← Success Story with Scott D. Clary
Success Story with Scott D. Clary
Jim Kwik - Memory & Focus Expert | The Brain Hack That Will Transform Your Life in 30 Days
01:24:09
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- [00:00]
Scott Clary
This podcast is brought to you in part by Stash. Are you still putting off saving and investing? Because you'll get to it someday. Stash turns someday into today Stash isn't just an investing app. It's a registered investment advisor that combines automated investing with dependable financial strategies to help you reach your goals faster. They'll provide you with personalized advice on what to invest in based on your goals. Or if you just want to sit back and watch your money go to work, you can opt into their award winning expert managed portfolio that picks stocks for you. Stash has helped millions of Americans reach their financial goals and starts at just $3 per month. Don't let your savings sit around, make it work harder for you. Go to get.stash.com success story and see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures, that's get.stash.com success Story paid. Non client endorsement, not representative of all clients and not a guarantee. Investment advisory services offered by Stash Investments llc, an SEC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risks and investments may lose value. Offers subject to T's and C's. I just want to take a second and thank Cornbread Hemp for supporting today's episode. Now. Cornbread Hemp CBD gummies have been this really nice addition to my wellness toolkit. I don't use them every day, just when I want to unwind after those extra busy weeks, but they're perfect for those moments when you want to take the edge off and just find your balance. Really just shut off from work. And what makes them special is how Cornbread Hemp crafts them. They only use the flour of USDA organic hemp plants. That's the best part for the purest, most potent experience. No fillers, no artificial fluff, just clean full spectrum goodness in delicious watermelon, berry and peach flavor. I keep them in my nightstand for those moments when I just need a little extra help relaxing. And I love how transparent they are too. Every batch is third party lab tested so you know exactly what you're getting. And they put together a special offer for all Success Story podcast listeners. All listeners can save 30% off their first order. Just head to cornbreadhemp.com success and use code success at checkout. That's cornbreadhemp.com success code success for 30% off your first order of these amazing gummies.
- [02:12]
Jim Kwik
My inspiration was my desperation. I would have migraines every day when I was 5 and 6. I just thought it was normal as we're going on this path that our struggles can become strengths. What if being called the boy with.
- [02:22]
Scott Clary
The broken brain was exactly what it.
- [02:24]
Jim Kwik
Took to unlock the world's smartest minds?
- [02:26]
Scott Clary
Jim Quick turned to childhood brain injury.
- [02:28]
Jim Kwik
And the struggles that followed into a.
- [02:30]
Scott Clary
Mission to help millions upgrade how they learn, think and live.
- [02:34]
Jim Kwik
We live in a culture where they say sitting is a new smoking and we're buying screens all day. We have to move our bodies in order to be able to fit and healthy. But also for your brain. Your brain is only 2% of your body mass, but it requires 20% of nutrients. In our community, upwards of 70% have or have had sleep issues. Best ways of getting consistent, good sleep over time is sticking to a schedule.
- [02:57]
Scott Clary
As the founder of Quick Learning, a.
- [02:59]
Jim Kwik
Top rated podcast host and author of.
- [03:00]
Scott Clary
The best selling book Limitless, Jim has.
- [03:02]
Jim Kwik
Coached everyone from students at Harvard to.
- [03:05]
Scott Clary
Execs at Google, Nike and Virgin.
- [03:07]
Jim Kwik
Don't touch your phone the first 30 minutes of the day and last 30 minutes a day. If you're on your devices at night, the blue light from your device on the screen pulls your mind into think it's still daylight. But behind the techniques and hacks is a deeper message.
- [03:19]
Scott Clary
Your brain isn't broken, it's just waiting to be trained.
- [03:21]
Jim Kwik
In this episode, we explore how Jim rewired his own story and how you can too. Imagine you're taking your final breaths at that moment. None of other people's opinions are going to matter. What's going to really matter in that moment? Things like how you laughed, how you learned, how you lived. Know yourself. Trust yourself. Be yourself.
- [03:42]
Scott Clary
Welcome to Success Story. I'm your host, Scott Clary. The Success Story podcast is part of the HubSpot Podcast Network. Now, HubSpot doesn't just have great podcasts, they also have great tools for entrepreneurs. Let me tell you a story I'm sure you've all heard of. The Angel City Football Club. Well, you don't just become the world's most valuable women's sports franchise by accident. Angel City Football Club did it. The little help from HubSpot. When they started, data was housed across Multiple Systems and HubSpot unified their website, their email marketing and fan experience in one platform. This allowed their small team of three to build an entire website in just three days. The results were nearly 350 new fan signups a week and a 300% database growth in just two years. Sure, you can be a great team in the arena, but if you truly want to build a legacy, a franchise and a dynasty, you have to build a community outside of the arena. And HubSpot helped Angel City Football Club do just that. If you want to learn about how HubSpot can help your business, visit HubSpot.com there's some other great case studies and you'll learn how HubSpot can help your business grow better. And one quick ask before we dive into today's episode, I need your help with something important. I've just launched a quick survey to better understand what you guys want from the show and your feedback is going to directly shape our upcoming content. It's only going to take a few minutes of your time and I made it super easy to find. Just head over to scottdclary.com survey and as a thank you for helping me out, I'm giving away a free gift card to one lucky respondent chosen at random once we hit 100 responses. So not only will your feedback help make this show even better, you might score something cool just for sharing your thought. I really appreciate your help with this one, Jim. I'm excited you're on. It's going to be a lot of fun. You went from being labeled the boy with the broken brain to becoming one of the world's leading brain coaches. So talk to me about what that means for you, what that journey means for you about human potential.
- [05:55]
Jim Kwik
Yeah, I appreciate it, Scott. So my inspiration was my desperation. When people see me at stages, I speak every single week. I'm going to travel to upwards of 70 plus countries teaching people how to have the best brain possible, how to learn faster, speed, read, improve their memory. If there's time, I'll do this demonstration where we'll pass around a microphone in an audience and we'll have like 50, 60, 70 people introduce themselves and memorize all their names, which is a very useful skill in business for sure. I think it's the number one business etiquette skill there is or networking skill. But afterwards I always tell people, I don't do this to impress you. I do this to express to you what's possible. Because the truth is, every single one of you watching, listening, this, you could do that too. And so much more. We just weren't taught, you know, if anything we're taught a lie that somehow our memory, our potential is fixed, like our shoe size. And the reason I know it's possible is because I grew up with some severe learning difficult, probably more than most people who's watching this listening right now. When I was five years old, I had an unfortunate accident, or some people would say a fortunate accident. In kindergarten class, I fell and hit my head on a windowpane and then ricocheted into a radiator. I was rushed to the hospital, covered in blood and just knocked out. And where it really showed up was in school. Poor focus, poor memory. It took me over three years just to learn how to read like the other kids. So I dealt with a lot of self confidence issues, a lot of self esteem issues, a lot of self worth issues, a lot of doubt. I would have migraines every day. When I was 5 and 6, I just thought it was normal. When I was 7, I lost my superhero, who's my grandmother, to Alzheimer's. And that was really kind of hard, but it kind of put me on a path. Right when I was nine years old, I was slowing down a class and I was being teased really bad that day because I just didn't understand the lessons and teacher would have to repeat herself and then I'd be teased because I was so slow and my last name is Quick. And the teacher came to my defense. She pointed to me in front of the whole class and said, leave that kid alone. That's the boy with the broken brain. And you know, in that moment, it really changed things because I didn't realize I was broken. And adults have to be careful their external words because they often become a child's internal words. So every single time I didn't do well in school, which was every day, every time I wasn't picked for sports, which was every day, I would always say, oh, because I have the broken brain. And you know, I talk about the power of the mind and the beliefs that we have. You know, whether someone wants to start a business or they want to, you know, get super healthy, they want to learn how to read three times faster, learn languages, whatever. You know, we always have to be conscious of our inner dialogue. You know, at these same events, people come to me and say, I'm so glad you're here. And they'll pull me aside very quietly. I know you're a memory coach. You know, I'm just not that smart. I have a horrible memory. And I always say the same thing. I always say, stop. If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them. If you fight for your limits, they're yours. Right? Our brains are this incredible supercomputer. Our beliefs, our self talk are, the program will run. So you tell yourself all the time, like, I'm not good at remembering people's names. You won't remember the name the next person you meet because you program your Computer not to. And so, you know, the nature of my work. I struggled all through school. My big fear in school is not only learning, but public speaking, because I never wanted to be called on in class, because I never knew the answer. I was that slow kid, which is ironic, because my two biggest challenges were learning and public speaking growing up. And life has a sense of humor because all I do is public speak on this thing called learning. But just a reminder to anyone on this path, I think all of us collectively are on this path to realize and reveal our fullest potential, right? And you know, as we're going on this path, with challenges come change, that our struggles can become strengths, Right? And so at the age of 18, I met a mentor that introduced me to certain work and research around the power of the mind. And I started studying that, like, voraciously. And I. Once I learned how to read and remember and all the things that aren't taught in school, I started to tutor. And one of my very first students, get this, she was a college freshman. She read 30. It's 30 books in 30 days. I mean, that. I mean, just think about that, Scott. Going online, buying 30 books, and then reading a book a day, right? Not skimmer scam, but really read it. And I wanted to find out not how I went in, because I taught her how. I wanted to know why. I'm always interested in what motivates people. And I found out her mother was dying of terminal cancer. And the books she was reading were books that save her mom's life. And I wish her luck, prayers. And six months goes by, I never hear from her. And then I get a call one day, and there's this young lady, and she's crying, crying on the other line, profusely. And when she stops, I find out they're tears of joy. That her mother not only survived, but is really getting better. The doctors, it's like a mystery. They don't know how or why they were calling it a miracle. But her mother attributed 100% to the great advice she got from her daughter, who had learned it from all these books. And in that moment, I realized two things. That if knowledge is power, then learning is our superpower, and it's a power we all have. And the other thing I learned was my mission in life. So I'm going to be 52. I've been doing this for 33 years, every single day of my life. It's our mission to build better, brighter brains. No brain left behind.
- [11:45]
Scott Clary
I love it. And, I mean, I was going to Ask what. What your inflection point was that prompted you, but it was really just you trying to fix yourself, and that's what led you down that road.
- [11:56]
Jim Kwik
Yeah, I think, like, the life we live are the lessons we teach, you know, and sometimes we teach the things that we need to learn the most. But, you know, I would say, yes, that my path, my inspiration again was my. My desperation. You know, I turned my mess and turned it into my message. And now we train. We serve half of the Fortune 500 companies doing their mental fitness, speed reading, memory training, Facebook, Nike, Google, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, BMW, we have a podcast, and we have the largest online academy of accelerated learning in the world. Students in every single country. And we're just proud of helping people, showing them that they can be geniuses, you know, school. But those taught us what to learn. You think about classes you took in school, like math, history, science, but there are no classes on what. Like, these are classes on what to learn, but not how to learn. How awesome would it have been to have classes on flow states or classes on, you know, focus or concentration or memory? Right. Then, you know, I think memory is an incredible multiplier for entrepreneurs, because on the other side, two of the most costly words for entrepreneurs or someone looking to start a business. I forgot. I mean, just think about the consequences of saying, I forgot to do it. I forgot to bring it. I forgot what I was going to say. I forgot that conversation. You know, I forgot to go to that meeting. I forgot what I just read. I forgot that person's name. You know, we lose time, we make mistakes, we lose trust, and we could hurt a relationship. And on the other side, memory will make you all money. It's the ultimate magnifier. It's a force multiplier, like they call it in the military, where you take the same amount of input, get multiple outputs or rewards. When you can easily remember as an entrepreneur client information or remember product information. You could give a sales speech or make sales videos without a teleprompter, or, you know, give a public presentation without notes or remember names and faces. It just puts you at a total level, totally different level, because we live in a knowledge economy where knowledge is not only power, it's profit. And the faster you learn, the faster you you earn.
- [14:06]
Scott Clary
I have to take a second and thank Northwest Registered Agent for supporting today's episode. Now, listen, I know a lot of entrepreneurs listen to this show. If you're an entrepreneur, if you're building a business, you have to listen. If you want to get More when you're launching your next big idea, Northwest Registered Agent lets you establish your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. For nearly 30 years, they've been the secret weapon for entrepreneurs who want to move fast while getting expert guidance. For just $39 plus state fees, they'll handle your formation, create a custom website and establish your local presence wherever your business takes you. As an entrepreneur myself, what I value most is their one stop business solution. You get everything from formation paperwork to custom domains to trademark registration all in one easy to use account. No more juggling all these multiple services or wasting time figuring out the legal stuff. So don't wait. Protect your privacy, build your brand and set up your business in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com success and start building something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent@northwestregisteredagent.com success hey everyone, Scott here. I just want to take a second and say thanks for listening to the podcast over the past couple years. Obviously this wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you. I have a favor to ask so I would love to get some more information about you and why you listen to the podcast and why you listen to the show and why you tune in every week. And I have put together a short survey and we are using this to help us sort of inform what type of content we want to create and the direction of the podcast going forward. This information is not shared with anyone else, so this is just for us internally and I put together a link so scottdclary.com survey where you can go and you can fill in some information so we can know what kind of content you love. Also, for the first 100 people that respond to the survey, you will be entered into a draw for a hundred dollar Amazon gift card. So we'll be giving out one of those to the first people that respond. It should not take more than two minutes of your time to fill out the whole survey. It's really not that long and it will help you shape the future of the podcast. So I really appreciate each and every one of you and thank you for listening. Prolon is a success story partner. Now long weeks and busy weekends, they can leave everybody feeling depleted and tired. We work nonstop and that's why I love Prolon's five day Fasting Mimicking diet. I love this company. Let me explain how it works. Basically they have a fasting mimicking diet that rejuvenates you from the inside and out. They deliver plant based soups Snacks and drinks that keep your body in a fasting state while giving you nutrition. And when your body's in a fasting state, this triggers cellular renewal. And it actually works. This is why I loved intermittent fasting for so many years. This is the magic of Prolon. And the exciting news is that they just launched a new next gen five day program. So it has all the benefits that they had before, but now they have 100% organic ingredients in their food, better taste and ready to eat meals that make the whole process easier. I've tried the original Prolon program. I felt fantastic whenever I do it. I personally cannot wait to try this new and improved version. And if you've never tried them before, you're in for a treat because the old one was great. I can't even imagine how good this new Prolon five day program is going to be. And for a limited time, Prolon is offering success story listeners, all you guys, 15% off site wide plus a $40 bonus gift. When you subscribe to their five day program, just go to prolonlife.com Clary that's P R O L-O-N-L-I F E.com Clary to get your 15% discount and your bonus gift. Prolonlife.com Clary but we are so that's an interesting point because we are in a knowledge economy. Yet I find that people signal that they're smart by trying to consume as much as possible. But I don't feel like we're in a retention of knowledge economy. We just try and read as many books as possible and listen to as many podcasts and watch as many YouTube videos because the X factor in consuming is understanding it, comprehending it, applying it.
- [18:30]
Jim Kwik
Yeah. And, and I, I love that you know that, that that's the way that your attitude towards it. Because I feel like it is a myth that knowledge by itself is power. It has the potential to be a lot of power. It only comes power when we utilize it. I mean, the truth is, as a coach, you know, I have to call people on their bs, you know, their, their belief systems. And I feel like it's the truth is all the podcasts, all the books, all the conferences, none of it works unless we work. Right? I mean, but how many people go out there and buy books and they don't even read it even, you know, much as apply it and it sits on their shelf unread and it becomes shelf help and not, not really because.
- [19:11]
Scott Clary
All they did is they posted it on their Instagram story when they were on the Way back home from Barnes and Noble.
- [19:16]
Jim Kwik
Exactly. And I would love it if people practice what they post, you know, and that for me, a big part of success is that alignment, you know, and this, you know, even if you have people in your lives that don't believe in you, as when you say you're going to start this new venture or whatever, you know, I feel like we can't change people, but we could. We can inspire them, we can be an example for them. But, yeah, I believe I have a general rule. For every hour I spend learning something, I schedule an hour putting it into. Into action, applying it. And so I feel like that's such an important thing, you know, because I feel like we can't. We don't know unless we could do it.
- [19:55]
Scott Clary
I agree. I mean, talk to me about what you discovered about yourself, about human potential, about the human brain, about memory, about focus, when you first started on that journey.
- [20:09]
Jim Kwik
So when I was 18 years old, I. Yes, I did badly all through school, up to that age. And I was lucky enough to get into a local college. And I thought freshman meant you can make a fresh start. So I took all these classes. I was like, I'm going to show the world and make my parents proud, show myself that I could do this. And. And I did worse. So I was ready to quit because I. My parents immigrated to the states. You know, they had many jobs. We live in the back of a laundromat that my mom worked at. We didn't have the money for me to be in school, and if I wasn't going to be able to pass, there's no reason for me to be there. But I didn't know how to tell my parents because, you know, I'm the oldest of three kids and want to be a good role model. A lot of pressure, right? So I had all those angst and a friend was like, hey, just wait a few days. Come. I'm visiting my family this weekend. Why don't you come with me to get some perspective and just, you know, And I think it's important when you're facing a dilemma or big decision to get perspective, you change the place or the people you're spending time with to get a different point of view, right? So I go, and the family's pretty well off. A lot different than, you know, I lived, it was in this beautiful home on the water, and the father walks me around the property and before dinner and asked me a very simple question, which, Scott, was the worst question you could ask me. He says, jim, how's school. And I was just like, I just start bawling in front of this complete stranger. And I'm very, you know, introverted, very shy. But I just like, break down and tell him my whole story. Broken brain, can't make it cut it in school. Don't know how to tell my parents, whatever. He's like, jim, why are you in school? And honestly, I didn't have an answer. Nobody's ever asked me that question. I just thought, you know, you go to school, get good grades, get a. Go graduate school, whatever, get a good job, whatever, right? But I never know. And because somebody asked me a new question, I had to come up with a new answer. And I would put that. I would posit that out to the. To your audience that you ask a new question. You could change your reticular activator. Starts focusing on spotlight on different answers, right? So I go to answer him, and he puts his hand out and he reaches into his back pocket, takes out a journal, rips out a couple of blank sheets of paper, hands it to me, and he makes me write it down. And after I don't know how long, I have like a bucket list of everything I want to be, do, have, and contribute in the world, right? And when I start folding those sheets up to put in my pocket, he reaches out and grabs those sheets and he starts reading my dreams. And I've never shared any of this with anybody, right? And I didn't even know a lot of this, you know, even minutes ago. So I'm very insecure, and I'm in. He looks up to me and this is the lesson, right? In terms of what I focused on in terms of reading. He says, you're this close, Jim. You're this close to everything on that list. And he sprints, his index fingers like a foot apart. And I'm thinking, no way. Give me 10 lifetimes. I'm not going to crack that list. And he, very wise man, he takes his index fingers and he puts them to the side of my head, you know, in between my head meaning and the sides meaning what's in between. My brain is like the key that's going to unlock these dreams. And he takes me into a room of his home that I've never been in before. It's wall to wall, CE the floor covered in books. Like, I've never been in a library in somebody's home, right? And remember, I've never. I'm a horrible reader. I've never read a book, you know, ever. And so it's like being In a room full of snakes. But makes it worse, he starts going to the shelves and pulling snakes off the shelves and handing them to me. And I'm looking at these titles of these books and they're these biographies of some incredible men and women in history and some very early personal growth books like that you've read, right? Dale Carnegie, how to Win Friends, Influence People, Think and Grow Rich, right? Napoleon Hill, like all the classics. And he says, jim, you know, you have to read to succeed. I want you to read one book, you know, every single week. And I automatically go to my limitations. I'm like, have you not heard anything I've just said? Like, I'm really bad reader. I have all this schoolwork. When I said schoolwork, he looked right at me and he said, jim, don't let school get in the way of your education. And this was over 30 years ago. I didn't realize it was a Mark Twain quote, right? But I was like, yeah, that's very true, but I can't commit to doing this. And very smart man, and I hope this is relevant to everybody. He reaches into his pocket and he takes out my dream list and he starts reading line by line, all of the things, my goals, my fantasies, the things I imagine and hope for the most in life out loud. And I don't know, imagine being an 18 year old, very insecure kid and there's someone obviously very successful and you hear your dreams and it'd be horrifying.
- [24:50]
Scott Clary
It would be, yeah.
- [24:51]
Jim Kwik
And I was just like. But a lot of things, honestly on that list were things I wanted to do for my parents that they can never afford or even if they had the money, they would never do for themselves because they've always had sacrifice, right? And with that motivation or that leverage, I agreed to read one book a week. So that's when I go back to school. And I already couldn't get. I'm not sitting at my desk, pile of books for midterms, pile of books I promised to read. I already couldn't get through pile A. So what do I do? I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't exercise, I don't socialize. I just live in the library all the time. And after weeks of doing that, I end up passing out at 2am in the library, fall down a flight of stairs out of sheer exhaustion. I hit my head again and I woke up in the hospital two days later. And at this point I was down. I lost all this weight. I was down to 117 pounds. I was hooked up to these IVs, and I thought I'd died. It was the darkest time in my life. And then when I thought there had to be a better way, and when I had that, I swear, the nurse came in with a mug of tea, and I had a picture of Albert Einstein on it. Pretty smart guy. And I had a quote that said, the same level of thinking that's created a problem won't solve your problem. And it made me think, like, what's my problem? Well, I have a broken brain. I'm a very slow learner. So I was like, how do I think differently about it? Well, maybe I could fix my brain. Maybe I could learn how to learn faster, right? And then so to answer your question, just this, because it's hard to have foreground without background and context. You know, I studied those pile of books. You know, I was reading those books about Einstein and, and about Leonardo da Vinci and all these, you know, amazing thinkers. And then I start studying the art of learning. Like, you know, about, like, what did people do before there were computers? How do they remember things in ancient times, like thousands of years ago. And I started studying brain science applied towards learning and adult learning theory and multiple intelligence theory. I got introduced to speed reading. Not just skimming or scanning, but really understanding and retaining what you read. And that was my focus. And then my grades just shot up. And then I couldn't help but help other people. And this young lady was one of Those people read 30 books in 30 days and helped her mom, you know, not only survive but really thrive, you know, with her situation.
- [27:13]
Scott Clary
Lingoda is a partner of success story. Look, I'll be real with you. My French used to be solid. I learned it in school. I even had decent pronunciation. But when I booked a trip to France last year, it was a total blank. I could barely order a croissant without sounding like a tourist. So I jumped into the Lingoda Sprint challenge, and, man, it changed everything. I take live classes late at night after podcasting. Only five students, max. Real teachers, real conversations. And in just two months, I went from bonjour to holding full conversations at a Paris cafe. Confidence unlocked. Now, here's the play. 30 or 60 classes in 60 days, and if you finish them all, you get 50% cash back. That's basically €4 or $5 per class. That's insane value. Go to try.lingoda.com successsprint and then use my code, Scott Sprint for an extra €20 off on top of their current deal. Registration closes May 5th. Classes start May 12th. Let's get fluent FreshBooks is supporting today's episode and if you've ever wondered how successful entrepreneurs stay on top of their finances while growing their business, the answer is FreshBooks. The numbers don't lie. Over 30 million people have chosen FreshBooks, processing more than 60 billion in invoices and saving an incredible 192 hours every year on accounting tasks. Think about it. That's nearly eight full days you could get back to focus on what really matters. Growing your business. FreshBooks is more than just accounting software. It's your all in one financial command center. Create professional estimates, track time, automatically, bill clients, and capture expenses on the go. Plus, it integrates seamlessly with over 100 business tools you already use, all backed by award winning customer service. If you're ready to to stop drowning in receipts and you're ready to stop chasing down payments, here's what I want you to do. Head over to freshbooks.com to start your 30 day free trial. No credit card required. And for all you success story listeners out there, I've got something special. Get an exclusive 60% off for six months when you visit freshbooks.com pricing offer transform your business with freshbooks today. That's freshbooks.com pricing/offer for 60% off. Today's episode is brought to you by Vanta. Now listen, this matters for your business. In today's digital landscape, security isn't optional. It's essential. Without it, deals stall, sales cycles stretch on, and scaling becomes very difficult now. Why? Because investors, customers and partners all expect businesses to demonstrate strong security practices before they commit. If you can't prove trust, you lose opportunities. So whether you're a startup founder trying to land that first big client or an established company scaling your security program, Vanta helps businesses of all sizes prove that they're trustworthy by Automating compliance across 35 frameworks like SoC2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA, the exact certifications your prospects are demanding. Here's why you need to pay attention. Vanta gives you back precious time that you're currently wasting on compliance. Their platform automates up to 90% of the tedious compliance work. It helps you respond to those endless security questionnaires up to five times faster. And it connects you with experts to get your security program running immediately. The results speak for themselves. A recent IDC report found that Vanta customers achieve over $535,000 per year in benefits, and the platform pays for itself in just three months. So you're going to join over 10,000 global companies like Atlassian, Quora and Factory who use Vanta to manage risk and prove security in real time. And don't miss this for a limited time only my listeners can get a thousand dollars off Vanta. That's real money back in your POC. Visit Vanta.comScott right now before this offer expires. That is V A N T A dot com Scott. When you look at where people struggle with focus, concentration, memory, speed, reading, is there one universal part of the brain that's responsible for all of these different memory problems or concerns? When I'm speaking to you, if I forget a word, is that the same part of my brain that doesn't allow me to retain information as much when I'm reading it for the first time? Or is there multiple levers that you're tapping into?
- [31:41]
Jim Kwik
So it's definitely a whole brain process. And you know, we're learning more about the brain. I mean, we discovered more about the brain in the past 20 years than the previous 2,000 years combined, right? And one of the things we've learned is we're grossly underestimating our own capabilities. You know, your brain is the most amazing wealth building device that we have, right? Everybody who's listening to this, nobody's paid for their, like it was thousands of years ago, their brute strength. Today it's your brain strength, right? It's not your muscle power today, it's your mind power. And the faster you learn, the faster you earn. But knowing about the brain, you know, the 86 billion neurons, you know, with the 10,000, each have upwards of 10,000 synaptic connections. There are more connections. There are stars in the known universe, right? And we wonder why we forget the keys or something we just read or you know, something. We can't focus on a zoom meeting or whatever it is. I mean, there are different parts of the brain. There's a triune brain, so the brain's broken into three different parts. A reptilian brain. And if you're watching this on video, I'm making a fist. So if you make a fist, your wrist is the reptilian brain. And this is more of the primal brain that controls your, your core body temperature, your breathing, things you don't have to think about, right? Your fist is your middle brain. And this middle brain is things there for learning. You have something in your middle brain called your hippocampus, which looks like a horseshoe or seahorse. And the function is memory. So we know a lot of memory happens there. Connected to it is a different part of your brain that looks like an almond and this almond shaped part of your brain is your amygdala. And I'm sure a lot of people are hearing about the amygdala. It's like the switching station for emotions. But isn't it interesting just a side note that your hippocampus and your amygdala, memory and emotions are connected in the middle brain because we tend to remember things that we have feelings about, right? And then if you put your hand over your other hand over your fist, that's your neocortex and your neocortex, that's when they say you have a left brain, right brain, that's happening in this neocortex. Neo me brains, new. So this is like your new brain and this is where a lot of higher level thinking happens. You know, it's much more complicated than left is logic and right as imagination. But it's really. And one of the myths that people have is that we use like 10% of our brain and it's absolutely not true. We use all our brain to do all these different things. Just like we, everybody uses, you know, all of their bodies, right? Like if you're, if you and I are going to be hiking up a hill with a bunch of people, we're all using 100% of our body to do that activity. But some people though have a trained body and they have technique and they're fit and healthy and they could do it easier. And you know, my, my goal here is for, you know, really people to prioritize, prioritize their mental fitness. You know, even on, on during this conversation or on stage, I'm always wearing a brain on my shirt because I feel like what you see you take care of, right? On pictures I'm always pointing to my brain because, you know, the things you don't, the things you see, you see your skin, you take care of it, your hair, you take care of it, your car, your clothes, whatever. Because you know, when it's deteriorating, right? It's not up to par. But we don't see the thing that takes care of us, which is our brain. And so I wrote this book Limitless, you know, as a way of giving people an owner's manual for their brain. Just like any technology, you have some kind of instructions on how to use it, right? But our brain doesn't come with that and it's not user friendly. And so again, I think our brains are number one wealth building device because we're paid for our ability to solve problems, our ability as an entrepreneur, to create value, to be able to create opportunities and jobs, solve these puzzles. And also there's two parts you have to do the software and the hardware. So I teach people the software, the processes for reading faster, giving speeches without notes, how to get in flow, change their habits, and then also. But you have to take care of the hardware, which is the brain itself, the three pound organ between our ears. And so we do a lot with that also as well.
- [36:04]
Scott Clary
So I want to talk about how to take care of your brain, because I think that's a great place to start. And we can talk about different brain types and how to optimize your playbook for each type of brain. But when I think about taking care of your brain, I think most people have, again, have no idea, outside of the people that have read your book, how to take care of their brain. And just going through their career, if they're constantly moving into more difficult roles or taking on new challenges or starting something new. You feel like you're always training your brain and working your brain and you feel like you're getting a little bit quicker and a little bit smarter. But then I've noticed even in my own career, if I've been doing something for too long, I don't feel as sharp. Or if I've taken an extended break from work, I feel like I'm just not as with it as I was six months ago. Or if you look at people that have been retired for years, you hear them on a podcast when they're at the peak of their career versus when you hear them on a podcast ten years after they've retired. And it's not like they are, they're not stupid people. But the intellect, the ideas and the thoughts and the insights that they bring to the table, I feel like it's just at the same par as when they're at the peak of their career, doing new innovative things every single day. Way. And then on the extreme end of it, I mean, this is something that I'm personally interested in because I've done tests and DNA tests that have told me that I'm predisposed to Alzheimer's dementia. And that is like the epitome of degradation of the brain. And that's something that my grandpa had it as well. So if we think about peak performance versus the worst possible outcome, which is Alzheimer's dementia, what is going on there? That is maintaining our brain health or not maintaining it, if we aren't actively participating in difficult tasks and thinking about difficult things every single day.
- [38:00]
Jim Kwik
Yeah, Your brain is like a muscle, it's an organ, but it acts more like a muscle. And so one of the principles obviously is use it or lose it. And the challenge is if you put your arm in a cast for a year or two, it wouldn't grow stronger, it wouldn't even stay the same. Right. It would atrophy. And, and a lot of that's happening with our brain, especially the high reliance on technology, which we could talk about, the dependence on technology to do a lot of thinking, remembering for us. It's a term in healthcare called digital dementia, where you're outsourcing your memory to devices. It keeps your to do's, your calendars and just phone numbers, all the things that we used to have to remember so our brain doesn't get the exercise. And I'm very pro technology, it allows this conversation to happen. Right. But technology is a tool for us to use. But if it's using us, then we become the tool. Like an elevator is a form of technology. And if you lived on the fifth floor, your office is on the fifth floor, the elevator is tool, it's a technology, it makes it very convenient. But you don't want to cripple you because then you don't get your steps in. If the bank is eight blocks away and you take the car or, or a ride share or whatever very convenient technology is, a car is a technology. But then we don't get our steps in. So it's always balancing that convenience with being crippled. Limitless. We donated all the proceeds to Alzheimer's research in memory of my grandmother. In the first few years, we sold over a million copies. We've also built schools in Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya for children that don't have access to. So I believe you learn as an entrepreneur, you learn to earn, to return, to be able to give. That's kind of my perspective on it. The book is endorsed by the highest level out of Harvard, the number one Alzheimer's researcher in the country, Dr. Rudy Tanzi. The book is endorsed, Limitless is endorsed by the founding director of the Cleveland Clinic center for Brain Health. And when I speak at these institutions, they approximate that about one third of our brain is predetermined by genetics and biology, but two thirds is in our direct influence. So that's the good news, that we can do more than we think we could do. And there's actually in our podcast, we've done over 400 episodes and we've covered a lot about brain aging and Alzheimer's and various protocols and research that gives people not Only hope, but real help that you could actually turn the tide, Right? And obviously this has conversations about them to diagnose or treat any kind of disease. Talk to your health practitioner. So knowing that one third might be predetermined by genetics and two thirds in your influence, and Some people say 100% is in your influence. People study epigenetics that Alzheimer's. Your DNA loads the gun, but it's your lifestyle that will fire it off, which hopefully we have a lot of control over if we're mindful about it. Some of the things that will move the needle. I'll give you six things I want to remind people. I'm gonna use acronyms just as a shortcut for people to remember it. If they're driving or working out and they can't take notes, remember to take your pharmaceuticals. And I don't mean real drugs, but medsrx. Medsrx. All right. It's an acronym. The M is meditation. So what will shrink your brain is chronic stress that's been shown chronic stress when you're in fight or flight. Cortisol, adrenaline has been shown to shrink the human brain. And so meditations might kind of go to alleviate that stress. There's also huge amounts of benefit healing factors that happen when you're meditating, also accelerating learning. If you're studying something, you take some time, even 10 minutes, to just be quiet and close your eyes. It helps you integrate, and you start reviewing this content unconsciously. So it's very beneficial. And meditation for me is not to get enlightened. That was never my goal. But it's also great exercise in focus that like you're. Let's say you're sitting or standing or lying down, and invariably your thoughts go to something, right? Clients or your business or whatever. And then when you bring it back with your breath or you bring it back with, let's say, a mantra, like a saying or a word, then you're exercising your focus muscles, right? And again, how you do anything is how you do everything you've trained yourself to when you're distracted, to bring back to something important or bring back to the present. And so when you need to be present with your kids, or when you're learning something, or when you're at a conference and your thoughts go somewhere else, you have a practice to bring it back, right? And so the brain is not meant to go 100 miles an hour all day. You have to make these little pit stops. So a few times a day, I'll take a brain break to hydrate, to Move to do the things that's good for my brain. And a few minutes of meditation goes a long way. And people say like, oh man, I don't have 20 minutes to meditate. If you're so busy, like you can't even spend 20 minutes to meditate, then you probably should meditate for like two hours. Right?
- [43:08]
Scott Clary
You have bigger problems.
- [43:10]
Jim Kwik
Exactly. And you don't meditate to get good at just sitting down quietly. You do it because it'll help you get better at life. Right. Like it's not very useful skill just to be able to necessarily close your eyes and very practical value. But the idea is getting center, relieving stress, you know, mastering your focus. The E in medsrx is exercise. And I have this phrase I've been saying for a few decades, as your body moves, your brain grooves. The number one reason we have a brain is to control our movement. And the thing is, even when babies crawl and everything, it's important because it helps them to develop their brain. When you exercise, which is what the E stands for in meds, RS X, you create something called brain derived neurotropic factors. Bdnf. And what is it? It's fertilizer for your brain. It's fertilizer for neuroplasticity, which is the brain's amazing phenomenon to be able to make new connections as we grow older, right? And how it happens, your brain is neuroplastic plastic in a good way, where it's malleable, right. But how it makes new connections, novelty and nutrition. Just like if you want to build your physical muscles, you go to the gym, you give a novelty some kind of stimulus, right? You work it out, you exercise a novelty and then you give it nutrition so it could grow, right? And same thing with your mental muscles, the two big dips in cognitive performance. Going back to how, you know, to your question that we've seen, and again, we have a lot of data because we have students everywhere. When people graduate school, school, because there's some part of the population that associates school with their education. And when their education's done, they're done, like learning, right? And so use it or lose it. And when people retire, because often when people retire, they stop using their minds, right? And unfortunately their body is not far behind that. So the E is exercise. And I don't just mean going to the gym and doing Pilates or CrossFit three times a week. I mean moving throughout the day. You know, we live in a culture where they say sitting is a new smoking and we're behind screens all day. And so we have to move our bodies in order to be able to be able to be fit and healthy, but also for your brain. And so when you move your body, exercise, you create dopamine, serotonin, endorphins. This is this neurochemical, neurotransmitter soup that is very important for cognitive health, health and your cognitive performance. So people could just kind of think about how they can move and take little brain breaks, you know, even getting even. There have been studies that show that when people doing something rhythmic like they're on an elliptical or going for a walk and they're listening to your podcast or mine, they'll actually understand it better and retain it better. So movement is very key. So that's exercise. The D in medsrx stands for diet. And this is kind of obvious, but I'll put a different spin on it. You know, what you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. And your brain is only 2% of your body mass, approximately, but it requires like 20% of nutrients. And so it's an energy hog. And, you know, doing activity all, you know, all day, you know, burns up a lot of calories and, you know, having the right calories. Now, we've done a number of episodes with functional medicine doctors and neuro nutritionists that, you know, everybody has a different kind of doctor diet, right? Because everybody has different food sensitivities. And people could take a microbiome test because your microbiome changes nutrient profile of allergy tests. But some of the foods that are kind of my go to and they kind of work for me. But again, talk to your practitioner. Avocados, the monounsaturated fat and avocados, your brain's mostly fat. Blueberries, I like to call them brain berries. High, high nutrients, antioxidants, very neuroprotective. Broccoli has something called sulforaphane, which is very good for cognitive health. Olive oil has been shown to be good for your brain if your diet allows eggs. The choline in eggs is a precursor for acetylcholine, which is very important for cognitive health and performance. For those who could tolerate it. Green leafy vegetables, kale and spinach. Salmon, like wild salmon, especially from a clean soil source, or sardines for your omega 3s, your DHAs, which is so very important. And again, if you're not getting the sulforaphane from broccoli, you could supplement it with sulforaphane, right? If you're not getting the, you know, the, the, the. If you're not eating aids. You can supplement with choline and then I would say just a few more. You can also get some, some omega 3s from flax. Turmeric. Turmeric. There's a active ingredient called curcumin which helps to lower systemic inflammation, which is good for your brain. Walnuts. It's good for your brain. High in vitamin E, neuroprotective dark chocolate. Great for the brain in moderation. Not milk chocolate. Not high sugar obviously, but yeah. So just having what you eat matters. And so these are the choices that we make that can make a difference over time. Obviously on the other side is like, like that we stay, we reduce dramatically as a processed food all the additives, the neurotoxins, the high sugars. You get those glucose spikes and really messes with your insulin resistance. The S in meds everyone could guess is sleep. I mean just, I mean pretty much end there. Like when you get a bad night's sleep, how's your brain functioning the next day? How's your concentration? How's you know, your brain fog, you can't remember things you can't and solve your way out of a paper bag. I'll give you three reasons why it's important to sleep for your brain. Number one, it's where you consolidate short to long term memory. So if anyone listening has long term memory issues, it's worth doing a sleep study. And you no longer have to go into a stale, sterile sleep clinic. Your doctor could prescribe a home sleep study at home and you can just do it from the comfort of your own bed. Number two, when you sleep, the sewage system in your brain kicks in and it helps to clean out that beta amyloid plaque that could lead to potentially brain aging challenges like dementia and Alzheimer's, a form of dementia. Also when you sleep, you dream. And for entrepreneurs, you know, a big part of our creativity comes from our ability to dream while we're awake, but also when we sleep. People don't realize that a lot of amazing works of art, literature, science, invention came from dreamscape states. Like Mary Shelley created Frankenstein in her dream. Paul McCartney wrote the song Yesterday in his dream. You know, Elias Howe created a sewing machine in his dream. A chemist created the periodic table, you know, in his dream. So that requires you sleep. Some of my favorite sleep. How's your sleep?
- [50:08]
Scott Clary
It's not bad. I'm about seven hours a day. But I'm like, I can directly equate my cognitive performance, my ability, like you mentioned, to think through any problem to the amount of sleep that I, I get. And actually because I do this podcast, I've stopped drinking as much because the drinking interrupts my sleep and then that just ruins the next day as well. So I'm not somebody that's a no alcohol person, but I've just found that for the work that I do where I jump into the lives of these incredible people that have been domain experts for the past 30 years and I try and have some semblance of an intelligent conversation with them when I'm not the expert in their field field. Like if I don't have sleep, I don't even want to do the podcast because I just feel it's such a, it's such a cognitive lift for me.
- [50:59]
Jim Kwik
And our community when we poll them upwards of 70%, you know, have had, have or have had sleep issues, you know, which is a big challenge. My and drinking, by the way, it people think it helps them to sleep, but really what it more likely does is knock them out, which is not the same as getting restorative REM sleep and deep sleep. And it's not just the quantity, it's the quality of those slow brainwave stage sleeps. Some of my favorite things for sleep, and there's a whole chapter in Limitless, because we've studied this extensively, you want to get sunlight first thing in the morning if you can. Like 10 minutes. Your eyes are the only part of your brain that's outside of your skull. And that makes sense. Months and being exposed, even when it's hazy or foggy, you'll still get the benefit. It resets your circadian rhythm. So you sleep better that night. But not through a window, because the window will filter out a certain spectrum of light. But if you could go outside for just 10 minutes, it helps to reset your hem rhythm. You sleep better at night. Second tip. If you use an alarm to wake up, highly recommend you use an alarm to go to sleep. One of the best ways of getting consistent and good sleep over time is sticking to a schedule. You know, waking up at the same time and going to bed at the same time. And nobody gets as perfect, you know, even on weekends and everything. I certainly don't. But to the degree you could stay on a schedule, you'll sleep better long term. And then the big ones, I would say if you are sensitive to caffeine, which I am, I can't do caffeine past noon. It could stay in your system over 10 hours. So if you're highly sensitive, be conscious of that. But the two big things to think about Thousands of years ago, we would know it'd be time to go to sleep because the environment would tell us there would be a decrease in two environmental factors, temperature and light. It would get cooler and it would get darker. But with modern conveniences, it doesn't have to get dark, it doesn't have to get cold. Right? With a thermostat and overhead lighting and whatever. So what I would suggest is two things. You sleep better when it's colder and darker, not where it's so cold you're shivering, right? Because that would keep you up, but cooler. Bedroom. If you could take a hot shower, hot bath, especially with Epsom salt, the magnesium in the Epsom salt will help you relax because you absorb it transdermally. But when you leave that hot shower, bath, sauna, even your core body temperature will drop. And that's a signal to create melatonin, which is the hormone to help you relax. Relax, right. And then the second thing, when it comes to light, as dark as possible, some people use blackout curtains. There have been studies showing that even a little bit of light can affect the quality of your sleep. But the big culprit and the villain there is your devices. Right? I have a video with Simon Sinek. It's like from 10 years ago on Facebook. I just saw it as a. As a memory. It has 38 million views. And just as all I'm saying is, says don't touch your phone the first 30 minutes of the day and last 30 minutes of the day. Because if you're on your devices at night, you've all heard this, you know, then the blue light from your device on the screen fools your mind and thinking it's still daylight, so you don't create melatonin. So as best we could do to manage that, you know, the better. Besides the fact that when you're scrolling doom scrolling, the content could also stimulate you and keep you awake. Also with all the news and everything that's going on in the world. So that's sleep. And then finally the simple ones. Rx meds. RX are relationships we had on our podcast the director of the largest happiness longevity study at Harvard. Over 80 years they've been doing this study following this group of people. And the key why they say diet is important, exercise is important. What trumps that is the relationships. Who you spend time with is who you become. And I'll give you the science, I'll give you one aspect of the science behind it. We have something in our nervous system called mirror neurons. Mirror like your reflection on a Mirror. And we tend to imitate people we spend the most time with. So when you hear this phrase, you're the average of the five people you spend time with. Who you spend time with is who you become. It's because we start imitating what I use another acronym and take a lot of notes here. Watch. Watch. We tend to use the W word words. We start speaking the same way as the people around us using the same language. Right? The A in WATCH stands for actions. We tend to behave the same as the people we spend the most time with. If they're eating a certain way, we're probably going to eat the same way. If they're exercising, we're probably exercising. Right? That's the A, the T. And watch thoughts. We start to model that. We start thinking the same way as the people around us. You know, about politics, about health, about relationships, whatever the C is character factor. We tend to have like almost the same moral compass as the people we spend the time with. The same level of integrity. And then finally, the HR habits. We tend to model the habits of the people around us. Like it has less to do with your neurological networks whether you smoke and more your social networks. If your friends. Friends smoke, you're more likely to smoke. Right. And with habits, remember the rule there. First you create your habits and then your habits create you. You create your habits of sleeping, you know, like of reading every day, of working out and exercising, eating the best foods. And then those habits create you back. And so yeah, for relationships. And it doesn't mean you have to be in a, you know, dedicated relationship. It's the depth of the relationships that you have will make you happier and help you live longer. And then finally the X in medsrx are the extras. And I put that last because really everything before that is really the most important thing. Things. But the acts are like the things, you know, the cold showers in the morning or the cold plunges, you know, it's the nootropics, you know, that have been proven in the book. We have a whole chapter on nootropics. And like this is not for cognitive health. You could take for cognitive health the omega 3s and your creatine and everything else for good cognitive health, for cognitive performance. There are set of substances with human studies that have been shown to enhance focus, memory, mood and mental energy. We have all of the 30 my favorites with the studies. You see it@brainnutrition.com free just like if you're not going to get the book, people are asking so much about it so we put it there.
- [57:33]
Scott Clary
Well, your book is called Limitless, right? And everybody watched that movie and then they wanted to find their own limitless pill. And I know there's a lot out there and some you can buy at a cvs. Some, some are, you know, there's a, there's a wild west of nootropics as well. And I think people just want to understand what's going to help them, what's not going to hurt them. And it gets confusing because this is not what mainstream medicine. You can't go to your GP and ask which nootropic they recommend. I mean, you can't go to your GP and ask them for most things related to your, your health. But, but in terms of diet, memory, focus, anything. But I think that's a really, it.
- [58:13]
Jim Kwik
Gives those extras, give an entrepreneur or an aspiring entrepreneur an advantage. You know, if you want to be able to catch up, keep up, get ahead.
- [58:21]
Scott Clary
You want healthier versions of just taking Adderall. So maybe go there, research a little bit. A big thank you to Indeed for supporting Success Story. Because hiring people is one of the hardest things you're ever going to have to do as an entrepreneur, as a founder, as somebody who's trying to build a business business, it's important to hire well and find the right person. But it takes so much time and it's so labor intensive because like most entrepreneurs, you have a thousand things going on and there's a good chance that you just realized your business needed to hire somebody yesterday. So how can you find that great, amazing, right fit candidate fast? It's easy. Just use Indeed because you don't have to waste time struggling to get your job posts seen on all these other job sites. If you're using Indeed, you can just use their sponsored job jobs to help you stand out and hire fast. Your post jumps right to the top of the page for relevant candidates so you can reach out to exactly who you're looking for faster. And the results really speak for themselves. According to Indeed Data, Sponsored Jobs posted directly on indeed have 45% more applications than non sponsored jobs. And you know what I love most about Indeed? It really just makes hiring so fast because everything is streamlined in one place. No more juggling multiple platforms or waiting weeks for the right candidate. And how fast is Indeed Indeed? In the minute I've been talking to you, 23 hires were made on Indeed. According to Indeed Data worldwide. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed and listeners of Success story will get a 75 sponsored job credit. To get your jobs more visibility@ Indeed.com Clary terms and conditions do apply. Just go to Indeed.com Clary A huge thank you to NetSuite for supporting today's episode. Now, what does the future hold hold for business? If you ask nine experts, you're going to get 10 answers. Bull market Bear market Inflation up Inflation down. Honestly, at this point you just need a crystal ball. But until we get one, over 41,000 businesses have found the next best thing. They future proofed their businesses their operations with NetSuite by Oracle, which is the number one cloud ERP. Imagine having your accounting, your financial management, your inventory, your HR all flowing together in one fluid platform. And here's what makes NetSuite different. It gives you one source of truth for your business. You get the visibility and control to make quick, confident decisions. While others are guessing. You're working with real time data, insights, forecasting. You're basically looking into the future of your business with actionable data. Whether your company earns a couple million or even hundreds of millions, NetSuite helps you respond to immediate challenges and helps you grab your biggest opportunities. And speaking of opportunities, they put together the CFO's guide to AI and machine learning at netsuite.com Scott Clary this is the playbook for understanding how to use AI for your business. The guide is free, that is netsuite.com Scott Clary I just want to take a quick second to thank HubSpot for supporting today's episode. Now. Success Story is one of the many podcasts in the HubSpot podcast network, which is the audio destination for business professionals. If you like Success Story, you're also going to like Billion Dollar Moves, another incredible podcast hosted by Sarah Chen Spelling. Sarah is an incredible interview. She asks the hard questions on her show. You're going to learn about the triumphs, the failures of all her guests, the hard lessons of the best and brightest in business so that you too can make billion dollar moves in venture, in investing, in business and in life. I want you to go listen to Billion Dollar Moves wherever you get your podcast. It is one of my favorites. Sarah is one of my favorite hosts. If you like Success Story, you're going to love this show. And a quick pause if you haven't had a chance yet. I'd love your input on our Listener survey@scottdclary.com survey. It takes just a few minutes and one lucky respondent won a gift card once we hit 100 responses. Your feedback directly impacts what we cover on this show. I really Appreciate it. No, that's amazing. I appreciate the breakdown. I do want to. The other. The other acronym. And by the way, acronyms are very useful, so don't ever apologize for dropping endless acronyms. It does help people remember, remember. But the acronym that I think will be useful is code. So I want to understand that acronym and what it means.
- [62:26]
Jim Kwik
This is. Yeah, this is a big one. Okay, so we recently updated Limitless and. Because Limitless, the first version came out in April 2020, right at the start of the pandemic. And, you know, it was interesting time for me to launch a book, right? I had 34 speaking engagements. Every single one of them was canceled. And I had in person podcasts to do. Every single one canceled. National media canceled. Book tour canceled. So I was just like, what happened?
- [62:55]
Scott Clary
Fun time.
- [62:56]
Jim Kwik
Yeah, so talk about. But we were very fortunate. The book, you know, swept the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and all the bestseller lists. And I was happy about it because it was also, you know, a big philanthropy effort for us in terms of donating the proceeds. That being said, we recently updated the book book. And people ask why? And I tell them for two reasons. Number one, the world has changed post pandemic. People working, getting their brain online from working from home or remote or some kind of hybrid. AI has become more used and everything. So there's a whole chapter on how to use AI to enhance your hi, your human intelligence. And I show you how to take the principles in Limitless and apply it into AI programs to get faster, smarter. AI for me is not artificial intelligence. More practically, it's augmented intelligence. It's like a partner, you know, creative partner that you could take all the principles here and, you know, have it give you reviews and tests and everything else like that. But the. The thing that caught on the most was this assessment that we've used for years with our private coaching clients. And for the first time, we made it available to the public, public, you know, for free. So people could take this assessment@mybrainanimal.com it only takes four minutes. And it's multiple choice. Just pick the answer that resonates with you. And here's how. This is the power in it. After 33 years of teaching this, and by the way, going back to age, I'm in my 50s. The good thing about what I teach is everything is measurable. You can measure focus, you can measure reading speed, you can measure reading comprehension. I could test myself, myself, names, you know, faces, the speed, counting cards, all that stuff, right? And so I'm Faster and better in every single category across the board. So it's just we could get older, you know, because I'm also fearful of, you know, brain aging challenges, having, you know, my grandmother going through what she went through. But there's so many things you do to stave off. Just like people could do amazing things, you know, as they age with their bodies, you know, as long as they do the right things at the right times. But that being said said, I think the thing that really is a game changer that's worth the price of the book alone. But, you know, you get it for free. You could just take the assessment. You know how there's personalized medicine, Scott, based on an assessment, like someone takes a genetic test like you were mentioning, or a DNA test, and then it gives them protocols, you know, to be able to help you based on your genetics assessment. Just there's personalized nutrition based on a microbiome test or a stool sample or, you know, could kind of, you could personalize in the nutrition or in the foods for you. We created a personalized learning or personalized performance assessment. So it identifies your brain type. And we've identified four major brain types. And it took me years to put this together. I pulled from personality tests like Myers Briggs, introvert, extrovert, left brain, right brain, learning styles, multiple intelligence theory. And we create this assessment and what it does, does. And this is the reward everyone gets for this. It informs your behavior because all assessments and data should, you know, help you make better decisions. Right. And there's a quote in Limitless that's probably the most highlighted quote. It's not for me. It's from a French philosopher that says, life is the letter C between the letters B and D. And I have this on the wall. Life is C between B and D, where B stands for birth, D stands for death, Life, C, ch. Choice. That our lives are the sum total of all the choices we've made up to this point, right? Where are we going to study? Where are we going to live? Who are we going to spend time with? What are we going to eat, what are we going to do for a career? All that stuff, right? What are we going to feed our minds? And I believe these difficult times, they could distract you. These difficult times, they could diminish you. Or these difficult times, they could develop you. We always decide. Because if you're listening to this still, I bet you're a thermostat and you're not a thermometer. Like, one of the ways we learn faster is using analogies or metaphors, we compare something that we don't understand yet to something we understand. Right. And so a thermometer, you think about the function of a thermometer, it only reacts to the environment. That's 100% its job. It just reacts to whatever the environment's given the temperature. Right. But thermostat doesn't do that. The thermostat gauges, it knows what's going on. So you as an entrepreneur can know what's going on in your market, in the world and everything thing, but it does something different, Right? It sets the temperature and what happens, the environment, the environment reacts to it. Right. To you. And as entrepreneurs, I mean, that's really the name of the game, taking the invisible and making it visible. Right. And it's not that so much. You'll believe it when you see it. It's been my observation is the opposite. You'll start seeing it when you start believing it. But we set that internal temperature in our minds, goals, dreams, visions, KPIs, whatever it is, Right? Right. And then we make it like we see it. And some people have this vision in their mind like you may have with your business or, you know, with SAS or with your podcast or whatever. People might not see it yet, but that would be a strength of a dolphin. So here, here are the four brain types. Code is the brain code. So the C stands for cheetahs. And I'll give you, and this is going to help not only help you read faster, improve your memory, but you can use this to hire, to train, to get angel investors, to do sales, to parent also. So a cheetah's dominant trait. And you'll get this all in a report because I'm going to give you personalized as free for listening to the podcast, how to speed read, improve your memory based on your brain type. Because I realize this is the biggest lesson I've learned, Scott, over the past few decades. It's not how smart you are, it's how are you smart? It's not how smart you are, it's how are you smart. It's not how smart your partner is, is your significant other, your kids, it's how are they smart? And we all have genius, but it just comes in different forms. So if you're a cheetah, your dominant trait is action. Because what do cheetahs do? They, they go fast, right? They implement. These are your implementers. These are people that thrive in fast paced environments. They have strong intuition and they adjust accordingly. Right. The O in code are your owl Owls. And your owls, as you think about an owl, very logical. So their dominant trait is logic. So they make decisions different than a cheetah. They buy different than a cheetah. Right. They even read differently than a cheetah would read, where a cheetah would go skimming and scanning. Because speed, an owl is going through the detail and looking up those references, and I'll show you how that applies. But an owl is very logical. They love facts, they love figures, they love data. The D in code are your dolphins and your dolphins. A lot of entrepreneurs fall in the area of dolphins. Dolphins. Dolphins. Their dominant trait is they're visionaries. They have strong creative imagination. They're great pattern recognizers. Right. Sometimes they could see something like Disney, who would be a dolphin. You know, Disney would actually take prospective employees out to this orange grove and say, this is where the Magic Kingdom is going to be. This is where Tomorrowland's going to be. This is where Adventureland. And if, for those who conceive, see it, he wouldn't hire them because he was looking for dreamers. Right? But that's what a dolphin is. And then in e, finally, there are your elephants. And your elephant's dominant trait is empathy. These are your people, people like per. You know, these are people that have strong interpersonal skills. They have strong levels of empathy. So they're very compassionate. These are individuals that want people to feel seen, they want them to. To feel heard. Right. And so how do you use this as an entrepreneur or just as a human that just wants to be better in all these things? I'll give you a couple of ways. First of all, we had our entire team take this assessment, and when we put it online and we found some interesting things like, and we didn't intentionally hire for them this way, but our customer service team is 100% of them. What animal would you guess they are?
- [70:59]
Scott Clary
Elephants.
- [71:00]
Jim Kwik
Yeah, they're 100%. They're all elephants. And we didn't hire for them that way. Way. But people will go to their strengths, right? They want to be in their element. And so where they're where they're most powerful and purposeful. So 100% of their elephants are elephants. Because there are community builders, right? They want people to feel seen and understood and heard and supported. Right? So those are elephants. My business partner of 20 years, almost, she's our CEO. She's. She's a dolphin. She has this vision of a billion brains that we're impacting, right? And so she holds that constant. Our CFO is the owl Every day we have to report all the numbers, you know, and he just needs that data. So it's interesting, like you could hire for different roles and then, you know, it's interesting also to parent. You know, when your kids are certain animals, you could, you treat them differently and you would sell differently. So like if somebody is an owl, that's where you give them the case studies. That's where you show them the research, right? You know, the, the data to back it up. But if somebody isn't, is a dolphin like, and you're selling to that dolphin, you show them how their vision of their life, how your product or service fits into their future vision or pro, you know, their life and what's most important to them. If you're, if you're selling to an elephant. Yeah, yes, case studies and social proof is good, you know, and having the vision's all good. But what's most important is that relationship itself. You know, they want to feel that they could trust you. They want to, you know, feel that you understand them. They feel seen above anything else. And those elephants would do business with people who might not be, you know, have the best product or service, but they, they're trustworthy, right? And so, and you see this in pop culture too. Like if you watch Friends, right? Like if you take Joey, Joey is your cheetah. Doesn't think, ever, just does, right? No filter, just does and acts, right. Ross was a scientist, professor, he's your owl, right? Everything is about the very factual. You have Phoebe the artist, musician, who's your creative dolphin. And you have Monica who had to host everything, be the, you know, bring house to all the parties, had to be at her apartment. She's the community builder or the, or the elephant. But you could do this for Star Trek, Next Generation. John Luke Picard is that owl. Will Riker is that cheetah. Data is that owl. Counselor. Deanna Troy is that elephant. It's just everywhere. And so when people go to my brain animal, they could take four minute assessment and then we give you strategies because again, people, when they're reading, they're going to visualize more what they read.
- [73:46]
Scott Clary
Well, that's going to be my question. So this is you, you're, you're framing it through the lens of if I'm interacting with people in my work or my life. But what does this actually mean? If I learn, I'm this animal and how do I learn and how does this impact how I, I, you know, how I take on a new task or how I go through life? Or how I want to memorize more information or whatever it is.
- [74:07]
Jim Kwik
And that's, and that's when you understand how your brain works, you could work your brain. When you understand how your brain works, you could work your brain. And so if you know you're a cheetah and you're fast, you're instinctual and you're action based, your learning styles would be. Cheetahs are best. They learn by doing right, by rolling up their sleeves, they favor hands on experience, they're quick decision makers. They may dislike overanalyzing and prefer to act and adjust as they go. And then a cheetah would know their best environment because that would require environments of rapid problem solving, fast execution. What are their challenges? They struggle with long term projects that require patience, deep and deeper analysis. You know, so even productivity. If you're a cheetah, you can look up in, you know, because one of my favorite movies in the Matrix, like many people and I got to meet Keanu Reeves recently and when he was playing in outside of Toronto, he has a band and he's very, very creative. He writes books and comic books. A lot of people don't see that, no see that part of him, but I got to see him backstage afterwards and, and in Matrix, when Neo is going to see the oracle, the all knowing oracle in her kitchen, there's a sign above the door that most people miss, but it says know thyself. You know, and I think as an entrepreneur of my whole life and to everyone who is an aspiring or established entrepreneur, I feel like success comes from having the curiosity to know yourself. Right? That's why you take assessments, that's where you journal, you go to therapy, you do plant medicine, you do whatever just to get to know yourself, yourself, what you believe in, what you stand for, your values. And then the other part, once you have the curiosity to know yourself is having the courage to be yourself. Because how many people know who they are but they're not acting like that because they're afraid of other people's opinions or expectations. I spend an inordinate amount of time in senior centers, nursing homes because I lost all four grandparents when I was very young. And I go there to help them polish off their memories right there, that's, that's my job. But I also go there for the wisdom that I get in return because I feel like again these individuals been on roast for so long, longer than me, I can learn something. But I also hear it's got a lot of regret and they always come in recently I Did this. And you know, this woman, she was the one, you know, she was talking about regrets, like she didn't pursue this relationship, that she felt like it was her soulmate, but because of what other people would think about that relationship. You know, I saw this other guy that picked a career path, and it was only because his parents expected it of him. Right? You know, it's different. And so I just want to remind everyone, it's not very positive, but a thought experiment. Imagine you're taking your final breaths. It's the end of your, you know, this. This life. And at that moment, I just want people to presence this. None of other people's opinions are going to matter. Matter. None of other people's expectations are going to matter at that moment. What's going to really matter in that moment? Things like how you laughed, how you learned, how you loved, how you lived, right? And so I feel like it's not just about time management. Who knows how much time we have? I mean, we all have 24 hours in a day, but it is about mind management and priority management. And I think the most important thing is to keep the most important things. Thing. The most important thing. All right? The most important things. Keep the most important things. The most important things. Because you don't want to spend your time. A lot of people, they feel burnt out, right? Let's just get really rare. Like, a lot of people are starting their. Their raw. A lot of people are starting their businesses, you know, after their job, right? They work nine to five and they do. They do their side hustles. And the truth is it's not always a glorious, you know, thing, right?
- [77:55]
Scott Clary
It usually is.
- [77:57]
Jim Kwik
Definitely not with private planes and, you know, all these things. And again, whatever floats people's boats. But I. I do believe people's early mornings and late nights will pay off for them. But first you have to feed your business until that business feeds you, right? First you feed your business until it feeds you. Same thing with all this learning that we do, all the books that we buy. We have to feed our minds until our minds feed us back, right? And I have a respect for entrepreneurs as they are the ones that are solving the real problems. They're the ones creating, creating jobs. They're the ones that move in the economy. And, you know, going back to one of the challenges entrepreneurs come to us is burnout, right? People feel mentally, emotionally, physically burnt out. And I just, I don't know who I'm talking to right now. You know, use like, notes or anything, but sometimes we're Burnt out because we're not burnt out because we're doing too much. Because people identify burnout with doing too much. And granted, sometimes that's the case, but sometimes we're burnt out, not because we're doing too much. Sometimes we're burnt out out because we're doing too little of the things that matter, you know, too little of the things that light us up, too little of the things that bring us joy, too little of the things that also care for us. Also self care is not selfish. So I feel like understanding who we are is very important and not limiting ourself. That we could redraw the borders and boundaries of what's possible. Especially because if we. If we give so much energy and priority to other people's expectations of us, if you fuel your life and other people's opinions and expectations, then we're going to run out of gas. Even if they're positive or negative. Right? If you're relying on something outside of yourself. Because I do believe in entrepreneur. The reason why we take this path is we have agency, right? We realize that nobody's going to come and save us. That if our dreams mean anything to us, then we have to work for it. And there's a version of yourself and your business that's patiently waiting. And the goal is we show up every single day until we're introduced. And. But here's the thing that people and I like, because I'm in coaching mode right now, I can't help it. Like, it's hard. Like change is hard, right? Like growth is scary. But nothing is hard. As scary as being somewhere, as being stuck somewhere you don't belong. And so again, wherever you are in your life, I know we're going through this process and at different stages, it's not always a straight line, fine. But you know, change is scary. Growth can be hard. But nothing is as hard and scary as being stuck somewhere you don't belong. Because it's tough to do those hard things. But life is hard for one of two reasons. Only one of two reasons. Life is hard because you're leaving your comfort zone. You're stunning something new. You're meeting those people, you're getting. You're getting out of your comfort zone. You're starting a business, all that stuff. Like life is hard because you're leaving your comfort zone. Or life is very hard if you're staying in your comfort zone. Zone. Right. That kind of place. Because the comfort zone, it's a nice place to visit every once in a while. But nothing grows There you know, at all. So going back to knowing yourself, the sign above the door in, in the matrix. I just feel like this assessment will give you an idea of, of how you work and then you could work better. Like again going back that cheetah they could take large, larger tasks and they could break it down into small sprints to maintain momentum. Momentum. Right. An owl is very analytical, logical, detail oriented. So they love solving problems and doing that research. So their learning style is often they would excel in developing an environment where they can gather information, analyze, plan their best for even like the roles that they would choose for a job or a new business. You know, everyone wants to get out, get the right people on the bus, get the wrong people off the bus and meet. Sure. The right people are sitting in the right seats. Right. So you know, they would excel where projects require extensive research, analysis, critical thinking. But where do they get stuck? Analysis paralysis. You know, overthinking like thinking is good but overthinking when everything be perfect is never you know that will stop any kind of progress there is. So you could do this for dolphins. You know, they, they, they excel in open flexible environments or they can explore new ideas. They can indeed really enjoy brainstorming and, and creative problem solving. So they'd be great at certain roles as you can their challenge. They might struggle with highly structured or rigid environments that limit their creativity. And so they would have to be able to develop things exercises to keep ideas flowing, prevent stagnation. And so you can do this for all of this. But we'll send reports on how to speed read and improve your memory focus based on your brain animal type. Just when people do the mybrainanimal.com and it's just again when it's, it's liberating for yourself because it takes a judgment we have over ourselves. But then also when you have your friends, your family, your team do it then you know how to relate to them better. Right. And then their behavior becomes like oh that's why you know, because you understand how their, their, their brain which is their control center is making their, their choices. Ryan Reynolds here from IT Mobile.
- [83:06]
Scott Clary
I don't know if you knew this.
- [83:07]
Jim Kwik
But anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I, I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate, first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com youm know what I.
- [83:35]
Scott Clary
Love about all of your work? I love a lot of different things about your work, but I think that the thing that stands out the most most is you're talking to an entrepreneurial audience that does believe in that thermostat analogy and does believe in self agency. But that's difficult work. It's very difficult work to have self agency. And I mean like the, the more, I guess technical term for that, because I've spoken about it a bit on this show, would be internal locus of control and believing that, you know, you have extreme ownership and agency over everything that happens in your life. But that's difficult because it's every single day there's a new problem to figure out and you know that you have to take ownership of that problem. But what all your work does is it just removes a little bit of the friction. It allows you to learn a little bit quicker, it allows you to focus your energy a little bit more appropriately if you know your brain type or if you know the people that you're dealing with in their brain type. So I think that again, the whole point of this podcast is to make it so that all the problems that you're solving in your life right now have already been solved to some capacity. And the information and insight and wisdom out of all the people that I bring on is really just to give you the tools to allow you to solve those problems quicker, more efficiently, easier, and at the end of the day, you have a playbook for doing that, regardless of what problem you're trying to solve. That's what I really appreciate. So thank you.
- [84:59]
Jim Kwik
I, no, I, I, I appreciate that very, very much. And you know, I, I appreciate also not only what you do, but the manner you do it. You know, I was looking at some of your episodes and looking at the comments. You have a lot of love here for not only what you do, but the manner you do it going on. Agency. So I got to introduce this, this is what nails it down for me for agency. I got to introduce two of my favorite entrepreneurs together years ago because they both happened to mention they wanted to meet each other. So dinner. And it was Richard Branson and Stan Lee. Not Stan Lee, but Stan Lee, the comic book legend. And I have an affinity for superheroes because I mentioned I couldn't read. So how did I learn how to read? I learned by reading comic books. I had two comic books as a kid, and I would be underneath the covers when everyone thought I was sleeping. And something about the art brought the words to life, and that's how I learned. But also something about the stories really, really made me feel like a superhero is not someone with just superpowers, because you could have super. You could have a strength, a trait, you know, a skill base. But if you're not using that power for good, you're not a superhero. So they offer hope and help. So that really resonated me as a k. As a kid. So I got to introduce the two of them. We're going to dinner, and I. And I'm in the car, and I asked Stan. I was so nervous because I had this idea I wanted. I was so curious, like. And I asked Stan. I got the. The guts to ask him. I was like, who's your favorite superhero? He created, you know, all of them. And he looked at me. He's like, jim, my favorite super is Iron Man. And then he said, jim, who's your favorite superhero? And I post this on Instagram. He had a picture. He had a Spider man tie, going to dinner. And I saw his Spider man because, like, I was just really frozen, just that I was just, you know, having this conversation with him. And I said. When I said Spider Man. Scott, in his iconic Stan Lee voice, his cameo, right, Fail. He goes, with great power comes great, you know, responsibility. And everybody knows that. And they don't even remember when they learned it, but it's in, like, in our DNA. And truth be told, I. I have had three head injuries before age 12, because, again, my parents were, you know, working, and I was not very well supervised. But sometimes when I read and I hear something, I flip it, like. Like. Like some other people do, also, like a form of dyslexia. And I heard something different. I like Stan, you're right. With great power comes great responsibility. And the opposite is also true. With great responsibility comes great power. When we take responsibility for something, we have great power to make things better. And it's just. I say this, and I drop these names more. So that when you're on a virgin flight or you're looking at a comic book, it reminds you of the lesson, right? These are anchors, memory triggers, right, that we. That we kind of place out there. But it's just. Just a reminder that, you know, when we're going on this, that we have more power than we realize, that we have to influence. And I feel like we have a responsibility to Use it, you know, wisely in the, in the area of service.
- [88:06]
Scott Clary
I love it. Jim, where should people. I mean you've dropped a couple resources for, for the listeners. Are there any other. I mean your social website, anything else else that people want to go learn more they can go to?
- [88:20]
Jim Kwik
Yeah, everywhere. At jimquik using the spell. Right. That's my last name, my father's name, my grandfather. I didn't change it to do what I do with a name like quick. You know, my life was pretty much planned out but I would challenge everyone to do one thing. Like if you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed, remember this small simple steps lead to big changes. The journey to success isn't about leaping to the top right away. It's about creating momentum them with small intentional actions. And little by little, a little becomes a lot. And so yeah, if you're going to connect on social media, I would post your brain animal or post one thing you're going to do from whether it's the meditation, the exercise, the diet, the sleep, the relationships, the nootropics, whatever. We did a lot of acronyms here but post one thing you're going to do for a better brain or posterior brain animal. Because I'm curious curious what your community is dominantly.
- [89:13]
Scott Clary
I am too.
- [89:14]
Jim Kwik
Yeah.
- [89:14]
Scott Clary
So if you, if you listen to this and if you watch the episode like maybe tag on Instagram or something with your brain animal.
- [89:20]
Jim Kwik
Yeah. No, and you'll get, you'll get this AI art also and a bunch of follow up, you know, like, like PDFs with exact instructions on what you could do. The how is always easy. It's getting our mindset, our motivation, you know, set in because so many people, I really feel like out of fear people downgrade their dreams to meet the current situation when we could on the other side upgrade our mindset, our motivation, our methods to meet our destiny. So I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me on.
- [89:51]
Scott Clary
No, my pleasure, My pleasure, man. I end with this. It's just one last thought and I ask everybody the same question. If you could tell your 20 year old self one thing after your life, your career, all the different seasons you've gone through, one last word of wisdom, what would it be?
- [90:07]
Jim Kwik
I would tell my younger self that life is like an egg, that if an egg is broken by an outside force, that life ends. But if an egg is broken by an inside force, life begins and great things begin on the inside. So stop seeking all the validation or other people's opinions and expectations. And I would say know your yourself, you know, trust yourself, love yourself, and most importantly, be yourself.