Super Brain: 10 Things to Eat, Think, & Do to Improve Your Memory and Learn Faster

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — Want to boost your reading speed by 30%–50%? Want to learn faster? What if you never forgot where you put your keys again? Mel sits down with world-renowned brain coach Jim Kwik (@JimKwik to help you boost your brainpower with his science-backed tools, tips, and strategies. In this episode, they discuss: - How your brain is more powerful than you think - The best ways to retain information - How to read 50% faster with ONE simple tool - 3 tricks to always remember where you put your keys - How to remember someone’s name - Jim’s proven 3M framework - 10 simple steps for a better brain - The best foods for increased brain power - How to be MORE productive but work LESS - How exercise impacts brain function - How to crush any job interview - How to memorize a presentation in one day - Why you need to always be a student Follow Jim Kwik: Instagram: https://instagram.com/jimkwik Webpage: https://jimkwik.com Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast/ I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Intro 09:42 How your brain is more powerful than you think 16:46 The best ways to retain information 19:26 Why you need to always be a student 25:36 How to read 50% faster with ONE simple tool 29:23 How to be MORE productive but work LESS 30:55 How to remember someone’s name 32:19 How to crush any job interview 40:06 3 tricks to always remember where you put your keys 42:32 10 simple steps for a better brain 44:04 Jim’s proven 3M framework 48:54 The best foods for increased brain power 50:14 How exercise impacts brain function 53:27 How to memorize a speech in one day #brain #brainpower #brainhealth #memory — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com​ — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

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

• 0:00Mel Robbins?

  Hey, it's your friend Mel and welcome to the Mel Robbins Podcast.

• 0:07Mel Robbins?

  Have you ever worried about your memory? You know, like you put your keys down and then you can't find them and you're like, "I know they were right there." And then you start to wonder, "Am I frickin' losing my mind or something?" Or this happens to me all the time. Do you ever walk into the kitchen and you get to the kitchen and you're like, "Wait a minute, why did I come into the kitchen?" And then you walk out of the kitchen because you can't remember why you walked into the kitchen. And I have had this happen so often recently that I'm starting to wonder, "Is this early onset dementia?" Now, look, I'm not trying to make a joke about a serious topic, but I will be honest with you. Here is a thought that crosses my mind at least once a week.

• 0:52Mel Robbins?

  There's something wrong with my brain. Like, I can't remember people's names. I just feel overloaded all the time. I'm forgetting things. And I don't know about you, I can't stay on top of it all. And I've got a million excuses for why. "Oh, it's menopause. Oh, it's busy. Oh, it's the three kids and a husband and a full-time job and two dogs and a cat that's on medication for UTI and I need to give it to him twice a day and I keep forgetting and that makes me a bad pet owner." But the bottom line is, I can't remember anything. It's like information is just dripping through the holes in my brain. I don't even know if your brain has holes, but I know you feel what I feel, right? Between the information overload, way too much going on at work or school or at home, you're overloaded too. Well, guess what?

• 1:37Mel Robbins?

  You and I are in luck because I have brought in today the most respected brain coach on the planet to help you and me. He says that we have super brains. We just don't know how to tap into it. And in fact, you want to know why I believe him? Because I first met Jim Quick. That's his name. I'll tell you more about his credentials in a minute, but let me tell you how I met Jim. So Jim and I were both hired to come in and give a presentation at one of the largest management consulting firms in the world. And so he's onstage and he's teaching all of these skills and amazing things that you're about to learn to increase your memory, to help you read faster, to tap into the super power of your brain. And all of a sudden, he does this thing where he says, "All right, everybody who's wearing

• 2:22Mel Robbins?

  red, raise your hand." And we're talking an audience of several thousand people and I'd say a couple hundred people raise their hand and he asked them all to stand up. And then he did this insane trick in front of all of our eyes. He had the person in the back left-hand corner of the room start and he had everybody standing, say their name. I'm talking a couple hundred people. And without skipping a beat, as soon as they were done, he said their names and he did it in reverse. Now, I was standing backstage because I was going on after him and I'm very skeptical of this kind of stuff. So I had my like, super eagle eyes on him and he was not wearing anything in his ears. He was not writing anything down.

• 3:07Mel Robbins?

  This was his memory. You want to talk about a super brain? And here's what Jim Quick says. Jim Quick says that he can teach you and me how to do it. In fact, he's going to reveal the secret of how he remembered 200 names in reverse later in our conversation today. But the bottom line is, one-third of your brain is predetermined by genetics and biology. Jim Quick is here to teach you that two-thirds of your brain is within your control and you have way more influence over your brain and how it works than you think. By the end of the conversation today, you will know a simple technique that will help you read up to 50% faster and retain it all. You're going to know his technique for remembering people's names. And personally, I need this one.

• 3:50Mel Robbins?

  A super interesting thing you can do to never lose your keys again. How cool is that? For the past 30 years, Jim has worked with elite athletes, actors, and executives. He's taught what you're about to learn to people at Harvard, Google, Nike, Zappos, and even the United Nations. And his New York Times bestselling book, which is the handbook on how to create limitless capacity in your brain, now has a new expanded edition and is here to teach you absolutely all the tricks and tools that you need to know. If you've ever wondered like I've wondered, how the heck does a Broadway actor remember two hours of a script? Well, Jim is a memory coach that has worked with some of the most famous actors in Hollywood and on Broadway. That's how.

• 4:34Mel Robbins?

  You are simply not going to believe what he's about to teach you in less than an hour. This is a skills-packed, brainiac, amazing episode that is going to help you and me tap into the two-thirds of our brain and create what Jim calls a super brain. And make sure you stick around all the way to the very end because at the end of this conversation you're about to hear, he's going to teach you in real time 10 things to remember to create a super brain so you never forget it. This is so cool. I can't wait for you to drop into this conversation. Without further ado, meet your brain coach, Jim Quick.

• 5:11Speaker 01

  Mel, thank you so much for having me. I've been looking forward to this and thank you, everybody who's joining this conversation.

• 5:17Mel Robbins?

  Jim, you're a world renowned brain coach who has worked with athletes, actors, and executives. And in addition to that, you've been running a brain institute for the past 30 years. Do you really believe absolutely anyone can improve their brain? I mean, come on, nobody's walked through the doors of your institute that you're like, oh, boy, couldn't help this person?

• 5:37Speaker 01

  It's been my experience coaching people every single day for the past 32 years that regardless of your age, your background, your career, your diet, your education level, your financial situation, your gender, your history, IQ, that we all can improve. It's about progressing beyond what you're currently demonstrating or what you believe is possible.

• 5:58Mel Robbins?

  So you're saying it's not about being born smart. You're saying that we all have the ability to be a super learner, no matter what your IQ is?

• 6:08Speaker 01

  We know that about one third of your brain's performance, like its memory, is predetermined by genetics and biology. But that means two thirds is in your direct control. We have more influence than we think.

• 6:20Mel Robbins?

  Jim, how did you become a brain coach? I mean, do you go to school for something like that?

• 6:26Speaker 01

  So my inspiration, you could say was my desperation. I, one day in kindergarten class, I'm five years old, this would have been in 1978, there was this commotion outside, sirens and honking and all the kids obviously want to see what's going on outside, but we're five years old, we can't see outside the window still. And so we all had this idea to grab our chairs and prop them by the window and stand on them. I lost my balance and I went headfirst into one of the radiators and was rushed to the emergency room.

• 7:06Speaker 01

  It really affected me in school. I had poor focus, poor memory. I had processing issues where a teacher would repeat themselves like three or four or five times and I still wouldn't understand. I would compress my body all the time because I didn't want to be called on because I never knew the answer. Right? And so I would sit behind the tall kid or I'd make myself so sick before an exam. I remember when I was nine years old, God, this brings back this kind of, it's funny how feelings work, right? I was being teased more than usual because I was slowing down the class. I wasn't understanding lessons and a teacher pointed to me to come to my defense. She said, leave that kid alone.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  That's the boy with the broken brain. And all I took out of it was that I was broken. Adults have to be very careful of their external words because they often become a child's internal words. Because every single time I did badly in school, which was weekly, every time I wasn't picked for sports, I was always the last one, I would always say to myself, oh, it's because I have the broken brain. And that became my, my inner talk. And I think our minds always eavesdrop on that inner talk. Right? And it wasn't just something that I dealt with for a year or two. It was elementary school. It was middle school, junior high, and all through high school. And so our struggles can become strengths.

• 8:36Mel Robbins?

  I love that. Our struggles can become our strengths. But did you always have that mindset?

• 8:44Speaker 01

  For me, I wanted to make my parents proud. My parents immigrated to the United States. We lived in the back of a laundromat that my mom worked at and they had a lot of jobs. So through, through school, it was a challenge. I was lucky enough to get into a local state university and I thought freshmen meant I can make a fresh start. And I wanted to make my family proud. I want to show the world, show myself that I could do this. But I took all these classes and I did worse.

• 9:14Mel Robbins?

  Oh.

• 9:15Speaker 01

  I wasn't equipped. And so I was ready to quit school. Because I'm the oldest of three kids and I wanted to be a good role model for my younger brother and sister. And yet also, I don't have the money even to be in school and it's better that they have it. I'm not smart enough. This is like my belief system. And a friend said, hey, I'm going home this weekend. Why don't you come with? I mean, saying you're going to quit school to your family is a big deal. You know, why don't you get some perspective? And I noticed Mel, that when we change place or we change people we're spending time with, it gives us a different point of view.

• 9:50Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 9:51Speaker 01

  So I do agree to go and the family is pretty well off, have a beautiful home on the water. And the father walks me around his property before dinner and asked me a very innocent question. He says, Jim, how's school? Right? And I am introverted and I'm very shy at the time. I start bawling like crazy, crying like crazy in front of this complete stranger that I just met like 30 minutes before.

• 10:20Mel Robbins?

  God, what did he do?

• 10:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, he was freaked out because he didn't know my situation, but I gave him the full download. I told him about my brain injury, labeled broken, how I have to quit school. It's just, I'm not smart enough. It's just not who I am.

• 10:36Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 10:37Speaker 01

  I don't know how to tell my parents because they're going to be heartbroken because they work so hard.

• 10:41Mel Robbins?

  Oh.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  He asked me a question, and it's interesting. Not only does perspective change our point of view, but so do the questions that we ask. He says, hey, Jim, well, why, why are you in school? And I didn't have an answer other than, this is what you do, right? You go to school. That's what my parents, you know, expected of me. So he dug deeper and said, well, why are you in school? He said, what do you want to be? What do you want to do? What do you want to have? What do you want to create or contribute? And Mel, I didn't have an answer for any of those things because nobody's ever asked me those questions before, right? And so you ask a new question, we get new answers.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  I didn't know what I wanted to be or do or contribute, but he forced me to stay in that space, to not escape it and change the subject. And I start to just kind of fantasize. He asked me to just imagine you could do anything or be anything or have anything. And then he takes out like a little, like a journal or notebook in his back pocket and gives me a couple of sheets and he asked me to write them down. It's the first step in taking something that's invisible, that's in your mind, and then all of a sudden it's visible outside of yourself. And I fill up two pages and I start folding up the paper to put in my pocket, thinking this exercise is done and we could eat. Let's go. Yeah. And then as I fold the sheets of paper to put in my pocket, he has the audacity

• 12:10Speaker 01

  to reach out and grab them out of my hands. And now he's reading to himself all of my dreams and goals. And I don't know how much time goes by because I don't want to be judged based on this. And when he's done, this is what he does. He takes his fingers and if people just listen to the audio, I'm spreading my index fingers like a foot apart. And he says, Jim, you are this close to everything on that list. And it's like out of a movie, right? And I'm thinking, this is my out of this conversation in my mind, if I'm real and raw, it was like, there's no way. And this is what I'm telling him. Like, there's no way. Have you not heard my story, right? Right.

• 12:52Speaker 01

  I have a broken brain, you know, horrible in school. And give me 10 lifetimes, I'm not going to crack this list. And he takes his fingers that are spread a foot apart and he puts them to the side of my head, meaning what's inside my brain is like the key. And he takes me into a room that just honestly freaked me out. It was wall to wall, ceiling to floor, covered in books. I've never read a book. It's like being in a room full of snakes because I'm very intimidated by books. Right. But what makes it worse, Mel, is he starts going to the shelves and pulling snakes off the shelf and handing them to me.

• 13:31Speaker 01

  And he says, Jim, you need to read to succeed. Promise me you'll read one of these books a week and then you could have them. Because it'll allow you to achieve what you want on this list. And, but I can't. And he, very smart man, he reaches into his pocket mail and pulls out my dream list.

• 13:51Mel Robbins?

  Oh.

• 13:52Speaker 01

  And he, he has the audacity to read my goals out loud.

• 13:57Mel Robbins?

  I can't even imagine what you were feeling in that moment. So what did you do next?

• 14:06Speaker 01

  It's funny how memories work, right? At a meta level, because it just, it just comes back, even the feelings of like how my throat was constricting and I couldn't breathe and I couldn't, I was perspiring, my heart's beating, like, I thought like, this is it, you know, it's just, I guess like, metaphorically, I'm just throwing away my potential or my dreams, or maybe I could fix my brain, maybe I could learn how to learn better. And I was like, okay, how do I do it? And my brain went, cool, that's how you learn anything. And I look at classes for next semester and I'm looking at reading hundreds of classes on what to learn, but not how to learn.

• 14:45Mel Robbins?

  Hmm.

• 14:46Speaker 01

  Right, classes on math and history and science and Spanish, but, but there are no classes on how to learn those subjects. And I start studying this initial stack of books that my mentor provided me with. And then it started opening new ideas to the power of the mind. And I wanted to find out, how does my brain work so I could work my brain? And I started studying it because I had a reason, like I, I had a real problem I needed to solve that I've been struggling with my whole life. And I started getting answers and gained a little bit of momentum and a little bit more confidence. And it was like 60 days, two months into it, a light switch just, just flipped on. And I started to understand things for the very first time, I felt. It gave me a lot of hope.

• 15:30Speaker 01

  And I was really upset, first of all, that there were simple things that I could have done that would have made my life a whole lot easier. My whole childhood was just trying to just work really hard without getting the results. And then the other thing was I felt a purpose because I want to share this with others, like almost as an evangelist, because I was just like, how does everyone not know these things? Learning is our superpower and it's a superpower we all have. You know, we just aren't really shown how to unlock it and unleash it. But the other thing I realized was, was my mission, my purpose. No brain left behind.

• 16:06Mel Robbins?

  And you have now gone on to build an institute and work with the world's leading brands and teach everybody things from reading faster to better memory. It is incredible because when I hear your story and I then think about how much you've accomplished and how many lives you've changed, I go, well, Jim with his broke brain can do it? I can certainly improve my brain. If he can understand how to leverage the capacity of his brain to help him achieve his goals, then I bet I can.

• 16:45Speaker 01

  I truly believe that an individual's ability to adapt, to learn, to unlearn, to relearn is one of the most important things that people could invest in. Because if there was a genie could grant you any one wish, but only one wish, everyone would wish for limitless wishes, right? If there was a learning genie that could help you become an expert in any one subject or any one skill, what would the equivalent be of asking for limitless wishes? It'd be learning how to learn. Because if you can learn how to learn, focus, think, you know, read, retain, you could apply that towards everything. Medicine, marketing, money, motivation, martial arts, anything gets easier, right? Because it's the lead domino. It's the one thing you hit and you sharpen that saw, which is your mind.

• 17:30Speaker 01

  So I really think that this technology, we always hear everyone got the new iPhone and upgraded their apps and get the new devices. But when's the last time we took time to upgrade?

• 17:42Mel Robbins?

  So Jim, I want to just take a second and talk to the person listening. And as you're listening to Jim, I want you to now make this really personal. Let's put what Jim's telling us to the test, okay? And I'm gonna go first because here's what I'm thinking on behalf of both you and me. Jim, how the heck can I and the person listening upgrade the brain? Can you give us simple tricks? Because here's the thing, I'm already overwhelmed. And between the ADHD, the menopause, the three kids, all the stuff that I'm forgetting all the time, I mean, how am I going to also add upgrading my brain to the list? And look, I don't have a story that I have a broken brain.

• 18:22Mel Robbins?

  And for you listening, I don't know what your story is, but I can see that I have a belief about my brain that is limiting. And I believe that I'm always just gonna be forgetful. I believe that I have a hard time remembering names. I believe, oh, here's a good one. I believe that it is impossible for me to learn a foreign language because I'm dyslexic. I believe that I'm overwhelmed and I'm just going to be overwhelmed, that my thoughts are gonna spin. And now that I'm saying all this, Jim, I realize that I have a lot of limiting beliefs. And as you're listening, I do want you to stop and think about what is your limiting belief? Do you think you're not smart? Are you like me and you're like, I can't learn a language or I'm not good with math?

• 19:05Mel Robbins?

  Here's another limiting belief of mine. I have menopause. And everything that I'm learning is that your brain fog is something that comes with menopause. So am I still gonna be able to upgrade my brain with menopause and all this stuff that I'm telling myself? Seriously? Like an iPhone, Jim?

• 19:22Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 19:23Mel Robbins?

  Well, that's encouraging.

• 19:24Speaker 01

  So we have students in our online academy in 194 countries. We get a lot of feedback and we have a lot of data.

• 19:33Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 19:34Speaker 01

  I've had the honor of sharing stage with you many times. I'll do these demonstrations where I'll have, they'll pass around a microphone in an audience and introduce themselves and I'll memorize like 50 or 100 people's names, right? Or they'll challenge me to remember 100 numbers or words and I'll do it forwards and backwards. But I always tell people, I don't do this to impress you. I do this to express to you as possible. Because the truth is, we could all do that, we just weren't taught. Right? It's a skill. If you go to somebody like your kids and you say, "Focus."

• 20:05Speaker 01

  Memorize this, study. That's the equivalent of going to somebody saying, "Play the ukulele." Who's never taken a class on how to play the ukulele before. But we didn't have a class called Focus.

• 20:19Mel Robbins?

  Oh, I just had a huge breakthrough. Oh, my God, I think I got it. The ukulele example is exactly... That just cracked the code for me, Jim.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:34Mel Robbins?

  All of the education that we have had has been for the purpose of absorbing something to spit it back out and then moving on to the next thing that you're going to absorb and spit back out. And what you're basically saying is that you became an expert at figuring out the skill of learning and of memory retention. That's probably my daughter calling me. You know, this is a good sign, Jim. It's always a great episode when one of my kids FaceTimes me in the middle of it. So that's what you're teaching us.

• 21:12Speaker 01

  You're not born with the ability to read. We were taught how to read. But when's the last time we took a class called reading? We were like six or seven. Even if we learned a skill, we haven't updated that skill. And the difficulty and demand of our reading has increased exponentially. But how we read is the same. So that growing gap creates a lot of stress, information anxiety. So skill acquisition is important. I do believe that genius is not so much born. Genius really is more built.

• 21:42Mel Robbins?

  I love the idea that genius is built. I mean, it makes me feel like I got a chance, you know, in this race. If you've ever told yourself this story that you're not smart or that it's not going to work out for you, I love what you're telling us, Jim. Genius is built. And Jim, I would imagine that the way that you build a better brain... And the way that you build genius is through the skills that you've been talking about and that you practice them. And so when we come back, here's what I want to do. I want to go straight into skills because Jim has specific skills that you can learn that will help you read 50% faster. Simple skills that will help you remember names and a very surprising technique so that you always remember where you put your keys

• 22:24Mel Robbins?

  or your purse or your wallet. And of course, do not forget to come back after this short word from our sponsors because he also is going to share that surprising secret trick to how he remembers 200 names. Stay with us.

• 22:47Mel Robbins?

  Welcome back. It's your friend Mel and I'm so glad you're still here because you're getting a private session with one of the world's leading brain coaches. And I want you to get ready because in Jim's book Limitless, he gives a ton of tips on reading faster, many of which I'd never heard before. So Jim, what are they?

• 23:04Speaker 01

  Here are a couple of tips that could really help listeners not only read faster, but improve their focus and their retention and understanding of the information. Because if you ever read a page in a book and just forgot what you just read and you had to reread it and then you still forgot what you just read, this could really help. So the first thing is, we all have books on our shelf we haven't read yet, right? And the goal is, when you pick up the book, if you use a visual pacer when you read, you'll read it faster. And now, what's a visual pacer? It could be your finger, it could be a pen, it could be a highlighter, it could be a mouse on a computer. And what you're doing is you're not touching the page or the screen, you're just going right above

• 23:47Speaker 01

  it and just underlining what you're reading. Now, I want you to not just believe everything I'm saying, you could test it out also. When we're done with this episode, pick up a book that you're reading, put a mark in the margin where you left off. And what I want you to do is set your timer to go off in 60 seconds. So we're going to read for 60 seconds. And I want you to read how you would normally read, not using your finger, but just how you would normally read for comprehension. And then at the end of 60 seconds, I want you to put a mark in the margin where you left off. And then count the number of lines that you just read. And that's the lines per minute. Now, set the timer again for another 60 seconds. And then pick up where you left off,

• 24:31Speaker 01

  but this time just underline the words. And you're just underlining the words as you would read. And then at the end of 60 seconds, put a mark in the margin and then count the number of lines you just read. For the majority of the listeners, they'll find that second number will be 25 to almost 50% greater. And you don't have to work any harder. So it's not about working harder. It's about working more intelligently, right? And so the reason why it works is number one, one of the challenges we have when we read is we back skip.

• 25:05Mel Robbins?

  Back skip? What is back skip? What does that even mean, Jim?

• 25:10Speaker 01

  We reread words.

• 25:11Mel Robbins?

  Oh.

• 25:13Speaker 01

  And this keeps you from doing that. Some people reread whole lines, right? On the other side of it, your eyes are attracted to motion. So if something ran across your room, you wouldn't look at me, you would look at what moves. Because as a hunter gatherer, your eyes are trained to look at movement. Because if you're in a bush and you're hunting lunch, let's say it's a rabbit or a carrot, depending on your diet. If the bush next to you moves, you have to look. Because number one, it could be lunch. Or number two, you could be lunch. So when your finger is going across the page, it draws your attention through as opposed to your attention being outside of you. And then the final reason, use your finger while you read. It's kind of interesting.

• 25:55Speaker 01

  Kids use their finger while they read naturally, organically, until we tell them not to. And you do also, because when I ask people to count the number of lines, maybe they didn't use their finger when they initially read, but if I asked you to count the number of lines, what do you do? Use your finger as a visual aid to help you to focus. But the final reason is your senses work very closely together. For example, have you ever had a great tasting fruit, right from the farmer's market? But you're not actually tasting a peach, you're smelling the peach. But your sense of smell and taste are so closely linked, your mind can't tell the difference. It can't tell the difference when you're sick, when you can't breathe out of your nose. What does food taste like? It tastes more bland, right?

• 26:38Speaker 01

  And so just as your sense of smell and taste are closely linked, so is your sense of sight and your sense of touch. That when you use your finger while you read, people will say they literally feel more in touch with their reading.

• 26:51Mel Robbins?

  Seriously? This one tool, just using a visual cue or pacer or whatever you called it, can increase your reading speed by 50%? Is that really true?

• 27:04Speaker 01

  Absolutely. 25, 50%. Some of the listeners doing this exercise will actually double their reading speed. And think about it, the value of that. The average person spends about four hours a day processing information. You think about social media and emails and books and reports and research, whatever you have to go through, the newspaper. If you could just cut that in half, you double your reading speed. So you save two hours a day. What's two hours a day over the course of a year? In fact, what's just one hour a day saved over a course of a year? 365 hours. How many 40-hour work weeks is that? Over nine? Over nine weeks of productivity you gain back, you reclaim.

• 27:45Speaker 01

  Two months of productivity is back of yours, saving into something ubiquitous like reading.

• 27:51Mel Robbins?

  You know what I really love about this, Jim? Is that you don't have to try harder. What you just taught us is a skill that will help us read 50% faster just by using the tip of a pen and leveraging the super wiring of how our eyes are wired to track to movement. That's incredible. So let's jump into the next skill, which is, what is your technique for always remembering people's names?

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, so a name is very important. I always say, remember mom. This is just, I mean, there are a couple dozen examples in the book and techniques, but remember names. A name, as they say, is the sweetest sound to a person's ears. It's probably the number one networking business etiquette skill because how are you going to show somebody you care for their future, their health, their family, whatever you have to offer if you don't care enough to just remember them, right? Maya Angelou say, "People will forget what you say, they'll forget what you did, but they'll always remember how you made them feel."

• 28:43Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 28:44Speaker 01

  M O M. Of course, it's an acronym because I'm doing this short form in podcast form. The first M is just, is motivation. A lot of people won't remember names because they haven't touched the reason. So if you ask yourself, simple thing you could do before you meet somebody, ask yourself, "Why do I want to remember this person's name?" Just get in the habit of doing that. Maybe it's to show the person some respect. Maybe it's to make a connection. Maybe it's to make a new friend or get a referral, make a sale. If you don't have a reason, you won't get the result. So for example, most people say, "I'm horrible. I remember names," but I challenge people on their BS, right, their belief systems. If there was a suitcase, if Mel and I had a suitcase of a million dollars cash, tax-free, if you just remember the name of the next stranger you meet, who's going to remember that name?

• 29:24Mel Robbins?

  I am.

• 29:25Speaker 01

  Everybody, right? Everybody will. So as a coach, I'm going to call people on their BS, right, their belief systems. It had nothing to do with your capabilities. You can remember names. Are you motivated to remember that name, right? And one of the ways to do it is ask a question and tune into why.

• 29:40Mel Robbins?

  Okay, so to remember names, you have to remember mom, and the M stands for motivation. Got that. Why are you motivated to remember their name? That makes sense. What does the O stand for?

• 29:51Speaker 01

  The O in mom, this is big, is observation. A lot of people aren't forgetting the name. They're just not paying attention. The art of memory is the art of attention. Like, I remember years ago, I got to go to this fundraiser and it was 2,000 people. We're sitting at the table. I'm the first one there. And after that, Forest Whitaker, the Oscar winner, sits right next to me. And then Richard Branson sits right next to him. And then Ashton Kutcher and Ashton Kutcher's twin brother, who I didn't know he had a twin brother, sits there. And then President Clinton sits right Next to me. Now, I had met him a few years before, very briefly. And he called me by name. He said, hello, by name. And I was like, wow, that's pretty impressive because I'm sure he meets a lot of people.

• 30:36Speaker 01

  And then I was like, okay, people and he knew who he's sitting with, right? Obviously. And then I swear he picks up on the conversation that we had three years before and nobody was privy to that. And I was like, you know, I'm a memory guy, right? I need to know how you're doing this. And he tells me the story of his grandfather in Arkansas in the living room. And he would tell stories, but afterwards to the to kids, he would quiz each of the kids to see if they were paying attention. Now, when he's explaining this to me, I also noticed at a meta level, I was like, wow, I feel like I'm the only one in this room because the way he's communicating with me. It's like there are a lot more important people in that room, especially at that table. And yet I feel like he's not looking over my shoulder or seeing who else is important.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  And I realized, politics aside,

• 31:25Speaker 01

  people will say he's a great communicator, a great connector, a great charisma. And he's got an incredible memory and his powerful presence. And I think, Mel, his incredible memory and his powerful presence comes from being powerfully present. That his incredible memory and his powerful presence with people comes from being powerfully present with people, right? Because most people, they're not forgetting the name. They're just not even hearing the name. Why? Because they're looking around or they're thinking about how to respond. They're waiting for their turn to speak. And so an easy way to remember names, listen. And even if you want to do a brain exercise, think about the word listen and scramble the letters. And it spells another word perfectly. It spells the word silent. And so just be there and listen.

• 32:11Mel Robbins?

  I love that because being truly present when you're with someone will help you make them feel like they're the only one in the room. And you just taught us that incredible memory comes from being powerfully present. And so when you're sitting there and you're present and you're silent and you're taking in what the heck they're saying, you're also going to remember what they're saying. That's so cool. So what is the last M in mom?

• 32:40Speaker 01

  The last M are the methods, right? And here's the quick method, suave. Next time you're at an event and you want to, you will say, I'm going to remember names. I'm more conscious of it because I listened to that episode.

• 32:51Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 32:51Speaker 01

  Look at yourself, say, I'm going to be suave. The S, say the name right away. When somebody gives you their name, greet them back using their name because it means you get to hear it twice. And also, it means you don't want to have a 20-minute conversation with somebody, like say there's a lot of background noise, 20-minute conversation with Ted and say goodbye, Ed, right? You want to be corrected upfront.

• 33:12Mel Robbins?

  I like the fact that you say the name immediately because even if you say it wrong, they'll correct you and they're not going to be offended because if you say it immediately, it's just that you heard it wrong. It's not that you didn't remember it. And also, if you notice, well, so keep going. So

• 33:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, absolutely. You say the name. That's going to help your retention. The U, you use the name, but you don't abuse the name.

• 33:35Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 33:36Speaker 01

  Mel, thank you so much for having me on the show. Mel, what do you want to talk? Mel, that would be an abuse, right? It'd be like a Seinfeld episode.

• 33:40Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 33:41Speaker 01

  So you say the name, then you use it three or four times in the conversation. And then the A in Suave, ask. This works really well for people who have unusual names or names you haven't heard of before. What can you ask about a person's name?

• 33:56Mel Robbins?

  How do you say your name?

• 33:57Speaker 01

  How do you say your name? How do you spell your name? Where is it from? Who were you named after? Does it mean something in another language, right? So everyone's favorite topic is their name. Actually, when you're talking about the reticular activating system, which is, here's your focus by asking questions, because our brain is mostly deleting information, the name is up on top. Because think about it, it's probably one of the first words you heard, probably one of the first words you learned how to write. And then think about the encouragement, the emotional, like, wow, so it's one of the reasons why it's as sweet as sound. But ask about a person's name, they'll be flattered, especially unusual names.

• 34:31Mel Robbins?

  Okay, I just want to make sure that as you're listening to Jim, you picked up on the fact that he has this acronym, Suave. And Suave is what we're using as the tool to help us remember someone's name. You said it kind of fast, Jim, so I'm just kind of slowing it down for those of us who may not be as quick in the super brain as you are. The S is for say it. Got that? Makes sense. Say it as soon as they say their name. U is for use it, which also makes sense because the more you use it in a sentence without being creepy, the more you're likely to remember it. A, ask about it. What does the V in Suave stand for?

• 35:08Speaker 01

  The V in suave is visualize. And this is how I do it in front of audiences. If there's time onstage, I'll have 30, 40, 50 people stand up, pass around a microphone, and I'll memorize upwards of 100 names, depending on how much time we have. But how I do it is I would just visualize the person's name. Meaning, most people listening are better with faces than the Arabic names.

• 35:29Mel Robbins?

  Yes.

• 35:29Speaker 01

  You go to someone and say, "I remember your face, but I'm sorry, I forgot your name." You never go to someone and say, "I remember the opposite. I remember your name, but I forgot your face." Right? That doesn't happen.

• 35:37Mel Robbins?

  That's true.

• 35:39Speaker 01

  Your visual cortex takes up more real estate. And so, we tend to remember what we see. And if we tend to remember what we see, try seeing what we want to remember. You meet someone for the first time, and their name is Mary. Imagine for a split second that she's carrying two lambs underneath her arms. Mary had a little lamb, right? You meet someone named David, just hit him in the nose with a slingshot. Because David and Goliath, right? And people say, "That's so childish." That helps you to remember it. Because if you could see it, feel it, and hear it, you're not going to forget it.

• 36:09Mel Robbins?

  Got it.

• 36:09Speaker 01

  Right? So, you're hearing it, you're visualizing it, and you're making it kind of funny or ludicrous. And then, you're not going to forget it. So, a person's name is Mike. Imagine they jump on a table and sing on a microphone. And when you say goodbye to them, you're going to remember, "Oh, that was the guy that did that." What's his name? Mike, right? So, a person's name is John, you could, well, picture whatever. Whatever you picture, right?

• 36:29Mel Robbins?

  You got that.

• 36:30Speaker 01

  And then, finally, the E in suave stands for end. End the conversation, saying goodbye, using their name. Because if you could walk into a room of strangers and leave saying, let's say, 20 people, and leave saying goodbye to every single one of them, who are they all going to remember? You, right? And that's an absolute standout skill.

• 36:53Mel Robbins?

  Jim, I hate to say this. We've got to take one last break. And the reason why I hate to say it is, I don't know about you listening. But I'm starting to feel like my brain feeling a little bit more super. Aren't you feeling a little bit more super in your brain? Like, I've got some mad skills that I didn't know about. And guess what? Jim Quick, he's not done. Because he's got this super crazy cool trick. So you will never forget where you put your wallet, or your keys, or anything for that matter. And that's not all. Jim is also going to cover the 10 things that you need to eat, think, and do in order to have a super brain. And he's going to reveal, finally, that secret to how the heck he can remember 200 names forward and backwards. And he's going to do it for you in real time, coming next. Stay with us.

• 37:43Mel Robbins?

  Welcome back. It's your friend Mel. I am thrilled that you are here. Because we're about to dive in to the 10 things that you need to eat, think, and do in order to have a super brain. But first, I almost forgot the thing I really want to learn, which is, how do I remember where I put my keys?

• 38:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. So it's always the key to... I can't believe I said the key.

• 38:09Speaker 01

  There are three keys to remember your keys, right? For all memory is you encode, you store, and you retrieve.

• 38:15Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 38:16Speaker 01

  The hard part is the retrieval. Because if you didn't encode it well, or you stored it somewhere, it's going to be hard to get it back out and recall it. So encoding, you do by seeing it and feeling it. The more senses you use, the more likely you're to remember it. Taking a split second, and it only takes a split second to make something ordinary turn into extraordinary. That's what makes it memorable.

• 38:34Mel Robbins?

  Definitely.

• 38:35Speaker 01

  Right? So you don't have to repeat it. You don't have to say, "My car keys are here 15 times." But what all I would do is you need the locus of attention. You need to fine tune your concentration. So let's say you put your keys somewhere. You have to be mindful of it, or you're not going to remember it.

• 38:50Mel Robbins?

  That's true.

• 38:51Speaker 01

  So it takes a little bit of effort. The good news, it doesn't take much. It takes a split second. So if you took your keys and then just threw it on the desk, just for a split second, imagine the desk explodes.

• 39:02Mel Robbins?

  Oh, yeah.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  And then it's like, boom. Like... That's like, you can't forget that. Make it extraordinary. For the things you want to remember. Like, the periodic table is pretty ordinary, right? We teach kids, like, eight-year-old, to memorize the whole periodic table in like, in like, minutes. It's insane when you could see it, feel it, and hear it. Even languages. You know, if I did something with counting to 10 in Japanese for everybody here, and you don't have to do this on video, but let's say, people want to learn that language. Like, do this, Mel. Just, just scratch your knee and say, "Itchy knee."

• 39:38Mel Robbins?

  Itchy knee.

• 39:39Speaker 01

  That's one and two. Itchy is one, knee is two. San is sun, like, sun. So point to the light up above, san.

• 39:48Mel Robbins?

  San.

• 39:49Speaker 01

  San, so it's not sun, but san. And then, she, so point to a female in the room.

• 39:54Mel Robbins?

  She.

• 39:55Speaker 01

  She, right? So, itchy knee, san, she, that's one, two, three, four.

• 40:01Mel Robbins?

  Itchy knee, san, she. Holy cow!

• 40:05Speaker 01

  Five is go. So if you just pretend and say, "Go."

• 40:08Mel Robbins?

  Go.

• 40:09Speaker 01

  Go, you're like, you're walking on video, I'm moving my hands and my feet. Go, that's five. And then, six is roku. So imagine you're rowing a canoe.

• 40:17Mel Robbins?

  Oh, roku. Well, like a canoe, yeah, roku.

• 40:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, roku. So that's six.

• 40:22Mel Robbins?

  That's pretty cool, dude. Like, you're, you're literally like, making my brain better. Like, as we're talking.

• 40:28Speaker 01

  My point with this, with this whole thing is, so many of us shrink what's possible to fit our minds, when we could expand our minds to fit all that's possible. So regardless of who's listening to this, their age and their background, age or stage of life, everybody can improve. It's just, you just need the correct lessons and a coach. And, you know, our brains, I want people, Mel, to, to know their brains, right? Know more about their brains. I want them to trust their brains. I want them to love their brains. And I want people to use their brains, because it's the greatest gift that we have. Great things begin on the inside. And people who are listening right now, they've self-selected. They have greatness inside of them, and they have genius inside of them.

• 41:10Speaker 01

  And now is the perfect time to let it out.

• 41:16Mel Robbins?

  Wow. Well, I feel like I should go Roku Xi Sun Niich like that. I just kind of five, four, three, two, one backwards.

• 41:28Mel Robbins?

  And you just taught me how.

• 41:30Speaker 01

  Learning doesn't have to be this like sit quietly by yourselves and just study and repeat things. Like who'd want to do that?

• 41:36Mel Robbins?

  Not me.

• 41:37Speaker 01

  Who has the time to do it or the inclination to do that?

• 41:39Mel Robbins?

  Well, guess what, Jim? Now that we have you as our brain coach, we don't have to because you have all the methods to help us be limitless in our lives, in our thinking, and in the way that we learn. And so when I asked our online audience and our listeners of this podcast, what are you struggling with? 95% of people said distraction, memory loss, information overload, the anxiety about all the things I need to do, my inability to remember things.

• 42:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:15Mel Robbins?

  Jim, this is so universal. Can you just explain the simple way that you approach this? The way that you teach people in your institute to tap into the capacity of their brains? Let's start with that bigger context and then we're going to get into this 10 specific things that will help us create a super brain.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. So for me, it's, it's three things.

• 42:39Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 42:40Speaker 01

  Framework. And then we could go into the tactics and tools.

• 42:43Mel Robbins?

  Let's do it.

• 42:44Speaker 01

  It's three Ms.

• 42:46Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 42:46Speaker 01

  Your mindset.

• 42:47Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 42:47Speaker 01

  I define mindset as a set of assumptions or attitudes you have about something.

• 42:52Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 42:52Speaker 01

  Your attitudes assumptions about money, your attitudes assumptions about relationships, maybe about yourself even, right?

• 42:59Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 43:00Speaker 01

  So the mindset for me, at events where I do these demonstrations, people are like, oh, I'm so glad you're here. I have a horrible memory. I'm not smart enough. And I always say, stop, because all behavior is belief driven.

• 43:12Mel Robbins?

  You say, stop, when somebody says, I have a horrible memory, because when somebody says, I have a horrible memory, that is a mindset. And that mindset, I have a horrible memory, or I'm not smart, or I've never been able to learn a language, or I'm a slow reader. All of those statements is the mindset that is limiting the capacity of your brain. So step one is to identify what your mindset is when it comes to your brain.

• 43:42Speaker 01

  So the first one is your mindset. If people say they have, they feel like they're not smart enough, or they're too old. I say, stop, because your brain is like this incredible supercomputer, and your self-talk is a program it will run. So if you tell yourself, I'm not good at remembering names, you won't remember the name of the next person you meet, because you program your supercomputer not to.

• 44:07Mel Robbins?

  That makes sense.

• 44:08Speaker 01

  Your mind is always eavesdropping on your self-talk. Audit yourself. I don't have a great memory, yet. It just opens up the possibility, and it just feels different.

• 44:17Mel Robbins?

  Okay, so I like to just stop and put a highlighter on what Jim is telling you. And I have a story that I'm dyslexic, and I took six years of French in high school. And I went to college and took an exam to place into, you know, the French requirement. Dude, I placed into French 101 for people who have never taken it. And yet, I have this desire to be able to speak conversational Spanish.

• 44:59Mel Robbins?

  But Jim's point here is that if I'm not willing to stop telling myself that foreign languages are hard for me, I will never, ever, ever utilize the methods effectively, because I will always be arguing against them. And so that's step one. And then, let's move on to the second one.

• 45:22Speaker 01

  Motivation. When we talk about motivation, I ask myself this question like 10 times a day. Verbatim, what is the tiniest action I could take right now that will give me progress towards this goal where I can't fail?

• 45:36Mel Robbins?

  That's a big question. Now, see, here's part of my problem, Jim. I can't remember the question.

• 45:43Speaker 01

  Okay, here we go.

• 45:47Speaker 01

  What is the tiniest action I could take right now? Operative word, now. Doing little things add up to big things.

• 45:54Mel Robbins?

  Yeah.

• 45:54Speaker 01

  Because consistency compounds. Little by little, little becomes a lot.

• 45:58Mel Robbins?

  That makes perfect sense. And what I realize now, Jim, you're a complete genius. You've been walking us through and weaving through the mindset aspect of this, of believing that you are capable of more, and the motivation and desire for why. And now we are so ready to receive the methods. And so, let's talk about them. What are the 10 things that we need to eat, think, and do in order to have a super brain, Jim?

• 46:24Speaker 01

  Okay, so I'm going to teach everyone a memory technique that I train Hollywood actors to be able to memorize a speech.

• 46:35Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  We're going to memorize 10 keys for a limitless brain.

• 46:40Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 46:40Speaker 01

  There are 10 levers for a better brain.

• 46:42Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 46:43Speaker 01

  That will make a difference in your focus, your memory, your overall brain energy and health. So I'm going to share them. And then I'll teach you how to memorize these 10 things forwards and backwards.

• 46:52Mel Robbins?

  Oh my God, I love this. Okay, let's go.

• 46:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. Okay, so the first one is a good brain diet. What you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. A whole area of science called neuronutrition, that your brain is part of your body, but it requires different nutrients, some different nutrients than the rest of your body.

• 47:10Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 47:10Speaker 01

  Avocados, the monounsaturated fat, it's good. Blueberries, I like to call them brain berries. Broccoli is good for the brain, vitamin E. Olive oil, the Mediterranean diet is good for your brain. If your diet allows, eggs. The choline in eggs is a precursor to acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that's really important for cognitive health. Green leafy vegetables, kale, spinach. Fatty fishes, because your brain is mostly fat, it's the omega-3s, specifically the DHA. So salmon, sardines, it's good for your brain. Turmeric, it has the curcumin, which helps the lower inflammation, stemically. Walnuts and almonds, even walnuts look like a brain, high in vitamin E, which is neuroprotective.

• 47:55Speaker 01

  Probably my favorite is dark chocolate. So everyone can remember that very well. So these are some of my favorite brain foods. Number two, the second key for a limitless brain, killing negative thoughts. Number three is exercise.

• 48:11Speaker 01

  As your body moves, your brain groups. Number four, brain nutrients. If you're not getting the fish, then omega fatty acids, supplementing with DHAs. But then there's all kinds of nootropics like L-theanine, bocopa, rhodiola, creatine, which is often associated with exercise. Huge benefit for mitochondria, energy for your brain. Number five, positive peer group. Who you spend time with is who you become. You spend time with nine broke people, you're gonna be number 10. We have these mirror neurons. And mirror neurons help to drive our empathy and imitate people around us. We imitate their words. Whether somebody smokes has less to do with their biological networks or their neurological

• 48:56Speaker 01

  networks, has more to do with their social networks. Because if your friends smoke, you're more likely to take that action. We start modeling the integrity, the moral fabric of the people we spend time with.

• 49:05Mel Robbins?

  Yep.

• 49:06Speaker 01

  What's acceptable, right? And imitating the habits of the people around us. So you spend time with people who are working out all the time, you're probably more likely to work out, right? If you haven't found that person yet, be that person. We could love our family and friends, but they don't have to be our peer group.

• 49:21Mel Robbins?

  Right.

• 49:22Speaker 01

  That's five. Six, clean environment. Cleaning your desk or making your bed, then you feel just kind of a clarity of thought. You know why? Because you're not using mental energy to keep track of everything. Your external world is often a reflection of your internal world. And then number seven, big one, sleep.

• 49:37Mel Robbins?

  Mm-hmm.

• 49:38Speaker 01

  Number eight, protect your brain. Brain protection. You know, wear a helmet, protect your brain. It's very resilient, but it's very fragile.

• 49:46Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 49:46Speaker 01

  Number nine, new learnings. Meaning, there's a study done with nuns on longevity. They lived 80, 90 above. And because it's a set community, similar diet and day play, they found that half of it was because of their faith and their emotional gratitude. The other half, key factor for longevity, they were lifelong learners. They're reading every day, they're having spirited debates, conversations, and because of it added years to their life and life to their years. My favorite learning, reading. Reading is to your mind, would exercise your body.

• 50:18Mel Robbins?

  Hmm.

• 50:19Speaker 01

  And then finally, number 10, stress management. Chronic stress has been shown to shrink the human brain. It also puts you in fight or flight. You're held hostage in your survival brain.

• 50:30Mel Robbins?

  You know what I'm thinking right now, Jim? I'm thinking, thank God we recorded this because I want to remember all 10 of those tricks to developing a super brain. And yet I'm like, I can't even remember where I put my keys. I'm going to try to blow up the countertop trick, but for crying out loud, Jim, how the heck are we going to remember all 10 of these things? Not to mention, remember to put them into our day to day life.

• 50:54Speaker 01

  I'm going to walk you through a 2,500 year old memory technique that will blow your mind. And I want everyone to do this and be able to remember all 10. All right. I want you to imagine you're coming to my office. It's in the suburbs. And if you can, close your eyes just to help you to focus. If it's safe to do so as you're listening. And it's a glass building. Let's say you're coming to take a speed reading class with us. I'm going to name 10 places along this journey to get to that classroom. And what we're going to do is take the 10 keys for limitless brain. And we're going to imagine those, each of those keys in each of those places.

• 51:29Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 51:29Speaker 01

  I'm going to ask everyone to say out loud as you're listening this. The first place that you get out of is the parking lot. So what's the first place? Say it out loud.

• 51:37Mel Robbins?

  Parking lot.

• 51:38Speaker 01

  Parking lot. And that's our verbal memory. I want you to see it and then we're going to feel it and get it in our body. So the parking lot, when you get out of the parking lot, it's going to be reminded you need a good brain diet. And how you do that, pretend you're eight years old and use your imagination. If you can't imagine it, imagine you can imagine it. And imagine there's a big buffet of your favorite brain foods. And so you see the blueberries, the avocados, the dark chocolate.

• 52:06Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 52:06Speaker 01

  And even if you can't imagine, again, imagine you can imagine it. See it, feel it, taste it. So from there, there is a waterfall. It creates like a moat around the building. And so you have to cross a bridge. So the second place is the bridge. So what's the second place?

• 52:22Mel Robbins?

  Bridge.

• 52:23Speaker 01

  Bridge. That's your verbal memory. You go across the bridge and you're killing ants. Just to remind you, the second tip, quick tip for limitless brain, you need to kill automatic negative thoughts. So you're stepping on those ants. It takes more time to say it than actually do to see it. And as you step in, you go into the building, the third place, you get into the elevator. What's the third place? Elevator. Elevator, great. And then, third brain tip, exercise. So, your personal trainer is there, and whatever your personal exercise is, Pilates, CrossFit, whatever, yoga, you're doing it in the elevator. So, see and feel yourself doing that. You get out of the elevator, and the fourth place is the hallway. So, what's the fourth place? Hallway.

• 53:07Speaker 01

  Hallway, and these are brain nutrients, all the nootropics, right? So, I want you to imagine you're tripping and falling on bottles of Ginkgo, of creatine, of curcumin, of lion's mane mushroom. Okay. Right, and you're just tripping on it. You're like Donkey Kong or Lara Croft. You're jumping over these, maybe make the bottles really big, right? And there are vitamins everywhere. You open the door to my office, immediately to the left is the fifth place, which is the closet. Closet. So, what's the fifth place? Closet. Closet, and inside, you want to remember your positive peer group. So, all of your happy friends are in the closet. They're celebrating, they're cheering, big surprise party, happy friends, positive peer group. Maybe we're doing a mastermind. Okay. Right?

• 53:49Speaker 01

  You get out, and it's the sixth place is the receptionist. Receptionist, what's the sixth place? Receptionist. And what the receptionist's doing is the sixth brain tip, which is clean environment. The receptionist is cleaning the environment. Okay. Waxing, vacuuming, dusting, everything is clean. Behind the receptionist is the seventh place, which is the fish tank. What's the seventh place? Fish tank. Fish tank, everyone say fish tank, and then the seventh tip, sleep. So, imagine Nemo, Dory in their pajamas, and they're in their bunk beds. One of them is snoring, right? And you're sleeping with the fishes. So, that's what's going on in the fish, and you just see it, you won't ever forget it.

• 54:33Speaker 01

  You don't have to repeat it 100 times, you see it once, you can't forget it. All right, we're almost there. You go to the classroom, but the door is locked for the speed reading class. And the door, the classroom door is the eighth place. What's the eighth place? Classroom door. Perfect, and there's a helmet on a hook there. So, you put the helmet on, and you headbutt the door open, it splinters everywhere, right? But the helmet reminds you of the brain tip, brain protection. Protect your brain. Great, and we're almost done. The front of the room is the ninth place, and it's a whiteboard with markers, right? Whiteboard. So what's the ninth place?

• 55:07Mel Robbins?

  Whiteboard.

• 55:08Speaker 01

  Great, and I'm there as your instructor, and I'm writing two words on the whiteboard in your favorite color. Mel, what's your favorite color?

• 55:17Mel Robbins?

  Red.

• 55:18Speaker 01

  Red. In red, I'm writing "new learnings." New learnings. So see those two words, "new learnings," to remind you about, you know, always be learning. And then finally, on the side of this particular classroom, are these Japanese plants, these bonsai trees. What's the 10th place?

• 55:36Mel Robbins?

  Bonsai trees.

• 55:37Speaker 01

  And you want to remember stress management. So whatever relaxes you, do it on the bonsai trees. Take a moment, you're doing meditation there, you're getting a massage there, you're having your relaxing drink, but you're doing it on the bonsai trees.

• 55:52Mel Robbins?

  Got it.

• 55:53Speaker 01

  Perfect. Now, you are on stage.

• 55:56Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 55:56Speaker 01

  You need to be able to share these 10 things.

• 55:59Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 56:00Speaker 01

  You go to the, but the first place is the parking lot, and that reminds you of what, everybody?

• 56:04Mel Robbins?

  Blueberries and brain food.

• 56:05Speaker 01

  Yes, your brain food. It's perfect. And then you cross the bridge, and what are you stepping on?

• 56:09Mel Robbins?

  Ants.

• 56:10Speaker 01

  Yes, kill those automatic negative thoughts. You get into the building, you get into the elevator.

• 56:15Mel Robbins?

  Exercise.

• 56:16Speaker 01

  Exercise. And then, once you get out of the elevator, you see the hallway, and it's covered in...

• 56:22Mel Robbins?

  Oh, bottles, bottles, like ginkgo and stuff that I'm, lion's mane and...

• 56:27Speaker 01

  Yes, lion's mane, all the, all the, the, the brain nutrients. You open up the door to the classroom, and immediately to the left is a closet.

• 56:35Mel Robbins?

  Our friends are in there.

• 56:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, all the happy friends, your positive peer group. Then you go to the receptionist, and what's the activity they're doing?

• 56:42Mel Robbins?

  Uh, the receptionist is cleaning.

• 56:44Speaker 01

  Cleaning. Clean your environment. And behind the receptionist is a fish tank.

• 56:49Mel Robbins?

  And they're sleeping.

• 56:50Speaker 01

  What are the fish doing?

• 56:51Mel Robbins?

  They're sleeping, Jim.

• 56:52Speaker 01

  They are sleeping.

• 56:53Mel Robbins?

  Oh my God, I could tell you what they are. We're gonna put on a helmet and bust through the door, and on the whiteboard is gonna be the words "new learning," and then there's a bonsai tree where I'm relaxing.

• 57:03Speaker 01

  Perfect. And you got it. 10 out of 10. And so, and you can even probably do it backwards, Mel.

• 57:09Mel Robbins?

  From the bonsai tree relaxing, to the new learning, to the helmet, to the cleaning, to the closet where my friends are, to the bottles that I tripped over, to the elevator where there was some exercise to do, to the ants that we stepped on, to the blue... That is amazing.

• 57:26Speaker 01

  Yeah. My message to everybody is, when you understand how your brain works, you could work your brain. When you understand how your memory works, you could work your memory. It starts to change your mindset about what's possible. Because when you do something you never thought you could do, then you say like, what else do I... Maybe I could read two or three times faster and enjoy it, and get more out of it. Or I could learn Spanish.

• 57:49Mel Robbins?

  I absolutely love, love, love everything that you just taught us. And I love the fact that where it left us, was you just proved to all of us that we have capability in our brain, that once we know how to unlock it, there's so much more that's possible. That is so cool, Jim.

• 58:12Speaker 01

  I truly believe, Mel, that, to the listeners, that there's a version of yourself that's patiently waiting. And the goal is we show up every single day until we get to be introduced.

• 58:23Mel Robbins?

  Jim, I just want to take a minute and thank you. I want to thank you for not just showing up here and telling us what you know, but teaching us in real time what we can do. And in the way that you taught us, you know what else you did? You proved to me and to the person listening, that yes, in fact, there is more capacity in our brain. That yes, in fact, we can build a super brain. And that our brains can do more than we know. In fact, more than we knew it could do just 45 minutes ago. So, thank you, thank you, thank you for empowering us and giving us specific skills that we can put to use, and already have put to use, to help us create a better life. You are literally the best.

• 59:03Speaker 01

  I'm grateful for our friendship, and for everyone who made it and listened to this conversation. It means the world.

• 59:11Mel Robbins?

  Well, thank you, Jim.

• 59:13Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 59:14Mel Robbins?

  And to you, I hope you take what you learned today and you remember your keys and you start reading 50% faster and you stop telling yourself dumb limiting beliefs about your brain because now you know you have a super brain and that you start taking care of that brain and remembering more names. And in case nobody else tells you, I was not going to forget this, let me be the one to say that I love you, I believe in you, and I believe in your ability to create a better life. Remember that and I'll see you in a few days.

• 59:49Mel Robbins?

  We looking good, people?

• 59:50Speaker 02

  Yes. Did you hit record? No, it was recorded. Hit that by right there.

• 59:55Mel Robbins?

  Okay.

• 59:58Mel Robbins?

  She's like, that looks great. Okay, bye. Don't like, don't interrupt me, I'm in my hole. What the, oh.

• 1:00:07Mel Robbins?

  That was special.

• 1:00:08Speaker 02

  Forget about the gin and tonic afterwards.

• 1:00:13Mel Robbins?

  Well, it's funny because I did not drink last night and I did not fall asleep till like 3:30, I don't know what it was. And you know what I've also figured out? Snoring is literally like Chris Lang there going, "See, I'm enjoying deep sleep while I'm like..." Okay, here we go. He's showing off. I have a question for you. Hold on a second. Oh, there it is. Okay, so hold on a second. Hold on a second. Okay, got it. And then you're like, "Am I losing my mind?" I've... Oh my gosh, sorry. I'm starting to like trip over my own lips. I don't know why. Now, look, I'm not trying to be... What was the other word we used here? It was... Oh, I have it right here, sorry.

• 1:00:56Mel Robbins?

  Oh, wait, I gotta start over because I'm all over the place with the video, I just realized. Okay, this is just feeling long and chunky, do you think? All right, let me start from the top again because it just felt like, I agree with you, Amy. Okay, you ready?

• 1:01:13Mel Robbins?

  Here we go.

• 1:01:14Speaker 01

  Sorry, one second. So we're recording.

• 1:01:17Mel Robbins?

  Oh, yeah, we're going. Like, yeah, I'll ask you. Look at him. He's like, "I didn't know that we were going to go here." Okay.

• 1:01:27Mel Robbins?

  Oh, and one more thing. And no, this is not a blooper. This is the legal language. You know what the lawyers write and what I need to read to you. This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. I'm just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I'll see you in the next episode.

• 1:02:01Speaker 02

  Stitcher.