YAPClassic: Jim Kwik, Brain Hacks for Supercharging Learning & Memory

0:00:05 Today’s episode is sponsored in part by Teachable, Fundrise, Mint Mobile, Working Genius, Indeed,
0:00:06 and Shopify.
0:00:11 Teachable makes it easy for creators to monetize their content with full control.
0:00:15 Head to teachable.com and use code “PROFITING” to claim your free month on their pro-paid
0:00:16 plan.
0:00:20 Grow your real estate investments in minutes with the Fundrise flagship fund.
0:00:26 Add the Fundrise flagship fund to your portfolio with as little as $10 at fundrise.com/profiting.
0:00:29 Save big on wireless with Mint Mobile.
0:00:35 Get your new three-month premium wireless plan for just $15 a month at mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:00:39 Unlock your team’s potential and boost productivity with Working Genius.
0:00:44 Get 20% off the $25 Working Genius assessment at workinggenius.com with code “PROFITING”
0:00:46 at checkout.
0:00:49 Attract interview and hire all in one place with Indeed.
0:00:53 Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/profiting.
0:00:55 Terms and conditions apply.
0:00:59 Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you grow your business.
0:01:04 Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/profiting.
0:01:10 As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes.
0:01:20 Hey, yeah, fam.
0:01:25 I am beyond excited to bring you today’s episode with somebody who truly knows how to make
0:01:29 those neurons fire on all cylinders, Jim Quick.
0:01:35 We first played this episode in October 2022 and it was episode 190.
0:01:41 Jim Quick has been a huge influence in the world of memory improvement and brain optimization.
0:01:46 For over three decades, he has been the go-to expert for celebrities, CEOs, and even world
0:01:50 leaders who want to sharpen their minds and achieve more.
0:01:51 But here’s the kicker.
0:01:53 Jim wasn’t always a brainiac.
0:01:57 In fact, he started out as the boy with the broken brain.
0:02:02 And that’s because he struggled with a traumatic brain injury that left him learning challenged.
0:02:07 Fast forward to today and Jim is a living testament to the power of the human mind to
0:02:08 heal and grow.
0:02:11 Jim is one of the smartest people I know.
0:02:15 In this app classic, we talk about the techniques that you can use to improve your focus, boost
0:02:18 your memory, and learn anything faster.
0:02:25 Just like B-SWAV for remembering names, and I love his P times E times S formula, which
0:02:30 stands for purpose multiplied by energy and small simple steps.
0:02:33 That’s basically the secret sauce for limitless motivation.
0:02:37 Whether you’re trying to remember names at a networking event or simply want to keep
0:02:43 your mind sharp, this episode is packed with actionable tips that will help you get there.
0:02:51 So if you’re ready to make your brain your best asset, let’s get right into it.
0:02:55 Talk to us about those early years when you were the boy with the broken brain.
0:02:58 And tell us about this boy you were before you started your transformation.
0:02:59 Wow.
0:03:00 Okay.
0:03:01 Let’s go back.
0:03:05 You mentioned my traumatic brain injury when I was in kindergarten and I was rushed to the
0:03:08 emergency room and where it really showed up.
0:03:10 The effects was in school.
0:03:11 I had trouble learning.
0:03:12 I couldn’t focus.
0:03:14 I had a horrible memory.
0:03:17 I couldn’t process information like everybody else.
0:03:19 Teachers would repeat themselves over and over again.
0:03:23 And I learned to pretend to understand, but I really didn’t understand anything.
0:03:26 It took me a few years longer just to learn how to read.
0:03:29 And now those are really, there’s a lot of anxiety and stress for a kid.
0:03:33 You remember sitting in those reading circles, they would pass her on a book and, you know,
0:03:35 I have to read out loud when it came to you.
0:03:37 And I just have a look at the page and the words meant nothing.
0:03:42 Yeah, I thought I had the broken brain and every single time I did ballet on a test
0:03:47 or I wasn’t picked for sports in school, which was a very often, I would always say, “Oh,
0:03:49 because I have the broken brain.”
0:03:53 And adults have to be very careful with their external words because they become a child’s
0:03:54 internal words.
0:03:56 That became my self-talk.
0:04:00 Even when at events, when people see me do these demonstrations, I never do it to impress
0:04:01 them.
0:04:04 I really do them to just express to them what’s possible because the truth is every single
0:04:07 one of your listeners can do that and a whole lot more.
0:04:11 We just weren’t taught, if anything, we were taught a lie that somehow our potential, our
0:04:14 intelligence is somehow fixed, like maybe our shoe size.
0:04:16 And we’ve discovered more about the human brain.
0:04:17 Here’s the exciting news.
0:04:20 And more in the past 10 years than the previous 1,000 years combined that we found is we’re
0:04:25 grossly underestimating our own capabilities that really is not even the sky’s the limit.
0:04:27 It’s really, our minds are the limit.
0:04:30 And so my mission really is to build better, brighter brains.
0:04:31 No brain left behind.
0:04:36 And I know what it’s like to struggle, to be distracted, to not feel confident in your
0:04:37 own mind.
0:04:42 And I really feel that your brain is your number one wealth-building asset.
0:04:45 And the faster you can learn, the faster you can earn, because today, knowledge is not
0:04:48 only power, knowledge is a lot of what your show is about.
0:04:49 It’s about profit.
0:04:54 And I don’t just mean financial profit, I mean all the treasures of your life gets better.
0:04:57 When you understand how your brain works, you can work your brain.
0:05:03 And when you can learn and focus and remember and apply, you can apply that towards anything,
0:05:09 money, management, martial arts, music, Mandarin, everything in your life gets so much easier.
0:05:15 And so my message to everybody really is that limits are learned and that it’s just our
0:05:18 school system that really teaches us how our brain works.
0:05:21 There’s no class on focus or memory.
0:05:25 And so when we beat ourselves up, because we can’t concentrate or we can’t understand
0:05:30 something, it’s not, I realized after years of doing this, it’s not how smart we are.
0:05:32 It’s really how are we smart?
0:05:34 And we’re all smart in different ways.
0:05:38 And I think the most important skill for entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs or
0:05:43 people who really want to get to the next level is learning how to learn.
0:05:45 And then that’s really, really what we focus on.
0:05:49 I really relate to you and I was so excited to bring you on because I think this is such
0:05:50 an important topic.
0:05:54 And I think a lot of people have been through a similar struggle.
0:05:56 I remember like I wasn’t always good at math.
0:06:00 It would always put me in the poor math class when I was younger.
0:06:04 And then I had this stigma that I was always terrible at math, then I get to college and
0:06:05 I’m great at math.
0:06:09 And you just kind of have this transformation once you realize that these are actually just
0:06:13 labels and limitations and you can get over it as an adult.
0:06:19 But so many of us spend years believing this lie that adults told us when we were little
0:06:25 or like one thing happened and we go on believing forever that that’s just who we are.
0:06:30 The word you use is absolutely, I use it in the book Limitless Lie.
0:06:34 We believe these lies and a lie for me stands, everything’s kind of turned into an acronym
0:06:37 or some kind of mnemonic to make it easy to recall.
0:06:41 But lies for me stands for a limited idea entertained.
0:06:45 It’s not true that you’re not smart enough, it’s just a limited idea that we’re entertaining.
0:06:52 It’s not true that you’re not smart enough or that you don’t have the resourcefulness.
0:06:54 And so it’s really about transcending.
0:06:57 I think the nature of personal growth is about transcending.
0:07:02 It’s about ending the transcending this mass of gnosis, maybe through we got in there from
0:07:10 our parents or marketing or media that somehow that we’re broken, somehow that somehow we
0:07:17 could only have only a small amount or be a small amount or share a small amount.
0:07:23 And we found that we shouldn’t be eye-fine, especially of recent that the big mistake
0:07:28 people make is they shrink all that’s possible to fit their minds when maybe we should explore
0:07:32 expanding our minds to fit all that’s really possible.
0:07:33 I love that.
0:07:35 So let’s pass forward to your college years.
0:07:40 So your label became your limit from your age of five to 18.
0:07:42 You were sort of put in this box.
0:07:46 You didn’t believe you could be better necessarily or you didn’t have the tools.
0:07:50 And you were a freshman in college, you still had a difficult time learning like your peers
0:07:54 and you were actually ready to drop out of school, but you ended up meeting a mentor.
0:07:55 It was your friend’s dad.
0:07:59 He gave you a new direction and it was a very pivotal point in your life.
0:08:04 I’d love for you to share that story with us and why that moment in time was so eye-opening
0:08:06 for you.
0:08:10 So as you mentioned, I thought getting into school would give me a reset.
0:08:15 Like I thought freshmen meant fresh start as I took all these classes and I wanted to
0:08:20 show the world and show myself really, make people around me proud.
0:08:22 And I did worse.
0:08:26 And it was so difficult for me and I didn’t have the money to be in school to begin with.
0:08:28 And so I was ready to quit.
0:08:32 And when I had that thought, I was talking to friends and a friend said, “Hey, that’s
0:08:34 a big life decision.
0:08:36 Why don’t you get some perspective?”
0:08:41 And he invites me to visit his home over the weekend where he was going to just kind of
0:08:42 get some time off.
0:08:47 And I agree and when I get to this person’s home, it’s beautiful.
0:08:53 It’s on the water and the father walks me around his property and before dinner and
0:08:57 asked me a very innocent question and the question is, “How’s school?”
0:09:04 And I’m just getting choked up even thinking about it right now because that was the worst
0:09:05 question you could ask me.
0:09:10 And I started bawling in front of this stranger because I have so much pressure that I haven’t
0:09:16 told anybody and I told him my whole story about having my brain injury and not feeling
0:09:19 enough and like, “School’s not for me and I’m ready to quit.
0:09:21 I don’t know how to tell my folks.”
0:09:25 And he said, “Jim, in this question, one question changes everything.”
0:09:26 Right?
0:09:27 He said, “Why are you in school?
0:09:28 What do you want to be?
0:09:29 What do you want to do?
0:09:30 What do you want to have?
0:09:31 What do you want to share?”
0:09:35 And completely, completely honest, I didn’t have any answer because I didn’t know why
0:09:36 I was in school.
0:09:38 I just thought that’s what you do, right?
0:09:42 When I start thinking about it, I go to answer him and he says, “Stop.”
0:09:47 He reaches out in his back pocket, takes out a notepad and just asks me to write down all
0:09:48 the things I want.
0:09:51 If anything is possible, if you can’t fail, what would you do?
0:09:56 And I start writing these things down and I don’t know how much time goes by and kind
0:09:57 of lose track of time.
0:10:01 And when I’m done though, I start folding the sheets of paper to put in my pocket and
0:10:06 he rips them out of my hands and I’m freaking out because he starts reading them.
0:10:12 And I’ve never shared these things, my dreams or my desires, my goals with anybody.
0:10:16 I didn’t even realize some of these things I wanted until I went through this exercise
0:10:21 and I’m freaking out because I’m afraid of being judged like anybody.
0:10:22 You don’t want to be judged.
0:10:26 You don’t want to feel like, “Oh, that you’re not good enough for all these things.”
0:10:33 And when he’s done, he looks at me and he says, “Jim, you are this close to everything
0:10:38 on this list,” and for those of you watching on video, he’s spreading my index fingers
0:10:39 about a foot apart.
0:10:40 And I was like, “No way.
0:10:41 I’m not that close.
0:10:42 Give me 10 lifetimes.
0:10:44 I’m not going to crack that list.”
0:10:49 And he takes his index fingers and he puts them to the side of my head, meaning what’s
0:10:56 in between is the key that would unlock those achievements and meaning my brain.
0:11:00 And he walks me into his home, then into a room I’ve never seen before.
0:11:05 It is wall to wall, ceiling to floor, covering in books.
0:11:07 And at this point, I’ve never read a book cover to cover.
0:11:12 I still have some reading issues, ability issues, and I’m freaking out.
0:11:17 It’s like being in room full of snakes for people who are phobic and have anxiety around
0:11:18 something.
0:11:23 And what makes it worse is he starts going to the shelves and grabs these snakes, if
0:11:25 you will, and starts handing them to me.
0:11:30 And just book after book, and I started looking at the titles and there are these biographies
0:11:35 of some incredible women and men in history and some very early personal growth books.
0:11:39 I mean, the classics, Norman Vincent Peele, The Power of Positive Thinking, Thinking Girl
0:11:45 Rich, Napoleon Hill, and he says, Jim, he says, “Leaders or readers, I want you to read
0:11:47 one book a week.”
0:11:52 And my honest reaction was, “Have you not heard anything I’ve said to you this entire
0:11:53 time?
0:11:54 I have learning disabilities.
0:11:55 I have challenges.
0:11:56 I can’t read very well.
0:11:57 I have so much schoolwork.”
0:12:01 And when I said, “I have so much schoolwork,” he said, “Jim, don’t let school get in the
0:12:03 way of your education.”
0:12:07 And I didn’t realize it was a Mark Twain quote at the time, but I was like, “Wow, it’s really
0:12:11 profound, and I can’t promise to read a book a week.”
0:12:15 And then very smart man, he reaches into his pocket and he takes out my goals, like my
0:12:20 bucket list, and he starts reading every single one of my goals out loud.
0:12:26 And something about hearing your goals and your deepest desires said by a stranger, like
0:12:33 encanted out into the world and mess with my mind and my spirit, honestly, something fierce.
0:12:37 And a lot of the things on that list were things I wanted to do for my parents, things
0:12:42 that they could never, even if they could afford to, they wouldn’t do for themselves.
0:12:47 And with that motivation, in those reasons, I promised to read one book a week.
0:12:50 Well, fast forward, now I’m back at school and I have all these midterms.
0:12:51 I’m staying at my desk.
0:12:55 I have a pile of books I have to read for school and a pile of books I promise to read.
0:12:58 But I really couldn’t get through pile A. So what do I find the time?
0:12:59 So I don’t eat.
0:13:00 I don’t sleep.
0:13:01 I don’t socialize.
0:13:02 I don’t work out.
0:13:03 I don’t do anything.
0:13:07 I just live in the library day and night for weeks and weeks.
0:13:12 And one night, I pass out at the library, 2 a.m., I fall down a flight of stairs, I hit
0:13:18 my head again, and I woke up two full days later in the hospital.
0:13:23 And at this point, I was hooked up to all these IVs, that was malnourished, dehydrated.
0:13:29 I was down to 117 pounds, I was wasted away because I was just taking care of myself.
0:13:31 And it was the darkest point in my life.
0:13:35 And at that point, when I woke up, something else woke up inside of me also, and a kind
0:13:42 of renewed sense of purpose and I thought, and it’s interesting because I didn’t know
0:13:43 what to do.
0:13:50 And the nurse came in with a mug of tea and had a picture of Albert Einstein and a genius.
0:13:54 But the words, the quote was one you’ve heard before, it said, “The same level of thinking
0:13:57 that has created your problem won’t solve your problem.”
0:14:01 And it made me ask a new question, the power of questions again, “What’s my real problem?
0:14:03 My problem is I’m a slow learner.”
0:14:05 And I was like, “How do I think differently about it?
0:14:07 Maybe I can learn how to learn faster.”
0:14:12 So I put my schoolwork aside and I just started studying the art and science around learning.
0:14:15 I want to understand how my brain works, how I can work my brain.
0:14:17 How does my memory work so I can work my memory better?
0:14:19 How does focus work?
0:14:25 I started studying ancient methodologies of what did ancient civilizations do before
0:14:26 there were printing presses?
0:14:29 How do they remember things and new brain science?
0:14:34 And after a couple of months of studying this, a light switch just flipped on.
0:14:38 And I started in school understanding things for the very first time in my life.
0:14:42 I started to have this renewed focus and interest in learning.
0:14:47 I started to be able to read, be able to retain and do better.
0:14:48 My grades shot up.
0:14:51 But not only that, but my life got better.
0:14:55 And I started sharing some of the things I was doing with friends and I started tutoring.
0:14:59 And one of my very first students, I was teaching her how to speed reading.
0:15:01 She read 30 books in 30 days.
0:15:02 Can you imagine?
0:15:03 It’s a lot.
0:15:07 So many people are really good at buying books and that’s a different skill set than reading
0:15:08 those books.
0:15:13 People buy books, they sit on your shelf, they become shelf help, not self help.
0:15:18 And I started, I wanted to know not how she did it, but why.
0:15:21 And I found out that her motivation was her mom.
0:15:24 Her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
0:15:28 Doctors gave her mom maybe two months to live and the books she was reading were books on
0:15:31 health and wellness, books to save her mom’s life.
0:15:35 And I find out six months later, she calls and she’s crying and crying.
0:15:39 And when she stops crying, I find out their tears of joy that her mother not only survived
0:15:40 but it’s getting better.
0:15:44 Doctors don’t know how or why, the doctors were calling it a miracle, but her mother
0:15:47 attributed the great advice she got from her daughter, Linda, from all these books.
0:15:48 Wow.
0:15:53 In that moment, I found my mission in life because I realized in that moment, if knowledge
0:15:58 is power, we hear that a lot than reading and learning is our superpower.
0:16:03 And I realized it’s the most important superpower and it’s a power we all have inside of us.
0:16:04 Wow.
0:16:06 Thank you so much for sharing that incredible story.
0:16:08 So I’m going to take us down a rabbit hole.
0:16:12 I wasn’t originally planning this, but as you were telling your story, I couldn’t help
0:16:16 but start thinking about immigrant parents and sort of like the pros and the cons of
0:16:17 immigrant parents.
0:16:19 So I came from immigrant parents.
0:16:22 I’m assuming you came from immigrant parents.
0:16:23 Am I correct?
0:16:24 Yes.
0:16:28 And I remember like all my friends, I actually had a sick, my dad was a doctor, but even
0:16:32 though my dad was a doctor, nobody helped me with homework when I was a kid.
0:16:37 Like I remember like I, it was kind of like on my own because my mom didn’t speak that
0:16:38 great of English.
0:16:41 My dad was busy at work providing for the family.
0:16:46 So I felt like I was always alone where I feel like other people, peers that might have
0:16:51 had American parents probably got help with their homework and things like that, or better
0:16:52 guidance.
0:16:55 Like you had that conversation with you when you were 18 and nobody ever told you to write
0:17:00 your goals down before because when you have immigrant parents, they’re kind of figuring
0:17:06 out how to navigate the world and provide and they’re kind of on this lower rung than
0:17:08 everyone else trying to figure it out.
0:17:11 I feel like sometimes you don’t get the advice that you need when you’re a kid.
0:17:12 Talk to us about that.
0:17:15 Does that ring any bells for you or I’d love to hear your thoughts.
0:17:17 Let’s go there.
0:17:20 My dad came to the United States when he was 13.
0:17:21 He’d lost both his parents.
0:17:27 And so I didn’t speak the language and have any money came and lived with his aunt who
0:17:31 I knew as my grandmother and mother grew up.
0:17:35 They lived in the back of the laundry mat that my grandmother worked at.
0:17:41 And it’s interesting because sometimes we think about resources and growing up, we didn’t
0:17:47 have any network or connections or money or education or those kind of things.
0:17:50 But I feel like a lot of it comes to the resources we have inside.
0:17:56 And I think, again, most important is the resource of our own mind is really, truly limitless.
0:18:00 My two biggest challenges growing up were learning for a long, for a decade and a half.
0:18:06 And because of it, my other challenge was public speaking because my superpower growing
0:18:07 up was shrinking down.
0:18:10 I didn’t want to be seen because I never had the answer.
0:18:11 Never.
0:18:16 If I was ever called on in class, I would never know what the solution was.
0:18:22 I never wanted the spotlight and my insecurities, my inadequacies kind of like seen by everybody.
0:18:25 And so my superpower was being invisible.
0:18:27 And the universe has a sense of humor because what do I do?
0:18:31 It’s like for a living, all I do is public speak on this thing called learning.
0:18:36 And so I really think that our disadvantages can be an advantage that through our struggles
0:18:41 lead to strengths, that through challenge leads to change.
0:18:43 My parents, they’re remarkable.
0:18:47 I attribute it in all fairness that anything that’s good that’s come out of me has come
0:18:51 from them and anything that’s fallen short is really on me.
0:18:57 I take that responsibility because they’re the reason why I learned to do what I say
0:19:02 that I’m going to do, discipline, kindness, working hard.
0:19:07 And I really do think that if somebody, they do the right things for the right reasons,
0:19:10 they’re kind, they’re willing to learn and make mistakes.
0:19:13 And then I feel like through our results, we’ll speak for themselves.
0:19:17 My challenge is sometimes where we give up our power outside of us.
0:19:21 We give up our agency by making an excuse or complaining.
0:19:26 And the truth is we can’t be upset by the results we didn’t get from the work we didn’t
0:19:27 do.
0:19:31 And so I feel like it’s so important that especially if somebody’s on the path of building
0:19:36 wealth or starting a business, in the beginning, it’s really hard because you’ve never done
0:19:37 this before.
0:19:39 There’s a learning curve.
0:19:41 The results don’t show up right away.
0:19:42 You’re right.
0:19:46 It detests your persistence, your patience, your commitment also, and you have to feed
0:19:47 your dreams.
0:19:52 You have to feed your business until your business or your dreams feed you back.
0:19:58 And then in the beginning, you’re grossly underpaid, if anything, but if you’re consistent and
0:20:03 you work hard, you’re always learning, then I feel like at some point it switches.
0:20:07 And you get overpaid for the things that you do because of all the work that you did before
0:20:08 the HUD.
0:20:13 And so I feel like Jim Rohn has this quote that would, “What you do, you’re rewarded in
0:20:16 public for the work you do in private.”
0:20:20 And I feel like everybody right now that’s struggling, that’s putting in the hours and
0:20:25 the early mornings or the late nights, I just feel like part of it is just taking care
0:20:27 of yourself and believing in yourself.
0:20:28 And we hear this all the time.
0:20:32 For me, believing in myself is, I saw this bird the other day and I realized while it’s
0:20:38 singing its song, its calm and its confidence, its calm and its confidence doesn’t come from
0:20:40 putting its trust in the tree branch.
0:20:44 The bird’s calm and confidence comes from putting its trust in its own wings.
0:20:50 And I feel like that when we have to know ourself and have the curiosity to know ourself,
0:20:52 but then also trust ourself.
0:20:57 And then having the courage to be ourself also, it’s just from practice.
0:21:01 Let’s hold that thought and take a quick break with our sponsors.
0:21:07 Yapgang, I appreciate a good deal just like anyone else, but I’m not going to cross a
0:21:11 desert or walk through a bed of hot coals just to save a few bucks.
0:21:15 It needs to be straightforward, no complications and no nonsense.
0:21:19 So when Mint Mobile said that I could get wireless service for just 15 bucks a month
0:21:22 with a three month plan, I was skeptical.
0:21:26 But it is truly that simple to secure wireless at 15 bucks a month.
0:21:29 And Mint Mobile made my transition incredibly easy.
0:21:31 The entire process was online.
0:21:35 It was easy to purchase, easy to activate and easy to save money.
0:21:39 The only lengthy part that took up any time was waiting on hold to cancel my previous
0:21:40 provider.
0:21:44 If you want to get started, just go to mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:21:48 You’ll see right now that all the three month plans are only 15 bucks a month, including
0:21:50 the unlimited plan.
0:21:54 All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text, delivered on the nation’s
0:21:56 largest 5G network.
0:22:00 And don’t worry, you can use your own phone and keep your current phone number with any
0:22:02 Mint Mobile plan.
0:22:06 Find out how easy it is to switch to Mint Mobile and get three months of premium wireless
0:22:09 for just 15 bucks a month.
0:22:13 To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just
0:22:19 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:22:24 Cut your wireless bill to just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/profiting.
0:22:29 $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month.
0:22:31 New customers on first three month plan only.
0:22:35 Speed slower above 40GB on unlimited plan.
0:22:37 Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply.
0:22:39 See Mint Mobile for details.
0:22:44 Yeah fam, if you’re anything like me, you didn’t start your business to spend all your
0:22:45 time managing finances.
0:22:48 Budgeting, invoicing and tax prep?
0:22:51 Not exactly the fun part of entrepreneurship.
0:22:56 My CEO Jason on the other hand is great at finances, but even he doesn’t want to switch
0:23:01 between five different apps for banking, expense tracking and contractor payments.
0:23:04 We wanted a tool that could just do it all.
0:23:05 And guess what?
0:23:06 We found one.
0:23:08 And yes, it’s called Found.
0:23:13 Found is an all-in-one financial tool made for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs.
0:23:18 Found handles everything, business banking, bookkeeping, invoicing, vendor payments and
0:23:19 even tax planning.
0:23:22 No more juggling multiple apps.
0:23:24 Found does it all in one place.
0:23:29 With smart features like automatic expense tracking, virtual cards for specific budgets
0:23:35 and no hidden fees or minimum balances, Found helps us stay organized and save time.
0:23:36 Plus signing up is quick and easy.
0:23:39 No paperwork or credit checks required.
0:23:43 Join the 500,000 small business owners who trust Found.
0:23:45 Get your business banking working for you.
0:23:49 Try Found for free at found.com/profiting.
0:23:55 Stop getting lost in countless finance apps and try Found for free at found.com/profiting.
0:24:00 Sign up for Found for free at found.com/profiting.
0:24:02 Found is a financial technology company, not a bank.
0:24:06 Bank services are provided by Paramount Bank member FDIC.
0:24:07 Found’s core features are free.
0:24:11 They also offer an optional paid product found plus.
0:24:15 Hey, yeah, bam, launching my LinkedIn secrets masterclass was one of the best things I’ve
0:24:20 ever done for my business and I didn’t have to figure out all the nuts and bolts of creating
0:24:22 a website for my course.
0:24:24 I needed a lot of different features.
0:24:27 I needed chat capabilities in case anybody had questions.
0:24:30 I needed promo code discounts.
0:24:35 I needed a laundry list of features to enable what I was envisioning with my course.
0:24:36 But here’s the thing.
0:24:40 All I had to do was literally lift a finger to get it all done.
0:24:45 And that’s because I used Shopify.
0:24:51 Shopify is the easiest way to sell anything, to sell online or in person.
0:24:54 It’s the home of the number one checkout on the planet.
0:24:59 And Shopify is not so secret secret as Shoppay, which boosts conversions up to 50%.
0:25:05 That means way fewer cards get abandoned and way more sales get done.
0:25:09 So when students tell me that they can’t afford my course, I let them know about payment
0:25:10 plans with Shoppay.
0:25:12 It is a game changer.
0:25:16 If you’re into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell
0:25:21 wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling on the web and your store in their feed and
0:25:23 everywhere in between.
0:25:27 Put simply businesses that sell more sell with Shopify.
0:25:31 Build your business and get the same checkout we use at YAP Media with Shopify.
0:25:38 Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com/profit and that’s all lowercase.
0:25:42 Go to Shopify.com/profit to upgrade your selling today.
0:25:50 That’s Shopify.com/profit.
0:25:54 So let’s talk about the ability to unlimited ourselves, right?
0:25:58 So I think that’s really important, being able to believe in yourself like you were
0:25:59 just saying.
0:26:05 And so I’d love to understand the importance of motivation related to believing in yourself.
0:26:08 So motivation for me is not something that’s abstract.
0:26:10 It’s something very, very tangible.
0:26:16 This actually came from, I have a formula that I use to motivate myself and motivate
0:26:18 clients that I get to work with.
0:26:19 And it’s very simple.
0:26:23 And people, it turns into a little masterclass, I encourage everyone to take notes.
0:26:29 It’s P times E times S3, three factors for limitless motivation.
0:26:34 So if you struggle with getting yourself to do what you know you should do, because knowledge
0:26:38 by itself is not power, only because power when we apply it, when we implement it, right?
0:26:40 P times E times S3.
0:26:43 And so, well, we could do a thought experiment.
0:26:47 Everyone think about something that you’re not motivated to do, something that you know
0:26:50 you should do, but you’re not doing it.
0:26:54 Maybe it’s in meditation, or maybe it’s working out, maybe it’s reading each day, whatever
0:26:55 it happens to be.
0:26:58 So the P stands for purpose.
0:27:04 And I don’t mean our life’s purpose, we could talk about that, but I mean the reasons.
0:27:06 Without reasons, you won’t get the results.
0:27:10 Even if you want to remember names, which I think is one of the most important skills,
0:27:13 networking business skills, business advocate skills, because how are you going to show
0:27:17 somebody you’re in care for their future, their family, their health, their finances,
0:27:18 whatever it is you sell them.
0:27:21 If you don’t care enough just to remember their name, a lot of people will remember
0:27:26 names better if they just had a reason to remember their names, like ask yourself, “Why
0:27:28 do I want to remember the person’s name?”
0:27:32 Maybe it’s to show the person respect, maybe it’s to practice these things I learned from
0:27:33 this podcast, right?
0:27:38 And so, it has to go from your head to your heart, to your hands, meaning if you could
0:27:42 have visualization, if you visualize in your head, you have goals in your head, a bucket
0:27:46 list, KPIs, whatever in your head, and you’re not acting consistently with your head, check
0:27:52 in with your hands, check in with the second age, which is our heart, and the heart is
0:27:55 a symbol of emotions, because we are not logical.
0:27:59 Even people don’t buy logically, we know that, people buy emotionally, right?
0:28:03 Because we are not logical, we are biological.
0:28:05 You think we’re not logical, we’re biological.
0:28:10 You think about dopamine and oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, we are this chemical feeling soup.
0:28:15 But we don’t do things unless we feel it, and that’s really the key to a long-term memory.
0:28:18 We tend to remember things that are charged with emotions.
0:28:21 There’s a song you could hear that could take you back to when you’re a teenager, or a
0:28:25 fragrance, or a food that could take you back to when you’re a child, right?
0:28:29 Because information by itself is very forgettable, and information when it’s combined with emotions
0:28:35 become unforgettable, because that part of your middle brain, your amygdala is processing
0:28:39 all these emotions, and it’s connected to your hippocampus, which is your memory.
0:28:42 And so, we remember things that make us feel a certain way, and when it comes to motivation,
0:28:43 we have to start with that feeling.
0:28:47 So, when I say purpose, it’s not intellectual purpose.
0:28:51 We all know we should do these things, but common sense is not common practice unless
0:28:53 we feel it.
0:28:58 And so, allow yourself to feel the sensations of who’s counting on you to play your A-game.
0:29:03 What are the rewards you’re going to be able to enjoy if you’re be able to follow through?
0:29:04 So, purpose.
0:29:09 Now, let’s say it’s to do something like reading each day.
0:29:14 Readers or readers, if anyone’s seen me on social media with Elon or Oprah or Bill Gates
0:29:18 or whoever, we bond it over books because you read to succeed.
0:29:22 If somebody has decades of experience and they put into a book and you sit down in a few
0:29:25 days and read that book, you could download decades into days.
0:29:27 That’s the biggest advantage there is in the world.
0:29:28 Yep.
0:29:29 Best ROI on your time.
0:29:30 Yep.
0:29:31 Absolutely.
0:29:33 And so, people intellectually know that, but if they’re not doing it, part of it is they
0:29:36 might not feel the benefits of doing it.
0:29:40 After that, though, somebody could have limitless purpose and still not read each day because
0:29:45 they need the E and the P times E times S3, the E stands for energy.
0:29:52 Such an important component and element of sustained motivation is sustained energy.
0:29:53 And here’s the thing.
0:29:55 Here’s a trick when it comes to energy.
0:29:57 Energy is not something you have.
0:29:59 And people are listening, “You’re right, Jim.
0:30:00 I have no energy.”
0:30:02 It’s something you do.
0:30:07 One of the principles I subscribe to for accelerated learning is get in the habit of taking your
0:30:14 nouns and transferring them into verbs, transforming them into verbs, meaning we hypnotize ourselves
0:30:16 with the language we’re using on a regular basis.
0:30:20 Your brain is this incredible supercomputer and your self-talk is the program it will
0:30:21 run.
0:30:25 If you tell yourself, “I’m not good at remembering people’s names,” you will not remember the
0:30:29 name of the next person you meet because you program your supercomputer not to.
0:30:31 Same thing with saying, “I don’t have energy.”
0:30:34 Because you don’t have energy, you do energy.
0:30:35 Just like you don’t have focus.
0:30:36 You’re like, “Jim, yes.
0:30:37 This is my problem.
0:30:38 I have no focus.”
0:30:39 You don’t have focus.
0:30:40 You do focus.
0:30:42 There’s a process for focusing.
0:30:44 There’s a process for generating energy.
0:30:46 You don’t have creativity.
0:30:48 There’s a process for being creative.
0:30:50 You don’t even have a memory.
0:30:53 There’s a three-step process for memorizing something.
0:30:58 And the benefit of taking some noun and turning them into a verb is all of a sudden you turn
0:30:59 into a process.
0:31:03 It’s the strategy now that you could execute on.
0:31:07 So that’s really my goal is to take these processes and show people there’s a method
0:31:09 behind what looks like magic.
0:31:13 When I can memorize in front of an audience 50 people’s names or 100 people’s names that
0:31:18 pass around a microphone, 100 random words, random numbers, or a shuffle deck of cards
0:31:23 or whatever, there’s a time obviously I couldn’t do that because I was worse off than most people
0:31:24 who are listening.
0:31:27 But there’s no such thing as a good or bad memory.
0:31:30 There’s a trained memory and untrained memory just like there’s no such thing as a good
0:31:31 or bad brain.
0:31:33 There’s a trained brain and an untrained brain.
0:31:36 So the second part for motivation is not just having purpose.
0:31:40 Yes, you have purpose to read, to succeed, to make more money, to have greater impact.
0:31:42 But if you’re not doing it, maybe you lack energy.
0:31:45 Maybe you ate a big processed meal and you’re in a food coma.
0:31:50 Maybe you’re waiting to read when you’re most tired in the day and you haven’t slept.
0:31:55 And so you’re depleted and you can’t get yourself to act because you lack the energy.
0:32:01 And so we talk about in our podcast, in the books, 10 different ways you can optimize.
0:32:03 What are the best brain foods?
0:32:05 What’s the best way to reduce stress?
0:32:07 Because stress uses up a whole lot of energy.
0:32:09 How do you optimize your sleep?
0:32:13 Now after purpose and energy, let’s say you have a limitless purpose, you feel it and
0:32:18 you have lots and lots of energy and you’re still not following through, working out,
0:32:21 our reading or whatever, making those sales calls, whatever.
0:32:27 In S3, the final part, 3S’s, small, simple steps.
0:32:28 Here’s the thing.
0:32:33 So a lot of times people are not motivated because this thing is too abstract and a confused
0:32:35 mind doesn’t do anything.
0:32:39 Just like even if you’re marketing to somebody and if you make it too intimidating, they’re
0:32:43 not going to do anything because you have to break it down into small, simple steps that
0:32:45 they could see themselves following through on.
0:32:49 So maybe working out an hour a day is too hard for someone.
0:32:51 That’s not what they normally do.
0:32:54 So maybe it’s putting on their running shoes.
0:32:55 Maybe it’s getting them getting to the gym.
0:32:58 That’s a small, simple step.
0:33:01 Maybe if you can’t get a kid to floss their teeth, maybe it’s getting them to floss one
0:33:04 tooth or clean their room is too difficult.
0:33:05 It’s too intimidating.
0:33:09 It’s like climbing a mountain but maybe putting one sock in the hamper.
0:33:11 So inch by inch, it’s a cinch.
0:33:15 Yard by yard, it’s way too hard and my thing is how do you find the small, simple step?
0:33:18 I ask myself a simple question.
0:33:20 What is the tiniest action?
0:33:21 People can write this down.
0:33:24 What is the tiniest action I could take right now that would give me progress towards this
0:33:27 goal so tiny that I can’t fail?
0:33:31 Because you eliminate the friction so then you can create that positive momentum.
0:33:34 So for me, you don’t have motivation.
0:33:35 You do it.
0:33:40 And the process is purpose, energy and small, simple steps.
0:33:44 I love that because I feel like you’re giving people ownership over their brain.
0:33:48 A lot of people feel like they’re born a genius, right?
0:33:52 That you’ve got to have these smarts and you’re born with it or you’re not.
0:33:53 They’re living with these labels.
0:33:56 So I think everything you’re saying is really impactful and also really practical.
0:34:00 You’re giving us steps that we can take to actually improve our brain.
0:34:06 So let’s talk about myths because a lot of people think that we only use 10% of our brain.
0:34:07 You say that’s not true.
0:34:09 I’ve heard that a thousand times.
0:34:13 And I’d love to hear some of the myths that you’ve heard over the years about learning
0:34:14 and our brain.
0:34:21 Yeah, let’s name a few of them, the lies or the BS, the BS stands for our belief systems.
0:34:24 So the limited ideas entertain.
0:34:27 One of them is exactly what you mentioned, that we use 10% of our brain.
0:34:31 The truth is that we actually use 100% of our brain.
0:34:33 And it’s just, but here’s the caveat.
0:34:37 Some people use that 100% differently than other people.
0:34:39 It’s kind of like we use 100% of our body.
0:34:42 Most people use 100% of their bodies throughout the day.
0:34:45 But some people are just more physically fit.
0:34:49 They have endurance, they have flexibility, they have a level of agility and strength
0:34:51 because they’ve trained those muscles.
0:34:55 Well, I think the most important muscle, which is an organ, but metaphorically, it’s
0:34:58 more like a muscle is the mind.
0:34:59 And it’s use it or lose it.
0:35:03 But if I put my arm in a sling for a year, in when it grows stronger, it wouldn’t even
0:35:04 stay the same.
0:35:06 What would happen to a muscle?
0:35:07 It would just atrophy.
0:35:08 We care weaker.
0:35:11 That’s a lot of what happens with our mental muscles.
0:35:12 We’re not utilizing them.
0:35:16 And so we actually use 100% of our brain, just to use 100% of our body.
0:35:22 But if somebody needed to climb, go for a hike, and it’s a pretty steep incline, some
0:35:25 people are just going to navigate that easier than others.
0:35:29 And same thing when people are reading, some people will navigate through a book with greater
0:35:35 speed, efficiency, focus, understanding, retention, enjoyment because they’re just mentally fit.
0:35:37 And so again, there’s no such thing as a good or bad brain.
0:35:40 There’s a trained brain and an untrained brain, that that’s the truth.
0:35:45 Another myth is that genius is, as you mentioned, genius is born.
0:35:48 You’re either born with it or you’re not born with it.
0:35:53 And the truth is that it’s not how smart you are, it’s how are you smart?
0:35:58 There’s a story in Limitless, and I don’t want to go and get all audible right now,
0:36:00 but maybe I could read this anecdote.
0:36:04 I talk about how genius is actually built.
0:36:09 So the story that I share in here says, “A king was watching a great magician perform
0:36:10 his act.
0:36:12 The crowd was enthralled, and so was the king.
0:36:18 At the end, the audience roared with approval, and the king said, ‘What a gift this man has!
0:36:20 A God-given talent!’
0:36:26 But a wise counselor said to the king, ‘My Lord, genius is built, not born.’
0:36:29 This magician skills the result of discipline and practice.
0:36:33 These talents have been learned and honed over time with determination and discipline.
0:36:35 The king was troubled by this message.
0:36:39 The counselor’s challenge had spoiled his pleasure in the magician’s arts.
0:36:43 Limited in spiteful man, how dare you criticize a true genius?
0:36:48 As I said, you either have it or you don’t, and you most certainly don’t.”
0:36:51 The king turned to his bodyguard and said, “Throw this man into the deepest dungeon.”
0:36:54 And he added, “For the counselor’s benefit, so you won’t be lonely.
0:36:57 You can have two of your kind to keep you company.
0:37:00 You shall have two piglets as cellmates.”
0:37:04 From the very first day of his imprisonment, the wise counselor practiced running up the
0:37:09 stairs of his cell to the prison door, carrying in each hand a piglet.
0:37:12 As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, the piglets steadily grew into
0:37:18 sturdy bores, and with every day of practice, the wise counselor increased in power and
0:37:19 strength.
0:37:23 One day, the king remembered the wise counselor and was curious to see how imprisonment has
0:37:24 humbled him.
0:37:26 He had the wise counselor summoned.
0:37:30 When the prisoner appeared, he was a man of powerful physique, carrying a boar on each
0:37:31 arm.
0:37:36 The king exclaimed, “What a gift this man has, a God-given talent.”
0:37:41 The wise counselor replied, “My Lord, genius is built, not born.
0:37:43 My skills result in discipline and practice.
0:37:48 These talents have been learned and honed over time with determination and discipline.”
0:37:50 Oh, I love that story.
0:37:53 It’s one of those ideas that people don’t see as we were talking about earlier, the
0:37:59 work that goes on behind the scenes, and what you’ve done to build your business, to build
0:38:00 your brand.
0:38:02 They don’t see that.
0:38:04 It’s the tip of the iceberg kind of theory.
0:38:09 The idea here is that people aren’t born that they are actually with genius.
0:38:10 It actually be built.
0:38:15 I believe genius leaves clues that when somebody is exceptional and you’ve had so many of these
0:38:21 guests that are exceptional in certain areas, that you’re helping them to deconstruct what
0:38:26 they do and making it the methods more clear, conscious for people who are listening and
0:38:31 helps them develop their fast track, their shortcuts, if you will.
0:38:35 I really do believe genius is something that’s available to all of us.
0:38:36 Yeah, 100%.
0:38:37 And doing is so important.
0:38:41 Like you’re saying, the reps, the repetition, the consistency, I feel like that’s really
0:38:43 the key to everything.
0:38:49 I always talk about this on my podcast, get the skills, get the experiences, do the things.
0:38:54 Like you said, it’s not an overnight success ever, it’s years and years, and then people
0:38:56 just see the tip of that iceberg usually.
0:38:58 So let’s talk about memory.
0:39:00 I love this.
0:39:02 Memory is so foundational to everything that you say.
0:39:08 You actually have said in the past that no learning is happening without memory.
0:39:12 So talk to us about how memory plays into everything that you teach.
0:39:17 So I believe two of the most costly words in life are, “I forgot.”
0:39:18 How often do we say these words?
0:39:19 Like, “I forgot to do it.
0:39:20 I forgot to bring it.
0:39:21 I forgot that meeting.
0:39:22 I forgot what I was going to say.
0:39:24 I forgot that conversation.
0:39:26 I forgot that person’s name.”
0:39:30 Every single time we have those thoughts, we could lose time.
0:39:31 We could lose trust.
0:39:34 We could lose, we could lose a sale even.
0:39:39 And so I believe on the other side that memory will actually make you money when you can
0:39:44 easily remember facts and figures and talking points, product information, client information,
0:39:45 right?
0:39:48 Remember your mental fingertips because everybody who’s listening here, nobody, it’s not like
0:39:52 it was 100 years ago or generations ago.
0:39:56 It’s not like you’re compensated for your brute strength.
0:39:58 Today it’s your brain strength.
0:40:02 It’s not like it was agricultural age where you’re paid for your muscle power.
0:40:04 Today it’s your mind power.
0:40:06 And so memory is foundational.
0:40:08 Socrates said learning is remembering.
0:40:11 The challenge is memory wasn’t a class back in school, right?
0:40:14 I always thought it should have been the fourth R, reading, writing, arithmetic, but what
0:40:15 about retention?
0:40:16 What about recall?
0:40:17 What about remembering?
0:40:22 And so there’s certain things we could do to be able to improve our memory.
0:40:27 And so a lot of times people come to me and say, “Jim, I want to get better at my memory.”
0:40:30 And I say, “That’s like saying I want to be better at sports.
0:40:33 What area specifically, what sport specifically?”
0:40:36 So let’s say, let’s go back to remembering names.
0:40:38 Yeah, I love that.
0:40:39 Yeah.
0:40:41 So I think there are three keys to remembering names.
0:40:47 The first one I mentioned already, and I use the acronym MOM, M-O-M, and it’s like the
0:40:49 mother of all memory techniques.
0:40:51 The M stands for motivation.
0:40:55 So just a reminder, when we forget something, we usually aren’t connected to the reason
0:40:57 why we want to remember it.
0:41:01 And here’s the thing, we don’t remember all names, but nobody listening to this forgets
0:41:02 all names either.
0:41:04 And remember, I said, “Genius leaves clues.”
0:41:08 And you’re probably motivated to remember those names that you did remember.
0:41:09 Maybe you’re attracted to that person.
0:41:12 Maybe that person can be good for your business or something.
0:41:14 Hiring manager or something, right?
0:41:15 Exactly.
0:41:19 And you can ask yourself, you can connect with that again by asking yourself, “Why?
0:41:20 Why do I remember this person’s name?”
0:41:24 And come up with just one reason, because if you come up with one reason, you won’t remember.
0:41:28 The O in MOM stands for observation.
0:41:33 And this is so simple, but it’s usually the simple stuff that people forget to do.
0:41:35 Observation means your attention.
0:41:39 A lot of people aren’t forgetting a name, they’re just not paying attention.
0:41:43 You could remember one or two words, a name, but most people, what are they doing?
0:41:48 They’re thinking about how they’re going to reply or what they’re going to say in response
0:41:50 or waiting for their turn to speak.
0:41:53 And so a lot of people, they’re not forgetting, they’re just not listening.
0:41:56 And the art of memory is the art of attention.
0:42:00 So I would remind you, imagine, and if you’re writing this down, write the word “listen.”
0:42:05 And here’s a brain exercise, kind of like a word will change the letters around, scramble
0:42:08 the letters, and what word does it spell perfectly?
0:42:12 Also like if you scramble the letters and listen, it spells another word.
0:42:13 Silent.
0:42:14 Silent.
0:42:17 And that’s all I would ask people to do if you want to improve their memory or memory
0:42:18 names.
0:42:21 Ask yourself why, come up with a couple of reasons, and then just be silent.
0:42:22 Right?
0:42:28 One of my favorite books by one of my mentors, Dr. Stephen Covey, he wrote “7 Habits of Highly
0:42:29 Effective People.”
0:42:34 And one of the habits is seek first to understand, then to be understood.
0:42:38 Seek first to understand, then to be understood, that we don’t have to be the most interesting
0:42:44 person in the room, but I think to have greater impact, have greater income, certainly have
0:42:45 greater influence.
0:42:48 Instead of being the most interesting person in the room, try to be the most interested
0:42:49 person in the room.
0:42:50 Right?
0:42:51 That curiosity.
0:42:54 And then get seek first to understand, and it starts with the person’s name.
0:42:55 Right?
0:42:57 Because how are you going to, again, show you’re going to care if you don’t care enough just
0:42:58 to remember their name?
0:43:01 Because people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
0:43:02 And so that’s so important.
0:43:03 So just pay attention.
0:43:08 And finally, final M and mom are the methods, you know, the things that we have in our
0:43:11 podcast and our book, and we could talk about some of them for remembering name, something
0:43:16 simple like B-SWAV, so six steps on how to remember names and faces.
0:43:22 If you see me do this, and they had a live event or on video, B-SWAV.
0:43:23 Very, very simple.
0:43:27 The B, believe, because if you believe you can or believe you can’t, either way, you’re
0:43:28 right.
0:43:31 And you want to limit the negative self-talk, because remember I said your brain is like
0:43:32 a supercomputer.
0:43:33 Your self-talk is the program of run.
0:43:37 So if you tell yourself I’m not good at remembering names, you won’t remember the name of the
0:43:38 next person you meet.
0:43:41 So many people at events come to me and they talk to me about their lives.
0:43:42 They say, “I’m too old.
0:43:43 I’m not smart enough.”
0:43:45 And I say, “Stop.
0:43:47 If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them.”
0:43:48 That’s so good.
0:43:53 If people truly understood how powerful their mind is, they wouldn’t say or think something
0:43:55 they didn’t want to be true.
0:43:56 So you want to be able to keep it encouraging.
0:44:02 And so the B and B-SWAV, believe, the E, exercise.
0:44:05 And I don’t mean physical exercise, although people who are more physically active, like
0:44:09 if you’re listening to this podcast right now and you’re on an elliptical or you’re
0:44:12 going for a brisk walk, you’ll probably learn it better because as your body moves, your
0:44:13 brain grooves.
0:44:18 When you move your body, you create brain-derived neurotropic factors, BDNF, which is like fertilizer
0:44:21 for neuroplasticity, great for learning.
0:44:22 But I don’t mean exercise.
0:44:25 I mean practice, because practice makes progress.
0:44:32 And so I’m very good at remembering names, but after the first month or two of learning
0:44:36 how to do it, I haven’t improved a whole lot more because once you know how to do something,
0:44:40 you know how to tie your shoes, then you just know how to tie your shoes.
0:44:45 You know how to type, you know how to drive a car, and after 30 or 60 days, it’s a skill.
0:44:49 So I just want to just reaffirm that you don’t have a good or bad memory.
0:44:53 There’s a trained memory and untrained memory, and so I would say practice.
0:44:56 You don’t have to go out there and practice remembering 50 people’s names, but just start
0:45:01 with one, you know, and then one becomes two, and little by little, a little becomes a whole
0:45:02 lot.
0:45:05 We’ll be right back after a quick break from our sponsors.
0:45:11 Young Improviders, I spent years slaving away in so many different jobs trying to prove
0:45:17 myself, trying to figure out what gave me joy at work, and trying to build productive teams.
0:45:19 Eventually, I figured it all out.
0:45:23 But what if you could learn that stuff about yourself and your team in a fraction of the
0:45:25 time that I did?
0:45:29 The working genius model will transform your work, your team, and your life by leveraging
0:45:31 your natural gifts.
0:45:36 We each possess a unique set of skills, and let’s face it, you’re going to be more fulfilled
0:45:42 and successful when you lean into, rather than away from, your natural true talents.
0:45:46 Working genius can help you discover how to increase joy and energy at work by understanding
0:45:49 what your working geniuses really are.
0:45:54 The working genius assessment only takes 10 minutes, and the results can be applied immediately.
0:45:59 I took the assessment, and my two primary working geniuses are inventing and galvanizing.
0:46:05 I just love creating new things and then rallying people together to bring them to life.
0:46:08 That’s why I’ve been starting businesses and growing teams for years.
0:46:11 Your own working genius may be completely different.
0:46:16 The working genius assessment is not just a personality test, it’s a productivity tool.
0:46:21 It can help you identify your own individual talents and provide a great roadmap for creating
0:46:24 productive and satisfied teams.
0:46:28 You and your team will get more done in less time with more joy and energy.
0:46:34 To get 20% off the $25 working genius assessment, go to workinggenius.com and enter the promo
0:46:36 code profiting at checkout.
0:46:37 That’s right.
0:46:43 You can get 20% off the $25 working genius assessment at workinggenius.com using promo
0:46:45 code profiting.
0:46:48 Again, Profiters, when I started my podcast, I had a volunteer team.
0:46:53 I was able to just go on social media, put up a post, recruit some interns, and it was
0:46:54 no big deal.
0:46:58 As we’ve scaled as a company, I need real A players.
0:47:03 I need people with experience, but we’re a small company, and so I don’t have an HR
0:47:04 team.
0:47:09 However, I found the secret sauce to hiring effectively with no HR team, and the secret
0:47:10 is Indeed.
0:47:15 Indeed is your go-to hiring and matching platform where you can find vet and lock in the best
0:47:17 talent all in one place.
0:47:21 Stop bouncing around between different job sites and let Indeed’s matching engine help
0:47:23 you build your dream team fast.
0:47:28 I’m super glad I found Indeed when I did because now hiring is so much easier.
0:47:30 We’re not just doing it from scratch.
0:47:33 We do our hiring all in one place.
0:47:35 Indeed matches you with quality candidates.
0:47:40 In fact, a recent survey found that 93% of employers agree that Indeed delivers the highest
0:47:43 quality matches compared to other job sites.
0:47:48 Hiring high-quality matches the minute you put up a post saves you so much time.
0:47:49 Trust me.
0:47:50 I know.
0:47:55 Join the over 3 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire A players fast, and
0:48:01 listeners of the show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to give your jobs more visibility
0:48:03 at indeed.com/profiting.
0:48:09 That’s indeed.com/profiting, and tell Indeed you heard about them on this podcast.
0:48:11 Terms and conditions apply.
0:48:12 Need to hire?
0:48:13 Indeed.
0:48:14 Indeed.
0:48:16 Young and Profiters, buy low, sell high.
0:48:19 It’s easy to say, but it’s hard to do.
0:48:23 For example, high interest rates are crushing the real estate market right now.
0:48:26 Demand is dropping and prices are falling, even for many of the best assets.
0:48:31 It’s no wonder the Fundrise flagship fund plans to go on a buying spree, expanding its
0:48:35 billion dollar real estate portfolio over the next few months.
0:48:39 You can add the Fundrise flagship fund to your portfolio in just minutes with as little
0:48:44 as $10 by visiting fundrise.com/profiting.
0:48:48 That’s F-U-N-D-R-I-S-E dot com slash profiting.
0:48:54 Again, you can diversify your portfolio with the Fundrise flagship fund at fundrise.com/profiting.
0:48:59 That’s F-U-N-D-R-I-S-E dot com slash profiting.
0:49:04 Carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of the Fundrise
0:49:06 flagship fund before investing.
0:49:11 This and other information can be found in the fund’s prospectus at fundrise.com/flagship.
0:49:17 This is a paid advertisement.
0:49:21 Then the second half of B-SWAV, BS and SWAVs say the name.
0:49:25 So when somebody introduces themselves, say the name back to them and just literally repeat
0:49:26 it.
0:49:29 And just by hearing it again, it will boost your retention.
0:49:30 You get to hear it from them.
0:49:32 You get to hear it from yourself.
0:49:34 You and SWAV stands for use it.
0:49:35 Now you want to use it.
0:49:36 You don’t want to abuse it.
0:49:41 So three or four times in the context of the conversation, we’ll help you retain it.
0:49:45 The A in BSWAV, ask.
0:49:49 And you can ask all kinds of things about a person’s name, who are you named after?
0:49:52 How do you, is that spelled with a Y or an I?
0:49:57 Especially for names that are unusual that you haven’t heard before, like your own.
0:49:58 Where did it come from?
0:50:00 It’s Arabic and it actually means welcome.
0:50:02 Oh, that’s beautiful.
0:50:05 And then you can ask somebody how they spell it and the origin and what’s it where it’s
0:50:06 from.
0:50:09 And all of a sudden asking about person’s name, right, they say a name is the sweetest
0:50:14 sound a person’s ears, a name will automatically trigger someone’s reticular activating system.
0:50:18 I know you’ve done shows on that also and had guests talk about the RAS and RAS.
0:50:21 But that’s one of the things that are programmed, it’s the sweetest sound, right?
0:50:23 So it gets your attention automatically.
0:50:26 And so compute by name, asking about their name.
0:50:32 So that’s the A. And finally, the V in the E in SWAV, the V is visualized.
0:50:33 And here’s the thing.
0:50:36 So many people are better with faces than they are with names because they could see
0:50:37 it, right?
0:50:41 You go to someone and say, “I recognize your face, but I forgot your name.”
0:50:43 You never go to someone and say the opposite.
0:50:46 You never go to someone and say, “I remember your name, but I forgot your face.”
0:50:47 Right?
0:50:48 So true.
0:50:49 That would make a lot of sense.
0:50:55 But we tend to remember what we see and because more of our nervous system, our brain is dedicated
0:50:58 to real estate towards visual processing.
0:51:01 And so there’s a proverb that says, “What I hear, I forget.
0:51:03 What I see, I remember.
0:51:04 What I do, I understand.
0:51:05 What I hear, I forget.
0:51:06 I heard the name.
0:51:07 I forgot it.
0:51:08 What I see, I remember.
0:51:09 I saw your face.
0:51:10 I’ll always remember your face.”
0:51:15 And going back to what I do, I understand through practice, makes progress.
0:51:19 So I would say if you tend to remember what you see, visualize, then try seeing what you
0:51:20 want to remember.
0:51:25 So if you meet somebody, name chase, then all of a sudden you can imagine it for a split
0:51:29 second that they might be chasing you, right, or something like that.
0:51:35 Or if somebody named Ben, imagine, and maybe they have a great head of hair, and you imagine
0:51:39 that their head is somehow associated with Big Ben, or something like that.
0:51:45 And then all of a sudden, and it sounds childish, but how fast are children and learning?
0:51:48 They make these images, and then that’s feeling to it too.
0:51:53 We already said that information, when time’s emotion, become a long-term memory.
0:51:57 And so how can you visualize a person’s name to make it more memorable?
0:51:58 A person’s name is Mary.
0:52:02 Imagine them carrying two lambs, or getting Mary to them, right?
0:52:04 And someone’s name, Mike, right?
0:52:09 You just imagine them jumping on the table and taking karaoke on a microphone.
0:52:15 And again, and these are temporary, it’s to overcome what I call the six-second syndrome.
0:52:16 Somebody tells you their name.
0:52:19 You have six seconds to do something with that, otherwise what happens?
0:52:23 As soon as the handshake breaks, it falls right through the floor.
0:52:24 So it grabs it.
0:52:28 It forces you to focus on the person, and it forces you to focus on the name.
0:52:31 And that focus will lead to remembrance.
0:52:34 And so remember what you want to see by seeing what you want to remember.
0:52:38 That’s the B. And then finally, the E and B suave is end.
0:52:43 When you leave somebody, you use their name, saying goodbye using their name.
0:52:48 Because if you could walk into a room of strangers, like 20 people, and then leave saying goodbye
0:52:53 to every single one of them by name, who are they all going to remember?
0:52:54 They’re all going to remember you, right?
0:52:59 And that’s a standout skill in a world where a lot of services are commoditized and you
0:53:02 need to be able to stand out and become unforgettable.
0:53:07 I think one of the easiest ways to stand out in a room is remembering people.
0:53:08 I 100% agree.
0:53:10 This is such a good hack.
0:53:15 I feel like everyone should rewind, take some notes down, and give yourself a homework assignment.
0:53:19 Start to practice B. suave when you’re at your next networking event or party or whatever
0:53:20 it is.
0:53:23 Don’t remember every single person’s name and give it a try.
0:53:25 I think it’s really cool.
0:53:26 And you know what?
0:53:30 Based on your work, I found out that we’re actually getting worse at stuff like this because
0:53:33 of digital dementia and some issues like this.
0:53:38 I’d love to move on to that as we start to close out the interview.
0:53:43 You call these supervillains, and this is all related to our relationship with technology.
0:53:48 You have four drivers of the digital age that reduce brain performance, digital deluge,
0:53:52 digital distraction, digital deduction, and digital dementia.
0:53:55 So I’d love to learn a little bit about those areas.
0:53:58 So these are the four horsemen of the mental apocalypse.
0:54:01 And it’s one of those things where, let’s start with digital deluge.
0:54:05 It’s one of those things where it’s overload, information overload, and how many people listening
0:54:10 feel like there’s too much information and not a lot of time to go through it all.
0:54:14 They were drowning in information, but we’re starving for that practical wisdom, if you
0:54:20 will, or the ability to learn how to swim in a world flooded with information and data.
0:54:23 So the amount of information is doubling at dizzying speeds.
0:54:31 They say that the amount of information, when you graduate school, the half-life information
0:54:34 is getting shorter and shorter because it could be outdated.
0:54:36 And it’s insane because it’s update.
0:54:41 I was doing a program at Google, and I heard somebody say there that the amount of information
0:54:47 that’s been created from the dawn of humanity to the year 2003, just a couple decades ago,
0:54:51 that amount of information, think about the Library of Congress, that amount of information
0:54:54 that was created every 48 hours online.
0:54:56 Oh my God, that’s crazy.
0:54:59 Think about all the podcasts and all the social media and all the blogs.
0:55:01 That’s insane to think about.
0:55:05 So the amount of information is doubling, but how we learn it and read it and retain it,
0:55:06 that hasn’t changed a whole lot.
0:55:10 But that growing gap creates digital deluge, information anxiety.
0:55:16 And that’s an actual, they call it information fatigue syndrome, higher blood pressure, compression
0:55:18 of leisure time, more sleeplessness.
0:55:19 I think we’d all identify.
0:55:23 So the goal is you upgrade your learning skills to keep up with that overload.
0:55:24 Then you have digital distraction.
0:55:28 And how do you maintain your concentration and overall flow of rings and pings and dings
0:55:31 and app notifications, social media alerts?
0:55:34 And again, I’m pro-technology.
0:55:37 It allows us to do this, right?
0:55:42 It allows us to inspire, to empower, to entertain, and there’s the other side of the coin or
0:55:46 the sword, where it’s driving us to distraction.
0:55:52 With every like, share, comment, cat video, whatever, we’re going to just dopamine flood.
0:55:56 And we wonder why we can’t concentrate when we’re on doing our screen time with work or
0:55:59 just having a conversation with somebody and our mind wanders.
0:56:04 And part of it is, I feel like our brain has been just distracted and overloaded and it’s
0:56:05 going all different ways.
0:56:10 That’s why we train in limitless chapters on focus and flow.
0:56:14 And then besides digital deluge and digital distraction, we have digital deduction.
0:56:15 And that’s the term I just coined.
0:56:21 Basically, I read the study where children, when they’re tested this generation, they’re
0:56:25 not showing the scores and the same kind of results as previous generations.
0:56:32 In fact, it’s lower in their ability to deduce and to rationalize, to apply logic.
0:56:38 And the study suggests it’s because of the technology is doing the thinking for us.
0:56:43 Remember, even like GPS, how would we know to get from here to there?
0:56:46 We’d have to use some kind of visual spatial intelligence.
0:56:51 But here, we’re just kind of on autopilot and technology with algorithms, it’ll teach
0:56:54 you not how to think, but teach you what to think, based on things.
0:56:56 And so that’s digital deduction.
0:57:00 And I feel like it’s so important for school not only to teach us what to learn, but how
0:57:01 to learn.
0:57:04 Not what to think, but how to think ourselves.
0:57:08 And then finally, the last one, as you mentioned, is this one called digital dementia.
0:57:10 And that’s the equivalent of us physically.
0:57:14 If we just took Uber and Lyft just to go five blocks and we didn’t walk it, then there’s
0:57:18 a physical, it’s convenient, but it could be crippling to our body.
0:57:22 If we rely on taking an elevator just to go to our apartment on the third floor every
0:57:26 day, then we lose an opportunity to exercise our muscles.
0:57:30 And this thing about something simple, like, I don’t know, phone numbers, like how many
0:57:33 phone numbers did you used to know growing up?
0:57:35 Yeah, so many.
0:57:38 Now I don’t even know my best friend’s phone number, but I couldn’t tell you my best friend’s
0:57:40 phone number by heart, her cell phone.
0:57:43 And your community came with that person every single day.
0:57:45 And so then that’s digital dementia.
0:57:49 And I have to say, again, I don’t want to memorize 500 phone numbers, but it should be
0:57:55 concerning we’ve lost the ability to remember one phone number or a passcode or a pin number
0:58:01 or a seed phrase or our hotel room or credit whatever it happens to be.
0:58:05 And so your memory is a muscle, it’s use it or lose it, just like the rest of our mind.
0:58:09 And again, technology is not good or bad, it’s just like fire, fire is a technology.
0:58:14 It could cook your food or it could burn down your home.
0:58:16 It’s just how it’s applied.
0:58:20 And I would just say, just like with anything, there’s a quote in Limitless that says, “Life
0:58:27 is the C between B and D.” Life is C between B and D. B stands for birth, D stands for
0:58:29 death, life C, choice.
0:58:34 That our life is a sum total of all the choices we made up to this point.
0:58:39 And these difficult times, they define us, these difficult times can distract us, these
0:58:43 difficult times can diminish us, or these difficult times, they actually can develop
0:58:44 us.
0:58:46 We ultimately decide every single day.
0:58:52 And I want to remind people that we always have that ability to decide to just to show
0:58:53 up for ourselves.
0:58:54 Right?
0:58:56 Because I think we’re all on this journey to reveal and realize our fullest potential.
0:59:01 I really do believe there’s a version of every single person who’s listening to this,
0:59:05 there’s a version of yourself that you haven’t met yet, there’s a version of your brain you
0:59:08 haven’t met yet, there’s a version of your business that you haven’t met yet.
0:59:12 And the goal is we show up every single day until we’re introduced.
0:59:13 Yeah.
0:59:15 And like you said, technology is not good or bad.
0:59:20 We just need to evolve with that technology and learn how to learn better.
0:59:23 And what a great conversation we had today about building a better brain.
0:59:27 So Jim, the way that we close out our show is I give two questions that I ask all my
0:59:28 guests at the end of the show.
0:59:31 We do something fun at the end of the year with them.
0:59:36 So the first one is what is one actionable thing our young and profitors can do today
0:59:39 to become more profiting tomorrow?
0:59:43 So I would say one of the most important things you do is to love your brain.
0:59:45 And what do I mean by that?
0:59:48 Let’s say when you reached the age of driving, you were given a car.
0:59:51 But this was just like the one car that you had for the rest of your life.
0:59:53 How well would you take care of that car?
0:59:57 Keep it spotless, I would take it to service, I would do everything right.
1:00:01 And we have this vehicle that we’re going through life with, which is our body and part
1:00:03 of our body is our brain.
1:00:07 So I would ask everybody, the one thing that you could do to be able to do that, to have
1:00:10 more purpose and profitability is to love your brain.
1:00:13 And then just the simple thing you could do is ask yourself, is this good for my brain
1:00:15 or is this bad for my brain?
1:00:19 Is watching this good for my brain or about eating this good for my brain or is it bad
1:00:20 for my brain?
1:00:24 And not that you have to be absolutely perfect, but the goal is progress.
1:00:27 And so love your brain because your brain controls everything.
1:00:30 It’s your number one wealth building asset.
1:00:31 I think that’s super smart.
1:00:34 A lot of people concentrate on their bodies and they forget about their brain.
1:00:36 So I think that’s great.
1:00:39 All right, what is your secret to profiting in life?
1:00:42 And profiting does not have to mean money.
1:00:45 So I think if you want your business to grow, your brand to grow, your book sales to grow,
1:00:49 your bank account to grow, then your brain has to grow.
1:00:51 And I say this because I always wear a brain on my shirt.
1:00:54 I’m always seen on social media pointing to my brain.
1:00:57 And I see, I think what you see, you take care of, you see your car, you take care of
1:00:59 it, you see your hair, you take care of it, your clothes, you take care of it.
1:01:03 But we don’t see the thing that controls everything, which is the human brain.
1:01:08 And so I would say that you want to be able to, just like with technology, we hear about,
1:01:12 you know, you upgrade your apps, you upgrade your phone, you get the upgrade your software,
1:01:13 your computers.
1:01:16 But one last time we upgraded the most important technology that has created all that other
1:01:19 technology, which is the human mind.
1:01:25 And so I would say the fastest way to grow, to get that area is you reach and then you
1:01:28 rest and then you repeat, right?
1:01:30 You stretch, you stabilize, right?
1:01:33 You count on an amount and you stretch yourself, then you stabilize and then you stretch some
1:01:35 more and then you stabilize.
1:01:39 And so I think that would be it, that you learn to earn, to return.
1:01:42 You learn, because the more you learn, the more you earn.
1:01:44 And the more you earn, the more you have the ability to return.
1:01:48 And I think that return is really important, because that sense of contribution, you train
1:01:53 your nervous system, your brain, that there’s more than enough.
1:01:58 We gave away 100% of the proceeds to limitless, to charity, to build schools, everywhere from
1:02:03 Ghana to Guatemala, to for teachers, to school buildings, to healthcare, clean water.
1:02:09 For the children, and also Alzheimer’s research for women, because women are twice as likely
1:02:11 to experience Alzheimer’s than men.
1:02:15 I lost my caregiver, my grandmother to Alzheimer’s, so we do it in her memory.
1:02:20 But I would say one of the best things you could do, chronic stress, shrinks your brain.
1:02:25 And one of the best ways to get out of stress is to contribute, is focus on somebody else.
1:02:30 And so how can you invest some of your time, your talent, your treasure, to making a difference?
1:02:33 Because it’s nice to make a dollar, and I think it’s better to make a difference.
1:02:37 And so, you know, when you could do both, I think it’s remarkable.
1:02:41 Be, do, have, and then share.
1:02:44 What a great way to end the interview, that was so powerful, Jim.
1:02:45 Amazing.
1:02:46 Be limitless, everybody.
1:02:58 [ Music ]