Conquer Your Mind - with Jim Kwik

Your MIND is POWER! Do you always forget names right after you meet someone? Do you struggle with memory loss? Do you often forget things or are absent minded? Are you MAXING OUT your brain power??? I'm honored to bring you the great Jim Kwik - THE world expert in speed-reading, memory improvement, and optimal brain performance! With over 7 MILLION podcast downloads, Jim Kwik is the definition of MAXOUT with the #1 training podcast on iTunes! The #1 skill you should learn this year is how to LEARN better! Increase your ability to think! This interview is so jammed packed with tactics you better be READY TO TAKE NOTES! You're going to learn exactly what to do to become SMARTER and change the way you learn, think and perform! We're revealing the best way you can boost your memory and brain performance, AND show you how speed reading can literally save you YEARS of productivity! Jim is even sharing the step-by-step process you can implement TODAY on how you can conquer the most important business skill... REMEMBERING NAMES! Find out how to FREE YOUR MIND from digital dementia and learn how to tap into the natural genius that is living inside you! You are smarter than you think! You just haven't been taught how to optimize your brain power. This interview will teach you how to MAXOUT your ability to think and perform in every area of your life! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 p.m. And my third day, 6:00 p.m. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it waiting weeks on a big bank for capital. Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff. Borrow better.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

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

• 1:18Speaker 01

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a middle without parent.

• 1:40Speaker 03

  Welcome to the Ed Mileage Show. This podcast is for those who want to do more, see more, and be more.

• 1:54Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out, everybody. I'm Ed Mylett. Let me ask you a question before we begin today. Do you have any sense right now, like you feel like you're just overloaded? And you're overwhelmed with information in your life? Maybe you're having a hard time getting focused? You get distracted pretty easily? Maybe your concentration sort of suffers a little bit, your memory issues? Well, my guest here today is an expert on optimum brain performance, on learning, on learning quickly, and on maxing out your capacity to think and perform in your life. And it was really born out of some tragedy, out of some some difficult events out of his childhood. He's turned those tragic events into becoming a world-renowned expert on brain performance. And today, I'm really blessed because I've been chasing this guy for a while.

• 2:37Ed Mylett?

  I've wanted him to share his brilliance with you, the audience. And I'm grateful that he's here today because we're about to change your life and change the way you learn, think, and perform. So, my guest today is the great Jim Quick. Jim, thank you.

• 2:50Jim Kwik?

  Ed, thank you so much. I've been looking forward to this so much.

• 2:52Ed Mylett?

  Me too, brother. We've been, uh, we've had great conversations off-camera. And, um, I'm so excited because I know there are some shows I know that we do that are inspirational. And then there are shows I know that are going to inspire, but also by the end of the program, people's lives are just measurably better and they can perform better. And today is heavy note-taking. If you're driving in the car, you're gonna wanna hear it, but you're gonna wanna get back and listen to the video or something too, to write the notes down we're gonna cover. So, let's just go back just a little bit, because I wanna give people context. Because I really believe life happens for us, not to us. And it's the meaning in our life of the events that happen to us. Not the event, but the meaning we take from it. And so, you've become this world-renowned expert. You've worked with the Dalai Lama, Richard Branson, right?

• 3:34Ed Mylett?

  Some of the highest-profile celebrities in the world, most successful business people. But it's ironic that that was founded out of a boy with a broken brain, right? And that was because you had fallen and hurt your head, is that right? Like a five-year-old, or tell us that story real quick.

• 3:49Jim Kwik?

  Yeah, you know, it's funny. I just posted this on Instagram today. It said, "Difficult times could define us, they could diminish us, or they could develop us. You decide." Because ultimately, we do decide. And yeah, when I, I'm such a big fan of yours.

• 4:03Ed Mylett?

  Thank you.

• 4:04Jim Kwik?

  And follow up your work. And first of all, before we get started, I appreciate everyone who's watching this. And what I love is you are the person you are on and off camera.

• 4:13Ed Mylett?

  Oh, thank you.

• 4:14Jim Kwik?

  And that, that means a lot to me. You know, your humility, because you're so accomplished. And so, the reason why I'm excited about this is because I think this message we have to talk to people about is so important, because your brain controls everything.

• 4:26Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 4:26Jim Kwik?

  Right? When I see people see me on stage, they'll see me have a hundred people stand up and I'll memorize all their names as they introduce themselves, or a hundred words, or a hundred numbers that they give me forwards and backwards.

• 4:36Ed Mylett?

  I've seen this man have a hundred people give him two numbers out of sequence, and he'll repeat back a hundred people's multiple numbers like this.

• 4:44Jim Kwik?

  And here's the thing, I always tell people, I don't do this to impress you. I do this to express to you what's really possible. Because the truth is, every single person that's listening and watching this could do that and a lot more.

• 4:54Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 4:55Jim Kwik?

  The thing is, we weren't taught. You know, if anything, we were taught a lie, that somehow our capabilities, our potential, our memory, for instance, our learning abilities, our intelligence is somehow fixed, like our shoe size. And it's absolutely not true. We've discovered more about the human brain in the past 20 years than the previous 2,000 years combined. And what we found is we've grossly underestimated our own potential, our own capabilities. And that's the thing, it's just because we weren't taught. And I really think the nature of the work that you do, that I do, that our community is really backing, is about transcending. It's about ending the trance. Transcend, end the trance. Ending this mass hypnosis in media and marketing that's telling us that we're broken.

• 5:36Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 5:37Jim Kwik?

  That we need to be fixed, that we're not enough. And I feel like that is what holds us back. You know, this disillusion, if you will.

• 5:45Ed Mylett?

  That's remarkable. Did you feel that way as a little guy?

• 5:47Jim Kwik?

  You know, when I was five years old, as you mentioned, I had this accident. Head trauma, brain injury, traumatic brain injury. After that, my, my parents said I was never the same. You know, I became extremely shy, introverted. I had learning difficulties, I was labeled, and a label is tough, right? You know, when you're put in special classes. I couldn't understand things. My, my teachers would repeat themselves. Four or five times and I would pretend to understand.

• 6:10Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:11Jim Kwik?

  Like sometimes we do as an adults, you know, as we have this imposter syndrome. We always wanna, we wanna look good. We don't wanna ever make a mistake, which I feel like also holds us back.

• 6:18Ed Mylett?

  Mm hmm. In this space, the things you teach can affect someone's life like this. And that's what I love. So can we talk about some of those things?

• 6:27Jim Kwik?

  Absolutely.

• 6:27Ed Mylett?

  I'm just fascinated, like, look at me, right? We only have an hour. I wish we had seventeen, but you said if there was one skill to master in the 21st century.

• 6:35Jim Kwik?

  Yes.

• 6:36Ed Mylett?

  In your opinion, it is what, what would you say?

• 6:38Jim Kwik?

  Your ability to learn faster.

• 6:40Ed Mylett?

  To learn faster.

• 6:40Jim Kwik?

  I really do believe that if there was, let's say, let's say there was a genie and they could grant you one wish, anything you want.

• 6:46Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 6:46Jim Kwik?

  Most people would wish for more wishes. That would be the hack, right? If somebody had, a genie's gonna, Aladdin's gonna be one wish, you ask for more wishes. But if I was a learning genie and I could help you learn any subject, any skill, you know, anything, what would you want? What would you wish for? You would ask to learn how to learn. I did a program at Google and I remember hearing this from the chairman said, the amount of information that's been created from the dawn of humanity. Since human beings walked the earth through the year 2003, which is only about a decade and a half ago. That amount of information is now created every two days.

• 7:21Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 7:21Jim Kwik?

  Forty-eight hours online. Think about the blogs, the podcasts, the social media, that much content. Our brain, they say we use such a small potential of it. We use all our brain, but some people use it more efficiently than other people.

• 7:33Ed Mylett?

  But you talk an awful lot about the way we were learning a hundred years ago is still the same way we're taught to learn. And a simple thing you said, because almost everybody listening to this, well, I know they are, they're listening, it's a podcast.

• 7:44Jim Kwik?

  Right.

• 7:44Ed Mylett?

  They're taking notes.

• 7:45Jim Kwik?

  Sure.

• 7:45Ed Mylett?

  They, they go to seminars, they take notes, they're reading books. And just a simple difference in the way we take notes even. You have told, I didn't even realize this, but you're, this is an old way to take notes. There's a different way to experience even note taking. Can you give some tips on that?

• 8:01Jim Kwik?

  So I recommend everybody takes notes of this specific episode because it boosts retention. People don't realize this, there's a learning curve, but there's also a forgetting curve. Science is saying that within two days, just 48 hours of listening to a podcast, reading a book, going to a conference, getting a coaching, 80% of it, up to 80% is lost. Incredible. And that's, you know, as somebody who's investing time, energy, treasure into something, to lose all that, you know, so you want to be able to, to, to hold that on. And so, one of the ways of doing it is by taking notes. And we did a whole episode on proper note-taking, and really, one that's more brain-friendly. Most people, and what they found is, the worst way of taking notes, actually, is verbatim. Which is the way I take notes.

• 8:44Jim Kwik?

  Yeah, verbatim, full, full transcription. And they study this, you know, at universities, because they test people. That people take word for word. And one of the reasons why is because there's just so much information. Right? You have 18 pages of, of word for word. You don't even know what's most important. But they found the best way of actually taking notes were, were more on key words and, and relevancies. So, for example, one of the ways of taking notes that I recommend is taking a piece of paper and putting a line straight down the page. Okay. And on the left side, what I'm doing is I'm capturing information. Okay. Capturing. So, we could talk about how to remember names, and how to read faster, and how to learn skills faster, how to change your habits. That would be on the left, that left-hand column, you're capturing information. But on the right side, instead of capturing, you're creating. What does that mean?

• 9:29Jim Kwik?

  It means that you're writing, you're creating, and you're building on this. You're putting your impressions. So, essentially, on the left side, you're taking notes, but on the right side, you're making notes. And there's a clear distinction, right, between just capturing information and actually creating, the creative process. Why does that matter? It matters because, if you're, first of all, for focus. A lot of people, when they're listening to something, their mind will go somewhere else. They'll get distracted. So here, instead of it going somewhere else, it goes on the right side of the page, which is, let's say, left side, right brain. Left brain, right brain. Left brain's more logical, and words, and language, and, and linear. But on the right side is your imagination, it's your creativity. So, your creativity could go there. The other thing is, it forces you to ask questions. I believe that questions are the answer.

• 10:14Jim Kwik?

  I think it's the essential for understanding, for critical thinking, for focus, for learning. If you ever want to read something, and you, let's say, people feel absent-minded. Yes. They forget where they put things. Their wallet, their purse, their, their... Their keys, or if not their keys, something larger like their car. You see the people in the finding, they figure out they parked their car. They read a page in a book at the end and forget what they just read. They'll get a name from somebody and they'll just forget it right away.

• 10:38Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 10:39Jim Kwik?

  One of the ways to insulate that is to ask questions, right? To ask questions about something. So for example, when I'm taking notes, I'll capture information on the left side. But on the right side, I'll write questions I have about what I'm learning. I'll ask myself questions like how I'm gonna apply it. You know what? The biggest challenge I have with the self-help, personal development industry is that there's this massive lie that's being spread saying that knowledge is power.

• 11:02Ed Mylett?

  Yeah. Thinking is the process of asking and answering questions to yourself. That's why left and right page here matters. Everybody stay with us on that. That's all thinking is, that's all thought is.

• 11:13Jim Kwik?

  Exactly, and you're capturing your thinking. And even the greatest minds out there, they journal. They're always creative. You know, you think about Leonardo da Vinci or Marie Curie. Like they had, their journals are worth fortunes.

• 11:24Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 11:24Jim Kwik?

  Right? And it's interesting, asking this question, is it because they were geniuses? And when I say genius, I don't mean IQ. I mean they're exceptional in their field, right? Whether it's sports, whether it's technology, finance.

• 11:35Ed Mylett?

  It's a form of genius.

• 11:36Jim Kwik?

  Relationships, interpersonal skills, interpersonal communication. Is it because they're geniuses that they're taking all these notes? Or is it because they're creating all these notes that make them geniuses, right? And so it's interesting. And so I like to journal. I think that that's extremely important. And the questions though, to take knowledge and turn it into action, three main questions I obsess about.

• 11:56Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 11:56Jim Kwik?

  Number one is, how can I use this?

• 11:59Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 11:59Jim Kwik?

  I ask this all the time because I don't learn for the sake of learning. I learn for the sake of some kind of benefit for me or somebody I care about.

• 12:06Ed Mylett?

  So I'm staying with you. This would be the right side of the page as I'm taking some notes.

• 12:09Jim Kwik?

  Right, so I'm taking notes and I'm, but I'm obsessed about it. So even I'm not writing it down, even when I'm having a conversation with somebody or listening, I'm in a conver- How can I use this?

• 12:16Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 12:17Jim Kwik?

  And this is the creativity part. It's like, oh wow, these are all the ways I could use this and apply this. The second question I ask religiously is after I ask, how can I use this? I'm asking myself, why must I use this? Why must I use this? Because here's the thing, a lot of people know what to do, they don't do what they know. You can't come up with one reason, you're not gonna remember. Because reason- Reasons reap results.

• 12:38Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 12:39Jim Kwik?

  Reasons reap results. Reasons reap rewards, right? Simon Sinek, start with why.

• 12:44Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 12:45Jim Kwik?

  Right? Always get into this. So ask yourself why and the questions make a, that makes all the difference. So first question, how can I use this? And that's the creativity. You come up with all these ideas. Why must I use this?

• 12:55Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 12:55Jim Kwik?

  The reasons why. And then the third question I ask a lot is, when will I use this?

• 13:01Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 13:01Jim Kwik?

  And I think one of the most powerful productivity performance tools there are are calendars. Right? It's like that app, calendar app, or if you keep a physical calendar, that's important because if it's not there, it's not real.

• 13:13Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 13:13Jim Kwik?

  Right? You schedule this in and then it becomes real and it's gonna happen.

• 13:17Ed Mylett?

  Eighty-nine percent to one hundred percent of the people listening to this struggle with remembering something basic like somebody's name.

• 13:24Jim Kwik?

  Right.

• 13:25Ed Mylett?

  Okay. So help us. So I know a little bit of that is what you just shared, that similar technique. So, I mean, in business alone, I can tell you, people's favorite topic is not their sports team or their children or anything. People's favorite topic is them, right? And one of their favorite, their favorite sounds is the sound of you saying their name.

• 13:44Jim Kwik?

  Yeah.

• 13:45Ed Mylett?

  And oftentimes, most of you in a business setting, you know this, the minute you've heard their name, you've forgotten it, like those car keys that you lose periodically. But you lose their name constantly. And so this concept that you just shared about association with something you already know, is that one of the things you would do to remember a name?

• 14:00Jim Kwik?

  It is.

• 14:01Ed Mylett?

  Here we go, everybody.

• 14:01Jim Kwik?

  So here we go. This is, now you wanna take notes on this. I think one of the most important business etiquette, networking, you know, skills, if there was one, is that your ability to remember someone's name.

• 14:11Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 14:12Jim Kwik?

  Because how are you gonna show somebody you're gonna care for their business, their future, their finances, their health, whatever it is you have to offer them? If you don't care enough just to remember them.

• 14:19Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 14:20Jim Kwik?

  Because what's the message we send to somebody when we ask them for their name again, two or three times?

• 14:24Ed Mylett?

  You're not important.

• 14:25Jim Kwik?

  You're not important, right? And that, it doesn't matter what you say after that. It's null and void, right? And so people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And here's the thing, and Maya Angelou said it beautifully, people won't remember what you say, they won't remember what you did, but they'll always remember how you made them feel. And that's going back to the emotion again, right? And so that caring is everything. Nothing sells like caring. The truth is, you could always remember that name. Okay. And that's, so I'm calling you, I'm calling people who are watching this on their BS. Yes. When you say you're not good at remembering names, that's not true. You just remembered somebody's name. Why? What's the difference? You're motivated. That's important. So the M in maxed out, the M stands for motivation. Motivating. And I would say, how do you do it? Ask yourself questions. You could elevate your level of motivation.

• 15:09Jim Kwik?

  You could ask yourself, what's my level of motivation to remember something? Or to learn this? Or to remember this name? You could say zero to 10, give it a number, five. Well, and here's this mind hack. How do I, how do I, a little thought experiment? How do I make it, turn it from a five to a seven? Okay. What do I need to think about differently? Like how that person's gonna feel? Or the business I could create for them? Or just, you know, learning these skills better, right? You know, Tony says, what you practice in private, you're rewarded for in public, right? And so maybe it's just a skill that you're practicing. So motivation. I remember I was doing a training in Silicon Valley. And after I was done, somebody comes up to me, it was Bill Gates. And I asked him, like, if you could have any one superpower, what would it be? He's like, the ability to read faster. And Warren Buffett was like, I've wasted probably 10 years of my life reading slowly.

• 15:55Jim Kwik?

  And that's, that's why reading and speed reading is so important. Because people spend about four hours processing information a day. You think about all the emails and the business plans and the books and all the stuff you have to process. Yes. If you could just double your reading speed and go from four hours to two hours, you save two hours a day. What's two hours a day over the course of a year? Actually, let's say you just save one hour a day. That's 365 hours a year. Incredible. That's, how many 40 hour work weeks? Nine. Nine. Two months, more than two months of productivity is saving one hour a day on something ubiquitous like, like reading. That's why we do so much, like for people, are you watching, watching this? I know a lot of people are entrepreneurs, they have teams. The biggest line item, right, is, is human capital. Yes. Payroll. For sure.

• 16:38Jim Kwik?

  And but if they're reading four or five hours a day, that means half of their salary is being paid to read. Right, so if someone's getting paid eighty thousand dollars, forty thousand just to read, that's why we train at Nike and Google and General Electric and all these individuals, because that's, the faster you could raise the collective intelligence of your team, you know, the more that they can be competitive, right? Man, yes. And so going back to this, the M is motivation. So I would always say if you want to learn something new, check in with your motivation. Because here's the thing, all learning is state-dependent. All learning is state-dependent. This is the thing. Information combined with emotion becomes a long-term memory. We know that. And we're, we know this because ultimately, the expert's not always the person on the podcast or on stage. You are your own expert. So genius leaves clues. Genius leaves clues all the time.

• 17:23Jim Kwik?

  So when somebody's exceptional in some area, there's a method behind the magic, including for your own self. So you don't remember all names, but you certainly don't forget all names. Now, go and deconstruct that, decode that. Usually the names you remember are names you're motivated to. They're somebody that is attracted to somebody, somebody that can be good for their business, right? So there's emotion there. So emotion tied to information becomes a long-term memory. Because here's the thing, when, is there like a song or fragrance or food that could take you back to when you were a kid? Absolutely. Because information tied with that emotion becomes a long-term memory. But here's the thing, back in school, back in school, what was the primary emotion we felt? Boredom, right? Half the room is bored, the other half is confused.

• 18:06Jim Kwik?

  But on a scale of zero to 10, what's boredom? Zero. Information times emotion. If the emotion's zero, what's anything times zero? Zero. And you wonder why you forgot the presidents, the capitals, the periodic table, all the things we learned in school, because the emotion level was very, was very weak. Right? That's why entertainment is so, is so powerful, because education, maybe empowerment is here, entertainment is way up here because of that emotion. But when you can infuse emotion into the learning process, and part of that is human motivation. Because I remember the second question, you know, I was talking to Bill Gates about the, you know, he's like, reading is what I'd like to be better at. I'm like, I totally could help you with that. Because leaders are readers, clearly. And on top of that, I was like, We're talking about the future of education.

• 18:50Jim Kwik?

  And I was talking about accelerated learning. And he was talking about tools and technology. And some, and a bunch of crowd was, was, was building. And they said, what's missing? You know, you have the tools, you have the theory. And we were like, we came to the same exact conclusion. Motivation. Motivation. Right, understanding human motivation. Why can't somebody learn something, not apply it? Yeah. You know, to be able to get that benefit, to be able to execute that. And I have a theory on that. We could talk about what, why people procrastinate, why, why they put things off. But going back to the emotional level, tap into the second H, which is your heart. Now, the A, what I was saying, max out, as people are going through this, just a simple acronym. The A, I would say, is accountability. Accountability. And this is, again, we haven't gone into the technique, but just owning it. Okay.

• 19:34Jim Kwik?

  Because most people are not responsible. They feel like, you know why? It's because we were trained that way. We, I, I, I get to work with Elon Musk. And I do trainings for him and SpaceX, the rocket science, a huge amount of information to be able to process. And be able to focus and so on, and be able to retain and apply. And, you know, he's building a world of electric cars with Tesla. He's building electric cars and spaceships going to Mars, right? But the vehicle of choice for education is like a horse and buggy. How people learn is like a horse and carriage. And you wonder why you're falling behind. And here's why. We all grew up with a 20th century education. 20th century education that prepared us for a 20th century world. And at the turn of the century, is working in farms and factories. And here's the thing, it trained us just to consume information.

• 20:19Jim Kwik?

  A teacher would lecture and you would just consume information. Yes. But the human brain does not learn through consumption. It learns through creation. Isn't it interesting that school will teach you what to learn? Math, history, science. But important subjects, basically, but not how to learn. What were the classes on creativity, imagination, strategy, problem solving, entrepreneurship? Critical thinking, right? Where's the classes on listening? Right. On, on emotional intelligence? Where are the classes on speed reading? Where are the classes on, on remembering? Right? Socrates says, learning is remembering. Because nobody, like, when I was at Google, they're like, Jim, but we have a search in. Why do we need to retain all this information? Here's the reason, is because. I'll give you a couple of reasons. Number one, your brain is like a muscle. It's use it or lose it. But people are suffering from digital dementia.

• 21:04Jim Kwik?

  This is the new term in healthcare.

• 21:05Ed Mylett?

  Digital dementia.

• 21:06Jim Kwik?

  Digital dementia, where we're so dependent on our smart devices. It keeps our to-dos. It does, it does, um, simple math for us. I went to dinner the other night and it was 10 of us, literally 10 of us. The waiter comes with the, with the check and half of the 10 people pulled out their phones to divide the check by 10.

• 21:22Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 21:23Jim Kwik?

  And if people are listening to this, they don't understand why that's a problem, then that's the problem.

• 21:27Ed Mylett?

  That's the problem.

• 21:27Jim Kwik?

  Right? Because all you have to do is just move it, you know, the decimal just went over. But we've been so dependent on it. So digital dementia is saying we're so dependent on, on technology that we're not using this technology anymore. Like, how many phone, how many phone numbers did you know growing up?

• 21:42Ed Mylett?

  That's the amazing question.

• 21:43Jim Kwik?

  How many?

• 21:44Ed Mylett?

  I don't know my wife and children's phone number right now. And I can tell you, I know my best friend's parents' phone number from when I was seven years old.

• 21:53Jim Kwik?

  Isn't that insane? And I don't, and I'm not suggesting people, I don't want to memorize 500 phone numbers.

• 21:58Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 21:59Jim Kwik?

  But we've lost the ability to remember one. Because entrepreneurs, you want your freedom, right? You know, you, you set your life for freedom, but if you can't get yourself to do the things.

• 22:06Ed Mylett?

  You're right.

• 22:07Jim Kwik?

  Then you don't have freedom.

• 22:08Ed Mylett?

  It's the rub.

• 22:08Jim Kwik?

  Right? Exactly. And how, you know, and that's the thing, that's the paradox. If you just do the easy things in life, you procrastinate, you put things off, right? Then life is hard. But if you do the hard things in life, life becomes easy. And that, and because you're building those muscles. And what I'm saying, suggesting is mental fitness is as important as mental intelligence. The X is exercise, exercise. And here's the thing, physical exercise, good for your brain. We know this across the board.

• 22:33Ed Mylett?

  Physical exercise.

• 22:34Jim Kwik?

  Physical exercise. But I also, so people who are more mentally, uh, who, who work out, they're more mentally fit, right? They do better, better on focus, mental acuity, memory tests. They create, you know, when you exercise, you create, uh, brain derived neurotropic factors, which is like a B D N F fertilizer for the brain.

• 22:50Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 22:50Jim Kwik?

  Uh, which promotes neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, new brain cells, new connective. People say like, when they listen to your show, if, if they're doing an elliptical, something rhythmic, or they're going for a walk, they'll retain it better.

• 23:01Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 23:02Jim Kwik?

  Right? Which is so powerful, just in being creative, going for walks, like Steve Jobs, all his meetings were walks. Because that's when all the creativity is coming out. So movement, because we live in such a sedentary environment.

• 23:15Ed Mylett?

  Is that what you mean by learning is state driven too?

• 23:17Jim Kwik?

  Exactly, because movement changes your state. Your physiology affects your psychology. And we live in a culture where sitting is the new smoking. We've all heard this and we're not moving. The primary reason why you have a brain is control your movement. People don't realize that number reason you have a brain. And as your body moves, your brain grooves. As your body moves, your brain grooves. Even the episode I did on morning routine, the 11 things I do every single morning. My routine is basically focused around jump starting your brain. The science of momentum.

• 23:44Ed Mylett?

  Can we say one thing where we both agree and you know the reasons better than I? We're both big, don't check your phone for a window of time. Just, I know we're gonna sidetrack here, but this is a road worth going down just for 30 seconds. Tell them what you think about that when they wake up.

• 23:56Jim Kwik?

  And I know you're an advocate for this also. That if you want to win the day, you gotta win that first half an hour, hour of the day, right? But the worst thing you could do, everybody should, you know, has their to do list. You should have a not to do list and the top thing, that's what successful people do. Because that's the thing, as you become more successful, there's this opportunity stress. You get more and more invitations to do more and more things. So you have to say no to good, so you can say yes to great. And what helps is having a not to do list. And on top of not to lose, I would suggest, don't touch your phone the first half an hour or an hour of the day. And the last half an hour and the hour of the day. Why? Because when you wake up first thing in the morning, from a brain reason, you're in this alpha theta state, you're extremely suggestible. That's when you're most creative, right? And you're incredibly suggestible.

• 24:40Jim Kwik?

  If you pick up your phone, you're rewiring your brain for a number of things. Number one, you're training it for distraction. Every dopamine, like every like, share, comment, cat video, it gives you a dopamine flood. And you wonder why you can't focus because you're trained to be distracted. Number two, by the way, on my show, I had Dr. BJ Fogg. And he runs the Influence Persuasion Lab in Stanford University. And one of his students co-created, co-founded Instagram. The average person, I read recently, the average person opens up Instagram 150 times a day. So it's addictive, right? And if you're picking up, here's the thing I have with technology. When you pick it up out of habit, like not for purpose, but just out of habit, technology is a tool you're supposed to use.

• 25:22Ed Mylett?

  Yep, it's using you.

• 25:23Jim Kwik?

  Exactly. And when, and when it, exactly, when technology's using you, who becomes the tool?

• 25:28Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 25:29Jim Kwik?

  Right? We become the tool. And we, and here's, so number one, you don't pick up your phone for a second, it trains you to be distracted. Number two, when you're in that pressureless state, is what you talk about, it trains you to be reactive.

• 25:39Ed Mylett?

  Correct.

• 25:39Jim Kwik?

  It trains you to be reactive. All of a sudden, you get one email, one mess, voicemail message, it ruins your day. And we've all had that. You know, it just, you're fighting fires and you're on the defense. How can you build an incredible day with vision and, you know, leadership if you're just reacting?

• 25:54Ed Mylett?

  Well, I wanted you to defend, I wanted, you know, defend is the wrong word. I wanted you to back that up with brain power, which is that you're literally training your brain to be a reactive brain.

• 26:01Jim Kwik?

  Rewiring your brain for distraction and reaction in that, in that impressionable alpha suggests.

• 26:06Ed Mylett?

  By the way, when we're talking about alpha theta states, everybody's gonna go above for a few people, but I just want to stay in there, there's different brain states that you're gonna be in. It is also true that most people are, have a proclivity to wake up in a more worried state as well. And part of that is, I think it's the theta state. When you're in theta, you're in a state where you have the potential to be worrying more deeply than in other brain states. That's true, correct?

• 26:27Jim Kwik?

  So here's the thing, there are four primary states, brainwave states, that we cycle through. Beta is when you're most awake and alert, we're in beta right now. Delta is the slowest state, obviously, you're asleep, that's a sleeping state. Right below beta is a state called alpha. This is, I would describe it as a relaxed state of awareness. This is where information, where your conscious mind metaphorically is set aside, and you're just absorbing information. This is a great state to learn in. And we train people to learn languages faster, we put them into an alpha state. And you could do it through visualization, you could do it through deep breathing exercises, you could do it through Baroque classical music, there's certain classical music that'll put you in a relaxed state of awareness. And alpha state is actually, if you work with a great hypnotherapist,

• 27:08Jim Kwik?

  they'll get you to change your beliefs, or your anxiety, test anxiety, or public speaking anxiety, by putting you in an alpha state through visualization, deep breathing. Right through soft nature, music, whatever it is. They put you in alpha state and then they'll give you new things to say to yourself that you're we will readily accept because your conscious mind is set aside, which is really the critic, the squelcher. Below that is the state of theta between alpha and delta is state of theta. So this state, what you're talking about worry, absolutely, because this is the state of creativity. Yes. Right. You know what puts you into a theta state? Showers. Have you ever noticed when you're taking a shower, you come up with all these great ideas? It's always when you can't write something down. Yes. It's hard to teach people how to memorize it. Yes. I actually took six showers this morning just to prepare for this interview. So I can be extremely creative, right?

• 27:54Jim Kwik?

  So the water washing over puts you into that really relaxed state where you become extremely creative. I was, I was working with Will Smith and again, I'm saying these names, not to just name drop, but because they become memory reminders and triggers. Sure. Because if I just talk about Bill Smith, you'll forget the story. But if I say Will Smith, next time you see, you know, his movie, it'll trigger that. So we were in Toronto and he was filming from 6pm to 6am and I was like, how do you do this? Like 2am in the morning, you're just waiting, waiting, waiting. And then director says, okay, let's do it. How do you, how do you get prepared? How do you get ready? He was like, Jim, I don't have to get ready. I stay ready. Yeah. You know, and I was like, wow, because you do the work.

• 28:35Jim Kwik?

  I, I believe in like you, that ultimately the life you live are the lessons you teach. The O in max out stands for observation. A lot of people say, I have a horrible memory and it's there. They blame their retention. It's not your retention, it's your attention. You know, I got to, the story I tell is. Come on, that was great. The second time I got to, I got to meet President Bill Clinton. And regardless of people's political ideology, everyone would agree he's got a lot of charisma. He's a great connector, a great communicator. Absolutely. What people don't know, he's got an incredible memory, an incredible memory. The first time I met him was very, very brief, but the second time he remembered my name. And I was like, okay, he was fed that by security.

• 29:18Jim Kwik?

  And then he remembered our last conversation. I was like, nobody was there. He definitely remembers this. And I was like, you know, I'm the memory guy. How do you do this? What memory technique are you using? Because I believe genius leaves clues. And he tells me these stories about his grandfather in Arkansas in the living room, telling the grandkids all these stories. But he would do something different. Afterwards, he would quiz every single one of them to see if they're really paying attention. And I was like, wow, that's... And he went deep in that rabbit hole. And I would notice when he was explaining this to me. We're at a fundraiser. It's 2,000 people. And I was sitting right next to him at dinner. And it was like me, Forrest Whitaker, who won the Haddon Award, Richard Branson, Ashton Kutcher.

• 29:58Ed Mylett?

  It's good tape.

• 29:58Jim Kwik?

  Ashton Kutcher's twin brother. I put this on Facebook.

• 30:02Ed Mylett?

  I've seen it.

• 30:02Jim Kwik?

  It's crazy. But I was like this. When he's talking to me, he's like, there's a lot more important people in that room, certainly at that table. But I feel like I'm the only one, Ed. And this is a quality that you have. Like, I can feel this. Because I believe... Like, you know, you go to events. Here, we're talking about remember names. And they're looking over your shoulder.

• 30:19Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 30:19Jim Kwik?

  And who else is important in this room?

• 30:21Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 30:21Jim Kwik?

  And everyone feels it, especially women. They feel like when your attention goes somewhere else, they know it right away. Or if it's not being distracted outside, you know they're not paying attention. Because what are they doing? They're not listening. They're waiting for their turn to speak. Or they're thinking how they're going to respond. Right? Another habit of highly effective people, seek first to understand, then to be understood. Most people, they want to be understood. And they're thinking about all of that. And they're not...

• 30:46Ed Mylett?

  So powerful.

• 30:47Jim Kwik?

  And they're not interested. They're trying to be interesting.

• 30:49Ed Mylett?

  The most... Oh, my gosh. They're trying to be interesting. They're not interested. That's powerful. Let's just slow that down a little bit. The people whose company I enjoy the most, who are some of the most influential people I've ever met, have that exact skill set that you've just described. They're less interested in being interesting. And they are more interested in you. That is 100,000% true.

• 31:12Jim Kwik?

  And Ed, just an explanation. Like, they're present with you. You know what I mean? Like, you are. Since I walked through this door, you're there. And that's a trained skill. Listen, if you write the word "listen" on your phone or just in your notes, and then scramble the letters, it spells another word perfectly. It spells the word silent. And most people, they can't, they're not silent. They're talking to themselves and they're distracting. And if you're talking to yourself and listening to a new person talk, you can't listen to two conversations at once. You can't multitask. And by the way, just as a side note, there's a myth to multitasking. Everybody, I just have to address this. Give it, I know. Yeah, because, and you know this, the science is saying, everyone who thinks you're doing two cognitive activities, I'm not talking about riding a bike and chewing gum. I'm talking about two cognitive activities. You're not really doing it.

• 31:56Jim Kwik?

  It's called task switching. That when you go from one thing to another, which are making more mistakes, science has shown this. You're making more errors and you're wasting time. It takes anywhere from five to 20 minutes to regain your focus and your flow. What do you do? You hydrate because your brain's mostly water. Even a two or 3% decrease in water in your brain could reduce your reaction time, your thinking ability. When you're fully hydrated, it boosts like 30% reaction time thinking. Hydrate and then breathe, deep breathing. Right? Get those six deep breaths in. Actually, to create neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, to literally just get smarter, you need two things. Novelty and nutrition. Just like if you want to build your body, you give it novelty, you work it out. Okay. And then you give it nutrition, you feed it. And then you rest. Because the rest is really important

• 32:41Jim Kwik?

  because that's where you consolidate short to long-term memory. So the O is observation, the U, I would go to use. And I'm doing this on the spot because I know these are the principles. But I would say, to remember a name, use the name in the conversation. Right? So you, somebody introduces themselves and you get it and you say it and you use it because you want to make sure you heard it right. You don't want to have a conversation with Ed and say goodbye Ted. Right? Because some people, you're at a wedding, you're at an event. It's allowed, you get distracted. Better to be, it's correct in the beginning. And then I'm not saying, I'm not gonna say, use it a million times. And you have a beautiful home, Ed, what do you want to talk about? Ed, what do you want to, that's abuse. But use it three or four times in the conversation. Now, in the context of non-remembering names, use it. Because anything you learn, if you want to learn it better, right?

• 33:26Jim Kwik?

  If you want to max out with your ability to apply, then you want to always think about, how do I use this? Obsessively. When you're reading something, how can I use this? When you're listening to podcasts, how can I use this instantly? Right? So even people listening to this can be thinking, okay, I have this event tonight or I have this event tomorrow. Which, what am I, how am I gonna use this? Right? So you're gonna use it. And then finally, the T in max out, I would say, teach. You know, intention, intent matters. Intent matters. And what I would suggest everybody do, and I would challenge everyone who's listening to do this, because with challenge comes the change that you need, right? I would challenge everybody who's listening, if you're really serious, to use this, and not just be like, "Oh, that was entertaining show." I would say, "Think about somebody you wish was listening to this right now,

• 34:10Jim Kwik?

  and let's say you had to teach them tomorrow, or teach them, or give a TED presentation on Monday about the things." If you were to learn with the intention of teaching, would you focus better? Would you take better notes? Would you ask better questions on social media? Right? You would own that information. And so, when you teach something,

• 34:26Ed Mylett?

  My gosh.

• 34:27Jim Kwik?

  You get to learn it twice. When you teach something, you get to learn it twice. You know, when we grew up and we heard that phrase, "Those who can't do, teach." You can't do, you know, business, so teach it in business school. You know, yes, there's a certain truth, but then also, I always thought it wasn't a negative. I was like, "Wow, if I can't do it, teach it, and then I can do it."

• 34:46Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 34:46Jim Kwik?

  You know, I could get better at it, because when you teach it, you own it, and it becomes you. You're not using their words, you're using your words.

• 34:52Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 34:53Jim Kwik?

  It becomes, you know, who you are.

• 34:54Ed Mylett?

  About 20 years ago, I got into the space of teaching people. And so, since that time, everything I've listened to related to these topics, everything I've read, every seminar I've attended, was with the intention to teach it.

• 35:06Jim Kwik?

  That's beautiful.

• 35:07Ed Mylett?

  It's exactly what you just said. So, I'm getting a double whammy every single time on all of these. Today, in having you here, I'm listening with the intent to teach these things.

• 35:16Jim Kwik?

  And you, because it becomes you, and then that's a double benefit, double whammy. Because why learn anything? Number one, so you could benefit from it, but why learn it also? So, people you care about could benefit it too. I always believe is, you learn to earn to return.

• 35:30Ed Mylett?

  Oh, that's so good.

• 35:31Jim Kwik?

  You learn, and then with the learning comes earning, and then you could return. You could pay it forward.

• 35:36Ed Mylett?

  That's brilliant.

• 35:37Jim Kwik?

  Let me address one thing about IQ, because I know, I know.

• 35:40Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I know, I saw your face when I said it.

• 35:42Jim Kwik?

  Because I was kidding. I just have to, because I have to, as your friend, I just want to make sure the standard is set for all of us, because we all need that coaching. It's just, I believe there's a myth that IQ is... I don't think it has the value that people give to it. The IQ, the two issues I have with IQ is number one, it's saying that when you take this test, whether you're six or 60, it's gonna be the same and it's fixed. And I do not believe that.

• 36:05Ed Mylett?

  Well, we've proven that, that's not true.

• 36:07Jim Kwik?

  And I literally could show anybody how to do better on it because it's just how to learn, how to learn things, right? So I could show people how to game that. But the other thing is, I don't think IQ is an accurate measure of intelligence. Because even look, when you look at standardized tests, you know, when we grew up, we took the SATs, right? And what was that? Verbal and mathematical. Now, that test was like everything. It's like how you go to college and get a good job and everything else like that, right?

• 36:31Ed Mylett?

  My son's studying right now.

• 36:32Jim Kwik?

  Exactly. But here's the thing, that that measures verbal intelligence and mathematical intelligence. Important, but it's also saying like, that's all that's important. And there's this theory out of Harvard called multiple intelligence theory by Howard Gardner, saying there are way more intelligences.

• 36:48Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 36:49Jim Kwik?

  And so, what about visual spatial intelligence? People who are great artists, architects, right? Or like the visual spatial, graphic designers, right? Is that, that's just as important as anything else, right? So it's what it's saying is, you could improve this and there are other intelligence that are equally.

• 37:05Ed Mylett?

  It's what you said earlier about there being multiple geniuses.

• 37:07Jim Kwik?

  Exactly.

• 37:08Ed Mylett?

  LeBron James genius is different than Steve Jobs genius. They're both geniuses.

• 37:12Jim Kwik?

  So kinesthetic intelligence.

• 37:13Ed Mylett?

  Right. If you're listening to this, please, fall in love with your own genius, your own giftedness, your own brilliance, because you have it. And because it may not be math skills, or it may not be having a deep voice, where you have a great ability to articulate thoughts, you've got all of these other, there, I think there are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of types of intelligence and genius. Because we all meet magic people all the time. And what makes you interesting and special is that's your magic. It's different than somebody else's.

• 37:45Jim Kwik?

  And I always do believe there's a method behind the magic. And you know, my life's work is seeing somebody who exhibits that and finding out that, "Hey, this is also available because we can learn this."

• 37:54Ed Mylett?

  It's a skill.

• 37:55Jim Kwik?

  When did you learn interpersonal intelligence? What school do they teach that?

• 37:58Ed Mylett?

  Right, I certainly wasn't born with it.

• 38:00Jim Kwik?

  And here's the question people say about their kids, about themselves, about their team. It's like how smart they are. They want to know how smart somebody is, but that's the wrong question. Remember, questions are the answer. It's not how smart you are, it's how are you smart?

• 38:12Ed Mylett?

  Oh gosh, that's so good.

• 38:13Jim Kwik?

  It's not how smart your kids are, your team is, or anybody else. It's how are you smart? Because you're right, there are multiple intelligence, there are multiple ways you can be a genius.

• 38:21Ed Mylett?

  That's brilliant. I want to share something with you, because it just happened this weekend, and I just, from my folks here too. I think one of mine is that I am present with people.

• 38:31Jim Kwik?

  Yeah.

• 38:31Ed Mylett?

  And I do observe people. And so, it's really interesting, because I think that's one of the things that I love about doing the show. And it was fascinating, because I never gave any thought as to where that came from. Because, I mean, your brain brilliance comes from the fact that you had this damaged brain as a child. Yet, it's one of your great gifts and one of the great things you're intelligent at, one of your geniuses. And so, this weekend, somebody had asked me, "Why do you think, like, on your show, or even we were at a dinner, you're so present, you're listening? Where do you think that comes from?" And I didn't know, I didn't, I thought about it, and I said, "You know, I'm not sure, but, you know, it's interesting. My dad was, my dad's sober 30 years now, but when I was a little boy, my dad was, had a drinking problem.

• 39:13Ed Mylett?

  And I never knew, as a little boy, which dad was going to come through the front door at night. And so, unlike most kids who would run up and hug dad, I would observe dad when he came home. And so, when dad walked through the front door, I'd look at his physiology, I'd look at his eyes, his face, his lips. I'd listen to what his first few words were. And I think since I was about a four-year-old little boy, I was sort of, through that unfortunate circumstance in my family, I developed this intelligence of being present and really...

• 39:47Ed Mylett?

  Being with someone and understanding them and connecting with them and seeing where they really were and it's ended up serving me as a forty-seven-year-old man with you here today. Isn't that interesting? And so many, for some of you listening, I would just say to you that sometimes some of your great genius could be coming from some of what you would think might be some of the more tragic events in your life or difficult events in your life. So just think about that.

• 40:07Jim Kwik?

  And the self-talk also, you know, when I said, I had, you know, at age nine, a teacher looked at me and said, "That's the boy with the broken brain," for the whole class. You know, and parents and adults have to be very careful because your external words become a child's internal words. Because every single time I did bad on a quiz, on a test, or not pick for a sports team, which was all the time, I would say, "Oh, because I have the broken brain." That became my internal conversation. And I always tell people when they come to me and they say, "I'm not smart enough, I'm not good enough, I have a horrible memory." I always say, "If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them." If you fight for your limitations, you argue for your limits, they're yours, right? And here's the thing, 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

• 40:49Jim Kwik?

  the name of the next person you meet because you programmed your supercomputer not to. They say the two most powerful words in the English language are also the smallest: "I" am. Because whatever you put after that, complete that sentence with, is going to determine your destination, your destiny.

• 41:03Ed Mylett?

  I'm so glad you're saying this because this is typically said by like, you know what I mean, to motivational people or inspiring people. Now we've got a brain person, science telling you this is a fact.

• 41:15Jim Kwik?

  So your identity is this, so let's say at a simple level, let's say people want to change their behavior, they want to stop procrastinating. But their identity is, "I'm a procrastinator." Ooh, that's gonna be a tough one. They want to change their behavior like, "Oh, I want to stop smoking." But their identity is, "I am a smoker." Wow, that's gonna be a challenge, right? So here's the thing, the reason why I bring these distinctions up is because it takes the self-loathing or the judgment out of it because you don't have to, if you're not good at something, you could say like, oh, you could address the level that's holding you back. Finally, below the level of behavior, and this is a big one, is the level of environment. Environment.

• 41:54Jim Kwik?

  You could, the behavior is you want to stop smoking, but the environment is you're around a lot of smokers. Because it's not, here's the thing. The people you spend time with is people you become. You know this, you teach this. Because your mirror neurons are always imitating what's around you. And that's the thing. So I want to sensitize you to, because often the people that hold us back are the people that love us the most. You know, because you know why? They're like, oh, you're going to another event? You're listening to another podcast? Why are you reading another book, spending all that money? And they have good, they could have good intentions.

• 42:21Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 42:22Jim Kwik?

  Right, because ultimately, people are doing things for, you know, generally, I believe, for good reasons.

• 42:25Ed Mylett?

  So do I, most people.

• 42:26Jim Kwik?

  But they can be sincere, but they can be sincerely wrong.

• 42:29Ed Mylett?

  Sincerely wrong. And I love the "I've not this yet."

• 42:32Jim Kwik?

  Right.

• 42:32Ed Mylett?

  I also want to just repeat things that just, we just, you say brilliant things one after the other. And so, this idea that as a parent, your external dialogue becomes your child's internal dialogue is just riveting. I mean, it's riveting. And it's also true, I think, of leaders and companies, too. Your external dialogue about your company or about that individual can become their internal dialogue. So what you're saying matters so deeply.

• 42:54Jim Kwik?

  There are six primary questions we learn in school. Five W's and one H, right? Now, watch this. The identity level answers the question of who. The beliefs and values answer the question of why. The capabilities answer the question of how you do it. The behavior is the what. And the environment answers the question of when and where. It is fully aligned. And so, I feel like we have natural genius inside of us. And if we, when this is aligned with this, when people talk about their mind and their body and their values and their habits, when they're all aligned, things happen naturally. And they're not having forced. And my goal for everybody who's watching and listening to this is that they're smarter than they think. It's just, we weren't taught how to do these things.

• 43:38Jim Kwik?

  And when you're in congruence and in alignment, things happen. Your natural superpowers, if you will.

• 43:43Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 43:44Jim Kwik?

  Come out, come out organically. And not forced.

• 43:47Ed Mylett?

  Boy, that's... Man, brother, that's so good. I'm processing all of this with you. They'll be mad at me if I don't ask you a tactical question.

• 43:56Jim Kwik?

  Absolutely.

• 43:57Ed Mylett?

  So can you give them, I'm gonna get a couple more things, but thank you for taking the extra time. I'll get DMs and emails if I don't ask you. Tactically, ask him a specific tactic to remember a name. So I have Max out. Do you do an association when you remember someone's name?

• 44:11Jim Kwik?

  I do, I do. Really fast, I would say be suave. Be suave, I'll give you really quick. B is believe, right? Believe you can, believe you can, you're right. So stop the negative self-talk, right? So that's obvious. The second thing is E is exercise. We already talked about the power of exercise. Practice. Because the bad news is it takes practice to learn someone's name. The good news, not as much as you think. Like, I'm really good at names, but after practicing for a couple of months, it's just become second nature, right? Just like parking a car or learning how to type. You do it without thinking. The suave is this. S stands for say the name. When tactically, when you meet somebody, you say their name back to them, right? Because you make sure you observe it correctly. The U is you use the name. Use it three or four times, we talked about that. The A is you ask about a name.

• 44:56Jim Kwik?

  This is really great, Ed, when you meet somebody whose name you haven't heard before. You meet someone named Afzal or Riddeger. What can you ask about a person's name? You already said this, you already said it's not travel entrepreneurship. What's everyone's favorite subject? It's themselves. So what can you ask about a person's name? How do you spell it? Where's it from? You know, what does it mean? I was doing this training at the country's largest life insurance company. Hundred people in the room. The training director's name was Nankita. And I was like, in front of the whole group, I was like, that's a beautiful name. How do you spell it? Where's it from? What does it mean? She paused. I was like, Nahida, what does it mean? She looked at all her coworkers and says, she said it means graceful, falling waters. And I was like, wow. And then her coworkers gave that kind of reaction, like a novelty. And I was like, wait a second, how long you worked here? She was like, you know, X amount of years. With these people?

• 45:41Jim Kwik?

  Yeah, yeah, a lot of them are good friends or at my wedding. I was like, out of a hundred, I was like, raise your hand if you knew that's what her name meant. Out of a hundred people, how many people raised their hand? Zero, zero. And talk about like caring. That became like a 10-year client, right? Because that's the power of a name, the emotion, right? So ask about a person's name. And then V in be suave stands for visualize. And here's a real tactical thing. We tend to be better with faces than names, right? Aren't you? Far better. You meet a lot of people. Sure. Right? People come and you meet somebody, you know, you say to them, "I remember your face, but I forgot your..." You never go to someone and say the opposite. You never go to someone, "I remember your name, but I forgot your face." That's so true. But here's the reason why, from neurological, your visual cortex is a lot larger than other parts of your brain. So you tend to remember what you see.

• 46:26Jim Kwik?

  Now, if you tend to remember what, there's a Chinese proverb that goes, "What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand. What I hear, I forget. I heard the name, I forgot the name. What I see, I remember. I saw the face, I'll remember the face. What I do, going back to practice and exercise, I understand." So if you tend to remember what you see, try seeing what you remember. So, quick visual aid is this. Play Pictionary. A person's name, for example, is Mark. Take a split second and put a check mark on their forehead. And you're like, "Jim, that's so childish." Who are the fastest learners on the planet? Children. Children. Yes. How fast can they learn a musical instrument? How fast can they learn another language? Right? They're sponges. And part of how they remember names is they make fun of people. Like, they go to somebody, you're like, you know, they go to someone named Jason, and Jason the Basin. Right?

• 47:09Jim Kwik?

  And all of a sudden, like, Jason's in therapy for years, not knowing, you know, because he was T. But that's how you learn. Banana, fana, faux fana. You learn through imagery, right? And they make fun. And so, remember, more emotion, too. Yes. Information, you forget. Information combined with emotion. So, person's name is Mary. Imagine you meet someone, they marry, handshake breaks. Imagine she's getting married, or she's carrying two lambs under her arms. And here's the thing. It overcomes in business what I call the six-second rule. Six, somebody tells you something important in a conversation, or their name, you have six seconds to do something with it. Otherwise, what happens? You lose it. It's gone. Out of your working memory, short-term memory, it's gone. Got it. So this helps you to focus uniquely on both the person and also the name. So, if a person's name, so, for example, is, let's say, Carol. Imagine they're singing Christmas carols. Yes. Right?

• 47:54Jim Kwik?

  A person's name is, is Mike. Imagine them jumping on the table, singing on a microphone for a split second. And then, when you say goodbye to them 20 minutes later, you're like, "Oh, that guy was sitting on the, you know, karaoke on the microphone. What's his name? Mike." Right? Because it glues it. And then, by the way, it's a short-term, because once you know the person's name is Ed or a... or Mike or whatever, what will happen is He just named everybody here. Sorry, sorry. Once you do that, then the pictures disappear because you know it. You just need something to glue it because there's three parts to your memory. You encode the information, you store the information, then you retrieve the information. But most people can't retrieve it because they're not encoding in a way that makes it memorable. Oh, my gosh. So you make it visual, you make it fun and interesting. So if a person's name is John, you can imagine whatever. Right, right.

• 48:39Jim Kwik?

  And then finally, that's the V. The E in Swab stands for end. Okay. You always end the conversation using their name, saying goodbye using a name. Because if you could walk into a room of strangers and leave saying goodbye to 20 strangers by name, who are they all gonna remember? You. They're gonna remember. That's a standout skill. Because it's not just what you know. Yes, you can learn faster. It's not only who you know, but it's also who knows you. Who knows you. And who's gonna remember you. That is awesome. That's a standout skill. That is awesome, awesome. And the six-second rule, if you don't use it, you lose it. So do something within the first seconds. That is brilliance. There are a few obstacles to effective reading. So let's go through them really quickly. Number one, what keeps you from reading slow is lack of education. You're not born with the ability to read. Nobody is.

• 49:21Jim Kwik?

  And so we learned it through class, through a training, right? But when's the last time you took a class called a reading? How old were you? Probably six. Six or seven years old, right? Exactly. So we are still, every single person watching this, for the most part, we're still reading like we're a six or seven-year-old. Because that's the last time we had training in that one area, right? The difficulty demand has increased tremendously, but we're still reading like a six-year-old. So that's number one, get the proper education, lack of education. Number two, lack of focus. We could all relate to this. You read a page in a book, you get to the end, just forget what you just read. Of course. Because your attention is everywhere, your mind wanders. You're thinking about the dry cleaning, the clients, everything, the kids. So here's the thing.

• 50:03Jim Kwik?

  You just mentioned that if you read faster, you feel like you wouldn't retain as much and understand as much. I know, it's not true. It's not. It's not because we weren't taught differently, right? And so what I would say is, the fastest... So I think it's a myth being spread around by slow readers that if you read faster, you wouldn't understand as much, because it's a lie. And this is interesting because we have online academy, right? Of speed reading. And we have students in over 180 countries. So we have a lot of data. And we found the fastest readers actually have the best comprehension because they have the best focus. Okay. So here's the metaphor. Your brain is this incredible supercomputer. But when you read, you feed this supercomputer one word.

• 50:43Jim Kwik?

  At a time metaphorically, you're starving your mind. Okay. Right, and even if we were to talk like that through this conversation, it would be like eight days to begin, right? And what would happen to people? Very quickly, if they were talking that slow, their mind would wander. They would fall asleep. They would think about other things. They would just, and isn't that, aren't those the same exact things that happen when you read? Yes. Your mind wanders, you fall asleep, you start thinking about other things. Because if you don't give your brain the stimulus it needs, it'll seek entertainment elsewhere in the form of distraction. Got it. Third obstacle, this is the big one. Subvocalization. Yeah. Okay, this is the big one. By far, we're talking about your inner voice.

• 51:26Jim Kwik?

  Subvocalization means, you ever notice when you're reading something, you hear the inner voice inside your head reading along with you? You hear that, hopefully it's your own voice, it's not like somebody else's voice. The reading why it keeps you reading slow? Reason why is because if you have to say all the words to understand them, you can only read as fast as you could speak. And that, this is mind blowing to me. Subvocalization. Vocal, speech, sub, like a submarine, inner speech. If you're saying the words to understand what you're reading, you're doing it not right. Because New York City, you don't have to say the word New York City or computer to understand what those, just like when you're driving, you see a stop sign, you don't say to yourself, stop. Ninety-five percent of the words, do you understand what that stop sign means though? Yes. Ninety-five percent of words are words you've seen before. You don't have to pronounce the words.

• 52:11Jim Kwik?

  You know, leaders are readers, right? You read a lot, Tony Robbins read a lot. You know, like Oprah reads a lot, Bill Gates reads a lot, like John F. Kennedy. You know, leaders are readers, he was a very fast reader. He was said to have read every morning six newspapers with one cup of coffee. Most people, it's the opposite. It takes like six cups of coffee to get through like a newspaper, right? And that's the challenge, but he's, you know, let's say, you know, he was said to have read eight hundred to a thousand words a minute. But if he could talk at, they are talking to you about two hundred, two hundred and fifty words per minute. There are like seven hundred words per minute he's not pronouncing, right? You don't have to pronounce words you've seen before, but that's how we were taught as a kid. Like a lot of what accelerated learning is, just like success is unlearning. Bad habits. When you're a kid, you had to say the words out loud because the teacher needed to know you're pronouncing the words phonetically correctly.

• 52:56Jim Kwik?

  But later on, remember this, your teacher said, "Read quietly to yourself. Read silently to yourself." And that's when you used that external voice and you put it internal there, and it's been there ever since. Here's a point. When we listen to podcasts or audiobooks, how many people like to listen to it at 1.5 or 2X or 3X? And they can understand it, too.

• 53:13Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 53:14Jim Kwik?

  You can't talk that fast, though. And that's the thing, right? And so that's why subvocalization is saying, basically, if you're subvocalizing, your reading speed is limited to your talking speed, not your thinking speed. You can understand so much more, so much faster, but you can't talk that fast. It's a bad habit we picked up as a kid, so we did a whole podcast on how to reduce subvocalization, right? And our programs, like over 21, 30 days, we teach people methodically how to do it because there's difference in a tip than a training. Fourth obstacle, I would say, and then we go to solution, regression. It's a very bad habit we picked up as a kid. Regression is back skipping. You ever notice you read something, you go back and reread words, or you reread a whole line by accident?

• 53:53Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 53:54Jim Kwik?

  You know, upwards of 20, 25% of the time can be spent rereading words. So how do you... Now, I'm gonna give you just one tip on how to overcome this, which will make a big difference. This tip is gonna help you read 25 to 50% faster with better focus. Now, that's a huge return because like, on average, our online program, 300% increase.

• 54:12Ed Mylett?

  I know right now, people are like, "Okay, how do I get more information from this person?" And so I want to make sure they know where to go find you. The first one is you've referenced this podcast that you have, and I'm a subscriber. There's just stuff every single time you're on there that is valuable. And I like that oftentimes it's not even very long. Oftentimes, it's just digestible stuff. So how do they find your podcast?

• 54:33Jim Kwik?

  So on anyone's podcast app, search my name, Jim, K W I K.

• 54:37Ed Mylett?

  And that is his real name, by the way.

• 54:38Jim Kwik?

  I didn't change it to do it. My father's name, my grandfather's name. My life was pretty much planned out.

• 54:42Ed Mylett?

  So go get your podcasts.

• 54:43Jim Kwik?

  Or they go to... The best way is actually go to quickbrain.com, K W I K brain.com. There are actually videos on speed reading, remember names. I take a live audience up there and they do that. And then links to all my links to podcasts are there.

• 54:55Ed Mylett?

  So for podcasts and your website, both are also where they can get involved with your programs, too, if they choose to, correct? And then also, you've got a great Instagram account.

• 55:04Jim Kwik?

  Yeah, I mean, the podcast episodes also, we've done episodes on the top 10 brain foods. How to change your habits, how to change your limiting beliefs, everything that has to do with cognition. We do it in 10 or 15 minutes.

• 55:14Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 55:14Jim Kwik?

  So, brain hacks for busy people and learn faster.

• 55:16Ed Mylett?

  Brain hacks are awesome.

• 55:16Jim Kwik?

  And then, I love your Instagram.

• 55:18Ed Mylett?

  Thank you.

• 55:18Jim Kwik?

  You know, and it's so wonderful and so I do the lives and the Q and As that are there. And so, we like to post things that are just brain hacks.

• 55:26Ed Mylett?

  His Instagram is, you're gonna get addicted to it. It's outstanding.

• 55:30Jim Kwik?

  Like yours, and I would challenge people again, ending with this, to take a screenshot of this episode. Tag us both on there and then share, remember what you teach, you get to learn twice and you own it. Share your big ahas or your questions and I'll actually, I'll repost some of my favorites.

• 55:44Ed Mylett?

  So do I, so do I. So, please do that, everybody. Take a screenshot, tag both of us, tell us what your biggest takeaway was. So, in finishing, you know, people, when we're done here, they're gonna wish, I wish, you know, I had asked you so many more things. We got so much done today, but you're such a, you know, just a wealth of knowledge. It's unbelievable.

• 55:59Jim Kwik?

  I hope people take pictures even of their notes. I'd be curious if they tag that.

• 56:02Ed Mylett?

  They're gonna be long, I can tell you that, because we've covered so much today and thank you. But I think probably, you know, one of the things that I think most people that are listening to this, they're trying to change things. Whether that be a habit or change their life in general. And you're an expert at this. If someone said they got, I always do this, they got two minutes with Jim Quick.

• 56:20Jim Kwik?

  Yeah.

• 56:20Ed Mylett?

  They ran into you at Starbucks and you were as busy as you are, you said, "I'll give you two minutes."

• 56:24Jim Kwik?

  Yeah.

• 56:24Ed Mylett?

  And they could ask you something. I think the vast majority of the people would say, "I want to change something in my life." Whether that be a habit or the external results in my life. I want to create a change. What would you say to that person? Where do they begin? What would be a step they could take? What would be a thought they would have in order to create change?

• 56:41Jim Kwik?

  So, the obvious thing to say is lifelong learning. Commit yourself to lifelong learning. But that would be preaching to the choir, because if someone's watching this right now or listening to this,

• 56:49Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 56:49Jim Kwik?

  You know, they are exceptional and I applaud anyone who's made it all the way to the end.

• 56:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 56:54Jim Kwik?

  What I would say is... Self-love is not selfish. I feel like the biggest challenge people have in life is this fear that they're not enough. And I believe that's what holds us back. And people talk about themselves in relationships. And I think we grow a lot in our intimate relationships because they are a mirror to us. And I also feel like you have to fall in love again with the person in the mirror, who has been through so much, but is still standing. You know what I mean? Yes. And when's the last time, you know, learning and love? I always wish people, you know, this year and their days before lots of life, lots of love, lots of laughter and lots of learning. But I think they go hand in hand. And self-love, it's kind of, I don't want to, you know,

• 57:37Jim Kwik?

  people could put it into a hold hands and sing kumbaya. But I'm saying do the things that you would do for yourself. Because I feel like we're only happy when two things happen. This is my advice. Number one, you need the curiosity to know yourself, right? Because that's self-awareness. That's why we meditate, that's why we journal, that's why we listen to things. It's self-reflection. When you have an intimate relationship, we build businesses because they puts us through tests and shows us who we really are. So have the curiosity to know yourself. But once you know yourself, you need the courage to be yourself. You know what I mean? Yes. And that's a different game. Totally different game. You know, and a lot of us, you know, when we're looking back again, we don't want to have those regrets and the expectations of other people. And that's where I think people could, they limit themselves.

• 58:22Jim Kwik?

  So I would say my advice to somebody right now is to make sure you dedicate time every single day to self-care. You know, and really spend the time to not only know yourself, but give yourself permission to really be yourself. Because I feel like everyone makes smart goals, right? They're specific and they're measurable and they're action-oriented and they're, they're realistic and they're time-bound. And I'm all for that, when I'm setting goals. But also make them heart goals. Remember I talked about the power of the heart? Yes. You know, make them H-healthy. In every area of your life, make sure that they're healthy and the ecology of your life. I would also say E, make them enduring. You know, make them enduring. So as we go through hard times, which invariably will

• 59:01Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 59:01Jim Kwik?

  in business and in life and relationships and health, make sure that they're inspiring enough to be able to get you through those hard times. The A is make them alluring. Alluring mean they pull you, right? They're so attractive, they just like get you out of bed, they're alluring. The R is relevant. Meaning you want to make them relevant because a lot of people set goals, but are they solving a personal problem for you? Are they really relevant to your particular values in life? And in relationships and business? And finally, the T, I think is the most important one. When you're setting goals, make them your truth. Because so many people are setting goals and a vision that's not really theirs. They picked it up from their parents. You know, they're doctors because their parents were doctors. Or they're picking it up from the Joneses. Or something outside, you know?

• 59:44Jim Kwik?

  Know your truth and live from there.

• 59:47Ed Mylett?

  Man, I didn't expect that to be your answer. And that was a wonderful, beautiful answer. I knew it would be incredible. But you went down a road there that's very interesting to me. I gotta tell you, today was just so exceeding my expectations. And you know, my expectations were up here for today. So this is one of the few people that have been on the show. You guys, just so you know, that I had to pursue pretty hard. Not that he didn't want to do it, but he's a difficult man to get with. And so I'm so grateful that I continued to chase you. Because I personally got so much out of today's program. And so thank you so much, Jim, for being here today. I'm very, very grateful to you. And I'm really excited about our new friendship too.

• 1:00:25Jim Kwik?

  This has been, I have goosebumps. I call them truth bumps.

• 1:00:27Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 1:00:28Jim Kwik?

  It's, this is something I've always looked forward to. And the timing was really right. I applaud you for the cape that you wear. Because you're not just superhuman. Everyone knows you're superhuman in business and physically and in relation to everything that you do. But you're also a superhuman.

• 1:00:40Ed Mylett?

  Oh, thank you.

• 1:00:41Jim Kwik?

  You know, and that really is, that I feel like really matters.

• 1:00:46Ed Mylett?

  Coming from you, that's, that means a whole.

• 1:00:48Jim Kwik?

  I mean, I believe your life, our lives are like an egg. If a thing is broken by an outside force, life ends. But if it's broken by an inside force, life begins. And all great things begin on the inside.

• 1:00:58Ed Mylett?

  Hey, everybody. Listen, I know you enjoyed today's program. I'm sure you did. And if you did, I would like you to do that screenshot, tag the both of us. Tell us about what you got out of it. Also, tell us about your biggest takeaways as well. And I want to remind you that every single day on Instagram, when I make a post, I love to do the max out two-minute drill, which means that all you got to do is make a comment within the first two minutes when I make a post. And you win such wonderful opportunities. Every day, we select a winner. It could be a coaching call with one of my guests. It could be with me, my book, Jim's book. It could be max out gear. But every day, all you got to do is make a comment on my main feed on Instagram within the first two minutes with a hashtag max out, and you're involved in a daily drawing. If you miss the first two minutes, we got another campaign. Just make a comment every day. At the end of the week, we look at who commented every single day,

• 1:01:43Ed Mylett?

  and we select the winner from there as well. And I'd love to interact with you, because I bring you some of the most incredible people in the world who are maxing out their lives. You learned about today both the science and the art of peak performance. And I'm so grateful to Jim today. I'm grateful for all of you that subscribe. Please share this with people that you love and care about and believe in, and continue to max out your life. God bless you.