Jim Kwik: ON How To Learn Faster, Remember More & Find Your Superpower

He was the boy with the broken brain. At least that’s what Jim Kwik told Jay Shetty that he called himself between the ages of 5 and 18 after suffering from a traumatic brain injury that left him with slow brain performance. Today, Kwik is one of the top brain and learning experts in the world, and he’s a man on a mission. Listen in as Kwik and Jay Shetty talk about tapping into the unlimited potential of the human brain. Text Jay Shetty 310-997-4177 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Jay Shetty?

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• 0:43Jay Shetty?

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• 1:26Jay Shetty?

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• 2:01Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by AG1. Are you feeling September reset too? Shorter days, longer to-do lists, earlier alarms, all those routines you promised to yourself you'd pick back up. It can feel like your whole life is recalibrating. And when everything around you is changing, it helps to have a few things you can rely on. AG1 Next Gen is one of those easy habits to keep. It's the clinically-backed, comprehensive daily health drink that supports your gut health, energy production, and foundational nutrition all in one scoop. AG1's ingredients are sourced from quality partners for absorption, potency, and nutrient density to deliver the foundational nutrition your body needs. And alongside a proper diet,

• 2:45Jay Shetty?

  AG1 Next Gen meets 94% of nutrient requirements and it's clinically shown to enrich the gut microbiome. For a limited time, save 20% on your first subscription order of AG1 Next Gen or AG1 Pro at drinkag1.com/onpurpose. That's drinkag1.com/onpurpose.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  You know, learning how to learn, I think it's a superpower. If there's one skill to master in the 21st century, you know, with all this change that's going on, rapid change, it's the only constant is just how do you learn it and absorb it and think differently and apply it. And so I started studying neuroscience and adult learning theory, multiple intelligences. Anything I get my hands on, mnemonics, speed reading, everything. And then about six days into it, a light switch went on and I started to understand things for the very first time.

• 3:40Jay Shetty?

  Hello, everyone. I am so grateful to introduce you to my guest today. He is none other than the world memory expert, optimal brain performance coach, and someone that I love to call a very dear friend. His name is Jim Quick. He has worked with leading organizations and leading individuals all over the world. But more than all of that, from when I connected with Jim, we hit it off right away. He has this beautiful energy and presence about him. More than all of that, he's an extremely humble soul. So I'm really touched and excited to introduce you to someone who I hold in the highest regard for his deep expertise in the brain, in memory, in self-improvement, but also as a very dear friend.

• 4:25Jay Shetty?

  So Jim, I'm so grateful and honored to be speaking with you.

• 4:29Speaker 01

  Jay, this is a real privilege. Thank you for having me.

• 4:31Jay Shetty?

  No, absolutely. The privilege and honor is all mine. And you're always traveling all over the world, sharing advice, tips. And this is one thing I was saying to people when I launched the podcast. The reason I did it was to sit with people like you. I wanted to sit with people who are deep experts and really understand an area. And not just understand it, but live it, breathe it, teach it, give it. And you really embody an expert's mindset for me. So I'm excited to sit with an expert today and dig deeper with you.

• 5:02Speaker 01

  Thank you, thank you. I believe that the life that we live are the lessons that we teach other people. And going through, I mean, life is like the best seminar in the world. And so there are a lot of lessons here. So I'm excited about this and thank you everyone who's joining us.

• 5:16Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, me too. And for the people that don't know you, may not know your story. I want to dive in a little bit into your story. I remember we spoke about it last time we were together. We were in Sardinia during the Mindvalley event. And I remember having dinner one night. I think everyone was crazy, partying, drinking and dancing. And me and Jim were in this corner of a table, just having this really meaningful exchange. But you started off talking about how even though today you're teaching learning to absolutely the most incredible minds on the planet and everyone in the world. But your journey actually started off differently, right? You actually struggled at school.

• 5:50Speaker 01

  I did. When people see me on stages that we've shared together or on video, they'll see me do these mental feats, right? Memorize all the hundred people stand up and memorize their names or, you know, a hundred names or a hundred numbers or a hundred words, forwards and backwards. But I always tell people, I don't do this to impress you. I do this more to express to you what's possible. Because the truth is every single person who's listening today could do that and so much, so much more. I mean, we discovered more about, you know, the human brain. You know this more in the past 10 years than the previous thousand years combined. And we're grossly, we've found is we're grossly underestimating our own capabilities and our own superpowers as you were. And I really do, I love your work because I feel like in this age of information, we're drowning in data, we're drowning in information, but we're starving for real wisdom.

• 6:36Speaker 01

  And so that's why I really appreciate it. But yeah, as you know, I grew up with learning difficulties. Some people are surprised to hear at the age of five, I had a bad accident, head trauma, brain injury. And I had these learning challenges, if you were, you know, I had bad focus. I had no memory to speak of. I didn't, teachers would have to repeat themselves four, five, six times. And then I wouldn't get it. I would pretend to understand and I don't know if anyone could relate to that. But I had this like imposter syndrome when I was a child. And, um, and it took me actually a few years to learn how to read. I remember, I don't talk about this, but in school, in elementary school, all my friends, they, they got invited to be part of this MASP program. Cause I always played with all the Dungeons and Dragons and comic book geeks.

• 7:20Speaker 01

  And the only difference with them and me is I didn't have the grades. They're really, really smart, right? And, um, but they, um, there was this group called MASP and MASP stands for More Able Student Program. And it was me and my friend Joey, we weren't invited in this program. So we created our own little group, our own clique and we called it LASP. And we were the Less Able Student Program. And, um, and so I remember at the age of nine, a teacher pointing to me, talking to another adult, saying, that's the boy with the broken brain. And that was my label. And, and anyone who has a child or anyone who's, who was a child at one point in their life. Parents have to be very careful with the words they use because your external words become a child's internal words. And that became my internal talk.

• 8:03Speaker 01

  Every time I wasn't picked for the soccer team, every time I did badly on a quiz and a test, which was all the time. I always said, oh, it's because I have the broken brain. And that became my, my internal conversation. And I always tell people, if you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them. If you argue for those limits, they're yours. And I, and I had that all through school. I had such a bad fear of, I was painfully shy, not just introverted, but shy. Because when you, um, when you feel like you're broken, you don't feel like you have anything to add in terms of values. Uh, I was, I didn't have a lot of friends. I, I would just watch people and study them and just wonder why was this person, you know, so successful at school? Or have, you know, so popular, picked for all these teams. And, um, I'd be painfully shy.

• 8:46Speaker 01

  I would actually, I remember, I don't talk about this a lot, but I, my, um, they polled my parents in my English class in high school and. I was failing and he was like, the teacher said, okay, I'll give you one chance. You do this extra credit report and, you know, and it was on Einstein and Da Vinci. And, you know, and I didn't know anything about them, but this is what's gonna allow you to pass. And I was so excited because I put all my energy in there for months and I did this book report. And I've never put all of my talent and time and focus into one project before. And the day I had to turn it in, I had it professionally bound. I mean, it was like, so proud of it. Cause I've never been good at anything and, and at the end of class, the teacher's like, I have a surprise for everybody.

• 9:30Speaker 01

  Jim, come up in front of the class and tell everyone about Einstein and Da Vinci. And I, I was so scared. I didn't realize I had to give a talk, like a book report on this. So I, I said, I lied. I said, I didn't do it. And after three months of pouring my heart and everything into it, my potential, if you will. I just, I lied. I said, I didn't do it because I was so fearful of getting in front of a group of people. I know fear of public speaking is a big deal for a lot of people. And after, you could look at the teacher's face. She was so disappointed. And I was disappointed in myself also. And, but after the class left, I remember taking it out of my backpack and throwing it into the trash.

• 10:10Speaker 01

  And I felt like when I did that, I was also throwing away something else, like maybe my, my dreams, if you will. But at the age of 18, I, I thought I could turn it all around. I was lucky enough to get into college, university. I wanted to make a fresh start, show my family, show the world, show myself I could do it. And I did worse. And, and at that time, I just, I just doubled down and, and I was just ready to quit. And then friends like, hey, why don't you get some perspective before you tell your family you're quitting school? Come visit my, my family this weekend. I'm going home. And I did. And the family was pretty well off and happy and successful, if you will. And the father walks me around his property and says, Jim, you know, how's school? And I just, that's the worst question you could ask me. And I just start bawling.

• 10:55Speaker 01

  And I just, I was like, I tell my whole story about the broken brain. He's like, Jim, why are you in school? What do you want to be? What do you want to do? What do you want to have? What do you want to share in the world? And I always say I didn't have any clue. Because it's funny, when you don't ask yourself that question, you don't have answers. You know, that was one of the conversations that I had growing up. And I go to answer him, and he takes out, he says, "Stop." He takes out a piece of paper out of his back pocket, and he makes me write it down. And you know how important it is to write and reflect. I've never did that before. But when I was done, I had this bucket list of all the things that I want to accomplish. And when I was, I started folding the sheets, and he grabbed it out of my hand, and he starts reading it. And I'm freaking out, because I wasn't expecting him to look at my deepest dreams. And when he's done, he's like, "Jim, you're this close to everything on that list." And he spreads his fingers about a foot apart.

• 11:38Speaker 01

  And I was like, "No way, give me ten lifetimes, I'm not gonna crack that list." And he takes his fingers, and he puts them to the side of my head. Meaning what's in between is really the answer, the key, the bridge, if you will. Which was my brain. And he walks me into a room of his home, into a room I've never seen, you would love it. It's wall to wall, ceiling to floor, covered in books. And I'm phobic of books, right? I mean, I'm just not a good reader, never finished a book in my life.

• 12:00Jay Shetty?

  I bet, Tim.

• 12:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, and this is like, I mean, now, I read, I read a book a day. And I'm so, they're my best friends. But they're like, you know, a lot of people are afraid of snakes. It's like being in a room full of snakes. But what makes it worse, he starts grabbing snakes and handing them to me. And I started looking at these titles, and they're classics. There's these incredible biographies of men and women in history, and some very early personal growth books. Like Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking, Dale Carnegie, I mean, Napoleon Hill, all the classics, right? And he's like, "Jim, I want you to read one book a week." And I was like, "No way, I'm fighting for my limitations, I can't do that, I have so much schoolwork." And he just looked at me like, "Jim, don't let school get in the way of your education." And I didn't realize this was a Mark Twain quote at the time, it's like over twenty-five years ago. And I was like, "That's really insightful, but I still, I can't commit to this.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  If I'm gonna commit to it, I'm gonna do it." And very smart man, he reaches into his pocket, and he still has my bucket list. And he starts reading every single one of my dreams out loud. And I don't know what it was, Jay, just hearing, imagine you're this insecure eighteen-year-old kid, and you start hearing your deepest dreams, you've never articulated out loud yourself, much less you hear it from another man's voice, and canted out into the universe. And it messed with my mind and my heart, something fierce. And honestly, a lot of the, half that list were things I wanted to do for my family. You know, my parents immigrated here from Asia. We, I mean, typical story. We lived in the back of a laundromat, didn't speak the language, didn't have any money, education, any of that. And I just, I wanted to do stuff for my, my family that they all, because of

• 13:28Speaker 01

  all their sacrifice. And with that leverage and, and understanding the importance of, of, of drive and motivation to get to do, I'm, I'm very curious what motivates people to do things, you know, to take, I don't believe knowledge is power at all. You know, I, you know, all the, it's potential, has the potential to be power, right? You know, but all the podcasts, online programs, coaching, seminars, none of it works unless we work it. And, and so with that motivation, I agree to read one book a week. So fast forward, I'm back at school and I'm sitting at my desk, I have a pile of books I have to read for midterms and I have a pile of books that I promised to read. And I couldn't even do one pile of books. So what do I do? I sacrifice. I don't eat, I don't sleep, I don't work out,

• 14:11Speaker 01

  so I spend time with friends. I don't, I live in the library and I just, it's not very sustainable. And I end up passing out one night out of sheer exhaustion. I fall down a flight of stairs in the library, hit my head again. And then I wake up two days later in the hospital. And at this point, I've lost all, I, I was, I've lost, I've been down a hundred and seventeen pounds, the scariest point in my life ever. I thought I died. And you know, when you have a near death experience, I mean, it makes you think about like, deep about who you are. And, and I think a lot of people have, you know, honestly, near life experiences where they're not, they're not, you know, stepping into that place. But um, made me ask a new question, you know, why am I here? Why am I struggling like this? And I didn't have any answers. It's like, man, I have a really slow brain.

• 14:55Speaker 01

  And then at that time, you know, the nurse came in with a mug of tea and it had a picture of the same one, the person I did the book report on is Albert Einstein. And it was like, and there was a quote on there, I felt like he was speaking to me. It said, the same level of thinking that's created your problem won't solve your problem. And I was like, well, what's my problem? I was like, I have a very slow learner, I'm a very slow brain. It's like, well, how do I think differently about it? Well, maybe I can learn how to learn faster. Maybe I can learn how to have a faster brain. And I put my studies aside and I just start studying learning, you know, learning how to learn. I think it's a superpower. If there's one skill to master in the 21st century, you know, with all this change that's going on, rapid change, it's the only constant is just how do you learn it and absorb it and think differently and apply it. And so I started studying neuroscience

• 15:40Speaker 01

  and adult learning theory and multiple intelligences. Anything I get my hands on, mnemonics, speed reading, everything. And then about six days into it, a light switch went on and I started to understand things for the very first time. I mean, it was just like, and I remember, I never talk about this, but I, I remember the time, the moment it happened. It was, we were in class, it was about three hundred people at a lecture center. And back then, there were these, these overhead projectors, right? And with these, you know, and it's like with these, with these like, these pulling like, and, and the professor put something on the overhead projector. And, you know, a few seconds into it, I just start laughing. And I'm so quiet, I'm the quiet one in class. I do everything to not, like, if I was to have one superpower back in school, it was invisibility.

• 16:23Speaker 01

  Like, I didn't want to be seen, I didn't, I mean, I wanted to be seen, I wanted to be heard, but I didn't want the spotlight. And, and so, because, you know, when you're broken and you feel like you're not enough, you don't want that attention. But I start laughing out loud, really loud, and everyone turns around and looks at me. And I'm freaking out like, oh my goodness, like, because I didn't realize it. And then about thirty seconds into it, other people started laughing, there was this ripple effect. And we were laughing at what was on the screen, but I had just read it and learned it really fast, right, at that moment. And I didn't realize it at the time.

• 16:54Speaker 01

  But with my grades, when my grades improved, my life improved. And here's the thing, when, my inspiration really was my desperation. You know, how I ended up on this path all those years ago was, I couldn't help but help other people, right? You talk about your passion, and my passion became learning, but my purpose also became teaching. You know, sharing it with other people, because I felt really upset that I wasn't taught this back in school. And I had to go through all that suffering and struggling every single day, you know, sometimes crying myself to sleep, not feeling I was enough. And so I started helping other individuals. And I don't share this story very often, but I didn't know how to help other individuals.

• 17:35Speaker 01

  So I was like, okay, I'm gonna, I was walking, it's like doing this meditation around campus. And I noticed there was this classroom that wasn't being used late at night on a Thursday night. And I was like, okay, um, next week, I'm gonna put five or ten people in that room, teach them for free. And then maybe afterwards, one or two of them want to be my students, and I could tutor them. And then I go back to my dorm room and I take out a piece of paper and I write, "Free speed reading memory tips, get better grades in less time, Thursday 7pm." And the next morning, this is like my first like, you know, opportunity to share this. The next morning I make some photocopies and on the way to class, just put some around the campus, not a lot.

• 18:14Speaker 01

  And then, fast forward to Thursday 7 o'clock, I go, I'm walking around the hallway, I'm just hoping five people showed up, were interested in this. And I turn the corner and there's a crowd of people outside the door. And I'm freaking out because I was like, honestly, I was like, oh, I hope whatever's going on ends soon, so I could do my thing. And I go up to there and there's this crowd of people and I can't even see inside because there's this big tall guy, I was like tapping on him. Like, "What's going on inside?" He's like, "There's a speed reading class." And honest to God, Jay, I was like, "Wow, what a coincidence." "What are the odds there's another speed reading class, the same room, the same night, the same time?" And I push my way in and there's rooms full of people, people standing in the back, but nobody's teaching. And it takes my slow brain all that time to realize why they're all there.

• 18:59Speaker 01

  And I do a head count and instead of five or 10 people, there's 110 people. Now, keep in mind, I'm phobic of public speaking, I'm 18 years old, I look, you know, like really young, I'm wearing t-shirt shorts, I have nothing prepared to talk about. And there's teaching assistants in there, graduate students, and my heart's beating on my chest, I can't even breathe. And so I leave, because I can't, I can't do it. And I will go to this fountain, and I've always meditated in my life, it's just something more in my nature, because I spend so much time in my imagination to myself as an introvert. And when I was meditating, I heard this voice inside my head, and it's my mom's. And she says, I won't tell you exactly what she says, but essentially it's like,

• 19:43Speaker 01

  "100 people came out because you promised to help them, and you're disappointing them, you're disappointing me." And I'm doing this walking meditation back to my dorm room and I stop. And I take one step back to the classroom. And isn't it interesting that one step in another direction can completely change your destination or your destiny, right? Absolutely. And I go back, and honestly, as a memory expert, it's embarrassing, I don't even remember what I talked about. I mean, I don't know how you are on stage, but sometimes it just flows, just flows through you, right? Those are the best days. Yeah, and I remember, you know, on stage with Wayne Dyer, he's like, he never preps, he just, he just prays, you know, "Praise the servant," just comes right through and... But after two hours, I come out of this trance.

• 20:24Speaker 01

  And I was just like, okay, but I remember when I said then consciously, I was like, oh, I don't know if I could help everybody here. But it'll take about 10 hours for me to teach you some of the things that I'm doing. Two hours a week, you know, um, you know, over the next five weeks. And I'm just said, you know, I get $30 an hour to teach us. That's what I got um, teaching tennis back in, you know, high school. If you're interested, I'll be in the student center tomorrow at noon. And then I swear to you, Jay, 100 people just get up and they leave. And they know no interaction at all. And I am, I feel two things. Number one, I feel completely confused. I'm just like, what happened? Did everyone just not, did I just, what did I say while this was going on? And did I just, was I a complete idiot? And then the other feeling I had was complete exhaustion. Because you know, when you get yourself to do something you never thought you could do?

• 21:07Speaker 01

  Like, you know, whether it's public speaking or, or, or talking to that person that you're always, you know, you're attracted to. Or starting that business or jumping out of that plane or whatever. I was completely exhausted mentally, emotionally, physically. And I end up falling asleep on the floor, on that carpet. It was the best sleep of my life I've ever had to this day. And I get woken up by the class coming in the next morning. And I, I mean, it's scary. You're like drooling on yourself, looking up and seeing like, you know, class students. And I run back to my dorm room and I, I shower, I go to breakfast, go to class. 12 o'clock comes, I promised people I'd be in the student center. I run there and I just hope one person is there. And when I get there, the entire, that crowd is, this is there, showed up.

• 21:47Speaker 01

  And um, at the end of, in about an hour or two, 71 of the 100 kids signed up for a program that didn't even exist. And it was at a price point of $300, um, because I didn't even do the math. Cause I wasn't doing it for the money. It was like 100, you know, 71 times $300. Cause I didn't realize kids could go to the ATM machine and take out $300. Because I didn't, I didn't have an ATM card. I didn't have that, I never saw $300 in my life. And so, I, so now I'm not even 19 years old and I have $21,000 cash in my backpack. And I go back to my mentor, his wisdom saying, don't let school get in the way of your education. And I feed my body because I lost all that weight, but mostly I use

• 22:30Speaker 01

  that to invest in feeding my mind. And I buy every book, every audio cassette. At that time, there was no, everything wasn't digital. I traveled the world to learn my craft. And the reason why I do this today is because one of those students, 71 young adults, she was a freshman. She read 30 books in 30 days. I mean, can you imagine going online and picking up 30 books, you know, and just absorbing, not skim it, but just really understood it. And I wanted to find out not how, but why, going back to motivation. And I found out that her mother was dying of terminal cancer and was only given 60 days to live, two months to live, doctors. And so I wished her well, prayers. Six months

• 23:14Speaker 01

  later, I get a call from this young lady. She's crying and crying, crying. I can't get a word out of her. And I find out their tears of joy, that her mother not only survived, but is really getting better. Doctors don't know how or why. They called it a miracle, but her mother attributed it 100% to the great advice she got from her daughter, who learned it from all these books. And that's where I realized at that moment, if knowledge is power, learning is your superpower. And it's a superpower we all have inside of us. And I devoted my life to showing people how to unlock and unleash it.

• 23:43Jay Shetty?

  This episode is brought to you by State Farm. We talk a lot about intentional decision making, and that extends to the practical stuff, too, like making sure your coverage actually works for your life. State Farm is there to meet you where you are, and they know how sweet it is to feel good about your decisions. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with a personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

• 24:18Jay Shetty?

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• 25:48Jay Shetty?

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• 25:59Speaker 01

  So I get a little choked up thinking about that, but that's my mission, the boy with the broken brain. I just want to, no brain left behind.

• 26:07Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 26:08Speaker 01

  I want to show people really what they're capable of and that we all have genius inside of us. That it's not how smart you are, it's really how are you smart? And we've had this conversation with, and that's what I feel like people are looking for that.

• 26:22Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, I love that, man. That's yeah, listening to it in full like that. And I'm sure there's so much more, but thank you so much for sharing those stories as well. They're really powerful and the the genuineness and sincerity with which you're doing this just comes across really naturally. I can feel the energy. It's not even a and I already knew that about you, but it's not about anything else apart from No Brain Left Behind. I love that. But yeah, let's let's look at that a bit more and I and I want to unpack parts of that story because I think that a lot of people are listening right now or watching right now. And they're saying, Jim, I feel exactly how you felt.

• 27:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:04Jay Shetty?

  Right? I was the same. I never felt I liked reading growing up because we only read fiction books at school. And I've never been a fan of certain types of fiction that we were exposed to at school.

• 27:14Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 27:15Jay Shetty?

  And when I got exposed to nonfiction when I was fourteen, I got fascinated with reading and I just kept reading and reading and reading. Because I loved reading about real people and real stories. And at the same time, I've been fascinated by superheroes or magic, but we never read books like that, fiction books like that at school.

• 27:30Speaker 01

  Right, right.

• 27:31Jay Shetty?

  So I also had challenges with what I loved and what I didn't love and what I believed. So our biggest challenges, you know this, I know this, are around our beliefs, are around what we believe is possible.

• 27:42Speaker 01

  Right.

• 27:43Jay Shetty?

  You had a eight from eight years old to eighteen. That seems like a really tough time in your life in terms of your projections of yourself, your beliefs about yourself. What is your advice now to people who have those limiting beliefs? How do they start that journey or that process?

• 28:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:01Jay Shetty?

  Of opening up their minds or whatever you feel is right for them?

• 28:04Speaker 01

  I I really do feel this is one of the most important conversations people could be having right now. Because to create any kind of results in our life, we need to behave a certain way. But in order to do a behavior, we need a belief that enables that to happen. And I think the nature of a lot of the work that that we do is is about transcending. Is when I say we, I mean everyone who's here in this community. It's about transcend. It's about ending the trance. Ending this mass hypnosis through marketing, through media that says that you're broken. You know, exactly what I experienced as a child, that you need to be that you need to be fixed, that there is something wrong with you. And I feel like

• 28:48Speaker 01

  You know, all this fear of not feeling like you're enough is the root of a lot of challenges. Because in actuality, we're not so much a thermometer reacting to the environment all the time as we are a thermostat, and our beliefs are kind of like the temperature we're setting. And when we set a goal or a belief or a vision for something, you know, the environment changes. But I think people make them kind of money that they believe that they are worth, that they are in the kind of relationship or lack thereof, maybe because of what they believe about, you know, relationships, or they believe about who they are and how valuable that they are, or maybe even the state of health, right? That a power of a belief or placebo, that people could change the level of health just by having a certain thought.

• 29:33Speaker 01

  And we know that there's a biology to belief also as well. And so what I know in my experience of having students in over 180 countries, working with children with the most severe learning challenges to adults, you know, I don't, I never talk about this, but my grandmother died of Alzheimer's. You know, and so that affects your beliefs when you're a child, along with my brain injury, labeled the broken brain. I remember going to see my grandmother, and she would call me by my brother's name. And I would remember talking to my grandmother about something, and then two minutes later, we're talking about the same exact thing. And people who know, you know, who've had this experience and who doesn't know somebody who has, you know, who has been affected by dementia or Alzheimer's,

• 30:18Speaker 01

  it's like you lose your mind, you lose part of, you know, who you are, your identity. And so all those things affect your belief about what is possible. So the reason why I do these demonstrations on stage is to really shake up what people feel is possible. But I know, and this is what research shows, that regardless of your age, your background, your career, your education, your financial situation, your gender, your history, your IQ. Only about a one-third, according to research, is your intellect, your potential, your memory is predetermined by genetics and biology, but two-thirds is in your control. Now, some people would say 100% is in your control, you know, epigenetics and your beliefs, the power of it, but at research, you know, traditional research taking two-thirds is, you have more influence than you think, that it's not.

• 31:01Jay Shetty?

  Two-thirds is good enough.

• 31:02Speaker 01

  Exactly, that it's not, it's not, it's, you know, the whole mindset between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset is that, that it's not set, like your IQ, when you take an IQ test when you're a child, it's not what you're set for life, it's not fixed like your shoe size, and plus, you know, the beliefs around IQ, people feel like that that's a standardized test could, this is your potential, I mean, that's ludicrous, right, that, that something like that is set, and so, I think when we're talking about beliefs, all of it is, has to do with our, our culture and what our influences, what we're imprinted on early on, and I also believe part of it has to do with our self-talk. I remember I was preparing to, to run a marathon, you know, with a name like Quick, and people

• 31:44Speaker 01

  talk about my name, I didn't change my name to do what I do, it's my father's name, my grandfather's name.

• 31:49Jay Shetty?

  That's so cool.

• 31:50Speaker 01

  You know, and so, it's, it's something that I was born with, and, and I would say that, um, when I was running this marathon, I read this chapter in a book on the psychology of it, and it said this, word for word, because I'm a memory expert, it said, "Your brain is like a supercomputer and your self-talk is a program that will run, so if you tell yourself you're not good at remembering names, you will not remember the name of the next person you meet because you programmed your supercomputer not to." And, you know, I always tell people, "Your mind is always eavesdropping on your self-talk, it's always listening," you know this, if, if people knew how powerful their minds were, like right now, when people are listening to this, you have hundreds of millions of neurons firing off, you know, and they say a person's mind, once stretched by a new

• 32:35Speaker 01

  idea, never regains its original dimensions, right, neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, we're always, you know, thoughts that, you know, um, brain cells that wire together, they, they, they fire together, they wire together, these thoughts are things, and so, I would say, if you knew how powerful your minds really were, you wouldn't have a thought or say something you didn't want to be true. And now, that's not to say you have one negative thought and it ruins your life, right, any more than eating a donut ruins your life, you know, like, you know, your body, but it's the habit of doing it, right, we talk about habits like meditation and working out and eating right and gratitude. But you know, what about the habits of our feelings? The emotional habits that we have? What about the habits of our thoughts that we're the the things we're saying to ourselves all the time inside? Like, I have a friend, like, you know, I feel like we ask these things all the time.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  We have these thoughts that we have to be conscious of in order to change. But um, and we have certain thoughts that are just constant, like um, like, like these dominant ones. And I remember a friend of mine, we went through this exercise and her primary thought is, how do I get people to like me? Like, can you imagine if you ask yourself hundreds of times a day consciously or unconsciously? How do I get people to like me? Like, Jay, you don't know this person. You don't know her age, her background, her, her career, any her, her financials. You don't know anything about her, but you know everything about her. Hmm. Right? If somebody's asking them constantly, like, themselves, you know, how do I get people to like me? You, I mean, what's that person like? Like, what's their personality like? You know, they're always, they're people pleaser, you know, their personality is changing depending on who they're spending time with.

• 34:05Speaker 01

  They're a martyr, they're always looking to serve and they're, and, and you know all that stuff because you know one of their thoughts. Because thoughts are things. And so I would ask people to evaluate, you know, your beliefs, your self-talk, because it, it runs these programs. And it's so, once you're conscious of it, you can make changes. Like, you know, I don't have a great memory, yet. You know, some, a simple three-letter word at the end of a sentence changes everything because words have power. You know, um, there's even this little pet peeve I have is that, you know, people talk about nice and they talk about kind. But those are two completely different things, like night and day. You know, in terms of what motivates, somebody who's nice, a, a person who's nice could treat, it's somebody who's going through a bad day or a homeless person, they could treat them nice. But somebody who's kind is different.

• 34:50Speaker 01

  They invest their, their time, there, there's caring, there's work. You know, a nice person does things when they have the time. A kind person does, they, they make the time to do things, right? A nice person is more It's a beautiful distinction. externally motivated, meaning, somebody who's nice, usually, sometimes they placate, they don't want to create waves. They don't want to upset anybody, um, because they don't want to look bad. Um, and, but somebody who's kind, they're more internally motivated. And they, um, they, they, they do what's right because out of caring and compassion. Because, you know, a nice person might not recognize the, the, the broccoli in your teeth. Because they would, they don't want to create anything. But, but a kind person would be like, hey, you got something there. Or they'll call you on your stuff, they'll tell you what you need to hear because they'll speak the truth because they're not trying to get validation.

• 35:36Speaker 01

  You know.

• 35:36Jay Shetty?

  That's a beautiful.

• 35:37Speaker 01

  And so like little distinctions in words, even things like, you know, people say all the time, I gotta pick up the kids. I gotta journal today. I gotta meditate. But you change that word got to get. Oh, my goodness. I get to pick up my kids. I get to work out today. I get to eat right. I get to meditate. So, you know, those, those words affect how we think. And they affect our core beliefs. And so I would say one of the fundamental places to changing those, that belief is to really be conscious of your, your thoughts, especially those automatic, they call them ants, automatic negative thoughts. Right? You wanna, wanna be able to squash those ants because it's definitely good for your brain.

• 36:14Jay Shetty?

  I love that. Yeah, no, and, and I couldn't agree with you more. I couldn't agree with you more. It's, it's, it's incredible how simple it sounds and seems, even though it has such a profound effect on us. Right? Like it has such a profound effect, like changing, adding that three letter word yet.

• 36:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:32Jay Shetty?

  Right? Just that small thing can have such a huge impact. But we need to give this attention in our lives because otherwise that negative self-talk has been playing for so long that it could just keep going on in the background.

• 36:45Speaker 01

  Right. And we don't even know where it came from. You know, even when, when, when we're children. So we're not. And I feel like that in order to be able to make any kind of change, you have to recognize what it is. Otherwise, then we're at the effect of it. Then, then we're going back to being a thermometer, if you were. And that would, that would be the big challenge. But then, and you would call it fate. When it's really, you know, you begin this awareness, having those distinctions.

• 37:07Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely.

• 37:08Speaker 02

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• 37:38Speaker 03

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• 37:48Speaker 04

  Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and the Revenant.

• 37:54Speaker 05

  What would happen if I stopped doing it? You stop, you freeze in there, that's what.

• 37:58Speaker 04

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 38:02Speaker 05

  I'm not the first man.

• 38:03Speaker 04

  Digger, see the trailer online, only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R, under seventeen, not a minute without parent.

• 38:08Jay Shetty?

  And we have to think about what we also want to invest in learning too.

• 38:11Speaker 01

  Of course.

• 38:12Jay Shetty?

  Because I feel like the pressure of, I remember that you've just made me think of this when you were talking about your school experience. Every year in my high school, so secondary, we call it secondary school, you call it high school. We used to get ranked for every subject out of a hundred and eighty students. And it would be put up in front of everyone.

• 38:32Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 38:32Jay Shetty?

  So you'd be ranked against everyone in your peer group out of a hundred and eighty in every single subject in school. So math, English, biology, chemistry, physics, art, design, English, history, geography, politics, whatever it was. And then you'd be able to see where you were. And I remember there were certain subjects like philosophy, art and design, economics, where I would always perform well. I'd always probably be in the top five, three and one, more often than not in those subjects. And then subjects like math and English, I was always pretty high. But things like math and geography, I was always kind of in the middle or maybe towards the latter half. And, and it's interesting how that, we amplify that which we're not good at.

• 39:15Speaker 01

  That's interesting.

• 39:16Jay Shetty?

  Right? We amplify, it's like saying, for example, you were giving the broccoli example, but imagine you dress up to go out to an event.

• 39:21Speaker 01

  Right.

• 39:22Jay Shetty?

  Everyone at the event was just like, oh Jim, I love your shoes, I love that T-shirt, I love the slogan. And then you get one person who comes up to you and says, Jim, that slogan makes no sense. And we go home amplifying that one person who said that makes no sense. Why does that happen? And how do we stop that happening? How do we stop the mind from doing that? Because I actually think more people receive compliments, they receive encouragement, they're receiving support. But actually our mind tricks us into amplifying and magnifying.

• 39:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:52Jay Shetty?

  The one negative piece. It's like in your comments, I'm sure you see it.

• 39:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:56Jay Shetty?

  When you're scrolling through your comments, your mind naturally goes to the critical ones.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  Right, right.

• 40:01Jay Shetty?

  And we see so many social media people, so many influencers, so many models, actors, actresses. Who get consumed by the negative comments on their feeds.

• 40:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:10Jay Shetty?

  So how do we stop that from happening?

• 40:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm really concerned about this digital age. I I feel like it serves and enabled. I love knowing what you're up to and it's great for staying up to date with with friends and family and learning and inspiration, and I love that. And, you know, we talk about superheroes and superpowers, but they're also there could be like this supervillain in that this digital age, we have digital overload, too much to learn, too little time. We have digital distraction. I mean, goodness, I mean, when we pick up our phone, every dopamine fix from every like, share, comment, everything. And then you have digital dementia relying on your phone and you just does everything for you. So you don't have to use your your mental faculties as much. So, you know, we're so dependent on that. But then there's this digital depression that's coming from comparison.

• 40:56Speaker 01

  Right, you see, sometimes we see all the good stuff and we focus on the bad. Or you see every the highlight curated filtered life of everyone's incredible life. And know that, you know, you don't see the struggle sometimes as as much. And that's why I can appreciate your work because it brings it's it's it's it's full and it's it's rich. Full spectrum. And I think that one of the challenges is part of your brain through survival. You have this reticular activating system that because right now there's two billion stimuli we could be focusing on. I mean, you would go stark grave mad if if you did, right? That flood of information, that noise, if you will. So we could only pay attention to a small bite of information. You know, at a Harvard, George Miller says it's seven plus or minus two, you know, five to nine bits, you could consciously be aware.

• 41:41Speaker 01

  And so what do we become aware of? And you're right, a lot of that stuff is the the criticisms. It's the uh, it's the people, it's the negative stuff that, you know, you want to protect yourself from because you it's feeding that fear that we're not, we're not enough. Right, and then you start asking those kind of questions because you could delete. So primarily, your brain, people don't realize it's a deletion device, is trying to get, keep things out. Right, so it deletes, it distorts, and it generalizes. And all of a sudden, you see one bad comment out of a flood of maybe a hundred people are rooting for you. And then you obsess about that one thing, and then you generalize like that's the real thing. And it's kind of interesting when it comes to your happiness, because I feel like people who are generally happy will focus, you know, on the glass half-full, as opposed, because

• 42:25Speaker 01

  at any moment, there are negative, we could always be sad and depressed and not feel good enough, because there's plenty of stuff to focus on, you know. But just also, right now, there, you know, people getting married, there are people having, you know, babies, there are people who are learning new things and starting new careers. So it really is a matter of focus. And I, and I think, you know, I did this podcast episode where I was in the power plant, and I tell this story about a power plant that's very active, and one day it just shuts down, in the middle of nowhere, just shuts down. And the employees are running around, they're frantic with their heads cut off. And finally, operations manager after three hours says, okay, we gotta get some outside help. They call a local technician. Technician's like, you're lucky, I'm right around the corner. Technician shows up, and he surveys the power plant for about a few minutes, and there's

• 43:10Speaker 01

  full of beams everywhere. He goes to one specific beam, and on there, there's all these electrical boxes. He goes to one specific electrical box. He puts a big X with a magic marker on it. He opens it up, and there are all these bolts, and wires, and screws. He goes to one specific screw, and he turns it not a quarter of an inch, and all of a sudden, the whole power plant lights up again. And the operations manager's like, thank you, you saved our business, you saved the day. How much do I owe you? He's like, that will be $10,000. And he's like, what? You were here for five minutes, all you did was turn a screw. He's like, you know, how can you even justify that? It's like, give me an itemized bill. He's like, no problem. Technician reaches his back pocket, takes out a piece of paper, scribbles on it, tears off the sheet, gives it to him, and he's like, oh, I understand. He goes to his desk, writes a check for $10,000, hands it to the man.

• 43:55Speaker 01

  And he basically, and you look at the invoice, if you will, and it says, turning screw, $1. Knowing what screw to turn, $9,999. And the lesson is, for people who are listening, is not that you have a screw loose, is that little things can make a big difference, right? It's like that, it's what I call a focal point, or a force multiplier, you know, where the same amount of input, multiple output, or the lead domino, if you will, that could hit a lot of dominos. And the same thing applies to our focus and our thoughts. And I would say, at the core level, people are trying to change their behavior at all times, right? They want to change, they want to stop smoking, they want to meditate, they want to go for walks, or do something with their kids.

• 44:39Speaker 01

  But you struggle, and willpower only goes so far, right? But above that level is this level of capability, you know? And that's why, you know, people, like you say, doing the deep work. Because people avoid the deep work, but if you don't do that, you know, if you procrastinate, put things off, and you just do the easy things, life is hard. We know that. But if you do the hard things, life becomes easier, right? So, the capability, so check, do you have the skill set on how to be able to do that behavior of stop smoking, or meditation and such? Because there's a competence-confidence loop, that the more competent you get, capable, the more confident you get.

• 45:13Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 45:13Speaker 01

  And then you're more likely to do it and get better, so it's positive momentum. But the level above that is the conversation we've been having about beliefs and values. Because maybe somebody wants the behavior of, of, let's say, meditating every single day, and maybe they even were trained, right, to do it, in capabilities, but the belief is, you know, I can't quiet my mind. Or maybe the value is, they don't value being still and silent with themselves, or being present with themselves. Or maybe the behavior is, they want to remember names better, right? But then they maybe, and they went through one of our podcasts or something, and they got the capability, but the belief is, I have a horrible memory, right? Or the value is, I don't really care about people, you know?

• 45:56Speaker 01

  And so that that's going to affect the behavior, but people are trying to force it and try to remember names, when they should be addressing a different level. But the level of beliefs and values is this level of identity. And, you know, you've addressed this before, it's like the two most powerful words in the English language, the shortest words, "I am." Because whatever you put after that is, you know, if somebody would say their behavior is they want to stop smoking, but they, you know, and maybe they have the capabilities to do it, they even have beliefs or values around health, but their identity is I am a smoker, that's gonna be a hard change to make. Or maybe they want to stop procrastinating, but their identity is I am a procrastinator. You know, that could be a big challenge for a lot of people. And the last level, I would say, below behavior is this level of environment.

• 46:39Speaker 01

  And the environment really is like, so say somebody has the behavior of they want to, you know, do something like meditate, but their environment doesn't allow them to have time for themselves. Or maybe they want to read thirty minutes a day, but their environment doesn't have, you know, it's too dark or whatever. Now, the big thing, going back to pull this all full circle, is the power of beliefs. We talked about the power of questions, because your questions determine what you're focusing on. Your particular activating system, what do you focus on is most real. Now, in school, you learn there are six major core questions, right? Five Ws and the H. So look at this again, these levels of transformation. Identity answers the question of who, right? Beliefs and values answers the question of why. Capabilities answers the question of how.

• 47:23Speaker 01

  Behavior answers the question of what. And the environment answers the question of when and where. So when you're looking to make complete change, whether it's getting people to read three times faster, remember names, be able to learn another language, be able to meditate, be able to, you know, do any kind of change, start that business. You want to make sure all those levels align, then you have alignment here, you know, mind, body and life.

• 47:48Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's, that alignment, that point you just made at the end there is unbelievable, because I couldn't agree with you more. Just looking back, it's funny when you've studied something at school and we just take it as like, ah, you know.

• 48:00Speaker 01

  Right.

• 48:00Jay Shetty?

  It was cute and fun, but when you actually break it down, like you just explained it, and I recommend everyone who is listening, go listen back to that, what Jim just said, because.

• 48:11Jay Shetty?

  I think it was Gandhi who said that when what you think, what you say, and what you do are aligned, then you experience harmony in life.

• 48:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, and you're not, and I love that word harmony because a lot of people, they talk about about balance and it's going back to like and kind, you know, somebody who's nice and kind. There's difference between balance and harmony, like so many people, I was like, I want to balance life. But balance, when you look up the definition, it's balances like an equality, like an equal amount of time and effort, like I, but I don't want to spend the same amount of time at work as I do working out with the kids and everything. So you don't want equality there in of of time. But you want harmony, like a, like an orchestra, right? Like you have, not every single instrument or person is has equal amount of time, but they come together and they create this incredible symphony. And I feel like we could do that with our with our life also as well.

• 49:04Jay Shetty?

  And I think that exactly is what you just said, what this, everything we're talking about has just been brought back full circle because our mindset about our life is, I need everything to be balanced. I need to fit this in, like the language around, I need to fit something in.

• 49:18Speaker 01

  Right.

• 49:18Jay Shetty?

  Or I need to make time for this, right? And it's, it puts pressure, artificial pressure, and then it feels like we can't balance. Balance kind of feels like you're juggling.

• 49:27Speaker 01

  Right, or spinning lots of plates or something, yeah.

• 49:30Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, spinning lots of plates, that doesn't feel like a great visualization for the mind or a mindset. And then what you've just said, that actually shifting balance to harmony.

• 49:38Speaker 01

  Right.

• 49:39Jay Shetty?

  And you start thinking about it like an orchestra.

• 49:41Speaker 01

  Right.

• 49:42Jay Shetty?

  It's like, oh, wow. Okay, so, you know, the the string quartet is playing for that long, percussion comes in then, et cetera, et cetera. And it, and it all of a sudden, even the visualization of that just just calms the heartbeat right down.

• 49:56Speaker 01

  You know, I I do an annual, uh, quick brain event and we had in our audience Quincy Jones. We actually had Quincy Jones, Damago, who is from, you know, at the Four Agreements. I mean, the founder of World, but they're all sitting like, and I just like Quincy comes up and he's eighty five years old and. I was like, tell me about, everyone talks about successes, we are the world, everything. I want, I want, what are your biggest struggles? What are the problems you went through and you had to overcome? He's like, Jim, I don't have any problems. I'm like, what? Like, I mean, everybody has problems. I mean, if you don't have any problems, you're pretty, you're six feet under, right? He's like, no, I don't have any problems. I have puzzles. Another change in word and languaging and all of a sudden, you know, for me, a puzzle is like fun. You know, a puzzle has, has a solution to it, something is, something that I could take on.

• 50:39Speaker 01

  So that languaging plays a big role, even when people are going back to that levels of transformation using words. People say, I am, I am busy. Yeah, I mean, this is such a pet peeve of mine, just like nice and kindness. Is people say, oh, you know, how's, you know, I'm just so busy. And it's like they get this secondary gain of, you know, significance, you know? Because the meta level message you're sending somebody when you're busy, saying you're busy is like, oh, I'm really important and successful. And for me, like, people will have this badge of honor saying they're busy all the time. And then they wonder, you know, they designed their whole life around being busy and they wonder why they're stressed all the time. That they have anxiety, they're not getting any sleep. But we're constantly programming it with our thoughts all the time.

• 51:22Jay Shetty?

  What's your switch for busy? I have one too.

• 51:24Speaker 01

  You do have one? What do you, what do you use?

• 51:25Jay Shetty?

  Mine's productive.

• 51:26Speaker 01

  I like that, I like that.

• 51:27Jay Shetty?

  Mine's productive, so when someone says, how's your week been? I'm like, it's been productive, because when I say productive, I feel empowered, I feel I've been effective.

• 51:33Speaker 01

  With what we teach, you know, people, I don't share this publicly, but I, I have very bad sleep apnea. And so besides my learning challenges, so my two biggest challenges growing up as a kid were learning and public speaking. And the universe has a sense of humor because of what I do every day is public speak on learning. But of recent, I've been struggling with sleep apnea. And usually it's caused by someone being overweight because they have this excess weight around their necks. So it's hard to breathe and that's not my case. It's, you know, it's genetic and I stop breathing 200 times a night. And each time is at least 10 seconds. So, you know, I went to UCLA and like, no wonder the doctor's like, it's like you're not sleeping.

• 52:15Speaker 01

  It's like somebody coming in with a pillow and suffocating you 200 times a night. And yeah, I'm waking up because I can't breathe. And I use a CPAP device, a dental device. I flew down to, spent two weeks with John of God in Brazil. I mean, I've done all of this stuff, you know? But I do believe that if anyone's watching this or listening to this right now, that The question I ask, we're talking about the power of questions and beliefs, is that there's a gift in every struggle. And I ask myself, you know, where's the gift in this? You know, people talk about post-traumatic stress, and I've had post-traumatic stress. We've all had loss. We've all had, you know, a lot of loss of loved ones, loss of relationships, financial issues, health issues. But I believe that there's post-traumatic stress. What people don't realize is there's also post-traumatic growth. That some people, and I am sure you could identify this

• 53:00Speaker 01

  and a lot of your community can also, is that you've gone through adversity and difficulty, and it's something you would never wish upon in your soul. But those people come out on the other side. Some people will say, I honestly wouldn't change it. As hard as it was going through it, I have a new meaning in my life, a new strength, a new clarity, a new life purpose or mission. And that sculpt my soul. Because I believe that difficult times, they could diminish you, they could define you, or they could develop you. And ultimately, we decide. And that's the power we have. That whether or not you believe in fate or in things that are meant to happen, we also have free will to decide what to focus on,

• 53:44Speaker 01

  what things mean, you know, also as well. So with this sleep apnea, my gift from it is I search it. I'm like, what, you know, if I'm only sleeping two hours a night, it's not like I gained six hours of productivity. You're talking about being productive. But my gift is, number one, it's forced me to double down on everything I teach. So I have to be very highly productive. So I could read faster and be, you know, all the stuff that I teach and learn is because I'm at this disadvantage. So I live, you know, we had started this conversation with the life you live are the lessons you teach, you know. And so I could roll out of bed at four o'clock in the morning and do this, because all I have to do is tell people what I'm doing, because I don't have to rehearse it. Because I, you know, I live it, just like yourself and everyone watching this. But the other thing is, not only is it, the gift was me learning these skills

• 54:29Speaker 01

  and developing the capability. It's forced me to be very protective of my time. You know, when we're talking about being busy, you know, everything in my life is heaven yes or heaven no. Like, right now, there's nowhere I'd rather be than right here with you. You know what I mean? Because a lot of people who are stressed and overloaded, it's self-inflicted. Because they are self-opting in saying yes way too much. You know, and we've all read that book, Good to Great, Say No to Good, So You Can Say Yes to Great. But a lot of people have too many tabs open in their life. They're saying yes, yes, yes. And a lot of people in this community also do that because they're martyrs. They're helping their friends, their family, their loved ones, their customers, their clients, but they're not taking care of themselves. And we've all heard, self-love and self-care is not selfish. That you have to give, you know, to yourself before you can give to somebody else.

• 55:14Speaker 01

  And what I would say to everyone, maybe this is a wake-up call, saying that, you know, you have opportunity stress, you're saying yes way too much, is to take care of saying no to things so you can say yes to yourself. And that's what I've learned to be able to do, you know, with myself, because I, you know, I don't have infinite energy because of my sleep and everything that comes from that. And so, you know, through struggles, you know, can lead to strengths, can lead to superpowers, for sure.

• 55:39Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely. I love that. You've helped so many thousands of people through your teaching, lectures, courses online, and so many influential people. I mean, you've worked with everyone from Elon Musk to Will Smith to Quincy Jones was at your event, which I didn't know. All of these incredible people you've helped and helped them learn. What have they taught you in the process? What have you learned from them?

• 56:01Speaker 01

  So, I learned something from everyone. You know, with Quincy, not only was it, you know, he is amazing when people find their passion, they use it for purpose. But one of the things I learned from him is the power of perspective. You know, he, people don't realize this, but when I was, you know, we've been to, I've celebrated eight of his past 10 birthdays, and we talk about things, we stay up way late in the night, and he speaks 23 languages, which is extraordinary. You know, so there's definitely a correlation between music and languages, you know, that part of your brain, if you will. But what I'm talking, what I've learned from him is the power of perspective. Meaning, he has this phrase saying, you have to go to know. Meaning he travels all around the world because he really, you know, I don't think there would be any kind of prejudice, you know, with with other people.

• 56:46Speaker 01

  People just travel more, you know, in their mind, even if it's from books or anything. Because when you're exposed to culture and language and food and different things, you learn a deep appreciation for it. So you don't have to tolerate it. You know, tolerance is one thing, but you could actually appreciate and acknowledge and be more accepting of things and notice that the patterns of how we're all the same also. So the power of perspective and, you know, even when I went to my friend's house when I was, you know, ready to quit school, you know, that perspective of changing place and people. Because when you change place, you can have a different perspective. So I encourage anyone who's struggling right now with a difficult decision or a different situation to step out of it and change your place. Meaning just even going for a walk, you know, helps.

• 57:27Speaker 01

  But also changing your people because everyone's heard that who you spend time with is who you become. You spend time with nine broke people, you become the 10th, right? But there's a there's a real neuroscience reason. You have mirror neurons, which is your imitation cells that are always imitating what other people are doing. That's why we empathize so well when we're watching a movie. We could feel scared when the person's going through a scary moment. Or, you know, sports, you could feel what they're feeling. But we also, when we imitate though, also are those things, their capabilities, their beliefs. We start imitating their values. That's why it's better well done than it is well said for parenting. You know, certainly it's not people. And even in online, I think people who are most successful like yourself is they don't just say it, they show it.

• 58:13Speaker 01

  You know, they don't promise it, they prove it. And I feel like that, you know, the things that we do is teaches people more than anything else, especially for children who don't learn. You know, Maya Angelou said, you know, people will forget what you say. You know, they will, they'll literally, they'll forget what you say and they'll forget what you do, but they'll always remember how you made them feel, you know, through your example. And so I've learned that from Quincy, you know, from. Elon and I actually bonded over sci fi. Our love of sci fi books, going back to fiction. A lot of people and I

• 58:44Jay Shetty?

  I love sci fi fiction, but we never had that in school.

• 58:46Speaker 01

  I know. And so like, you know, so many people in our community, they read nonfiction books. I totally appreciate that. If somebody has decades of experience, they put into a book and you can sit down in a couple of days or a few days and read that book, you can download decades of days, leaders readers completely. But so much research is coming out saying if people spend more time reading fiction, it helps with imagination.

• 59:05Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 59:05Speaker 01

  Creativity. By the way, like everyone's job right now, like because where this digital age is going, you think about AI, artificial intelligence, you think about automation. Everything's being outsourced, right? And you know, it's Asia, so those are the three As, automation, Asia and, and artificial intelligence. So what, what's, where's our humanity here? It's what makes us special? Things that they, that computers aren't going to do, imagination. Right? Imagination is power. You know, it's Einstein said that. What about creativity? Right? Creativity is like the, the future belongs to the creatives.

• 59:38Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 59:39Speaker 01

  Right? And but that's not taught in school. You know, school teaches you what to learn, math, history, science, Spanish, important class on what to learn, but no class on how to learn. They teach you what to learn and what to think, not how to learn and how to think. Where are the classes on imagination, creativity, listening, you know, concentration, focus and tell, you know, all these different areas? You know, I always thought just, you know, at least remembering, teach people how to remember what they learn. You know, reading, writing, arithmetic, the three Rs. But what about recall, retention? You know, Socrates says learning is remembering. Cause if we lost half of our memories, we lose like a big part of who we are. You know, and, and the other reason why is people, I was doing this program at Google and somebody said like, Jim, why do I have to remember all this? You know, I could just, it's on our search engine. And this is the truth.

• 1:00:18Speaker 01

  If our life is a reflection of decisions we made up to this point, you know, the, the, the, um, the sum of all our decisions, you know, but we can only make good decisions based on the information that we know and remember. But if we forgot half the words we knew, half the people we knew, half of our expertise, we won't be able to make good decisions for our life. Good decisions for our health, good, you know, decisions on our relationship and what to do. And so memory really is, is, is a superpower. And so with, with With Elon, you know, I read this book, we were bonding over this book called The Structure of Scientific Revolution. And by the other, the other thing you get from reading fiction is not only creativity and imagination, but also empathy.

• 1:01:01Speaker 01

  You know, when you're, when you're identifying with the persons in there, you get to feel what their feelings have built emotional intelligence. So we bonded over Ender's Game and all these great sci-fi books, but then a book, we were talking about the structure of scientific revolution, which basically says that all innovation from every industry, fashion, technology, automotive, comes from somebody usually outside the industry. Because it takes somebody from the outside who didn't grow up with the same limiting beliefs and education as someone traditional to look in and say, why aren't you guys doing it like this? So that outside perspective, I learned from, from Elon. Stanley, Stanley recently passed and he was a real superhero in my life. And I was there through, you know, many times, even when he got his Hollywood Star of Fame, you know, and different moments.

• 1:01:46Speaker 01

  Reason why I was, you know, I, I taught myself how to read, you know, four years, it took me a long time by reading comic books. Something about the superhero journey brought, that the illustrations, the story brought it to life, words to life for me. So he's responsible for teaching me literacy. And for me, Stan represents, I'll give you three things. For me, he represents play. Because at 95, even like, you know, because I was, I was with him recently, he, his later years, he, he was the youngest old person I knew. You know what I mean? And he, and that's, I think that's so important because a lot of people say they stopped playing because they grew older, but it's the opposite. You grow older because you stop playing.

• 1:02:29Speaker 01

  And he was so playful, you know, so play is a huge lesson for me. Number, number, the second P I would say is passion. He found his passion. To his later years, you know, even when most people have retired, he had two passions. Number one, he still went to work nine to five in his, well into his eighties, you know, and early nineties, because he loves telling stories, you know, because he found his passion. And his other passion was his wife, who was one year older. So that, what a role model that is for me. And then finally, the third P is his purpose. He turned his, his passion of superheroes and he turned it into a real purpose, meaning superheroes, you know what the underlying thing about superheroes is for us? I feel like.

• 1:03:14Speaker 01

  The lesson is, one person can make a difference.

• 1:03:16Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 1:03:17Speaker 01

  You know what I mean?

• 1:03:17Jay Shetty?

  With all their flaws.

• 1:03:19Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:03:19Jay Shetty?

  With all their mistakes.

• 1:03:20Speaker 01

  Exactly, and then the biggest, the most famous superheroes out there, they had the biggest challenges. You know, most of my favorite superheroes, they were orphans. Spider-Man was orphaned, Superman was orphaned, Wonder Woman's orphaned, Batman was orphaned, you know, Iron Man orphaned, you know, they had the biggest difficulties, you know, and...

• 1:03:39Jay Shetty?

  That's the same thing I love about superheroes.

• 1:03:40Speaker 01

  And they really represent hope, you know, look to the sky, you know, one person, we can all make a difference. And that's purpose for me, even, I was a big supporter of the Stan Lee Foundation, and it was all we did is we brought entertainment, what Stan did is brought entertainment to the classroom. Because he knew education by itself is just, it's boring, you know, you can't just lecture to somebody. Kids don't learn just by consuming, they learn through creating, you know, and you talk about this a lot. Education is one thing, but education, if you want real empowerment, you meld education with entertainment, then you have that empowerment, and Stan was epic on that. The lessons he taught, even back in the 60s, you know, when we lost, you know, Martin Luther King and Kennedy and everything,

• 1:04:23Speaker 01

  he talked about bigotry, like back in the 60s, Stan, so he was a real role model. Because for me, when we're talking about play, we're talking about passion, we're talking about purpose, it also is about making a difference. You know, superheroes, just having a superpower doesn't make you a superhero.

• 1:04:41Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 1:04:41Speaker 01

  Right, somebody can have a superpower, and I'm not talking about superpowers, the leaping tall buildings and shooting lasers out of your eyes, we all have our own super, unique abilities, our unique talents, you know, our unique strengths, but just having those don't make you a superhero. You have to use those powers to make a difference.

• 1:04:56Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 1:04:56Speaker 01

  To make the world a better place, and that's what he did through his foundation.

• 1:05:01Jay Shetty?

  Yeah, no, absolutely.

• 1:05:02Speaker 01

  And his work.

• 1:05:03Jay Shetty?

  Big honor to him and his incredible work, and yeah, teaching so many lessons through superheroes, whether it's comics or movies, I feel exactly the same way. The reason why I love superheroes, superhero movies and comics, is because I literally look at that and go... They've all got flaws.

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 1:05:19Jay Shetty?

  They've had really challenging lives, but they're still trying to save the world.

• 1:05:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:23Jay Shetty?

  And they're working together.

• 1:05:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:25Jay Shetty?

  Right? They also collaborate. They work together.

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  That's huge.

• 1:05:27Jay Shetty?

  With all of their flaws and with their different traits, they're not, you know, one superhero is not looking at the other one going, oh, I wish I had lasers coming out my eyes.

• 1:05:35Speaker 01

  Right, right, right.

• 1:05:36Jay Shetty?

  They're happy and confident in their own power and ability, but at the same time, they can appreciate the need for the other one.

• 1:05:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, and that's kind of like any kind of relationship, even in, even in, in a marriage or in your team, in your organization. You know, they talk about getting the right people on the bus and then getting them in the right seats.

• 1:05:52Jay Shetty?

  Yes.

• 1:05:52Speaker 01

  And then we're all driving, you know, through this vision together. But I, I believe that the, the greatest thing, I mean, I love books, but I think a single conversation with somebody could go so deep. And so I'm, I'm naming, I'm naming famous people like, you know, like a Richard Branson or a, you know, because it, the reason why though is, is not to drop names is because it creates these mnemonic triggers. So when, when you see this, like for example, with Jim Carrey, um, you know, I, I help actors, um, speed read scripts or memorize their lines better. And I remember we were in their kitchen, in his kitchen, we're making guacamole, which is, by the way, great brain food. Avocado is great for your brain. And I asked him like, you know, um, you know, why do you do what you do? Going back to purpose and mission.

• 1:06:31Speaker 01

  And I, he was like, Jim, I act like a complete fool on camera and so extreme because I want to give people watching permission to be themselves. He's like, my, my mission is to free people from the concern of other people. And I really do believe, Jay, that, you know, we could go broke buying into the opinions and expectations of other people. That if we're being energized by people's, you know, fueled by other people's opinions, then we could run out of fuel and gas really, really, really fast.

• 1:06:58Jay Shetty?

  Totally.

• 1:06:58Speaker 01

  And I think one of the things that represses our ability to express ourselves at the highest level is, you know, you know, I spent a lot, because I, I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's. I spent a lot of time in nursing home, still to this day, to senior centers, not teaching them memory tricks, but really showing them, you know, having them share these stories. And, you know, so we could polish off their memories. But the biggest regret at that age, you know, when people are passing or, you know, that when they have a limited amount of time is, is their biggest regret is, you know, not living their life. I believe, Jay, for people to feel truly fulfilled and happy, they want to have the curiosity to know themselves. But then also the courage to be themself. You know, the curiosity to know yourself. You reflect, you journal, you meditate.

• 1:07:41Speaker 01

  You go through all these personal growth experiences to know who you are. But then, once you know more about who you are, you know, being who you are, you know, it takes courage, it takes boldness. Because, you know, you don't want to look bad and you don't want to make a mistake. And those are, you know, big challenges people have. So, um, you know, I don't, I don't want people to have that regret because people are scared about looking bad. I think people should use that fear of saying, well, what if, what if you would have done it, it would change your life?

• 1:08:09Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:09Speaker 01

  What if you would have done it, it would have changed the world?

• 1:08:12Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely, and we've all been there.

• 1:08:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:08:14Jay Shetty?

  Moments where, even now, where we stop ourselves. I've got five last big questions for you. This is it now. So it's, these are the questions. What was the last thing that you learned for the first time? You probably get asked that a lot.

• 1:08:28Speaker 01

  What was the last?

• 1:08:28Jay Shetty?

  What was the last thing you learned for the first time, like recently? What did you learn for the first time again?

• 1:08:33Speaker 01

  The, a learn, uh, re-learn?

• 1:08:35Jay Shetty?

  Yeah.

• 1:08:35Speaker 01

  I think one of the most important lessons I've ever learned is that the, that I am a hundred percent responsible.

• 1:08:44Jay Shetty?

  Nice.

• 1:08:44Speaker 01

  For my life. I constantly get that lesson over and over again, that I'm not a victim, that I am responsible for everything in my life, you know? And I think that that's, that's, and having that really serves people.

• 1:08:58Jay Shetty?

  Awesome. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

• 1:09:02Speaker 01

  This is a big one, right?

• 1:09:05Speaker 01

  My, I would love to have the superpower of having other people unleash their superpowers. That, that's, I'm very, I'm very passionate about that. Self, you know, like the ability to, superpower to heal other people.

• 1:09:16Jay Shetty?

  Hmm.

• 1:09:16Speaker 01

  Because we all know somebody who's struggling right now. Selfishly, it would be the ability to teleport, because you and I travel so much and we've seen each other in so many different countries, so, uh,

• 1:09:25Jay Shetty?

  That's true.

• 1:09:25Speaker 01

  You know, so teleporting would be nice, but the ability to help other people unleash their superpower.

• 1:09:30Jay Shetty?

  Same, I'm with you on that. I want the same one. Yeah, I, I feel like that's,

• 1:09:34Speaker 01

  I think the world, modern day superheroes, the world, You know, the world, people, the best version of ourselves showing up. You know, imagine that, like, you talk about it with team, right? And culture, it's just like, yes, Captain America's great on his own, Thor is great on his own, Iron Man's great on their own, but when they come all together in the Avengers, or Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman come together in the Justice League, it's a different, it's a different story.

• 1:09:59Jay Shetty?

  Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, this question, best advice you've ever received?

• 1:10:04Speaker 01

  Best advice I've ever received?

• 1:10:06Jay Shetty?

  Or the one you can remember?

• 1:10:07Speaker 01

  Right, no, I can remember, well, I can remember a lot. I would say, going, going back to my, my story about my original mentor, is not to let school get in the way of your education, that if you didn't perform well in school, then that's okay. That is not how smart you are, it's really how are you smart? And everybody has, everybody has these gifts.

• 1:10:30Jay Shetty?

  Totally. Worst advice you've ever given someone?

• 1:10:33Speaker 01

  The worst advice I've ever given somebody? Oh goodness. I would say this, I would, I would say this, this is my favorite advice to give somebody, but then there's the caveat of the worst advice. So I'd say, know yourself, trust yourself, love yourself, be yourself. But if you're a jerk, be somebody else. So don't be that person. So that would be the advice to give somebody who's a jerk, don't, don't be that person.

• 1:11:00Jay Shetty?

  I like it, I like it. And if someone wants to become a better learner right now in their life, what's the number one thing that they can do to start that journey?

• 1:11:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I would say this, Rumi said, sell your cleverness for bewilderment. You know what I mean? Like, people do not learn because they feel like they know it all. And we talked about Stan Lee and his age, 95. I believe age is a state of mind, is a state of heart. And if you were, you know, the fastest learners on the planet, they're children. You know, they have this sense of wonder, the sense of bewilderment. They're, they're fascinated, they ask lots of questions, they're not afraid of making mistakes. And, you know, a child could fall a thousand times to learn how to walk, you know, but sometimes somebody wants to learn how to sing or to dance. They try one or two times, and they have this fear of looking bad. And I would say, trade and sell your cleverness for bewilderment and play a whole lot more.

• 1:11:53Jay Shetty?

  That is beautiful. We'll end on that. That is Jim Quick, everyone. Mind blown, absolutely mind blowing. It was absolutely incredible, man. That was just such a pleasure and joy to listen to you speak and share your stories. Thank you for sharing so openly as well. I know you really went there. Thank you for that. And thank you to everyone who's listening and watching because yeah, I would, I recommend everyone to listen to this one again and watch it again.

• 1:12:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, I would say in parting words is to listen to this, maybe even take a screenshot of this video or podcast and then post it and then tag both of us and then share your big aha. If you want to learn faster, the other thing I would say besides being curious and playful is to teach.

• 1:12:29Jay Shetty?

  Oh, tell me about that.

• 1:12:30Speaker 01

  When you learn how to, and then you learn with the intention, intention matters. Like when you learn with the intent of teaching somebody else, you're going to learn it faster. Because when we share, when we teach something, we get to learn it twice. So I'd say if they can, if it's appropriate, take a screenshot of it, tag us both, but share your big aha or your big learning. So re-watch it, re-listen to it. And that goes a long way. I believe that our life, I compare it to an egg, that if an egg is broken by an outside force, life ends. But if it's broken by an inside force, then life begins. And all great things begin on the inside. And everyone here, they have greatness inside of them. They have genius inside of them. And I love shows like yours because it helps people to let it out.

• 1:13:11Jay Shetty?

  No, absolutely. And it's, it's exactly what you just said. I remember when I was studying as a monk, my biggest inspiration was also a quote from Einstein, who's, who's standing right there behind me. The quote was, "If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough." And that's how I would study. I would study saying, "How do I simplify this to explain it to someone?"

• 1:13:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:32Jay Shetty?

  Because if I can explain it to someone, articulate it to them in the way that they can remember it, and they can remember and apply it in their own life again and again and again, then I'll be able to do it too.

• 1:13:42Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 1:13:42Jay Shetty?

  If we're not, no, you're living this, like you're a great example of this, that if we're not unpacking it in that way, then there's no chance that we can live it. So I love that. Study to learn. I mean, study to learn, yeah. Study to learn and then when you teach, you learn more too.

• 1:13:56Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah. So we, we learn and then we earn and then we return.

• 1:14:02Jay Shetty?

  Jim's got it all going on. I love it. Thank you so much, Jim. I'm so grateful, man. Thank you. That's amazing. Thank you to everyone who's watching and listening. Make sure you share this. Jim, where can everyone find you? Where's the best place? If you want to learn from you, they want to go from you.

• 1:14:14Speaker 01

  The best place to go deep with me is on our podcast. It's called Quick Brain, Brain Hacks for Busy People Want to Learn Faster, Teach More. So we do sessions on how to remember names, how to learn languages. And every single episode is only 15, 20 minutes tops, how to read, how to read a book a day, how to be able to change your habits. And then on social media, I would love to find, connect with people there. We do lots of things there, at Jim Quick, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. But thank you. Thank you for your time.

• 1:14:39Jay Shetty?

  Thank you. Thanks, Jim. Thank you so much.

• 1:15:16Speaker 02

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• 1:15:45Speaker 03

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• 1:15:56Speaker 04

  Digger got us into this mess, and Digger's gonna dig us out. From the director of Birdman and the Ravennet.

• 1:16:02Speaker 05

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• 1:16:06Speaker 04

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:16:09Speaker 05

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:16:10Speaker 04

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle out parent.