. Great for learning. But I don't mean exercise, I mean practice, because practice makes progress. Practice makes progress. And so I'm very good at remembering names.

After the first month or two of learning how to do it, I haven't improved a whole lot more because once, once you know how to do something, you know how to tie your shoes, then you just know how to tie your shoes, right? You know how to type, you know how to drive a car, and after 30 or 60 days, it's a skill.

So I just want to just reaffirm that [00:39:00] it's not a, you don't have a good or bad memory. There's a trained memory and untrained memory. And so I would say practice. You don't have to go out there and practice remembering 50 people's names, but just start with one. You know, and then one becomes two and little by little, a little becomes a whole lot.

Jim Kwik: Then the second half of B SWAV. The S in SWAVs, say the name. So when you, when somebody introduces themself, say the name back to them and just literally just repeat it. And just by hearing it again, will boost your retention, right?

Cause you get to hear it from them. You get to hear it from yourself. The U in SWAV stands for use it. Now, you want to use it, you don't want to abuse it. So three or four times in the context of the conversation, will help you retain it.

The A in B suave, ask, and you can ask all kinds of things about a person's name, you know, who are you named after? How do you, is that spelled with a Y or an I? Especially for names that are unusual, [00:40:00] that you haven't heard before, like your own. Where'd it come from? 

Hala Taha: It's Arabic, and it actually means welcome.

Jim Kwik: Oh, that's beautiful. And then you can ask somebody how they spell it, and the origin, and what's it, where's it from, and all of a sudden, asking about a person's name, right, they say a name is the sweetest sound in a person's ears, a name will automatically trigger someone's reticular activating system. I know you've done shows on that also, and had guests talk about the RAS, But that, that's one of the things that are programmed, it's the sweetest sound, right?

So it gets your attention automatically. And so, um, calling people by name, asking about their name, so that's the, the hey. And finally, the V and the E in suave, the V is visualize. And here's the thing, so many people are better with faces than they are with names, because they could see it, right? You go to someone and say, I recognize your face, but I forgot your name.

Name you never go to someone and say the opposite you never go to someone say I remember your name But I forgot your face, right? 

Hala Taha: So true 

Jim Kwik: I wouldn't make a lot of sense But we tend to remember what we see and because more of our nervous system Our [00:41:00] brain is dedicated the real estate towards visual processing And so there's a proverb that says why here I forget what I see I remember what I do I understand what I hear I forget I heard the name.

I forgot it what I see. I remember I saw your face I'll always remember your face You And going back to what I do, I understand, you know, through practice makes progress. So I would say for the, if you tend to remember what you see, visualize and try seeing what you want to remember. So if you meet somebody named chase, then all of a sudden you can imagine it for a split second that they might be chasing you, right?

Or something like that. Or if someone named Ben, imagine, and they, maybe they have a great head of hair and you That their head is like somehow associated with Big Ben or something and then all of a sudden and it sounds childish But how fast? Our children and learning, they make these images and then that's feeling to it too.

We already said that information, when times emotion become a long term memory. And so how can you [00:42:00] visualize a person's name to make it more memorable person's name is Mary. Imagine them carrying two lambs or getting married to them. Right. And someone's name, Mike, right? Do you just imagine them jumping on?

The table and singing karaoke on a microphone and again, and these are temporary, it's to overcome what I call the six second syndrome. Somebody tells you their name, you have six seconds to do something with that, otherwise what happens as soon as the handshake breaks, it like falls right through the floor.

So it grabs it. It forces you to focus on the person and it forces you to focus on the name and that focus will lead to remembrance. And so, remember what you want to see by seeing what you want to remember, that's the B. And then finally, the E and B suave is end. You know, when you leave somebody, you use their name, saying goodbye using their name.

Because if you could walk into a room of strangers, and like 20 people, and then leave saying goodbye to every single one of them by name. Who are they all going to remember? They're all going to remember you, right? And [00:43:00] that's a standout skill in a world where a lot of services are commoditized, and you need to be able to stand out and become unforgettable.

I think one of the easiest ways to stand out in a room is remembering people. 

Hala Taha: I 100 percent agree. Like, this is such a good hack. I feel like everyone should rewind, take some notes down, and Give yourself a homework assignment. Start to practice be suave when you're at your next networking event or party or whatever it is, and see if you can remember every single person's name and give it a try.

I think it's really cool. And you know what? Based on your work, I found out that we're actually getting worse at stuff like this because of digital dementia and some, some issues like this. So I'd love to move on to that as we start to close out the, the interview. So you call these supervillains and this is all related to our relationship with technology.

You have four drivers of the digital age that reduce brain performance, digital deluge, digital distraction, digital deduction, and digital dementia. So I'd love to learn a little bit about those [00:44:00] areas. 

Jim Kwik: So these are the four horsemen of the mental apocalypse. And it's one of those things where, let's start with digital deluge.

It's one of those things where it's overload, information overload, and how many people listening feel like there's too much information and not a lot, not a lot of time, right? To go through it all that we're drowning in information, but we're starving for that practical wisdom, if you will, or, you know, the ability to learn how to swim right in a, in a world flooded with information and data.

And so, So the amount of information is doubling at dizzying speeds. They say that, you know, that it's the amount of information it, when you graduate school, it gets, the half life information is getting shorter and shorter because it could be outdated. And it's insane because like it's up to, I was doing a program at Google and I heard somebody say there that the chairman said that the amount of information that's been created from the dawn of humanity to the year 2003, just a couple of decades ago, that amount of information, think about like the library of Congress.

That amount of information that was created every 48 hours online. 

Hala Taha: Oh [00:45:00] my God. That's crazy. 

Jim Kwik: Think about all the podcasts and all the social media and all the blogs. 

Hala Taha: That's insane to think about. 

Jim Kwik: So the amount of information is doubling, but how we learn it and read it and retain it, that hasn't changed a whole lot, but that growing gap creates digital deluge, information anxiety.

And that's an actual, like they call it information fatigue syndrome, higher blood pressure, compression of leisure time, more sleeplessness. I think we'd all identify. So the goal is you upgrade your learning skills to keep up with that overload. Then you have digital distraction. And how do you maintain your concentration in a world full of rings and pings and dings and app notifications, social media alerts.

And I think I, and again, I'm pro technology. It allows, it allows us to do this, right? Um, allows us to inspire, to empower, to entertain. And there's the other side of the coin or the sword where it's driving us to distraction. You know, with every like, share, comment, cat video, whatever, we're going to do this dopamine flood.

And we wonder why we can't concentrate when we're on [00:46:00] doing our screen time with work or just having a conversation with somebody and our mind wanders. And part of it is, I feel like it's. Our brain has been just distracted and overloaded and it's going all different ways. So that's why we train in limitless chapters on focus and flow.

And then besides digital deluge and digital distraction, we have digital deduction. And that's the term I just coined. Basically I read the study where children, when they're tested this generation, they're not showing. The scores and the same kind of results as previous generations, in fact, is lower in their ability to deduce and to rationalize, to, um, apply logic.

And the study suggests it's because of the technology is doing the thinking for us. Remember, like, even like, uh, like GPS, like how would we know to get from here to there? We'd have to use some kind of visual spatial intelligence, but here we're just kind of on autopilot and technology with algorithms.

Like, it'll teach you not how to think, but teach you what to think based on things. And so [00:47:00] that's digital deduction and, and I feel like it's so important for school not only to teach us what to learn, but how to learn, not what to think, but how to think ourselves. And then finally, the last one, as you mentioned, is this one called digital dementia.

And that's the equivalent of us. Physically, if we just took Uber and Lyft just to go five blocks and we didn't walk it, then there's a physical, it's convenient, but it could be crippling to our body. If we rely on taking an elevator just to go to our apartment on the third floor every day, then we lose an opportunity to exercise, you know, our muscles.

And this thing about something simple, like, I don't know, phone numbers, like how many phone numbers did you used to know? You're like growing up. 

Hala Taha: Yeah, so many. Now I don't even know my best friend's phone number, but I couldn't tell you my best friend's phone number if I heard her cell phone. 

Jim Kwik: And you're communicating with that person every single day.

Hala Taha: Yeah. 

Jim Kwik: And so, and that's digital dementia. And, and I have to say again, I don't want to memorize 500 phone numbers. But it should be concerning we've lost the ability to remember one phone number or a passcode or [00:48:00] a pin number or a seed phrase or, you know, like the hotel room or credit, whatever it happens to be.

And so your memory is a muscle, it's use it or lose it just like the rest of our mind. And, and again, technology is not good or bad. It's just like fire. Fire is technology. It could cook your food or it could burn down your, your home. It's just how, how it's applied. And I, you know, I would just say, just like with anything, there, there's a quote in Limitless that says, life is the C between B and D.

Life is C between B and D. B stands for birth. D stands for death. Life C, choice. That our life is a sum total of all the choices we made up to this point. And these difficult times, they can define us. These difficult times can distract us. These difficult times can diminish us. Or these difficult times, they actually can develop us.

We ultimately decide, you know, every single day, and I want to remind people that we always have that ability to decide to just, uh, to show up for ourselves. Right? Because I think we're all on this [00:49:00] journey to reveal and realize our fullest potential. I really do believe there's a version of every single person who's listening to this.

There's a version of yourself that you haven't met yet. There's a version of your brain you haven't met yet. There's a version of your business that you haven't met yet. And the goal is we show up every single day until we're introduced. 

Hala Taha: Yeah. And like you said, technology is not good or bad. We just need to evolve with that technology and learn how to learn better.

And what a great conversation we had today about building a better brain. So Jim, the way that we close out our show is I give two questions that I ask all my guests at the end of the show. We do something fun at the end of the year with them. So the first one is what is one actionable thing our young improfiters can do today to become more profiting tomorrow?

Jim Kwik: So I would say one of the most important things you do is to love your brain. And what do I mean by that? Let's say when you reached the age of driving you were given a car and but this was just like the one car that you Had for the rest of your life. How well would you take care of that car? 

Hala Taha: Keep it [00:50:00] spotless.

I would take it to service I would do everything right 

Jim Kwik: and we have this vehicle that we're going through life in you know With is which is our body and part of our body is our brain So I would ask everybody, the one, one thing that you could do to be able to do that, have more purpose and profitability is to love your brain.

And then just a simple thing you could do is ask yourself, is this good for my brain or is this bad for my brain? You know, is watching this good for my brain or about her eating this good for my brain or it's bad for my brain and not that you have to be absolutely perfect. But the goal is progress and so love, love your brain because your brain, your brain controls everything.

It's your number one wealth building asset. 

Hala Taha: I think that's super smart. A lot of people concentrate on their bodies and they forget about their brain. So I think that's great. Alright, what is your secret to profiting in life? And profiting does not have to mean money. 

Jim Kwik: So I think if you want your business to grow, your brand to grow, your book sales to grow, your bank account to grow, then, then your brain has to grow.

And I say this because I always wear a brain on my shirt, I'm always seen on social media pointing to my brain, and [00:51:00] I see, I think what you see you take care of, you see your car you take care of it, you see your hair you take care of it, your clothes you take care of, but we don't see the thing that controls everything.

Which is the human brain. And so I would say that you want to be able to, just like with technology, we hear about, you know, you upgrade your apps, you upgrade your phone, you get the upgrade, your software, your computers. But when's the last time we upgraded the most important technology that has created all that other technology.

Which is the human mind, and so I would say the fastest way to grow to get to that area is you reach, and then you rest, and then you repeat. Right, you stretch, you stabilize, right, you count them in amount, you stretch yourself, then you stabilize, and then you stretch some more, and then you stabilize. And so I think that would be it, that you learn to earn to return.

You learn because the more you learn, the more you earn and the more you earn, the more you have the ability to return. And I think that return is really important because that sense of contribution, you train your nervous system, your, your brain that there's more than enough. We gave away a hundred percent of [00:52:00] the proceeds to, to Limitless, to charity, to build schools, everywhere from Ghana to Guatemala, to for teachers, to school buildings, to healthcare, clean water for the children, and also Alzheimer's research for, for women.

I As women are twice as likely to experience Alzheimer's than men and I lost my caregiver, my, my grandmother to Alzheimer's. So we do it in her memory, but I would say one of the best things you could do. Chronic stress shrinks your brain. And one of the best ways to get out of stress is to contribute, you know, is focus on somebody else.

And so how can you invest some of your time, your talent, your treasure to making a difference? Cause it's nice to make a dollar and I think it's better to make a difference. And so, um, you know, when you do both, I think it's remarkable. Be, do, have, and then share. 

Hala Taha: What a great way to end the interview. That was so powerful, Jim.

Jim Kwik: Amazing. Be limitless everybody.

 [00:53:00]