"This SECRET Will DOUBLE Your Learning SPEED!" | Jim Kwik & Lewis Howes

so I'm here with Jim quick thanks so much for coming out my man I appreciate it thanks for coming the superhero HQ yeah this is an epic place and you've gotta have lots of parties here so I'm gonna be visiting a lot soon now Jim for those who don't know Jim is a master of memory it's kind of what I think of you like this master of the brain memory I remember watching on stage I can't remember specifically where I think was a summit series potentially and you just captivated me by your memory you went on stage and you're like okay fifty audience members you know give me two different numbers each and we don't raise our hands we said like 21 15 or something there was like a hundred numbers and then you recited it all back and I was like whatever he has I need to learn how to add it so very excited to dive into how to master the brain and memory and some different tools and tricks that we can do to become superheroes ourselves right cool well I'm a fan so anything that's to do with greatness very cool so let's start off with what really inspired you to hack the brain in the first place was there something that happened to you that wanting to do this it was a lot of people when they see me do these demos where I memorize a roomful of people's names or numbers like you mentioned are lots of words I sell people I don't do is to impress you I do this more to really express to what's really possible because anyone can do this because we've been we've been told we've been told a lie that our memory our intelligence our genius is fixed kind of like our shoe size and through my experience of doing this for the past two decades nothing could be further from the truth you know people have unbelievable gifts inside them they're just not shown how I always thought it was interesting that school would teach us like what to learn like the subjects unimportant math and history and science and Spanish the what to learn but not never on how to learn you know how to focus how to concentrate how to be creative how to think for yourself how to read faster how to how to remember things maybe it should have been the fourth are remember reading writing arithmetic I'd also recall because there is no learning without remembering and Socrates said that but how I got started on this is I actually grew up with learning challenges and a lot of people don't know that but when I was in kindergarten I had a really bad accident and I had a head injury and hasn't left me feeling like I was broken that my brain didn't work and I had these focus issues I couldn't remember things and took me extra two years to learn how to read and I struggled you know privately and then also publicly and you know when you're that age you you know you get very self-conscious sure you know you become very introverted very shy you don't want to connect with people because you feel like there's something wrong with you and so that was that was my academic life you know I just worked so much harder then I don't know if people watching this to relate but just you know struggling with overwhelm or mo overload too much to learn too little time and it stresses you out and you're like why can't I do this why is everyone else succeeding so much faster and I have to do the more that's like not even fair right and that's that's what happens Wow so that that's kind of early on made you want to then master it since you were obviously or did I mean I think our struggles really could be some strengths and you know this course you know like you know one wouldn't win challenge you know with these kind of challenges come change you know and problems become enough to help you ever progress and so when I got to college I remember first freshman year at college I wanted to start fresh and I thought that I can really make my family proud because they sacrificed a lot and but I was doing so poorly and I took all these classes and I thought I would do better and have a clean slate but I actually did worse and and I remember I wanted to quit school and at that time you'd appreciate this a friend asked me to to come visit him and his family out on the west coast because I was on the East Coast and he was like I go out there I was like yeah I'll just take a weekend get a little space from school because I was thinking about quitting and when I get there the family is extremely successful and I don't just mean financial they had an amazing home on the water but they were happy you know there were there were givers they were learning all the time and and the father before dinner asked me these kind of questions or walking on his property and he asked the kind of questions you would ask somebody who just started college like how school and you know that kind of stuff right and I broke down crying I was like you know and to a stranger I just met like you know ten minutes ago I said I'm ready to quit schools just not for me I'm the one was I'm not smart enough and he's like well why you in school you know what would he want to be what do you want to do what do you want to share if you will and it's funny when people when you're not asked a question in life you know it takes a moment to pause to come up with an answer you know what I mean like when you're asking questions and no one's ever asked me those questions before and when I started to answer he paused he said wait and he takes out out of his back pocket I swear to you like a journal and like a diary and I always thought like twelve-year-old girls doing their own Diaries and he makes me ready tears out a couple piece of paper and it makes me write down all the goals like of what I wanted to do in my life and I've never something very powerful about taking pen to paper and just writing like those dreams your aspirations down and after maybe 20 30 minutes he asked me if I'm done I have maybe have 40 50 things there which is like a bucket list it was before I knew what a bucket list was and I start folding the sheets of paper thinking I'm done with the exercise to put it back in my pocket and he grabbed it from me and I was like I freaked out because like on that was like like you're lying exactly and I don't even know who this guy is and he's very successful and he starts to just read it and I'm so intimidated ID allow number though in his mind and I and I feel this small because everything I just I didn't know somebody was gonna look at it right and he looks at it he says Jim and I'm I don't know he was in seconds guys very successful he says Jim you are this close to everything on that list I'm just thinking there's no way how could it give me 10 lifetimes I couldn't put a dent on that list and then he goes like this mm yeah and he says like like as if this was you know the key here and he takes me into his home and it's this beautiful home he takes me into a room I've never seen before and it's wall to wall ceiling to floor covered in books I mean I've never seen like a library in somebody's house before and he starts grabbing these books you love this he starts grabbing books and starts handing them to me and starts to pile up really really really high and I started looking the titles because I'm curious there are these biographies of amazing men and women in history and some really early personal development books like Napoleon Hill you're thinking we're a rich and power positive thinking norman vincent peale and you know psycho-cybernetics and all these Bob and I'm just like and then I kind of get an inkling of what he wants me to do with these books and he asked me to read like one of these books a week and I'm just thinking and I say to him there's just no way I just told you I have all this schoolwork you're what a 19 now I'm 18 years old yeah I'm like there's no way I'll have all these and I can't even finish one book having these reading challenges and I have these learning challenges and I've all this scored and he was like Jim he said he looked me right in the eye said Jim don't let school get in the way of your education oh yeah and I didn't even realize that's a Mark Twain quote but this is like a couple degrees good I'm just thinking wow and it hit me like that but still I'm like you know what I still can't do this because I have all this work I need to study and then he you know he does he takes out that list which he still has in his possession my dream list my bucket list and then he starts reading it out loud every single thing line by line and I get chills thinking about it because there's something about watching a man who's you just met who's you know very small most successful people that you've met and he's incanting and putting it out to universe out loud you know your dreams sure I know and it's very unnerving and honestly Louis a lot of stuff that was on that list and I think about it it was things that I wanted to do for my family mmm you know these are all things that my family you know cuz I'd mentioned they sacrificed a lot like a lot of a lot of hard work and people do and and I want to do things for them that they country for themselves so with that leverage it commits I commit to reading one book a week well then I go from that I go back to school and now I have all this pile of stuff that I need to learn and then a pile of stuff that I want to learn and that puts me over the edge because in order to keep up I have to sacrifice of things that you know are important to you or that your sleep things like even things like working out and things like relationships and so no one sees me I'm just in the library long time I don't sleep I don't eat and you know that's a recipe for like you know disaster it is and how it came up how it showed up was I was at the library and at my body actually is a scariest time my life it actually just gave out like like the battery just ran out and I just passed out and I fell down a flight of stairs I hit my head again and I woke up in the hospital two full days later when I was down - I was hooked up to these IVs because I was malnourished dehydrated I was down to 117 pounds Wow and I thought I'd died and when I had that thought I was thinking you know what's going on here you know cuz I was ready to check out like check out a school check out check out girl of life and I was just like cuz I just I was just like I'm total failure I can't do any of this you know and then when I was thinking about it I was just the nurse came in and she had the answer in the form of a mug of tea and this is a true story she gives me a mug of tea of like green tea and it has a picture of a pretty smart guy this is Albert Einstein huh and those are staying on there that you've heard hundred times it said the same level of thinking that's created the problem won't solve the problem the same little thinking this career the problem won't solve the problem and made me think just you know power question so she bring that to you to say hey here's a part of that yeah yeah and it's funny when you put things out in the universe you know ask a new question you get a new answer and maybe say well what's my problem I was like you know my problem is I'm a really slow learner that's what I came up with I was just like I'm I'm a really slow learner who's that your problem was are your story that was my that was definitely my story and my perceived problem there and so and I was owning a - so I was fighting no one could tell me different because I was fighting my limp from my limitations right right and so I got to keep keep them it became true every day yeah and I was really and you know I had this whole story I had this brain injury and everything but I was like well if my problem is I have a slow learner how do I think differently about it and it was like well you know how do I learn how to be a faster learner and then I thought about school and I was like no school doesn't teach you those things much like you know school doesn't teach you a lot of things like what's the most important love the things that you have in you know in your podcast right the things that are just willing to move the needle in people's lives and turn their joy and their health or relationships their success in finances everything most important things yeah and so and it is not like a diss on schools I mean I think they're they're made my mother's a schoolteacher and my aunt's a professor I mean teachers worked so hard right it's just the system itself is a challenge you know because if you're stripping we're watching this in their stress their overload there's too much that you'll keep up with it's not their fault it's because we all grew up with a twentieth-century education that prepared us for world that doesn't exist anymore that 20th century world of working in factories and working on farms doing manual labor you know like you know because the school system back then which is now it's like one size fits all assembly line cookie cutter don't talk to your neighbors it quietly by yourself that doesn't work in the digital age anymore you know so right now like you know when we're talking about the brain how important the brain is you know we're not paid for our brute strength we're paid for our brain strength we're not paid for our muscle power it's really our mind power you know and so the challenge is is where you know your brain is this unbelievable supercomputer but it doesn't come with an owner's manual mmm you know it's not always user friendly either right so when I got out of that hospital bed I decided to study this subject called learning like learning how to learn I started to pick up every single book I could on brain science adult learning through multiple intelligences focus and concentration you know things really works by you know like time flow and stuff like that and in a very short period of time 60 days I swear to you was like a light switch just went on and I started to understand things for the first time Wow I mean I would sit in class and actually because I can't tell you growing up when someone's talking to you and not understanding it doesn't make sense you're not making the connection things there and then all sudden you're focusing I'll send you're remembering things I started reading faster and I started getting like better grades and less time and it started to transform my life and the reason I teach this to this day because it's two decades later is after you have that kind of like way awakening you can't help like with what you do share that greatness with other people or us and one of my very first students I'll never forget she's 18 years old a freshman she I teach a speed-reading program to teach anyone to read two or three times faster with better comprehension but she struggled for a few days and then that same light switch went on and she end up reading 30 books and 30 days whoa yeah I mean can you imagine like what books you would read if you go to Amazon right now pick out 30 books and no in 30 days you like you own that information may as well as like those authors sure now what is it you know I've always this is my story I've always had a hard time comprehending and staying focused in books now half of it but it's probably I'm just not interested in the topic with a book or it's not well rented but what are some things that people can do just you know right away to increase their comprehension and just speed it up a little bit so that they are able to stay focused long enough throughout the book it's it's amazing what people could do because here's here's part of it it's like motivation plays a big role first of all like he's mentioned like things that you're interested in like this this girl I wanted to ask not how she did it but I want to know why she read 30 books in 30 days I find out that she paused and she eventually told me it's because her mother was dying of terminal cancer and was given 60 days to live and the book she was reading or books to be able to save her mother's life Wow yeah chills Wow like I don't it's hard for me to even talk about cuz my memory is so clear of these events and not just because I'm a memory expert it's just it takes me back because I at that time I'm 18 I just wished her luck I'll say prayers and said you know but what do you do and then six months later I get a call from this young lady and she's crying and crying crying for minutes and I find out they're they're tears of joy when I find out that her mother not only survived but her mother's really starting to improve doctors don't know why or how the doctors actually call it a miracle but her mother tributes it a hundred percent to the great advice she got from her daughter who learned it from all these books I mean whoa and those kind of things that's right and really ich went into my body that you know the right that learning that if knowledge is power learning is a super power that's what I was gonna ask you to next cuz I saw that on your website so can you speak more into that the power of learning and you know not just having knowledge but being able to learn yeah why is that a superpower I I think that if there's one skill to master in the 21st century it's the ability to learn rapidly it's if you know what it is they call it in the military a force multiplier mmm-hmm a force multiplier is like an input goes in but you get exponential output from it's like optimism being positive as it forced multipliers right you know in Qom Paulo said that and so certain things like learning how to learn like meta learning or improving your memory improves everything improves your business improves like you know you could remember people's names you can remember sales presentations you could remember things about a people cuz like for example it's hard to show somebody from people are watching this they're entrepreneurs right and they're wearing a business development hat you know it's really hard to show someone you're gonna care for their business their future their family their health or fitness whatever you're selling them if you don't care enough just to remember things like their name your name you know or somewhere that or their or their kids name or their birthdays you know so that's a memory is a multiplier their memories a multiplier in their relationships you know like relationships just remembering those those moments you know like you know not even just a memory anniversaries remembering to take out the garbage that kind of stuff but remembering you know the first time you and your loved one you know took that walk on that beach you know what I mean those kind of moments that make everything worthwhile yeah but it's it's wonderful for every area Samarin yeah I do believe that tomb of the most costly words and business for example or I forgot you know I forgot to do it I forgot to bring it I forgot what a medium I forgot your name it's the words like could you get forgetting someone's name and I've seen this time and time again it could hurt a relationship it could kill deals I've had people call someone by the wrong name and they've lost multiple million dollar deals just on that I've had people email me and use a different name and my email right and it's frustrating I'm just like if you don't even if you're trying to reach out to me and you use mark because you want even paying attention you want that present it leaves a bad taste in people's mouths you know I know I'm not perfect I've forgotten people's names and I probably said the wrong name at times so you know what are some things people can do to remember names yeah okay so there there are three keys for improving your memory three keys right so if you're ever forgetting something you forget things you feel absent-minded like senior moments are coming a little bit early you're in the shower you can't remember if you shampooed your hair you know twice you misplaced your wallet your phone here's keys or your car you know I see the people like where did I park my car yeah you know these kind of and they waste a lot of time too and it take away you know all the treasures I don't mean just financial treasures I mean just important things you know in our life but there's three keys and remember mom mo em always remember mom so if you ever forgetting something usually one of those three things are missing all right so let's take names so when people say I want a better memory I hear them say like oh I want to be better at sports you know because you're just you're such an athlete it's like somebody come you said like well what sports specifically do you want to be better at because you did different techniques and different training for different things so remembering names different than learning languages different pin numbers and pass codes and all the different things you do everything's different everything's different and so the better stern principals that are saying okay so the m and mom is this let's say someone has horrible names right but let's say that there's a suitcase $100,000 cash if you just remember the name of the next stranger you meet how many people are gonna remember that person's name well remember everyone everyone and so that's the thing the M stands for motivation so it's interesting so all of a sudden everyone's a memory expert but it had nothing to do with their capacity or their potential everyone could do it it's just what they decide to do or not if they wanted to it's all it's almost like if it's worth it enough where the consequences are you know that big right or that big you're gonna miss out on I'm not right the motivate exactly because one of the things to learning we know with human motivation because I did this presentation and Bill Gates was there he liked and we're talking about wealthy individuals right and so you know he uh afterwards I talked to him I was we were talking about the the bridge between education and technology and I was like what's missing was the future of learning and he was like Jim you know the key is is human motivation really understanding what drives people I was like wow you know that's really right because you know there's people who go out there and they could buy courses you know but a lot of never open it exactly because it has everything to do with Drive and reasons because motivation is like you're you know like what is your motive for acting sure right what's the fuel and I believe there's the success formula called h-cubed that goes from your head to your heart to your hands the people can visualize and affirm and see things here all the time and think about it but if they're not acting with their hands you know actually doing something about it then usually what's missing is the second age which is the heart the emotion the energy of motion and a martial arts instructor tell me years ago you can't steer a parked car you know you need fuel where's the energy that's gonna do that and so with people's mode fraction so simple when people are remembering people's name ask yourself why do you want to remember this person's name because reasons reap results I've always found that in life reasons reap results because you needed big enough why sure get out light like Simon cynics book you know start with why and so you want to get that drive first alright so the motivation the Oh is something interesting you know I I have people do this I have them just kind of shake out their hand like this I say make a fist and I say put it there chin and then I go like this and everyone puts it here I said chin and this is the difference the o stands for observation and I find that a lot of people blame their memory issues and they think it's like a retention issue but I find it's really a attention issue okay that's an attention issue present you mean or it is that that's a big part of it it's like you know let's let's say everyone uses a search engine like Google every single day but a lot of people they use it 10 times a day if I ask them are you willing to bet your life you know what colors the letters are because that's that's an observation you know there's a difference between looking at something and seeing it really seeing it there's difference between hearing something and really listening you know like leaders like for example I had this whole escapade with the x-men which was insane but I had to leave the the set because there I had to go to a charity event and one of the people that I think the leaders the independent of your political bent who has incredible memory as President Clinton every single time I've met President Clinton he's remember my name know what he does and how many people does he's very to them yes you how many people does Clinton meet on a regular basis right and so that's a leadership skill though right and so FDR was incredible with names also he would walk around the White House and point people out and say hi to them say saying hi to their spouse and using by name I mean that's cuz I think about the sweetest sounded person's ears right America's their name all right and said so anyway I asked him what's memory tricky uses he uses no memory tricks at all and he tells me this you know this is amazing don't worry - yes and so he tells me this incredible story about how he knows his grandfather you know in Arkansas and to get all the kids around and tell stories to them but then he would wisdom they really need to listen to be present and it's funny because I noticed that like he's Bill Clinton is an inquiry cardless Authority how you feel politically incredible communicator yeah incredible charisma incredible connector right and he also this memory I find you know he's this incredible presence this powerful presence but I find that his powerful presence sense memory comes from being powerfully present his powerful presence comes from being powerfully present and here's the thing when people are networking because I know a lot of people there's their entrepreneurs or social entrepreneurs and littles any that are going out there meeting people cuz really it's it's what you know and it's who you know but that's all memory what you know clap people go to seminar two days later they'll forget everything right 80 percent there's a big forgetting curve but also who you know and who knows you right but what are the challenges is though II networking and how many time do you find yourself talking to somebody and then looking over their shoulder yeah II would people to thank you that it's like annoying cuz you're distracting yourself at all times more if you're not just dragging yourself externally you're like talking to yourself what am I gonna say Mary exactly so the people aren't even listening that this is so key when people are communicating most of the times you find that they're not even really listening what they are is they're thinking about how they're gonna respond yeah you know and if you look at the word listen and you scramble the letters it becomes the word silent no yeah it's an extra people would just do that and we're talking about really fundamental things that's why one of the things reasons you know I love your podcast is because some of these basics those are the biggest things that move the needle I mean just understanding why you want to remember something and being present and paying attention and being silent and really listening I mean that's not magic but that's just like going to the gym right me think about the fundamentals we're talking about exercise we're talking about sleep we're talking about you know a good diet yeah that's like that's crazy yeah the mindset that's that's 95 percent of it right there yeah that's incredible and then finally the the third am his his mechanics okay Hannah for Mom so M is is motivation the oh is observation and then the final M is mechanics and these are not the person that's gonna fix your car but this is the tips the techniques the hacks if you will the strategies on how to learn a language how to speed read how to remember that person I don't give a speech without notes right we did but it the M and the of motivation observation so what's key mechanics then for you know say I'm going to an event and there's ten people as someone's introduced me to them yeah shake your hand we've all done this before it's like hi hi hi hi what's the mechanics yeah I mean we've all experienced so relationships self proximity and it's all who you know right yeah and who knows you back yeah right and one of the most standout skills that I know of is walk into a room meaning 20 strangers and leaving saying goodbye to every single one of them with their name can you do that because we have fucus who because who are they all gonna remember when you walk through a room that's that's a standout skill that's an dad that's the thing that because when you remember people's name they feel like that you care because what's the opposite if you forget someone's name how do they don't care that you don't care that they're not important and you know this is what I've been you know thinking my whole life cuz I've never felt like I've had the book smarts yeah but I felt like I've cared more than you know not a percent of people yeah and I feel like that's what's been able to get me to where I want to be by showing people how big my heart is yeah as opposed to how much I know yes and I think that's could be the most powerful thing is like remembering and just being connected to people as opposed to you tell him what you know and that's huge to because a lot of people a lot of traditional networking or business advice will be like oh you have to you know what you're going to people tell them all these amazing stories and really be interesting to them I think is there's a difference between interesting and interests did mmm you know what I mean when you hate somebody being interesting and talk about all you do that this and then also the interest sincerely interested people love the person when they get to share yes and you listen yes when you just allow people to share their story and what they're excited about and you remember their name you don't have to say anything and they feel like you're the best person in the world lately right yeah that the late Stephen Covey who continue to spend a good amount of time with him share of stage with he has that you know seek first to understand then to be understood I mean that that's huge that that's huge this is what you want to do every time you want to go you go to a wedding you go to a conference you go to a networking event seven tips you don't even have to use all seven just any part of this would be better than nothing okay all right I want you to remember be suave be suave like you walk so I know you're that someone your people are going out and they're there they're checking the mirror on their makeup and their there their clothing when them say I'm gonna be suave so the B stands for believe because you know this better than anyone gonna believe you can or believe you can't hide the right you're right right and so here's the thing with believes what I mean by that is you want to kill the ants you know our our friend dr. Daniel a man the big brain doctor talks about killing hands automatic negative thoughts because here's the thing like um you know with the name like quick I had to be a runner growing up you know like I always tell people like Jim quick quick learning how people learn quickly and they're like quick really is my last name yes really my last name because it was like a name like quick your life and destiny was pretty much planned out I did be a runner back in school I have to I get to be careful when I'm driving because the worst name that we pulled over when your speed a little quicker yeah it's like you want to have that on your life since you're not gonna talk about that ticket yeah and I get to teach speed learning you know it speed reading speed memory and stuff you're just as wrong or sprinter hop sprinter so so I was I was preparing for a marathon and I was really excited about a shreya of course reading books on it and stuff like that because I read a book a day and I just have to learn it that's like oh it's like matrix got style and everything I go to like Barnes & Noble I pick up a book and then just read it put it back on the show save a lot of money that way like I was reading this book on running marathon and there's one chapter on the psychology of running a marathon and that's what I was really should the mindset and it opened up with this paragraph verbatim because I'm have a memory expert it's at this your mind is like a supercomputer and your self talk is the program it will run so if you tell yourself you are not good with names you will not remember the name of next person you meet because you program your computer or not - I was like wow so b4b suave the B stands for believe believe you can believe you can either way you're right because here's the thing that I've learned and here's the tweetable if you will is your mind is always ease dropping on your self-talk your mind is always he's dropping upon your cell Intel all right so you want to monitor that so I encourage everyone we'd spend a week to a 30-day fast no negative thoughts or you have to to regroup right that's the B the E and B swap stands for exercise and I don't mean physical exercise although people who are more physically active will always do better on mental acuity memory exams because anything that's good for your heart is really good for your head right but I mean practice because practice makes progress practice makes progress it always does and so the bad news to remember names it takes effort the good news not as much as people think hmm so the bad news takes effort but what's what's not valuable in your life that says that doesn't take effort right and so there's no magic pill like there's no magic memory pill but there is a magic memory process and that's what we're talking about there is no magic memory pill if there is a memory process and so the e is exercised and so it takes about 21 to 30 days you know we learned in psychology the law of 21 practicing something for 21 30 days whether it's learning how to type I'm learning how to drive a car or what have you until you get to be second nature with it so you practice somewhere can you practice everywhere right just any time you're flipping through the channels and people get introduced you're meeting people all the time you can practice all the time sure and so it's just example is you you could go to the grocery store and see three strangers and just make up their name that's Bob that's who that's Mary and then when you leave like you to check out in your mom's exact so yeah and then so that's a thing that's the difference right Tony Robbins talks about what you practice in private you're rewarded for in public and you know stuff that's what you do you practice so that's the a and B so B e so B is believe he is exercise now the suave is these the actual mechanics all right so the essence suave when you're meaning for this person for the first time the S is you say the name are you say the name so hi my name is Jim hey Lois Lois is nice to meet you good to meet you too yeah if I was any better my name and my name would be Lois house that does it yeah that's a super so so here saw saying the name right away and just by hearing the name again helps me so now I heard it twice one for me one for me all of a sudden I'm gonna remember that my retention is gonna go up I also want to say it because I want to make sure going back to mom the oh I wanna make sure I observed it correctly sometimes you're networking a lot of things going on you meet someone named Ted you say goodbye and you know better to get corrected upfront then later on right so you say the name the you and swaps means use it you want to use the name very simple right you want to use it not abuse it but this you know because Louis thanks for coming Louis we didn't talk about Louis's but it gets creepy right that's like a sign right yeah exactly it's try hard and it's it's like a Seinfeld episode where they like the close talker you know or there was actually a Seinfeld episode I haven't thought about this in years wasn't there a Seinfeld episode like a rerun you might have seen that he was dating somebody and was intimate with her but he actually forgot her name every single time she would leave he try to go into her purse and get her driver's license and and meet Kramer and try to get a name to come out but if here's the thing in rhyme with the part of the female anatomy and that was the famous that was a famous episode now if you remember with people watching this remember what that is so you want to make sure that you use it three or four times in the conversation sure the a stands for ask and this is a really big one ask because what's everyone's favorite subject it's like it's not travel it's not entrepreneurship it's not even you know it's not shopping its themselves right and you ever meet somebody and their name is a little different than you're used to like you've never heard that name before you know probably 80% of the people you meet you know Louis and Jim the pretty pre common names sometimes you meet someone a pop song or a ridiger or Isis or what have you you know then you ask about a person's name and what can you ask about a person's name you know you could ask like how do you spell it what is it me what is it me or is it stand for who you're named after I related to this person you know all these questions and you know everything for most part everyone gets very complimented because a name and again is a sweetest sound or person's ears right and think about why though like the psychology of it you know a child what's one of the first words they learn how to write exactly but how much how much love were they're given when they did it right you know all that emotions I didn't to like her because I think you know one of the challenges people have like one of the biggest fears people have is not being good enough you know that we're not good enough and if we're not good enough we're not gonna be loved we're not gonna be loved you know not gonna be we're gonna die or something you know and so but that name is like our identity right so you always want to be able to refer to so you ask about a person's name and they're complimented so like for example I was speaking at the country's largest life insurance company about a hundred people in the room training director was there and her name was named kita kita and I was like wow that's really beautiful name sincerely right yeah and so I was like you know you know how does it spell where is it from I said what does it mean she paused and she looked at every part co-workers and she says it means graceful falling waters and I was like whoa I got chills and then you know like half the audience was like making these sounds and it made me just spontaneously ask you know how long he worked here you know she was like about four years I was like with all these people she was like yeah you know like a lot of people my good friends are in my wedding it's like that's nice how many people in this room and you that's what her name meant and I have a hundred people how many people raised their hands zero none none and I was one of my biggest clients because this word refers Tomatoes a train director sure and so brought me in told but that name was a bond right so that was sincere interest so you asked about a person's name okay and then finally the V and the E and suave the V is visualize visualize and this is really simple memory tip where we tend to remember more what we see then what we hear mmm right you go to somebody to like you like their face you know I remember your face but I forgot your name you never go to someone say hey I remember your name but I forgot your face right so you remember what you see impact there's a Chinese proverb that goes what I hear I forget what I see I remember and what I do I understand what I hear I forget I heard the name I forgot the name what I see I remember I saw the face I remember the face when I do going back to exercise and practice I understand all right and so if you tend to remember what you see then try seeing what you want to remember so this is the trick that you meet somebody you take their name and you turn into a picture so let's say you meet someone named Mike and then for a split second you imagine them taking a microphone singing karaoke on the tabletop right you meet someone named Carol and you majesty sing Christmas carols right you meet someone named Mary and imagine she's carrying these little lambs you know around and you do this in the privacy of your garage yeah people say well that's so childish who are the fastest learners on the planet sugar children how fast can they learn a musical instrument spared today how fast can they learn like wearing languages correct that right so children that they do that they're playful they they make fun of people's names right you know they could you know kids could be in therapy for 10 years because their name was maybe fun of and they don't even know right so that's what you want to do you wanna take someone's name turn into a picture so person's name is David I use a slingshot for David and Goliath you know someone named Bob I imagined them bobbing for apples just something very because here's the thing there's something called I call this six-second syndrome the six-second syndrome is someone tells you their name you have six seconds to do something with that otherwise gone gone it's on that's it maybe you don't practice it daily right you've got to lose it exactly and so here at least you're focusing on the person and your folks that name so person's name is John you could picture whatever do you remember what you use for me when we met when we first so hears it yes yeah yeah oh so everybody has heard their their own thing like that is so funny is like I use okay so you come up with a picture that works for yourself so when we met I actually use it's a slinky and I donate don't ask why because it sound like it or anything like that but one of my best friends growing up as a kid was Louis okay and all he would do is play with this slinky like this little toy this iron all the time so I just think about him every single time I think about that so I saw that I just picture it and I just remember now after you remember the person then the pictures just disappear but you need something just to hold it for six seconds or and then you have it right and choosing the other part of reason why it works is that left prank barter your brain does logic and words and sounds and we'll talk about this with speed reading that that's the only using party brain but your right brain is like pictures and imagination and visualization and emotion that's activating more of your brain people say you we use like 10% of our brains potential we use all our brain but in terms of its potential you know like you know but no one shows us how to activate the rest of it but part is just using your imagination his imagination is more powerful than knowledge well yeah hein Stein said that and so you want to turn into a picture and finally he and suave stands for end and that's going back to saying saying goodbye using their name going to a room meeting 10 strangers leaving every single one so that they all remember Wow you okay let me see if I can remember this because I was trying to be present but also remember so be suave the be seen from belief please the exercise exercise practice pass is say it say hi swap you is uh use it use the name a is asked the name ask about these visualize and he is aunt eyes very cool and this is so I'm saying it's what people people they experience this they practice this you'll see a big and that's what I love about it and then all of a sudden what you have a competence it increases your confidence you show up differently when you're out there with other people yeah you probably don't have to use every one of them that person you decided on us say it say yeah maybe just say and initialize it and if they're done yeah you know so any any part of it is better than most people which is good nothing cuz if I say you tell me names Jim I'm not gonna say oh that's an interesting name right you know exact how many more about who exactly called you if you just imagine like me doing something funny with my you know like barbells or whatever like a DiMaggio gym or whatever yeah and people are motivated or asked like they're asking why they want to remember person names like I would ask myself for motivation why don't I remember the person name maybe it's because I want to I want to get some business or I'll show this person respect or maybe I just want to practice these these tips that are you know I'm just your life guest that's cool I'm gonna have a couple questions left for this interview and we're gonna have some extra videos yeah some more memory tips for people all to tell you guys where to go for those at the show notes after this interview but I want to ask you what are some daily habits of rituals that you have to just sharpen your mind every single day then others can apply okay so um so I think here's the thing when it comes to your memory two-thirds of it is so people are concerned that they're growing older but I could say you can improve your memory regardless your age your background your career your diet level education your financial situation your gender your health situation your IQ anything it can be improved here's the thing one third of your of your memory is predetermined by biology and genetics but that's so exciting because I mean it's 2/3 the majority of twice as much is completely in your control that's cool and so the things that move the needle for example are like 10 things that I'm thinking about that's gonna move the needle completely that that that 2/3 so it's a good diet right so a good diet because you are what you eat right and so there's certain brain foods that we know is it's good for your mind is good for your mind dr. Damon talk about those well a lot of that you know everything from from from blueberries to walnuts and everything right so there's good diet and number two killing hands killing the automatic negative thoughts which is a big for a lot of people remember your mind is always easier on yourself talk and it's a practice right so you want to be able to tell the mate the negative talk and you can't just eliminate something you just you have to replace it with something else right exactly you can't just stop smoking you have to start doing something else so so my memory cuz here's the thing that you want to avoid a lot of people start taking pride in how bad certain things are in their life you get some significance very much so you you nailed it you know people start getting fried because they're there the money my memory is so bad if I don't write my grocery list in triplicates I won't remember it and like all you think you're forgetful is how careful I am or this is how bad people also have this with busyness it is so bad nowadays everybody has to be busy because that makes things all that person must be so important right and so that we gotta get off that cult of BRZ is that congratulations for being the most busy person right exactly like that everybody else we're gonna do exactly but people starting in pride they start designing their life around being busy and they wonder why they're all stressed out all the time so automatic negative thoughts kill those ants number three that's good that you have to do daily is exercise yeah right because you know your body and your brain it's connected and there's actually certain exercises you could do to build your brain power so for example juggling extremely good for your brain has been shown an Oxford last year there's a study saying that jugglers actually have bigger brains you could actually build more white matter it's also great tip for speed reading because as you're juggling three balls your eyes we only have two of them you can't focus on all three also you have to soften your gaze Oh am I taking more or like peripheral vision and trained you that way so you guys should take in more words as you're reading but it's actually built more white matter as you're doing it there's certain exercises also we teach people this is a field called educational kinesiology where certain body movements actually helps build your brain power which is these cross laterals and these kind of fun things even something simple like you know like we're always on the computer all the time so it's really important to kind of keep your your your hands and your fingers kind of stretched but you know can you do one twice as fast like literally like this you know something like ya know three or something on this board yeah or sort like you're pulling an energy like this but what if you had to do one forward and one back but there's been so many exercises for people like eating what the opposite hand is actually good for your brain Russian you're biting your teeth gaps and very very good exercise actually build your brainpower so exercise is really good but I mean just being physically fit is good for your brain right for it's good for staving off a lot of brain challenges okay fourth thing that people incorporate is bring nutrients because a lot of people they're not getting it from their soil and maybe their food so maybe a supplement and certain things right number five this is a big one and I know you're you're big on this a positive peer group you are what you eat you know in York but you are also who you spend time with of course right so if you want a bigger brain you want your mind to be active and everything being around people that challenge you that supports you that teach you things that encourage you that are positive because we are the average of the five people as you know that we spend the most time with so positive peer group is good for your brain number six that's good for your brain is clean environment they find that you know this like when people start cleaning their desk that their external world starts reflecting their internal world and vice versa right so a clean environment helps you be more organized and inside also as well number seven that's good for your brain in terms of lifestyle what I do every single day is things like sleep sleep is so important people that's where you're rebuilding your rejuvenating or restoring but we live there's this whole epidemic of sleeplessness and people aren't getting enough sleep and as I'm going through this list people should go through and this is common sense yeah but not common practice yeah that's the difference right people say like there's a there's some zones here that people like you know I'm not spending time with the right people or maybe you know I'm really not getting too much sleep or maybe my diet or mice negatives I'll talk there's one or two things that if you fix it and you you put energy there it'll just your your beer your business could double yeah because you're you're doubling those s number seven number eight is brain protection so important to protect your brain because you know people who are accident-prone or they're doing like a lot of extreme sports you know they're active want to make sure you wear helmets and just you know mates because your brain is as resilient but it's you know it's it's this control-m smash it you're done my father ten years ago gotten car accident he's still recovering he's not the same person me yeah can't work anymore you know he said he forgets a lot just see that that that's why I do what I do because I never want people to suffer the way that I was struggling every single day for like 15 years train yeah you know and just cuz it reflects on you know when I was in that hospital bed going through all that and then there's so funny like not not funny in this and haha funny but when this when this young lady who read the thirty books in 30 days and saved her mother's life she gave me one of those books and inside the book was this photograph and it was she was using it as a bookmark and it was her mother in the hospital and remind me when I was in the hospital and so yeah take care of your brain yeah number nine is new learnings learn something new every single day never let your head hit that pillow being the same as it was when it won't go ever so this in the park I think this podcasts are nice we read exactly watch her TED talks you know take on all my course or anything new learnings cuz here's the thing we've learned more about your brain in the past twenty years in the previous two thousand years and you know according to science neurogenesis that your brain create new brain cells even as it grows older and neuroplasticity is saying you can make new your brains like plastic it's so malleable but just having a new thought creates more connections and so Einstein the brain wasn't any bigger than anybody else's but he had more connections than people the most people in certain areas and those connections come from new learnings and that's all learning is is connecting something you don't know to something you know and making new connections like that so always new learnings and always challenge yourself and that's probably the most out of it and finally number ten what I try to practice every des is stress management you know someone and if you want to know what the biggest obstacle is for people's brains is stress stress creates cortisol adrenaline your body and its really good for fight-or-flight it's not really good if you need to take a test it's not really good if you need to study is that really after you can read reports and journals and learn something brand new or learn a language is how that will shut down part to your brain Wow so those are the 10 things that I focus on every single day that's what's gonna move the needle more than anything that's really powerful information things for that we've got two questions left but I want to ask you before those final two questions tell me about the whole x-men experience see that were you or were you coaching the whole x-men groomer yeah so so we have that photograph that's that's there early in the cast and the backstory for that in terms of like like a school of greatness speaking of school greatness is this is um one I'm one of last year one of I had the privilege to go in and train the chairman of 20th Century Fox and his senior staff about 20 people and and when going down the hallway I was lit up because I would see all these movie posters you know cuz I became a kid again you know I you know Titanic and Star Wars and aliens and Avatar I'm just like and I go in and I and I I I'm really great like I like I like to be like couple but but I feel it but because it was amazing I mean I got like everyone they doubled their reading speed and they'd rather focus and I'll remember that amazing amazing stuff as to thank you the Chairman took me around the studio it's a closed lab but show me all movie sets and television sets and I was lit up like a kid because I'm still that kick stand I think I was really great in that moment because I was like a child that was playful and was fun I think those are the best estate you want to learn him anyway well we're back in the studio I saw its movie poster of the upcoming Wolverine movie with you Jackman and I'm a huge and he was like I was like I can't wait to see that movie and he picked up because it was coming out for a few weeks he picked up the phone and five minutes later I'm in the Fox Theater with 3d glasses and popcorn watch watching you Jackman's I got all these super ninjas and it was awesome now the only one and I'm just thinking this is incredible panel here and everything I'm just singing and then afterwards we're done he picks me up he's like how is the movie you know there's some labor market research house like this was amazing and because I'm still like a seven year old I go back and I tell him you know you don't know this but I grew up with these learning challenges that don't tell a lot of people and I couldn't read for two years but I learned how to read by reading comic books because something about the pictures and the stories really made sense to me and my favorite comic book growing up was the x-men which Wolverine is an x-factor and I was like because the x-men weren't necessarily the most powerful but they they didn't fit in there are mutants they were different and I felt like in school I didn't fit in or and and and the highlight I'm telling this the CEO and the Chairman was when I was reading this comic book I found out they had a school of all these x-men and it was in Westchester New York and that's where they all trained you know the school of greatness if you will here and and I grew up in Westchester New York Wow so I told him this is his true story when I was seven and eight years old on the weekends I would ride my little bike around my neighborhood trying to find that school because I wanted to run away leave my school which I didn't like enjoyed going straight because I wanted because they're different and I'm different I want to learn my superpowers and what's my superpowers right and what's other people's superpowers I tell him this like I'm a little kid like I'm eight years old and he's like Jim I didn't know you liked superheroes do you want to go to comic-con and I'm like oh come across the biggest Congress in the country right and I'm like well when is it he's like it's going on now this weekend and I was like also and I go from 88 I go from eight-year-old to an 88 year olds I'm thinking oh I have all these meetings how about you get there I don't have clothes out the way the lines are going to be traffic to get to San Diego from LA and I just make all excuses which is that's I think adults do we become critics and becomes you know likes well shares of our own dreams sometime and he looks at me it's like Jim do you want to go or not I'm going tomorrow I was like oh the chairman of Fox Studios going yeah I want to go with you so he picks me up the next morning Saturday 8 o'clock and we don't drive down we get on the Fox plane and sweet yeah and I get on the plane they're flying like a superhero and when I got on a plane Lois there's the entire kiddy not cast of x-men on that plane and like Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman Terry Barry to be on huh oh and I'm sitting between Halle Berry and Jennifer Lawrence right and and you know and I you know I want to put these pictures on Instagram right like I sort of have like half my pictures are like pictures of like superheroes yeah but it's like and I can't even believe it and we go there to spend the entire day with the cast at comic-con we come back to LA that night on the plane and and he was like how was your day I was like this is the best day ever I was like oh my goodness this is incredible he was like well I have something else for you I'm like no what can I do for you I don't need anything else and you're not gonna top this it was like well the cast where you loved you house how would you like to go on set I was like what do you mean here's like we have another month of filming X the new x-men movie sounds like oh yeah I totally went through that and he was like whoa I was like what can I do for you how psycho just just share these tips teach my speed read scripts and memorize their lines and be focused on I was like oh yeah I could do that so the next morning we're on the Fox they called the x-jet and I'm doing I'm answering their questions on brain and brain performance and focus and memory and reading and I get to spend an entire week with them on set 12 hours is a eating with them working out with them and watching my childhood heroes come to life oh my god it was just like had I can't even describe it it sounds like it's seven year old the entire time they'd all be sitting here in Bryan Singer director was here the entire time just like here and when I get home and this is what a class act I get home and there's a package waiting for me about that like the plasma TV and I open it and it's this photograph of me and the entire cast of that by the x-men I thought over that we're gonna and it's like if you I won't take it off my facebook cover picture but in it but here's the thing even better than that was a note from the chairman and a note said this verbatim it said Jim thank you so much for sharing your superpowers with us it said I know you've been looking for your school here's your class photo oh my goodness that's amazing I just I just want to cry that's so cool yes so I just it just that's wow that's the story there but but the lesson there this is twofold I would say this it came from being um for tapping I think there's this childlike learner genius inside all of us and because I was that authentic I kind of like let that out it kind of led to to that so in what areas of our life can be we'd be more playful to be more authentically us especially when we're you know cuz I don't think a I think age really is not chronological age it's more of an age of in our mind in our heart you know like um I'm friends with Stanley and he's like for me at the living Disney spider-man x-men Iron Man Avengers and one chance I had an opportunity to introduce him and another one of my heroes Richard Branson for dinner and I pick him up here just down the street and a 10-minute ride takes an hour and I'm in the back seat with Stanley and and I'm asking him like who's your favorite superhero and he's like you know it's Iron Man I'm like oh I love Iron Man yeah and he's like who's repairs outside house like spider-man and I say spider-man these days with great power comes great responsibility like he can already know I was like you know the opposite is also true Stan with great responsibility comes great power you know when we take responsibility we have the power to really change things but Stan has two passions he's 92 turns he's 92 years old and he still goes to work here great down the street 9:00 to 5:00 Monday through Friday he loves telling stories and he'd the other the other passion his his wife was here older and that that what a role model and he learns he's one of the youngest oldest people I know at 92 and that's what I mean by us the state of mind so I wanna finalize this interview with to plan of questions and the first one is what are you most grateful for recently what am I most grateful for in your life what do you like in my life they're my friends my family mm-hm there's nothing more important to me my my values are love growth contribution and adventure and I think the people you spend time with is what makes life worth living yeah and then I think the secret to life is growing and giving growing cuz I used to be just giving and giving it and you and I share some it's in the same same same pursuits in terms of how we give but I find that if we're not growing that we'd all have as much to give and you know a lot of people are out there they kind of martyr themselves and was there for everyone you know they're there for their friends and their family and their clients and their business but they're not taking care of themselves so I think that's important so yeah my friends and family or everything awesome awesome so the last question is what I asked all of my guests and it's what's your definition of greatness that's a great question I I would define greatness as people who become the superhero that they were meant to be I called the superhero you and a superhero has two things they've developed and discovered their own strengths and everybody has a unique power you know you need talent you need gift anyone else has but they don't just have a superpower to use their power for some kind of purpose and they used it to be able to save the world to be able to have value to our community so I would say be that superhero be that superhero you very cool Kim quick thanks for coming on thanks to us appreciate it you

Channel: Lewis Howes

Views: 1,441,127

Keywords: Learning (Quotation Subject), Brain (Anatomical Structure), Memory (Quotation Subject), Health (Industry), Mind, Performance, Body, lewis howes, the school of greatness, summit, soga, legacy, 7fw, success, ex football player, as seen on ellen, improve your memory, brain health, motivation, full interview, interview 2014, speed reading, ted talk, podcast, note taking, remembering names, los angeles, california

Id: MkfFLU4h9cc

Length: 54min 11sec (3251 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 14 2014