Your Brain Power Is Limitless, You Just Need to Unlock Its Power! Jim Kwik Reveals His Daily Method

Your brain, your memory is not fixed like your shoe size. So I don't find that it defines the total capacity of a human being. To me, intelligence is how you exactly what you said, how you use your brain and direct your mind to create the life you want. [music] You spent years leaving the broken brain label. So give us a bit of the story. What changed? What happens when somebody finally lets go of that story that their brain doesn't work properly? >> So when I had my head injury when I was when I was five, I had these learning u some people called it learning disabilities. You know, I had migraines every day and poor focus, really hard time studying. As you mentioned, it took a few years to learn how to read like the other kids. So it really affected my self-esteem, my my self-worth. And then when I was 9 years old, I was slowing down to class and being teased and a teacher came to my defense. She pointed me and said that leave that kid alone. That's the boy with the broken brain. And that's the thing. Um it's interesting conversation, right? I think yes, the one of the limits growing up was that brain injury, but I think a bigger limit was the story I was saying about my brain injury for the next like 15 years, if that makes sense. You know, it's I just what what changed was discovering that my struggles were not necessarily proof of my limits. You know, they were feedback that I hadn't yet learned how my brain works, you know, so I could work my brain better. You know, I started to over time ask myself like [clears throat] stop asking like like why am I broken? I started asking, you know, how does my brain work? You know, I think there's a big grace that comes from uh going from, you know, criticism to curiosity. And that that changed everything because, you know, the questions that we ask is activates your reticular activating system. It d it directs the attention that we give and the attention uh determines what we notice, what we start practicing and what we're strengthening every single day. So, uh, you know, a label can be part of your experience, but it should never be the the ceiling of who you are. >> Yeah. You know, you I I like the fact that you defined intelligent differently than most. It's not an IQ score, but really the ability to use your brain and and direct your mind to create the life you want. I you and I both know we've been on programs together and I've had pleasure of watching you work an audience and I always like the fact if if a million dollars was on the line would you be able to remember something and of course the answer is yeah for a million dollars I'd probably be able to remember something. Um but usually the million dollars isn't on the line. How do we reframe um memory uh how our brain functions to work the way you think it should work? >> Yeah. At the events where you and I are at or you know sharing a stage together if there's time I'll do a demonstration where I'll pass around a microphone in the audience and people are introduce themselves and I'll memorize 50 or 60 people's names but you know or do something like that or 100digit number whatever there's time for. I always tell people I don't do this to impress you. I do is express to you what's possible because the truth is I believe that most everybody could do that also. We just weren't taught, you know, school taught us things like what to learn, like math and history and science, but there weren't a lot of classes on how to learn, if any. Like there was no class called focus or or retention. Like going to a co-orker or a family member saying, "Hey, focus on this. Really study this." That's like going to somebody saying, "Play the ukulele or play the dig." Who's never had any any training in that area, you know? And that when you're talking about intelligence, most people associate that with IQ. I don't believe a test you take when you're eight is your potential when you're 88. You know, your brain, your memory is not fixed like your shoe size. So, I don't find that it defines the total capacity of a human being. To me, intelligence is how you exactly what you said, how you use your brain and direct your mind to create the life you want. Somebody can know a lot about health, but if they're not, you know, making progress or, you know, uh they're not well, like then how much how intelligent are they? Someone could be able to quote every little fact about wealth that they've read in books, but if their bank account's not growing, you know, how intelligent are they? For me, intelligence, especially in the world of AI, artificial intelligence is, you [clears throat] know, our ability to adapt, our ability to learn, our ability to think, our ability to create, our ability to connect, our ability to make meaningful decisions. So, I think a reframe would be it's not how smart you are, it's how are you smart. It's not how smart I am. How am I smart and how can I train and apply those abilities because knowledge maybe knowledge is what you know but intelligence is what you do with what you know and wisdom is the reflection on that knowledge. You know wisdom is is knowing what should be done you know in the first place. >> I use the same idea with all my patients. I I can show you the path but you got to walk it. you mentioned in the book that yeah, we can read all these self-help books and say, "Oh, yeah, I'm going to do that." And three days later, u everything you committed to is gone. So, you wrote this book to for kind of one idea and I like it. It's uh the person you become over the next year, 365 days, comes down to what captures your attention kind of first thing in the morning. And you're big on protecting that attention before the world gets to it. As I said in the introduction, so walk us through this. What what's happening to us particularly in our connected world? >> When you wake, your brain is transitioning from sleep to alertness, right? right? It's waking up and so it's kind of like you're you're rebooting your computer and you're turning it on and you know everything is when it's turned on it's running smoothly because other tabs aren't opened and other which is other people's agenda and all the distractions of the day. You know our cortisol normally rises during the first 30 45 minutes and your attention and your working memory is pretty relatively unclaimed you know at that point. So, it's kind of like waking up to a fresh bed of snow outside. Other people having to run their their their tires or their footprints all over it. And I think it creates a nice canvas for creating an amazing day. What there's something called sleep inertia, which is a transition from sleep to wakefulness. And certain cognitive uh functions come online. you your awareness comes online, your alertness comes online and and it's interesting during that time and it's sleep inertia could be anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes up upwards of an hour. Really depends on your circadian rhythms. It really depends on what stage of sleep you woke up in, you know, whether it's kind of a a deep sleep or a REM sleep, but 15 to 45 minutes, you know, on average. Um, here's the thing. During that window though, the first maybe 30, 45 minutes, the mental inputs that you choose to let in to your your mind, your nervous system can have a disproportionate effect on the rest of your day. So, this is kind of I think a big takeaway for listeners and viewers. it specifically it can have an disproportionate influence on what you focus on during the day uh how you feel throughout the day and also how you frame and reframe certain parts of the day also and so for example what do most people put in that window they put uh it's called attentional priming by the way the principle is attentional priming you're priming your attention first thing in the morning to show you what's important that day to pay attention to and you probably delete and distort probably the other things that aren't there. And so most people, as you mentioned, you know, they'll grab their device and what so what are you amplifying or influencing unduly? It's messages and news and comparison and other people's priority. You know, you're you're wiring yourself for distraction before you have a chance to choose your direction of the day. Um, you're also training your your brain to to be reactive. you know, have you ever gotten like a I don't know, a social media comment that puts you in a mood or a a WhatsApp or voicemail message or an email from a colleague and it kind of kind of puts you in a mood for a few hours and then tends to that tends to be your focus throughout the day. So my mantra is for the longest time is uh mind before media. You know, take care and direct your mind before you invite media. Like nobody would invite 200 strangers into their bedroom to talk about whatever they want to talk about first thing in the morning, right? But it's kind of like what we do when we pick up our phones and look at our emails or open up a social media app. And so I say mind before media, you know, intention before interruption, you know, direction before distraction, right? So you want to direct your mind before the world has an opportunity to distract it for you. Other things that you could do positive during that window um prayer you know imag you know you prayer then that could be amplified throughout the day gratitude and I promise if people spend some some time in the morning just kind of feeling grateful for the things that matter they'll see more blessings in their life they'll notice more blessings throughout the day bonding with a loved one right could be so very important a family member uh setting uh your goals for the the day you know all the things that you want to amplify before you know reacting and distracting yourself. You know, even a question like asking yourself uh what matters today, you know, or what one action, you know, will I take for that? And just taking a minute and writing down your your answer, you know, it could be one physical action, you know, and just and I'll give you a comparable one. Most people would know during that opening window, they they're not going to eat like six donuts or muffins or something like that because what would it do? It would affect, you know, your focus throughout the day. It'll affect um your feelings throughout the day. It'll affect also how you frame because you know your state will be in a you know a little bit of a disarray with those glucose spikes or the inflammation. And so, you know, I I think u we live in a culture with digital devices that much like with food, uh that we're overfed and undernourished, right? We have people are just going through and getting information, but they're empty calories when they're going through their phone or take a physical action those first handful of minutes, right? You lose a lot of water overnight, upwards of a pound of of water through urination, perspiration, respiration, you know, even even mild dehydration, as you know, could affect your alertness and your cognitive performance. So, um, yeah, your brain needs direction and your body needs hydration and all that good stuff. >> Is it okay to have a cup of coffee black while I'm meditating about all this? >> I would say that's that's more your your your authority. I'm I'm a tea drinker myself, but I for for me >> I also drink tea. >> Yeah, it's um it I like a good matcha, you know, in the morning. U for me, I I I really keep it simple. You know, I'll uh my morning routine. So, during the sleep inertia time, I want to intentionally prime. I read Limitless daily. And that's actually my recommendation. Have the most important conversation you're going to have that day is not with your boss or even your spouse or your kids. It's with yourself. And so, you know, reading Limitless Daily is like a one-page way of of taking care of your mind before uh and directing your mind before the world has an opportunity to do that. But for me, my morning routine is really simple. I I'll share it cuz I I do travel a lot uh speaking and such like like you do and seeing clients. I would say um I I read um when I was doing research for Limitless um back in 2020 when it came out that um the a lot of ancient civilizations believe that everything was made of four elements, fire, water, air, and earth and earth. And so for me, my my morning routine outside of my my opening prayer and and being with my wife and and reading my passage at Olympus daily is I go outside. I go I do go out barefoot and so I get earth, you know, I get that grounding. Some people suggest that there's electron transfer and it could be, you know, good for good good for your physiology. So I get earth. I I you know, I'm out there in the sun and uh I feel like I sleep better at night. Your eyes are only part of your kind of your brain that's outside of your skull and that direct sunlight and the sun is fire. So I have earth from the grounding, you know, I have fire in the sun. I hydrate as I mentioned and sometimes I'll hydrate with um you know some maybe some electrolytes um or some lemon or something like that some salts and then so I have water so I have earth fire water and then I do some breathing exercise very simple to kind of clean out the any kind of mental cobwebs I feel or little brain fog from that night's sleep um and uh it could be box breathing or alpha breathing or fire breathing or Wimhof breathing whatever you're whatever you know makes you happy but all that's in 10 minutes and uh we have a 3 and 1/ halfyear-old son and sometimes we'll do that together and so it doesn't cost anything. It's not time consuming. It's 10 minutes and it's free and I could do it even when I travel, right? I don't need to travel with my red light bed and [laughter] you know all the other things. I feel like in any city or country that I happen to be in, I could I could do it. The primary thing I'm thinking about people don't have to do what I do. I I just explaining the principles behind it so people could do see what works for them. But I don't have time for like a 3-hour morning routine. But um that 10 minutes really sets up my day, right? >> You bring up a very good point. We travel in the biohacker circuit and a lot of our friends and colleagues describe this kind of you brought it up three-hour morning routine. Who among our listeners, including probably me and you, has three hours for their morning routine? I don't. uh you know I I get go see my patients at 8:00 in the morning. So this is a practical book and I love practical books. help us understand. You say we've got, you know, you got five minutes, you got 10 minutes. Put this stuff into action. And one of the things you mentioned, you have four eyes. Inspiration, ideiation, implementation, identify, but then you added a fifth and that's intention. Okay. So, how work this through in a normal person's schedule. When I was on a a previous episode on on your show, I talked about the limitless model uh which is three levers that will make you more limitless. You have to unlimit your your mindset. Believe it's possible. Believe you deserve it. You believe you're capable of it. You know, you need to unlock and unlimit your motivation. You need the power to be able to act on it. Uh do you have a limitless mindset, but if you're not motivated to do anything, you you won't. And then you need the correct methods, updated methods, you know. You know, so when if I'm teaching speed reading, most people haven't updated their reading skills since they were 7 years old. Um, you know, as an example, or, you know, or in the area of health and wellness and and longevity, anti-aging, you know, so much more research and a lot of people are still doing the same things that maybe aren't getting the results they're hoping for. But where those three uh M's cross over and kind of like in a ven diagram, you have three eyes. And so mindset and motivation cross over, you have inspiration. And uh inspiration is a spark, right? Mindset and methods, you know, it's possible, you know what to do. Um and that creates possibility, but you're not motivated, right? Implementation is where motivation and methods cross over and you have implementation. And that's where you turn that idea and turn it into action. Uh so you need all three of those, you know, inspiration and uh and ideation and uh implementation. So the book is actually uh dated meaning that you go to a specific date whatever the date is. Everyone in the world reads the same passage first thing in the morning ideally but you can read it throughout the day uh any time during the day and it gives you those three things. It gives you an ideiation something a new idea that will help you overcome something difficult that day. It's written in an inspiring way some quick isms in there also to kind of keep you inspired. And then there's an implementation where it just takes two minutes where you're actually earning your learning. Meaning that a lot of people, you know, with with dopamine, it's which is the molecule of motivation as you know and your listeners are very sophisticated. You know, free dopamine without effort, right, is a challenge. And we get we can get it from snacking. We can get it from binge watching something. We get it from going to a website. We could get it through doom scrolling. But it it requires no effort and that could be a challenge. And people wonder why they're not motivated. You know, one of the myths is that you need motivation to take action. You know, with our formula in Limitless, it's purpose times energy. You need purpose to be motivated. You need energy because an exhausted person won't be motivated. But you also need S3, which is small, simple steps. And so, we break things down into very small steps in the book. Give them a two-minute exercise so they've earned their dopamine. And that gives them the impetus to be able to keep motivated, right? to keep on going at that action to create momentum. But the the [clears throat] new thing that we that we added in there was identity and intentionality. meaning there's an identity statement at the bottom of each page because I feel like that's the ultimate way is intentionally in terms of transformation is intentionally um crafting your identity because under pressure and under stress which is most of the time everyone could perform well under ideal conditions but under stress political stress or economic stress or you know health challenges we don't rise to the level of our goals and dreams as much as we fall to the level of our systems like what are your health systems for example or your learning systems we fall to the level of our standards like what are we willing to accept in our life we fall to the level of our stories that we tell ourselves which you know for me a long time my story was I'm broken and I got those you know similar baseline default results and then the big one is our self-image it's really hard to outperform how you see yourself and so my goal with the book is they're doing a little bit each day and they get an identity transformation because they're creating evidence that they are the person that they are saying that they are right and I feel like the number one habit to employ is following through like doing what you say you're going to do for yourself because that creates selfrust and uh and that intention is very important to have an intentional day because you know Duke University suggests that uh 40% of our day is habitual unconscious right and the brain wants to be incredibly efficient And so it likes to have things on autopilot because the brain while it's only 2% of your body mass, it requires a lot of energy. You know, I've worked with uh not just athletes but chess champions and they could burn upwards of 6,000 calories just sitting in a chair just with their brain power and you know their cognitive load. And so I would say is um you know people don't want to think so much cuz it takes energy. Isn't it interesting that the thing you want most you have to use. If you want strength, you have to use your strength to work out. If you want energy, you can't sit on the couch and just, you know, binge watch stuff. You're not going to have more energy. You have to use your energy. If you want greater focus, you have to use your focus. And so, the things that you want most in life, we have to we have to use. If you want a greater memory, you have to use your memory because it's use it or lose it. Um, and same thing would go with your your intentional your conscious like muscles in terms of leading eating with intention, right? being connected and present, you know, with loved ones with intention, you know, reading with an intention, right? So, I feel like um intention is is paramount. So, yeah, it's ideation, inspiration, implementation, uh intention, and then and then identity, which gives you the integration. >> My upcoming book uh is called Feed Your Brain, and it's it's coming out February 23rd. I've been fascinated about what our brain. First of all, we have the biggest brain per body mass of of any animal. Dolphins are pretty close, but we we still win. And uh I I go into why I propose we have a big brain and nobody else does. But I know a lot of high performers that kind of live on the idea of a keto diet or a car carnivore diet. But our brain is about 60% fat. I I tell my patients if they want to tell their loved one they're a fat, I'll back them up. Half of the half of our brain fat is DHA, one of the longchain omega-3 fats. The other surprising thing is the other half is this quote evil omega-6 fat called arachidonic acid. And if arachidonic acid was evil, then why the heck is half of our brain made out of this stuff? Interestingly enough, uh seafood and shellfish and seaweed are actually perfectly designed to feed a big brain and and a lot of the book goes into that. What do you tell people to eat to maximize their brain performance? Because you gota you got to have a fed brain to to accomplish what you're trying to do. Yeah, I talk about taking your meds um which is uh not pharmaceutical but the M is meditation. You know sometimes when we pause it's it's very important because if you pause a computer it stops working but humans when we pause like we tend to recreate and restore and recalibrate and start working. The E is exercise which you know all the benefits of of exercise in the brain and the D is diet um which we'll talk about now and S is sleep. Um, so I [clears throat] kind of codify everything for diet, you know, when we're talking about DHA, you know, and EPA. For me personally, my my my go-tos in my personal life is like avocados, extra virgin, olive oil. My diet is like a lot of leafy greens and um berries, you know, especially like the deeply colored ones like the polyphenols, eggs, if if that works for the individual. The choline and eggs, you know, is very important for cognitive health. I love walnuts and blueberries together. Um, sometimes I add some turmeric and I make this golden latte with some almond milk. You know, clean water, you know, obviously is, you know, is is obviously mostly water. I'm looking forward to maybe we could have you on back on our podcast. We could talk about this, you know, your latest research. You know, I just I would just say for me this whole area of science called uh neuro neuron nutrition. What you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. Eat, you know, back to intentionality. you know, eat foods that I like to eat foods that love you back and then, you know, also noticing what gives me stable energy, clear thinking, a better recovery. Um, you know, and then seek, you know, an expert like yourself to personalize and, you know, give you guidance um along the way. >> I mentioned this early on. You make a point in the book that knowing something isn't the same as doing it. Like I said, I can show you the path, but you got to walk it. How do you What's the motivational tool to get it to doing these things? >> Yeah. Let's Let's turn this into like a mini master class. I want, you know, if everyone listening or watching could think of that one thing that they know they should do, but they for some reason aren't putting into action, right? Because we knowledge is not power. It only has power when we use it. When people listen to a podcast like this or they read one of our books or they go to a lecture, you know, the reason one of the reasons why there's a forgetting curve that they could lose upwards of 80% of it uh the information they learned after 48 hours is because the lack of use because our nervous system through neuroplasticity, it's a constant remodeling based on challenge, right? But it's really at a fundamental level. It's it's like if you don't use it, you're telling your nervous system it's not important. So it has no reason to strengthen those connections. In fact, it'll delete or prune, you know, those things because it's we're not using it. So, so let's let's say somebody listening has an example, right, that they have something and they could throw it on, you know, social media and tag us both cuz I'm curious, you know, what your community is wants to do and maybe that'll be a public statement [clears throat] for them to intentionally take action. But let's say they want to read more, right? Instead, I would say I would make it easy to start. So like most people say they want to read more um because like someone like yourself has decades of experience and you put your wisdom into a book and somebody could sit down and read that book in a few days. They could download decades into days, right? They know they should read more. It's a huge advantage. But I would say like instead of saying I want to read more, I would say after I pour my morning coffee, you know, or matcha tea, I will read one page, right? Because then there's a we've had James Clear and Charles Doohig and uh BJ Fog, you know, the three big habits experts. There's a cue, there's a behavior, and there has to be a location in your day. And so, you know, at Limitless, we had a whole section on habit design, how to break bad habits, how to create new habits. But you need a Q. And that Q could be something as simple as, you know, you're waiting for your coffee to brew and you do some air squats, right? there's some kind of cue or trigger or a prompt, you know, for that. And then you have the behavior that you do like reading a page or doing those squats. And then you it's contextualized in your environment where you're doing it, you know, the same time, you know, at this same location. Just like with Limitless Daily, you know, I want that to be on their nightstand, right? And then what how do they change their habit? Instead of grabbing their phone, they put their the the rule for environmental design is you want to make the things that are good for you easier. And you know, and you want to make the things that are not good for you harder. If you don't have the junk food in your home, you're not going to do that midnight snacking, right? Because you create a lot of friction. And so, like, if you take your phone and put it into the bathroom, you won't have the impetus to pick it up or be stressed in the middle of the night, you know, just thinking you should check it. And then you replace it with something else cuz you can't just stop a habit. You have to start doing something else. So you know having a journal there or limitless daily or something else or you know a bottle of water you know so you could hydrate first thing in the morning. So I would say you know again the formula for overcoming procrastination is motivation is purpose times energy times small simple steps. If people won't want to work out and that's their goal and they're not doing it. You know I have been telling people for years like that the heaviest weight at a at the gym is the front door right? Some people don't do it because it's too big. So I would say like purpose gives you a reason that you feel energy is your capacity to follow through because you're not exhausted to work out or do that reading. And a small simple step reduces friction, right? So if any factor in that is zero, motivation is going to collapse. And so like maybe it's not going to the gym for an hour. Maybe the small simple step is putting on your running shoes. Or maybe it's reading for 30 minutes is too big of a jump. Maybe it's just opening up the book. Maybe it's reading one line in the book. You know, it's small simple steps is really the key because sometimes new goals and new habits can be intimidating, right? This the fear of the unknown. The brain wants to keep you safe and something new could be uh hazardous potentially. So, it's uh make it easy for yourself. Feel your purpose, create your energy, and then take one little step because inch by inch is a cinch, yard by yard. It's it's too hard. >> You you brought up several good points. Ariana Huffington actually invented a bed for her cell phone and she tucked her cell phone into bed away from her and so her cell phone could get some rest and so she could get some rest which I thought great idea. When I was growing up, we used to have there was a series of little paperback books called the Daily Bathroom Reader. [snorts] And as I was reading your book, uh, and they were actually most kind of motivational stories and you know, you're not doing anything for a couple minutes. Could Could this become my daily bathroom reader? >> [laughter] >> I think it's great as long as it's it's in like ideally the first 45 minutes because you get a win before you go to your devices and if that's part of your routine then yeah we just don't need any photos of anyone listening but that's a wonderful time. I mean whatever I rather that than people on their phone for sure. >> All right. Well then I'm proposing it cuz come on folks. Uh everybody's got to got to do it and why not get some inspiration while you're doing it. Is there a positive aspect from our phones and social media etc that we can incorporate into making our brains work better or is that just wasted whatever >> you know one reason I wrote limitless daily also is that you don't have to wait to feel like a different person you could cast one vote we're always casting one vote you know for everything we do is casting a vote for what's important when you put your phone outside your bedroom tonight, you know, or place your walking shoes by the door. You prepare one nourishing meal, you read one page, you know, just acknowledge that, you know, this is evidence of who I am becoming. This would go also, I would say, for social media. I mean, technology for me is not good or bad. It's just how it's used, right? Fire is an early form of technology and it could cook your food or it could burn down your home. It's just how it's used. My my challenge is when people go to it unconsciously without intention. They do it because they're bored, right? And that I feel like technology is a tool for us to use, but if we're doing it on autopilot, then the technology is using us, then who becomes the tool, right? And so I I would say that, you know, social media allows us to get our message out. Um it allows me to keep in touch with friends or see what they're up to, which I find valuable. I think it's also whatever you engage with, the algorithm is not just who you follow. So I could I could follow my favorite accounts. Um, so I get to use it as a way of getting some like, you know, little brain bites here or there. Um, so I think that's a valuable use. But I think it's just like food is information, you know, uh, that we're bringing in. I would just say that I'm looking for social media more for high vibe, more insight, you know, more high high nutrition, not empty calories. So, I think it's who you follow and it's also what you engage with. Whatever you engage with, the primary algorithm for most of social media is whatever you engage with, you you see more of. I, you know, I'm not on social media very much, but I tend to not even see the people I'm following as much as whatever I'm engaging with because then that, you know, we're telling the algorithm, the platform that this is interesting, so they give you more of that, which could also be a challenge because we don't see other people's point of view. But I want to remind people also there's an algorithm on your mind and similar. It's whatever you engage with, you see more of. If you you engage with more, you know, looking for opportunity and possibility and gratitude, you'll see more of that because what you appreciate appreciates. So, I would I would be think of technology as like any like any other food you would digest, not just for your food, but for your mind. You know, I'm looking for something that's nourishing. Some people use it though to um you know, to decompress. And here's my little warning to everybody. Uh I was working with a client who um you know is a notable person and she tells me in in private that she's she goes on her phone at night and we looked at how much time she was actually spending on social media and it was upwards of 2 hours cuz that time could really fly by and and I asked her, you know, what's her intention of looking at all this stuff and uh cuz it's also affecting her sleep for sure cuz her sleep scores aren't aren't that great cuz maybe it's the blue light that fools your mind and think it's still daylight. light so you don't create the melatonin to relax or maybe it's the stimulus of what they're looking at. But uh and then I asked a simple question 2 hours like cuz and she was saying I do it because I had a really stressful day and it's my way of decompressing and who am I to [clears throat] say what's right for people but I did offer you uh to challenge that assumption. And I said, "Okay, would you wake up, let's say she wakes up at 6:00 in the morning, would you wake up at 4:00 in the morning to scroll through your phone?" And it was a complete shift, right? Like if you went stay up 2 hours later to doom scroll, would you wake up, you know, you know, wake up 2 hours earlier? And most people would say no. But it's kind of like what they're doing. And so I I just be, you know, technology is great. It's just how it's employed. If you use it to connect with friends and learn some stuff and get some inspiration, I think that's wonderful. But I think that the challenge is is if we're eating empty calories, you know, and just using it for snacks and because we're addicted to it, just like we are to certain foods and junk foods, then um that could be a challenge and we might want to put some borders and boundaries around that. And there are plenty of opportunities to do that with these apps and controls and, you know, all kinds of things that could keep you conscious of how much time you're spending in that time. I I I here I'll throw one more thing out. If I challenge people because there's a currency to your attention. We live in the age of attention. That's by far our greatest asset is what we attend to. Um we pay attention even listen to words. If somebody had to whip out their credit card to go on social media every single time and enter their credit card information, go on Facebook and then spend any time there and that's the cost, not they're paying attention. They're paying with their money. and then they go to Instagram and they take out that same credit card and put that same information in. I guarantee you people would would treat that differently. They'd be thinking about my attention is my currency. How can I save my attention? How can I preserve my attention? How can I invest my intention? Uh attention to something that will that will give me rewards tomorrow. >> All right. Our our viewers and listeners are saying, "Well, Jim, this is all really great. uh AI is going to take care of all of this for me because I in the future or even right now will never have to think again because AI is much smarter than me. What say you Mr. Smart Guy? >> Yeah, I I wrote this book in an age of AI and I wrote about something called digital deduction back in when Limus came out in 2020. It's the u it's this is the danger. There are a couple dangers obviously with AI and how it's employed. There's something called cognitive offloading and if you use AI to do the thinking for you or over time I think there's going to be a big consequence meaning that thinking is like a muscle just like your focus your memory and uh you know technology has always changed the way we think when we started to write we started to think different you know when we when we had printing presses it changed the way we think when we had calculators it changed the way we do math when we had GPS it changed the way we navigate our visual spatial intelligence and it's all convenient you just don't want to crippling, right? So, cog cognitive offloading is where it's thinking for you, right? Solving problems for you. It's deciding for you. And the challenge is is like in mass, what happens to our society if we're not having to use those critical thinking muscles, right? Our logic muscles, our jud our own human judgment, those muscles, they would atrophy, you know, and that could be a big challenge, you know, at scale. There was an MIT study where they had students write essays. Um, and group A and B and C. A lot of people, I'm sure a lot of your listeners know this study, but the the quick of it is group A used chat GPT to write their essays. Group B used Google. Group C didn't use either. And then they scan their their brains to see which one was most active. Certainly group C was cuz they they were doing the heavy lifting, right? And then when they tested for comprehension and retention of the essay, you know, group C knew the most because they did the work, right? Um, but group A, they scored the worst because it was spoonfed to them. They just copied and pasted and they didn't have to earn it. And it's like going to the gym and asking your friends to work out for you. Neuroplasticity requires effort. And learning should be a certain level of difficulty, you know, in order to grow, just like your muscles grow, in order for it to adapt. So, I'm very concerned about cognitive offloading, but even worse is cognitively surrendering, you know, and letting it do all of that because I feel like, you know, our brains aren't going to get the exercise that it desires and deserves. You know, I always say, build your intelligence before you borrow. The B stands for brainstorm. before you go to AI, you know, with something, brainstorm yourself about, you know, the situation. The U is understand and really understand the problem cuz most people are optimizing for the wrong problem, right? And so Einstein, I don't know if it's it's it's accredited to him or attributed to him. He said, if I have an hour to solve a problem, I spend 55 minutes defining the problem, the right problem. And I would say like think about what the real problem or prompt is. And then the um the I and build is an acronym is imagine. Just imagine three solutions to that problem yourself before you go to AI or do some mental imagination experiments like how would a child look at this problem? You know, how would someone twice as smart as you look at this problem? How would a mentor or an authority in this area look at this problem before? So you come up with three solutions before you go to AI and then the L and build then leverage AI. But I think a lot of people are leveraging it wrong because AI has this tendency to just make you feel good to make you like oh it can make the most unintelligent person feel like they're a genius because it's just it's a sickopan right a lot of times unless you challenge it and say so I would leverage AI by saying poke holes like be be my worst opponent like you know debate me tell tell me what's wrong here you know point out my cognitive biases show me my blind spots uh pressure test this idea of this new business or this new health protocol or whatever, right? Because there's the other thing is AI could be is can be flawed. There's there's a lot of misinformation still in AI, you know, and that's a challenge. So, I would leverage AI in a way that just not just like yeah, of course, you could summarize this and you know, quiz me on this all those things, but I would have it point out because AI is not artificial. It's it's for me it's more augmented intelligence. Don't use it to just, you know, create for you. use it to help coach you, right? And then the and then the D in build is then you decide, you know, after all this, you gone to brainstorm yourself, you understand the problem, you come up with your own imagined solutions, and then you leverage AI, then decide because AI will never be able to do this, right? Human intelligence, which is what this book is really about. um improving your own focus, your judgment, your creativity, your critical thinking, your curiosity, your purpose, your emotional quotient, your leadership, you know, all these important issues, your adaptability to learn, unlearn, relearn in 5 minutes a day. You know, I would say that AI can spit out information like health information, but it can't tell you what's important. It can't tell you what things mean. It can't tell you what to do, right? And so ultimately, and also it has no stake in it, right? it giving you advice has no responsibility or consequence if it's wrong. We're human beings when we decide on something and make a choice on something. We do have to own that that decision, you know, and so I feel like, you know, build before you borrow, you know, five simple things that they could do before they go to AI to kind of keep your mind fit. >> In the old days, our computer language was garbage in, garbage out. It still applies. uh a lot of when I ask AI a question about some health matter, they'll come up with all this and then if you click on that particular advice, a lot of times it'll take you to a YouTuber influencer >> or Reddit or some >> Yeah, it's like what the heck AI, aren't you smart enough to realize, you know, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about? Of course, it doesn't know what he's talking about. But yeah, so it's still I think we have to be careful right now. It's still AI is only as smart as what we put into it or what. >> I love that because you're absolutely right. AI will magnify and it'll amplify. Um and you know, if somebody is chaotic and confused, it'll amplify that right in scale. Or if somebody is, you know, competent, they're knowledgeable, um they're clear, it'll amplify that also. It's always the human intelligence. is I think human intelligence is more important than artificial intelligence. I want to live in a place where and my my optimistic view is that you in order to be valuable in society, we're not going to outmp compute and process, you know, what AI could do. So, it's going to force us, I'm hoping it's going to force us to be more human. I think one of the most important conversations is exactly this is this conversation that we're leaning into, which is how do you remain deeply human um in a in an age of AI? And I think it'll force us to, you know, develop our emotional quotient, our understanding, our purpose to get through hard times, difficult times, you know, as humans, or our ability to adapt, have cognitive flexibility as opposed to cognitive rigidity where we're stuck on a certain way of eating or or exercising that you could we could change our opinions based on new data as opposed to be cognitively rigid like a blockbuster video. They didn't adapt, right? like a Kodak they didn't adapt for the digital world and you know those are big examples that people know but you having the same limited thinking you know created challenges in our our own life you know and not being flexible so our ability to adapt and and also like it'll force us also hopefully in this new renaissance that maybe it's the evolution of AI but maybe there's a human evolution and a human renaissance where also besides the understanding and meaning and purpose and adaptability and e emotional quotient it's going help us with our our our social connections, you know, leadership and parenting. Those are things AI like AI could fake empathy, but it doesn't know what it's like to have a child that's sick, right? Or to have your heart broken or to ask for forgiveness. It just it can faint it artificially, but it's synthetic, right? It never doesn't have that experience. And so, I feel like human beings, you know, reflecting on our own what we learn gives us wisdom, intuition, you know, things that make us more human. And I'm hoping people have to lean into that to be valuable in the workforce and maybe it'll make us a society more human, not not less. I just don't want natural intelligence to become artificial. That that would be a very scary thing. >> All right. I want to I want to go back to something you wrote about in Limitless Daily that the person you become over the next 365 days is determined by what captures your attention each day. >> [snorts] >> So if if someone commits to a full year of this practice, Limitless Daily, what what can they expect? What what changes first? Sleep, clarity, mood. How do they look for proof that something's happening? >> Again, you don't brush your teeth for three hours and you're done brushing your teeth for the rest of the year. Or you don't need one salad, you know, with some good protein and and fats and and you're just, you know, healthy for the rest of your life. you don't have one great conversation with a stranger and then you have this epic romance, right? It's the consistency. And so, you know, Limitless Daily, the promise is that you will be unrecognizable by the end of the year. Like, I think there's a version of herself 12 months from now, a version that's healthier, more energized, more clear, you know? I mean, just think about imagine this thought experiment. Everyone listening, you know, like what imagine waking up a year from now and you're just happy like something happened, you're transformed, you know? What are you proud of? You know, what are people saying to you? What are you saying to yourself? Right? How do you how do you feel? You know, who are the people in your life? You know, what are the things that are lighting you up? And I find out sometimes we're burned out not cuz we're doing too much. Sometimes we're burned out because we're doing too little. The things that really uh make us come alive, right? And then I think that version of oursel is patiently waiting 12 months from now. But the goal is we show up every single day until we get to be introduced, right? And so the promise of this, I I wrote Limitless um for my kids actually. Um I don't talk about this often, but it's like uh Limitless Daily cuz Limitless I wrote in a couple of months um cuz I had, you know, decades of content that I had to codify and get out of my head 8 hours a day. When my daughter was born, she'll be uh two in a few months. We were in the hospital and she was my when I was seeing my wife in the hospital bed when she was just born. I was looking at her and then looking at her two-year-old brother and I I'm 53 so I'm an older parent and I I started writing in the morning uh to to them when they're adults. God forbid I'm not there 20 years from now. What would they need to hear from their father to get them through a hard day? And I started to write about the things that I went through and clients go through. I started writing, you know, one page a day on distraction, burnout, fear of failure, imposttor syndrome, negative thoughts, other people's opinions, like all these different things um that would keep us out of flow, you know, feeling our best and performing our best. And then the next morning I started continuing it and then the next morning also and that became my daily practice every morning as I would write to them and then um I started sharing the manuscript it wasn't a manuscript with friends just to kind of get their thoughts on this and it started helping them. They they would tell me that this is the exact message they needed to hear to start their day. You know, it also made it more creative because they created content around it and everything and started sharing with their spouse and their, you know, talk about it with their kids over, you know, meals and uh and I had a friend that was going through stage 4 cancer and, you know, a lot of it is their mindset, you know, about not just the diagnosis, but the prognosis and, you know, um not just keeping positive, but you know, it was it was hard going through, you know, some of the uh therapies and started reading the book and it just total change in attitude, you know, And so and then I started went back to it thought this would be the great book and I started putting the science underneath every entry you know where a lot of daily books like you go to like whatever August 27th and there's an entry there and everyone's reading the same page um you know they pull from stoicism or Christianity or Buddhism or Judaism or stoicism that this they I pull on science science of the mind which is psychology or science of the brain neuroscience to give people some confidence that this is an idea worth pursuing and So, um, yeah, the promise of it is that she would be unrecognizable. People, I feel like overestimated what they could do in a day, but they totally underestimated what could happen in in 12 months. So, I didn't think what everyone wanted this follow-up book to Limitless. And I didn't want to write a book that just sat on people's shelf. They read it for a few days, put on their shelf, and become shelf, not self-help. I wanted a book. I think they didn't need another book from me. and maybe they will in the future, but I think they needed a daily practice, something that they could have and and refer to every single morning or afternoon. Um, and like a conversation with me and a conversation with themselves. So, so it's at limitlessdaily.com and and you know, I'd love to go on the year-long journey with with with your listeners. >> And maybe if everybody read the same passage on that day, the collective wisdom, >> oh my god, I got goose I got goosebumps. Uh I call them truth pumps. I feel like how do we become limitless in a limited world? We do it together, you know. But all the I think the energy of this, you know, of of of of thousands or tens of thousands of individuals reading the same page each day will set the because there's a world that exists solely cuz you're in it. I'm talking to the listener, you know, and I feel like there's this butterfly effect that small little changes could have big changes across the across the globe. So that's that's a conversation I think is worth having. Many of us think that the brain is probably a pretty good receiver, but that's probably for another day. As I warned you, we always have an audience question. And this one, interestingly, I can see why it wants to remain anonymous. When you talk about rewiring your brain and building a limitless identity, does that actually work for people with neurological differences like ADHD or dyslexia? That's a really good question and it's okay that you're anonymous about this. Uh what do you think Jim? >> Well, I appreciate people having the intention, you know, wanting to I think having the curiosity and the consciousness and the awareness to ask the question is huge. Um so thank you whoever submitted that. I would say that um certainly limitless not meant to diagnose or treat you know any kind of you know these kind of challenges and seek your your professional. Um but I would say yes you know with the important distinction you know we have millions of students worldwide um ADD ADHD dyslexia you know for me I take a very strength-based approach to it you know um there there are real neurodedevelopmental differences but they're not failures of discipline and limitless daily is is definitely not a cure or substitute for professional assessment and accommodations or you know support or therapy But a different brain is still a learning brain, right? You know, research shows that a structured reading interventions can produce both reading improvements, you know, and also measurable changes in the activity of the reader. Um, even if they have, you know, reading difficulties. And so, um, you know, evidence, it's more, it's more nuanced than that. It's a little mixed. Um, so I think that it's but they're not magical claims. You know, I I grew up struggling profoundly with reading and and focus. And so what helped me was not pretending that these difficulties didn't exist. It was replacing shame with strategy. Right? For me, I had to make practices shorter. I had to be more deliberate to remove distractions. I had to use more movement when I was learning. um I had to use external reminders and accountability you know with a tutor um to work my way um work the way my brain was functioning. So I think neurodiversity may change the path but it does not eliminate the possibility of a progress you know and some of them my highest profile clients they you know they have that trait of ADD or ADHD or dyslexia and it forced them to create things that other people haven't seen because they they just they think differently right and for for for many of them they call it a superpower you know but it's I feel like it's not shaming oursel it's just kind think, you know, finding a strategy that works best, you know, for the outcome we're looking that we desire and we really deserve. >> Yeah, that's well said. I see a diverse amount of patients. I still see patients 6 days a week >> and I appreciate that also because I still I also still coach, you know, people because I feel like it keeps you your finger on the pulse of what's going on. >> I learn something from them every day. I really do. But you're right, I I take care of CEOs and celebrities as part of that practice. But most of these successful people in whatever walk of life usually have uh ADD, ADHD, uh dyslexia that they've overcome and it's really become a superpower for them because they can actually intensely focus on something they're really interested in. and usually master it and then look at the next pretty shiny object and become intensely focused on that. But they they've made it a superpower and it's it's really interesting. So the idea that this is a problem I think is like what happened to you learning early on this is this is not a problem. It's just another system that you once you know how the system works, it really can be a superpower. And you're a perfect example of that. >> Yeah. Reframe. This great reframe that it's not a problem. It's it's a puzzle. But once you know how a puzzle like a Rubik's cube or anything else works, then then then you know it's fun to get curious about it to pull the judgment out of it. Sometimes we're just very critical inside. We have the inner critic. And I feel like you know the transformation turning that critic into a coach where a coach like in your mind is honest with you right it's there's honesty but it's it's kind too it's compassionate a good coach and also it's forward facing right it's moving you forward into something and um but I I think you know most of success is again how you use your brain and how you direct your mind to kind of create these results and you and with self-compassion you know being kind to yourself goes a long way in this, you know, knowing that you're human and we make mistakes and that's how we grow and we own those mistakes. But um but yeah, I I I agree. There's so many opportunities for people every day. They have a chance because they can make a new choice. >> And another thing you said, it's okay to make mistakes, right? >> Yeah, absolutely.