0:02

Hello and welcome to another episode of All

0:04

the Hacks, a show about upgrading your life, money

0:06

and travel. I'm your host, Chris Hutchins, and today

0:08

we're going to cover a topic that I'm pretty

0:10

sure every single one of you will want to

0:13

learn, and that's how to unlock your brain's potential.

0:15

And to do that, I'm talking with

0:17

bestselling author of Limitless Jim Quick, who

0:20

is a world renowned expert in memory

0:22

improvement and accelerated learning, and who has

0:24

been a brain enhancement and performance coach

0:26

to everyone from Bill Gates to Tom

0:28

Brady to Oprah Winfrey. There

0:30

are so many hacks in this episode. We're

0:32

going to cover improving retention, brain foods, ways

0:34

to exercise your brain, how to find limitless

0:37

motivation, and so much more. I am so

0:39

excited for this episode, so let's jump in

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2:06

allthehacks. Jim,

2:09

thanks for being here. It's

2:12

so good to be here, Chris. Thanks for having

2:14

me. So many people I've talked to think they have

2:17

a bad memory and you've publicly challenged that notion.

2:19

Does that mean that anyone can have a great memory? For

2:22

the most part, absolutely yes. Yeah, I

2:24

know we met at an event that we were both speaking

2:26

at and sometimes all these demonstrations that

2:28

there's time and pull a bunch of people on

2:31

stage or memorize like 50 people's names or I

2:33

always tell people I don't think this impressed you.

2:35

I really just expressed to you what's possible because

2:37

the truth is every single one of your listeners

2:39

could do that and a lot more regardless

2:42

of their age or background or financial situation,

2:44

gender history, IQ. We just weren't taught. I

2:46

always thought it was interesting in school they

2:48

teach you what to learn like math and

2:51

history and science and there aren't any classes

2:53

on how to learn those subjects like focus

2:56

and concentration or problem solving

2:58

or speed reading, memory

3:00

certainly. And so I know it's

3:02

possible because as you know, I had a

3:04

traumatic brain injury when I was a child, 5 years

3:07

old, kindergarten class. I took a

3:09

very bad fall headfirst into a

3:11

radiator and rushed to the

3:13

emergency room. Where it really showed

3:15

up was my brain. I had these migraines every

3:17

single day as a kid. I thought it was

3:19

just normal and on a fun

3:22

time, I had these processing issues where teachers

3:24

would repeat themselves over and over again and

3:26

then I would pretend to understand but I

3:28

didn't really understand poor focus, memory.

3:30

It took me 3 years so I would learn

3:33

how to read and that was a big challenge.

3:35

So I had a lot of confidence issues, self-esteem

3:37

issues. I felt like I had these disabilities. When

3:39

I was 9, I was filling out a class

3:41

that was being teased for it and a teacher

3:43

came to my defense and she pointed to me

3:46

in for a little class and said, leave that

3:48

kid alone. That's the boy with the broken brain.

3:50

That label became my limit and so for

3:53

the past 3 decades, I've dedicated myself to

3:55

help people with the challenges I had. I

3:57

think we're best suited to help the person

3:59

we once were. were and for

4:01

me, having challenges with my memory and my

4:03

focus, my learning, my brain health, I just

4:05

want to help build better, brighter brains. Nobody

4:08

left behind. The memory is not fixed like

4:10

our shoe size, it can be improved with

4:13

the proper training for sure. And

4:15

having seen a lot of your content actually been

4:17

in the audience when you've done some of these

4:19

exercises, I'll just make sure everyone knows it's not

4:21

just for people who are starting behind, it can

4:23

be for anyone, right? People that think maybe I

4:25

have a decent memory. I imagine the

4:27

limit is as you said in your book,

4:30

limitless. So what does the training regimen look like? I think

4:32

a lot of people are like, I know what to do to go

4:34

to the gym and run and lift and but

4:36

I imagine most people are sitting here going, okay,

4:38

what is brain training? Yeah, as

4:40

a brain performance coach or a memory

4:42

improvement coach, just like a personal trainer,

4:44

a personal trainer at that gym that

4:46

you're talking about will help you get

4:49

your body in shape, right? Help you

4:51

be faster, help you be stronger, more

4:53

flexible, more agile, more energized hopefully. Your

4:55

brain, your mental muscles to be stronger, your

4:57

memory to be sharper, your thinking to be

5:00

more flexible and pliable and quicker

5:02

and your focus to be stronger, your

5:04

mental endurance. People struggle with

5:06

mental fatigue and don't want people to

5:09

be able to overcome that. We have

5:11

two different approaches that we combine to

5:13

really help people have a limitless brain

5:15

so they can learn faster. And I

5:17

think learning faster is an incredible edge

5:19

in your career, in school and in

5:21

life. So the processes we teach are

5:24

strategies on how to read faster, how

5:26

to improve your memory, remember client information

5:28

or product information, give speeches without notes,

5:30

facts and figures and data, focus tools but then

5:32

also you have to take care of the thoughts

5:35

of software, you have to take care of the

5:37

hardware which is that incredible super computer that we're

5:39

all born with between our years.

5:41

That's three pound matter called our brain that

5:43

doesn't come with an orders manual and it's

5:45

not user-friendly. So we go through lifestyle enhancements

5:47

to be able to take care of your

5:50

brain because I believe we are the pilot

5:52

of our brain. We don't have to be

5:54

the passenger. A lot of people feel like

5:56

they're at the effect of this

5:58

information overload or... all the distraction

6:01

that's going on and the forgetfulness and

6:03

we could actually, we're in the pilot's

6:05

seat. There's a number of things we

6:07

can do from our diet to managing

6:09

stress to optimizing our sleep to supplements

6:12

that help support the stronger shopper brain.

6:14

I want to jump into a few of those but

6:17

before, is it helpful? Are we

6:19

kind of all the same or certain

6:21

people have different starting points or

6:23

different styles of learning and training

6:25

that it might be worth doing

6:27

an evaluation or an assessment before

6:29

we think about improvement? We

6:32

have the largest academy in the

6:34

world on brain optimization, accelerated learning.

6:36

So we always start with assessments.

6:38

We are known for tripling people's

6:41

reading speed with better comprehension. So

6:43

we measure their existing starting base rate.

6:45

In terms of how fast they're reading,

6:48

we measure their comprehension. Same thing

6:50

with memory. In our courses, we show

6:52

people names and faces, give them random lists

6:54

of words, give them numbers and

6:56

all the things that we need to be able

6:58

to memorize and then test them before and after

7:01

trainings also as well. But I think same thing

7:03

with going to the gym. Everybody comes in with

7:05

a different level of strength depending on their age

7:07

and their level of activity, their genetics. So

7:10

they'll do like a BMI, kind of

7:12

test and then the gym or they'll

7:14

do some kind of base strength,

7:17

VO2, max kind of test. Same thing with

7:19

mental training. So we definitely want to get

7:21

some kind of baseline so we could see.

7:23

I think that old phrase is true in

7:25

order to be able to manage something, you

7:27

have to be able to measure it. And

7:29

the good thing about what we do is

7:31

you can measure focus, you can measure memory,

7:33

you can measure reading speed, comprehension and so

7:35

much more. I like to think I am

7:38

motivational and maybe inspirational in ways. People

7:40

come to us though because they

7:42

want pragmatic, practical ways to boost

7:44

their learning and their brain power.

7:47

I know you've talked in the past about different

7:49

cognitive types. Are those relevant to

7:52

how one might approach improving

7:54

comprehension or other skills? Very

7:56

much so. In Limitless Expanded, one

7:58

of the new updates we put. in

8:01

there is a whole chapter on cognitive

8:03

types. It's something for the very first

8:05

time that we released is what we

8:07

use with our coaching clients, also internal

8:09

team as well. I realized that it's

8:11

not how smart you are, it's how

8:14

are you smart. It's not how

8:16

smart your kids are, how smart your team

8:18

is, it's how are they smart that everybody

8:20

has certain strengths and traits. We put them

8:22

into four different buckets based on their brain

8:25

type and we created a very simple

8:27

four-minute pre-assessment online where people

8:30

can see just like love

8:32

languages, if people are familiar

8:34

with that framework where some people

8:36

they express love and they feel love

8:39

maybe through words of affirmation or acts

8:41

of kindness or the time you spend

8:43

or gifting whenever they're kind of convinced

8:45

their strategy is we tend to show

8:47

love the way we want to feel

8:50

love. Well, with brain types, I realized

8:52

that there are four main brain types

8:55

and I use the acronym, I use a

8:57

lot of acronyms as a shortcut to memorize

8:59

things, code C-O-D-E. Personalized

9:01

medicine is all the thing right

9:04

now. It's not just prescribing a

9:06

lifestyle or a drug one size

9:08

fits all, it's based on their

9:10

genetics or their DNA. Same thing

9:13

with personalized nutrition, how it's based

9:15

on a test like a microbiome

9:17

test or a nutrient profile test.

9:19

Well, this test serves and it

9:21

informs based on your brain type

9:23

how you can enhance your reading

9:26

speed or your memory based on

9:28

your particular brain type. So instead

9:30

of just giving general and general

9:32

ones generally work, right? Like anything

9:34

but more specifically based on our

9:37

strengths. So the code C-O-D-E really

9:39

fast, people can write this down

9:41

and even take the test. You

9:43

can do it at mybrainanimal.com. It's

9:46

multiple choice. It's kind of like taking it which

9:48

Harry Potter school are you in or what Game

9:50

of Thrones character are you? Kind of fun thing

9:52

and so that associated animals. So the C is

9:55

the cheetah. If you're watching this on video, I'm

9:57

showing a picture of it. Hey, I generated cheetah.

10:00

The C in code is cheetah and the primary

10:02

trait of a cheetah is action. They

10:05

implement very fast. They have very strong

10:07

intuition. They adapt very quickly. They thrive

10:09

in fast-paced environments. The O are your

10:12

owls and I'm showing a picture of

10:14

an owl and the owl are very

10:16

logical. And so where

10:18

a cheetah is dominant is action and

10:20

owls is they lean into logic. So

10:23

they love data, they love facts and

10:25

they love figures and maybe some formulas.

10:28

They make decisions rationally, right? Can they

10:30

do their research? The D are your

10:32

dolphins. Their primary trait is very

10:34

creative. They're very strong pattern

10:36

recognizers. They tend to see things

10:38

like maybe if they're an entrepreneur,

10:40

they could see a vision for

10:43

where their brand and their business is going where

10:45

maybe other people can't yet see it. They

10:47

think in pictures often. They're very

10:50

creative. And then finally, the E

10:52

are your elephants and your elephants

10:54

primary trait is empathy. These are

10:56

your team builders. These are your

10:58

community builders. They are very compassionate.

11:00

They're very collaborative. They like to

11:02

learn socially. Also they'll join book

11:04

clubs and they'll have study groups

11:06

and things like that. And you

11:08

see these, it's interesting. We had

11:10

our whole team take this assessment

11:12

again at mybrainanimal.com and what happens

11:14

is we found that without even

11:16

realizing how we hire for, people

11:18

naturally gravitate towards their strengths.

11:20

Sir Ken Robinson, who's a

11:23

famed educator called it their

11:25

elements. And so like our

11:27

customer service team, we're 100% right

11:30

now elephants because they are

11:32

very supportive. They're very compassionate. They're our

11:34

community builders. They're very service oriented. They

11:36

want to understand what our students are

11:39

feeling and what they're going through so

11:41

they could best serve them. Our

11:43

CFO, our financial officer is a

11:45

very strong owl. Love

11:48

the numbers, loves the data. My business partner,

11:50

our CEO, she's a dolphin. She's this creative

11:52

visionary. She has this vision and this mission

11:54

that she's building for us. So it's interesting.

11:56

Even in pop culture, you can see this

11:58

just as a memory. Nugget take a

12:01

popular show like Friends. You

12:03

look at it and Ross, the professor

12:05

scientist is the owl. You

12:07

look at someone like Joey who

12:10

really just acts without even thinking,

12:12

he would be the cheetah. You

12:14

have someone like Phoebe who's the

12:16

artist, she sings songs, a musician,

12:19

she's a dolphin, creative dolphin. Monica

12:21

always wanted to host everything at her apartment,

12:23

be the center and bring everyone together for

12:26

me. I would imagine she would test as

12:28

an elephant. But the benefit

12:30

of understanding your brain type is when people

12:32

go through the assessment, they'll get a prescription

12:34

on how to read and remember names based

12:37

on their brain type. But not only that,

12:39

when they share that with their family, it

12:41

really explains a lot of how their kids

12:43

perform based on their brain type or if

12:46

you were in a team like most of

12:48

us do, which roles and

12:50

responsibilities and how they could come together

12:52

to complement each other and synergize pretty

12:54

much really well. And are you just

12:56

one? As you described them, I feel

12:58

like I could see myself in one or

13:01

two of them and I was like, I don't know

13:03

if I'm just one. Is it like a spectrum of

13:05

each or do you really identify with one as your

13:07

primary? Yeah. So you have a primary,

13:09

you have secondary. If you are one animal, it

13:11

doesn't mean you don't use the traits of the

13:13

other animals. Just like if you're right-handed, it doesn't

13:16

mean you don't use your left hand. Like if

13:18

I asked everyone to do an exercise right now,

13:20

we could turn this into like a little master

13:22

class. But if people had to write their first

13:24

and last name with their dominant hand and then

13:27

switch the pen to their opposite hand and write

13:29

below it their first and last name, that second

13:31

time they do it with their non-dominant hand, it'll

13:33

take longer probably. The quality probably

13:35

wouldn't be as good. It would feel

13:38

a little bit weird. And sometimes when

13:40

we're learning something, even if we're interested

13:42

in the subject, sometimes your learning style

13:44

is different than the teacher's teaching style

13:46

or their dominant brain type and

13:48

we miss each other. It's like two ships in the

13:51

night and then we pass each other and there's no

13:53

connection. I realize that sometimes

13:55

we're trying to learn something with the opposite hand so

13:57

it takes longer and it feels a little weird and

13:59

the quality... quality might not be as good.

14:01

So when you understand your brain type,

14:03

it actually informs also how you could

14:06

communicate with other people, how you

14:08

could sell, how you could hire, how you

14:10

could train and manage that person based on

14:12

their brain type. Even if you look at

14:14

something like sales, like an

14:16

owl, if you're selling to an

14:18

owl, they're going to respect and

14:20

respond to research and facts and

14:23

features. If you're talking to, if you're

14:25

trying to sell and influence a dolphin,

14:27

this is where you use stories and

14:29

you build a future for them that

14:31

they desire and connect it to your

14:33

product or service. If you're selling maybe

14:35

to an elephant, empathy, the relationship

14:38

is paramount, right? They want to feel

14:40

rapport, they want to feel a connection,

14:42

they want to feel a level of

14:44

trust. So it's interesting when

14:46

you understand your brain type and again,

14:49

the menu is not the meal, the

14:51

map is not the territory. It's kind

14:53

of a framework that gives you more

14:55

distinctions and more power in any social

14:57

situation. Okay. And so you

14:59

gave a couple of examples of ways to sell

15:02

things and whatnot but are there ways that you

15:04

would train differently or learn a skill? And

15:06

just as an example, like if you were learning names,

15:08

is one person going to learn them in a different

15:10

way? Absolutely. And

15:13

people could try this. So for

15:16

example, let's say you are

15:18

a dolphin and you tend

15:20

to visualize things and you want to

15:22

remember names, maybe a technique that would

15:24

be supportive of you since you naturally

15:26

are more creative and you use your

15:28

imagination and you visualize is taking somebody's

15:30

name and turning it into a picture.

15:32

So if you meet somebody named Mark,

15:34

you imagine for a split second putting

15:37

a checkmark on their forehead, right? And

15:39

it sounds so silly and childish. I just want

15:41

to remind everyone that children are such fast learners

15:44

and it's not that you share

15:46

this information with Mark, right? It's in the

15:48

privacy of your own mind. But

15:50

when you say goodbye to Mark 30 minutes later,

15:52

you're like, oh, what I do with this guy

15:54

and I put a checkmark on his forehead, what's

15:56

the person's name? It's Mark. It's to

15:58

help overcome what I call the... Second syndrome and

16:01

somebody tells you they're name yet six

16:03

seconds to do something with it. otherwise

16:05

it's just on the in the ether

16:07

somewhere so it you to plan a

16:10

correlate plus a reading. Cheetos are very

16:12

good because they're fasted having a specific

16:14

call been terms of starting here and

16:16

ending here. They're very good at scanning

16:18

and skimming because speed is everything for

16:21

them of implementation are reader for an

16:23

hours looking for the details and they're

16:25

looking to compare what they're reading to

16:27

what they really understand a dolphin who.

16:30

Are when benefit from visualizing as a picture

16:32

is worth a thousand words right now would

16:34

help them go through it said else and

16:36

naturally when they read something because they are

16:39

higher levels empathy. The one who go deeper

16:41

into the author is point of view or

16:43

seen things from different perspectives. Focus is one

16:46

of the keys to better memory said allow

16:48

you to her to do less. It's hard

16:50

to really learn better if you read something

16:52

forget which does read your mind as easily

16:55

distracted But Sita when it comes to focus

16:57

the loves short bursts focus. oh he teach

16:59

them something. Like the palm adar oh

17:01

technique which is focusing on something

17:03

about twenty five, thirty minutes to

17:05

then there's a dip in focus.

17:07

so you know, scheduling late little

17:09

five minute brain breaks and coming

17:11

back refreshed for focus I meant

17:13

to which he does. It's are

17:15

important to have very clear outcomes

17:18

because they like to sprint and

17:20

have a clear target been in.

17:22

Al is different in our will

17:24

focus by organizing things like organizing

17:26

their workspace, minimizing clutter, having a

17:28

structure player and that's very logical.

17:30

for their pasts hours benefit from even

17:32

breaking down tas for the so detail

17:34

oriented into smaller mandrell parts and help

17:37

them to maintain focus and prevent the

17:39

big overwhelmed that allowed people feel as

17:41

wild dolphins can help them focus as

17:43

an example when we talk about and

17:46

limitless the power mind mapping which is

17:48

a whole brain know taking technique said

17:50

before it's starting and task out the

17:53

dolphin focus they could benefit from mapping

17:55

their thoughts and ideas are visually so

17:57

sake a see how everything is connect

18:00

They can also think about taking creative breaks

18:02

since they love creativity so much. Creative

18:05

breaks to keep their mind fresh,

18:07

prevent burnout. But at Elephant, they

18:09

would focus best in social environments.

18:11

Working with a team or a

18:14

group can help elephants stay on

18:16

task, right? Help them stay focused

18:18

and they draw energy from social

18:20

interaction. Having structured routines could help

18:22

them. Elephants can benefit

18:24

tremendously with a mindfulness practice. If

18:26

you think about meditation or yoga,

18:29

it could help elephants clear

18:31

their thoughts and any lingering,

18:33

ruminating emotions to enhance their

18:36

ability to concentrate. It's

18:38

interesting. You go into parenting, you can go

18:40

into hiring again, you can go into sales

18:43

negotiation for externally but certainly you can go

18:45

internal as well. I'm a big fan

18:47

of The Matrix and I'm sure a lot of your

18:49

listeners have seen The Matrix. As

18:51

a refresher, when Dio went to see

18:54

the Oracle, you know, the Oracle knows

18:56

everything for the very first time. He

18:58

goes into her kitchen and there's a

19:00

phrase right above the door, I don't think most

19:02

people caught but it says, know

19:04

thyself. And I think a big part

19:07

of becoming limitless is having the curiosity

19:09

to know yourself and then also having

19:11

the courage to be that person is

19:13

the other part of it. Did

19:17

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Before we go much further, is there anything

22:14

someone should be doing as they're listening to

22:16

make sure they can comprehend everything we talk

22:18

about and remember it? Absolutely. There

22:20

are two things that everyone can be doing. Number

22:23

one, if you're not multitasking, you're working out

22:25

and driving, take notes. Everyone

22:28

knows a learning curve but there's also a forgetting

22:30

curve. When you hear something once, within 48 hours,

22:33

research shows that you lose 80% of it and one

22:36

of the ways you can mitigate that is by

22:38

taking notes. If you want

22:40

to create an episode on our show, Jim

22:42

Quick, search Jim Quick how to take notes

22:44

and we show you a whole brain note

22:46

taking method to retain more. The second thing,

22:48

when you listen to this episode and

22:50

every future episodes of this show, learn

22:53

it as if you're going to teach it

22:55

to somebody else. You take advantage of something

22:58

they call the explanation effect. The

23:00

explanation effect states that when you learn something

23:02

with the intention of explaining to somebody else,

23:04

you're going to learn it so much better.

23:06

You're going to pay better attention. You're going

23:08

to have this original information here to make

23:10

it your own. I think those

23:12

are two ways to dramatically

23:15

increase your understanding and

23:17

your retention of this

23:19

valuable information. For

23:21

the sake of not recording four episodes

23:24

for each code type, if we step

23:26

back for a second and talk about some of

23:28

the things you can do just

23:30

to kind of improve your overall

23:33

training, whether that's diet and nutrition

23:35

and maybe exercise, you've touched a

23:37

little things on sleep and meditation,

23:39

are there a handful of best practices

23:42

for things people should be doing to

23:44

kind of upgrade or train their brain?

23:47

Yeah, that would be universal, absolutely. So going from

23:49

the hardware part first, the supercomputer taking care of

23:51

it. I mean, the way I look at it

23:53

is if people watch this video, I'm wearing, I

23:56

always wear a brain on my shirt, you know,

23:58

when we were together for the event. taking

24:00

pictures for the producers, I was always pointing to

24:02

my brain because I feel like what you see

24:05

you take care of right, you

24:07

see your car and so you can see the

24:09

imperfections that it gets dented or it needs a

24:11

tune-up or your clothes, you see your skin, your

24:13

hair because it's your constant awareness, but we don't

24:15

see the thing that takes care of us. So

24:18

I have this dominant question where I always ask myself

24:21

is this good for my brain or is this bad for my

24:23

brain? A simple filter like that. It's a little brain hack, a

24:25

mental hack but it's like what I'm eating right now, is this

24:27

good for my brain or is this bad for my brain? So

24:29

what I'm watching right now is this good for my brain or

24:31

bad for my brain. Who I'm spending time with right now, is

24:34

this good for my brain or is

24:36

this bad for my brain? And not

24:38

that it gets so rigid, but it's

24:40

just a way to keep you nurturing

24:42

because whatever you nourish flourishes over time.

24:44

Our book is heavily endorsed by a

24:46

lot of doctors and the number one

24:48

Alzheimer's researcher at Harvard University to

24:51

the founding director of the Cleveland Clinic

24:54

Center for Brain Health and we know

24:56

when I lecture at these institutions that

24:58

approximately one-third of your brain is predetermined

25:00

by genetics and biology, but two-thirds is

25:03

in our control. So I'm really focused

25:05

on that two-thirds. There's a quote

25:07

in Limitless that says, life is the letter

25:09

C between B and D. Life is C

25:11

between B and D where B stands for

25:13

birth, B stands for death, life C

25:16

choice. Now we are the sum total of

25:18

all the choices we've made up to this

25:20

point, right? I don't think anyone would debate

25:22

that. Thinking about that out loud, saying it

25:24

out loud, I believe these difficult times, they

25:26

could distract us, which it often does. These

25:28

difficult times, they could diminish us or

25:31

these difficult times, they could develop us, but

25:33

we decide because we always have choices because

25:35

every day we have a chance because

25:37

we could make a new choice and

25:40

so ten choices that I focus on

25:42

that affects two-thirds very quickly. I'll go

25:44

through them and what I would love because I

25:46

know you want people to get this

25:48

in their nervous system is make

25:51

it a little interactive. What I would love is

25:53

as I say these ten things and they're common

25:55

sense, but they're not often common practice. In the

25:57

past seven days, how much energy attention and

26:00

effort have you or time have you put into

26:02

these 10 things, right? 10 being

26:04

the most. The first one is a good brain

26:06

diet. What you eat matters especially

26:08

for your brain matter. There's a whole chapter

26:10

in the book called Neuro Nutrition. It's a

26:13

whole science that your brain is part of

26:15

your body but it also requires different nutrients

26:17

and you have to feed it. Some of

26:19

my favorite brain foods and to make it

26:21

interactive, we can do this. It's

26:24

a 2500 year old memory technique. We'll do it

26:26

right now where you take places

26:28

that you're very, very familiar with and you

26:30

attach the information you want to memorize in

26:32

a conversation or maybe you have to give

26:34

a speech and you peg it in the

26:36

places that you're familiar with like your home,

26:38

your office, or your school or the mall. In

26:40

this case, we could easily use our body. So

26:43

imagine everybody listening if you're not

26:46

working out or driving or kind of

26:48

multitasking, touch the top of your head

26:50

and everyone's saying top. The first brain

26:52

food are avocados, right?

26:54

So just imagine avocados all over the top

26:56

of your head. Maybe you're using guacamole as

26:59

a scalp conditioner. And then the idea here

27:01

is when you could see it, hear

27:03

it, and feel it, you're more likely to remember

27:05

it and that just kind of makes common sense,

27:07

right? You just hear it, you're probably going to

27:10

forget it but if you could hear it, see

27:12

it, and feel it, kind of make it emotional

27:14

or humorous, you're more likely to remember it. So

27:16

just imagine, even if you can't imagine it, imagine

27:19

you can imagine it, all right? Avocados

27:21

on your scalp or your hair. And then

27:23

going down, the second place is our nose.

27:25

So everyone touch their nose and say nose

27:27

for verbal memory, nose. And

27:30

then out there, you're going to have blueberries.

27:32

So imagine blueberries, I like to call them

27:34

brain berries. The avocados are full of monounsaturated

27:36

fat and your brain is mostly fat so

27:38

it's very nourishing. Blueberries are incredibly

27:40

neuroprotective. And so imagine blueberries coming out of

27:42

your nose. Like smell it, feel it in

27:44

your nose, what does that feel like? What

27:46

does that smell like? What would that look

27:48

like, right? Second place is

27:50

your mouth. So everyone say mouth, mouth

27:53

and then broccoli. So just imagine you have

27:55

broccoli stuck in your teeth. But

27:58

if you exaggerate it, you're more likely to remember. it.

28:00

So make it a big stalk of broccoli and

28:02

it's a little awkward in your social situation. You're

28:04

a little embarrassed, right? Fourth place are your ears.

28:07

Everyone touch their ears and then

28:09

the fourth brain food, olive oil.

28:11

So olive oil is, you know, we've all

28:13

heard the benefits of a Mediterranean diet. A big

28:15

part of that happens to be olive oil with

28:18

almost everything. Imagine cleaning your ears with olive oil

28:20

or you have olive earrings. They're limitless examples,

28:22

right? Just pick one that works for you.

28:25

And number five, you touch your throat and

28:28

instead of an Adam's apple, you have

28:30

the fifth brain food which are eggs.

28:32

If your diet allows, the choline in

28:35

eggs is a precursor for acetylcholine which

28:37

is very important for cognitive performance, cognitive

28:39

health. Just imagine a hard boiled egg

28:41

on your throat. Six really quickly, we're

28:44

halfway there, are your shoulders and

28:46

green leafy vegetables like kale and

28:48

spinach, high in vitamin K. Imagine

28:50

shoulder pads made out of vegetables

28:52

like kale and spinach. And then

28:54

number seven is your collar. So

28:56

touch your collar bone and

28:59

salmon. So we hear a

29:01

lot about omega-3s and DHA. From a good

29:04

source, sardines are also good

29:06

for the brain but imagine a necklace made

29:08

out of salmon sushi. Just imagine it's like

29:10

a week old. So it really makes it

29:12

memorable. If you had to wear that, you

29:14

would never forget it and you'll remember it

29:16

10 years from now, right? You don't have

29:19

to repeat it like often. People with their

29:21

memory, they just go into road repetition and

29:23

that's kind of mind-numbing. But use your imagination.

29:25

Imagine a necklace made out of sushi. Eight

29:27

are your fingers. So wiggle your fingers. And

29:30

eighth brain food is turmeric. So

29:32

that golden powder, imagine you can't get

29:34

it off your fingers. The active ingredient

29:36

in turmeric is called curcumin and

29:39

it's very anti-inflammatory and so there are a

29:41

lot of brain benefits there. And

29:43

finally, number nine and ten. Nine is your

29:46

belly. So everyone touch their belly and

29:48

I want you to remember walnuts. Walnuts are high

29:50

in vitamin E which is good for your brain.

29:53

Imagine eating walnuts out of your belly button. Like

29:55

if you ever were at the mall or at school or

29:58

whatever and somebody was eating walnuts out of the belly

30:00

button, you would again remember that for years. And

30:03

then finally, 10 is your bottom, everyone touch

30:05

your bottom and the 10th brain

30:07

food is probably the best

30:09

one that people enjoy is dark chocolate and

30:11

we only have to go into specifics about people

30:14

imagine but dark chocolate, not milk chocolate but

30:16

dark chocolate, high in antioxidants. Generally, what's good for

30:18

your mood is going to be good for

30:20

your mind. So just mention dark chocolate. So you

30:22

know and people don't have to do this

30:24

now but if they could test themselves a little

30:26

bit later about the brain foods like maybe you

30:29

and I because we say hey we're gonna

30:31

have a limitless brain party and because

30:33

while you're out we call somebody and say hey can you

30:35

pick up these things? I can't write it down when

30:37

I'm driving or I'm in the shower and I don't know why

30:39

you pick up the phone when you're in the shower but

30:42

you just put it on your body you know or

30:44

put it in your kitchen. Imagine your kitchen or your

30:46

living room or your bedroom and just put these things

30:48

around and you're walking down the aisles. Finally,

30:50

when you get to the food store, the first thing on top

30:53

of your head, you see the first

30:55

brain food which are what? Avocados. Avocados and

30:57

they come out of your nose. You have

30:59

these blueberries, berries that's stuck in your teeth,

31:01

you have the broccoli and then so on.

31:03

So on a scale of 0 to 10,

31:06

10 being the best, how much you incorporate

31:08

in these foods because on the opposite side

31:10

which gets you lower score, highly processed foods,

31:12

not so good for the brain, high sugar

31:14

with those glucose spikes, not good for the

31:16

brain. I think it's kind of

31:19

intuitive but that's the first one. Second thing

31:21

you do for a more limitless brain is

31:23

killing ants, hints and that's

31:25

an acronym for automatic negative thoughts.

31:28

We realize that our mindset makes a

31:30

difference in terms of how our brain

31:32

performs even if you think about the

31:34

placebo effect where you could take a

31:36

sugar pill and you can get certain

31:39

benefits what like 30% of the

31:41

time just believing that this is something.

31:43

It's been my experience and people at

31:45

events even the one we had

31:48

recently, they come to me always because they know

31:50

a memory guy and they'll pull me aside quietly

31:52

and they'll say like, oh man, I'm

31:54

just too old. I have a horrible memory and I

31:57

always say stop. If You fight for

31:59

your limitations... He. Get to keep them.

32:01

A fight for your limits The know

32:04

they're yours rights to our brains are

32:06

these incredible supercomputers and are self talk.

32:09

Is. Like the program or run so we tell you.

32:11

saw not good at. Remembering. People's

32:13

names you all remember the name of the

32:15

next person. Unique as you program a supercomputer.

32:17

Not too bright so I thought it contained

32:20

so skills zero to ten ten being how

32:22

encouraging is empowering Are your thoughts break? And

32:24

here's the thing if you find yourself saying

32:26

something I and I'm very memory says. Awareness

32:29

is T and and said it it on

32:31

over in memory. catch yourself and okay memory

32:34

yet prices. It just feels different. Lean opens

32:36

up the possibility it's time scales your return.

32:38

He reaches out there. And. Do a

32:40

thoughts have to be in? Been on A So I

32:42

have to be about memory. It could just be in

32:45

general. Like if someone says yeah are you doing today

32:47

and your default is like to think of all the

32:49

bad things that are going on versus the great things.

32:51

I assume it's broader. It is

32:53

the two most powerful words they say in

32:55

the English language of the shortest I am.

32:58

Prayed. For a shrub for a short

33:00

couple letters to swim every put after.

33:03

That really determines a lot of your

33:05

life because it's how you identify yourself.

33:07

Rise of is time up later. Brighter.

33:10

I am Stupid. Braids, In

33:12

probably not could be utilizing to lot of

33:15

this things because you just as fix my

33:17

said where's as possible right? or I'm just

33:19

gonna press aide anyway. so I think it's

33:21

very important adage, your thoughts and that's it.

33:23

Replaces Stardust as being aware that we're having

33:26

these. We have about sixty thousand thoughts a

33:28

day according to research The Challenges: Ninety Five

33:30

breathalysed daughter the same thoughts we had yesterday

33:32

and the day before that to the want

33:35

to create new results in your life which

33:37

I think everybody they're healthy. they do. You

33:39

have to do a new behavior but in.

33:41

Order to do a new behavior. It helps

33:43

have a believe the says that behavior as

33:46

possible. Because. All behavior

33:48

has believe driven. As. The

33:50

Henry Ford quote, If you believe he can

33:52

or will he he can either way you're

33:54

right The reason I did this I opened

33:56

with food and get everyone listening to sit

33:58

two minutes demonstration of the food. The most

34:00

people they won't believe they can remember

34:02

ten foods and most people could do

34:04

a forwards and backwards in the stop.

34:06

Perfect. like. Nine of them are eight

34:08

of them great. And then I think the best

34:10

way of changing of limiting belief is doing something

34:12

you never thought you could do and then you

34:14

throw figure like while what else can I do

34:17

the thought to say that you have one negative

34:19

thought and ruins your life anymore than eating. And

34:21

don't know, ruin your life. but if you

34:23

eat that, don't At twenty times a day

34:26

every single day there will be consequences. It's

34:28

really hard to create a positive life with

34:30

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34:34

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34:36

to a certain size and the cracks

34:38

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supporting the show. Your support

37:30

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37:32

To get all of the URLs,

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codes, deals and discounts from our

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slash deals. So please

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consider supporting those who support us. Number

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three, and this is a big one

37:45

and you mentioned it, exercise. And

37:47

I don't mean just working out three times a

37:50

week. Strength training is amazing.

37:52

You create dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and these

37:54

neurotransmitters that are very important for your

37:57

brain but also when you exercise, you

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create something. called a

38:01

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which is like fertilizer

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for neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity

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38:11

make new connections when it's given novelty

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and proper nutrition. Just like building a

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right? And you give it some

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kind of workout and then you feed it and

38:24

you nourish it with protein or creatine or whatever,

38:26

right? Same thing with your mental muscles, you

38:28

have to give it novelty and nutrition and so

38:30

when your body moves, your brain grooves.

38:34

Even if people are listening to your show

38:36

and they're doing something rhythmic like they're

38:38

on an elliptical or going for a walk,

38:40

they're likely to comprehend and retain more than

38:43

information, you know, because their body is moving.

38:45

But I don't mean just doing CrossFit three

38:47

times a week or Pilates, I mean throughout

38:50

the day. And they

38:52

say sitting is a new smoking. I don't

38:54

know about you but I find myself sitting

38:56

all the time behind the

38:58

screen like almost all the time and

39:00

it's important to take a brain break.

39:03

So I mentioned the Pomodoro technique where you

39:05

work for 25-30 minutes, maybe 60 minutes max

39:08

and there's a sharp drop in your

39:10

focus and your mental energy. So taking

39:12

a five-minute brain break to do three

39:14

things. Number one, hydrate. You'll notice that

39:16

I'm drinking this water. Your brain is

39:19

75% plus water and

39:21

just being dehydrated 2%. We

39:24

had an episode on our podcast

39:26

with Dr. Lisa Moscone and she

39:28

is a professor, she's a neuroscientist

39:30

and also a nutritionist and she

39:32

said just a 2% dip

39:35

in hydration could affect your cognitive

39:37

health and your cognitive performance, you

39:40

know, and just staying hydrated on the other side

39:42

to boost your reaction time, your thinking speed upwards

39:45

of 30%. So

39:47

take a five-minute brain break to hydrate. I also think

39:49

it's important to use that time to breathe. Sometimes

39:51

when we're on a computer or we're

39:54

reading and we're falling asleep, sometimes it's

39:56

not because we're tired, sometimes it's our

39:58

posture when our diaphragm is collapsed, the

40:01

lower one-third of our lungs absorbs two-thirds

40:03

of the action. And

40:05

so using that time to do some deep

40:07

breathing or some rhythmic breathing, alpha breathing, pox

40:09

breathing, limb health breathing, it kind of helps

40:11

clear the mental cobwebs. And the third thing

40:13

besides hydration and oxygen is movement. You get

40:15

some movement, you get some steps and go

40:17

outside and it's all very helpful. So on

40:19

a scale of zero to ten, again, how

40:21

much have you moved throughout the day over

40:23

the past seven days? And everybody wants to

40:25

know what the magic pill is but

40:28

there's no pill but there is a process and

40:30

what I think is that processes are these ten

40:32

things that we have control over. Number

40:35

four are brain nutrients which are separate

40:37

from... I would always

40:39

prefer people get it from food but

40:41

if they're not eating the wild salmon and

40:43

getting the omega-3s, maybe they need a supplement

40:46

with omega-3s. They're not eating

40:48

eggs, they're not getting that choline, maybe they

40:50

need to supplement with choline, right? So

40:52

supplementation is exactly that. It supplements

40:55

your diet. We have in the

40:57

book a brand new chapter on

40:59

nootropics. Things like Copa

41:01

helps with energy and focus.

41:03

Things like let's say Kinkobloba

41:05

helps with blood flow and blood flow is always

41:07

a good thing for the brain. Cretin,

41:10

most people associate that with working out

41:12

as a workout supplement but so many

41:14

human studies showing Cretin could actually help

41:17

you with mental energy for your brain's

41:19

mitochondria and ADP energy production. So there

41:21

are all these kinds of supplements that

41:24

you could take, something really exciting about

41:26

a coffee, fruit extract that has no

41:28

caffeine but helps with mental energy and

41:31

vitality. We actually have a report.

41:33

People go to brainnutrition.com, it's nothing

41:36

to buy but they'll get like

41:38

my current favorite brands and recommendations.

41:41

Everything is human studies based on human research.

41:43

Number five is a positive peer group and

41:45

I think that's obvious but I

41:47

just want to point it out is who we

41:49

spend time with is who we become. Even

41:52

when we met in the evening before

41:54

connecting with you was one of the

41:56

highlights at that cocktail party because we

41:58

are social creatures. I mean,

42:00

we have these things called mirror neurons if we're

42:02

going to get really geeky and mirror neurons in

42:04

our nervous system is what drives us to imitate

42:07

people around us almost unconsciously. So

42:09

it's like we start mirroring the

42:11

words, the actions, the thoughts, the character,

42:13

the habits of the people around us.

42:15

Whether or not a listener

42:17

smokes or not has less to do with their

42:19

biological networks or their neurological networks and more with

42:22

their social networks. If your friends smoke, they're more

42:24

likely to smoke. If your friends are always reading

42:26

or listening to podcasts or exercising, you're more likely

42:28

to do that also. They say if you're around

42:30

nine broke people, be careful because you're probably going

42:32

to be number 10 because who we spend time

42:34

with is who we become because they say we're

42:37

the average of the five people we spend the

42:39

most time with. But the mirror

42:41

neurons is a big driver for that. And so

42:43

on a scale of 0 to 10, how positive

42:45

encouraging are the people around you because we could

42:48

spend time with somebody, maybe a

42:50

family member even, people closest to us

42:52

and they could steal your dreams. They're

42:54

energy vampires, right? They maybe steal your

42:56

drive. And then that's not to say

42:58

like get rid of these people.

43:00

You still love them but choose your peer

43:02

group, right? The people that could

43:04

elevate you. It's funny, I think about my grandparents.

43:07

My grandmother on this side passed away a lot

43:09

earlier and he lived by himself not as social

43:12

and probably deteriorated more mentally. And then

43:14

I look at the other side and

43:16

my grandparents on the other side moved

43:19

into a retirement community at like 55

43:21

and had a thriving social life and

43:24

were as sharp as you could imagine till

43:26

95. And

43:28

so you talked about peer groups where your

43:30

peers are doing things that push you, inspire

43:32

you and don't bring you down. But

43:35

how important is it to just have people

43:37

around you for your brain versus being kind

43:39

of more isolated? That's extremely.

43:41

You know, we did an episode on

43:43

the largest longevity study and happiness study

43:45

at Harvard University and they found it

43:48

wasn't diet, it wasn't exercise that was

43:50

the key to their happiness and their

43:52

long life. It was the deep

43:55

relationships that they had. And

43:57

so even when you look at blue

43:59

zones, you know, it's debatable about diet

44:01

and everything. There are a lot of family

44:03

gatherings, you know, and meals that are shared

44:05

also together. So I'm a big believer. On

44:07

the other side of it, loneliness is an

44:10

epidemic, right? If you want to

44:12

talk about mental health issues and how they're

44:14

escalating especially during the pandemic, people are isolated

44:16

and they're missing that human connection. We all

44:19

need somebody to encourage us, to believe in

44:21

us, to cheerlead for us and if you

44:23

haven't found that person yet or people yet,

44:26

be that person. Be that person for somebody

44:28

else, especially be that person

44:30

for yourself, right? So yes, social networks

44:32

are important as important as your neurological

44:34

and biological networks. Number six is a

44:37

clean environment and that's kind of self-explanatory

44:39

but your external world is a reflection

44:41

of your internal world. Even for just

44:43

your mind clutter, you know, when you

44:45

clean off your desk or I don't

44:48

know, put everything on your computer in

44:50

the right file, you have clarity of

44:52

thought. But also, clean environment meaning we

44:54

did an episode in our podcast on

44:56

the neurotoxins that are coming off of

44:59

off-gassing from new carpet or new furniture.

45:01

So the quality of the air, the

45:03

quality of the water, even the quality

45:05

of the light, they've been showing like

45:07

fluorescent lights, have been shown for mice

45:10

that they go crazed. And

45:12

unfortunately, a lot of these lights are

45:14

in offices, they're in schools because they're

45:16

really cheap, right? As opposed to like

45:18

full spectrum light that mirrors like nature,

45:21

like the sun. But clean

45:23

environment is very important. So make sure

45:25

you re-condo your minds so 0 to

45:27

10, how clean is your environment. Number

45:29

seven, this is probably the biggest one that

45:31

people struggle with, sleep. If you're scoring one

45:33

or two or three on your sleep or

45:35

you sleep really well, how's your brain the

45:37

next day? How's it performing? How's your focus?

45:40

How's your mental energy? How's your ability to

45:42

remember, study, or solve problems? There's

45:44

a whole section of the book on

45:46

optimizing your sleep. But it's important for

45:48

your brain for three reasons that I

45:50

want to make separate from the body.

45:52

Number one, it's where you consolidate short

45:54

to long-term memory. So if anyone listening

45:56

here has real serious long-term memory issues,

45:58

maybe it's worth it to see a doctor. her and do

46:00

a sleep study. You can do it overnight in a sleep

46:02

clinic or they could send you one to do at home.

46:05

Number two, it's where you clean out

46:07

the beta amyloid plaque. When you sleep,

46:09

the sewage system in your brain kicks

46:11

on. It has time

46:13

to detoxify because not

46:15

doing that can lead to brain aging

46:18

challenges. And this is something I'm very

46:20

passionate about because when I had my

46:22

brain injury at five, I also lost

46:24

my grandmother at seven and at an

46:26

early age like you mentioned Alzheimer's. So

46:28

we donated the proceeds to Limitless Expanded

46:30

to Alzheimer's research because it's

46:32

just something we're really passionate about. And the third

46:35

reason is when you sleep, you dream. And

46:38

that REM stage is so it's not

46:40

just the quantity of sleep, it's the

46:42

quality of sleep. And so

46:44

some people measure it with various devices but

46:46

your deep sleep is where you're animal

46:49

oversimplifying this but your deep sleep

46:51

numbers are how your body is

46:53

restoring and replenishing, recovering and your

46:56

REM sleep, the slow wave sleep

46:58

is how your mind is recovering.

47:01

And that REM sleep is we've learned

47:03

in school that's what we're doing primarily

47:05

most of the dreaming. And dreams are

47:08

an incredible source of ideas. Like your brain

47:10

doesn't shut off at night. In some ways

47:12

it's even more active and it's really focused

47:14

on the things that you were dealing with

47:16

during the day. It's integrating it and

47:19

it's even solving a lot of inventions, a

47:21

lot of works of art came from dream

47:23

states. Like Paul McCartney came up

47:26

with the song Yesterday in His

47:28

Dream where Elias Howe

47:30

created the sewing machine in his dream. Mary Shelley

47:32

created Frankenstein in her dream. That great episode that

47:34

we did was How to Remember Your Dreams. And

47:36

you can search for that to search my name,

47:39

How to Remember Your Dreams because a lot of

47:41

times you come up with some really good ideas

47:43

of things that are to solve your own personal

47:45

problems when you sleep but often we

47:47

forget them when we wake up. That seems like

47:50

a waste but on a scale of 0 to

47:52

10, how well you're sleeping, three sleep tips, direct

47:54

sunlight first thing in the morning, your eyes are

47:56

the only part of your brain that's outside of

47:58

your skull. And if

48:01

you can get outside for

48:03

10 minutes first thing in the morning, it helps

48:05

to reset what they call your circadian rhythm which

48:07

will help you sleep better at night. Not

48:10

sunlight through a window

48:12

because that could block out certain spectrum of light.

48:15

But even if it's hazy or foggy, you'll still

48:17

get the benefits. And then

48:19

the two factors we would know would be time to

48:22

sleep. Think about hundreds of years ago,

48:24

like we're hunter and gatherers, we would

48:26

know it'd be time to sleep because the environment

48:29

would tell you. There would

48:31

be decrease in temperature and a decrease in light.

48:34

So if you create your sleep sanctuary

48:36

as dark as possible, we'll help you

48:38

get deeper sleep and also hold not

48:40

where it's so cold where it's keeping

48:42

you up, you're like shivering. But

48:45

it's a signal both the light

48:47

decrease in light and decrease in

48:49

temperature is a signal for your

48:51

nervous system produce melatonin which is

48:53

the hormone to help you relax

48:55

and phase into that parasympathetic rest

48:57

sleep. Or even taking like a

49:00

hot shower or hot bath with

49:02

the mebsin salt, the magnesium will

49:04

help you relax, you'll absorb it

49:06

transdermally. But when you get

49:08

out of that shower bath, your core

49:10

body temperature will drop and that's a

49:12

signal to produce melatonin. So sleep, how's

49:14

your sleep been the past 7 days? 0 to 10, 10 being

49:16

the best. And then finally 8, 9

49:18

and 10, Aida's brain protection which is very simply

49:21

I had a number of brain injuries

49:23

before the age of 12. Your

49:25

brain is very resilient but it's very fragile.

49:28

So protect your brain. So while you're protecting

49:30

your brain 0 to 10, wear a helmet,

49:32

avoid extreme sports. And then 9

49:35

is something that we bring

49:37

back to new learnings. I

49:39

mentioned the key to neuroplasticity

49:41

is novelty but you'll see

49:43

the two big dips in

49:45

cognitive performance. Especially

49:47

when people, they

49:49

graduate school because for some

49:52

they associate school as like

49:54

learning and when they're done, they're done learning. That

49:56

doesn't make any sense to me but I think

49:58

that's a widely held belief. and also

50:00

when they retire. Often when

50:02

people retire out of their

50:04

careers, they retire with their mind and they

50:06

don't keep it as active. That's when they

50:09

were working in eight hours a day. There

50:11

was a study done with nuns and they

50:13

were living 80, 90 and above and researchers

50:15

wanted to find out what

50:17

was the key to their longevity. They found out

50:19

they discovered half of it was their emotional faith

50:21

or gratitude but the other half, they

50:24

were lifelong learners. They're reading

50:26

every day, having deep discussions every day. It

50:28

was just part of that culture and because

50:31

of it, it had years to their life and life

50:33

to their years. It was so historic.

50:35

They put this study on the cover of Time

50:38

magazine and the study was called Aging with Grace

50:40

which I think is a great name for nuns.

50:43

And then finally, the 10th thing

50:46

is stress management and this is the invisible thing,

50:48

right? We don't always see it or recognize it

50:50

because it's like fish in water. They don't know

50:52

what water is because it's just surrounded by water

50:54

all the time. They don't know anything else but

50:56

a lot of us have undue stress on

50:59

us, financial stress, relationship, emotional

51:01

stress, whatever worked, informational overload,

51:03

whatever. Chronic stress has

51:05

been shown to shrink the human brain. It

51:07

puts you in fight or flight and it

51:10

holds you hostage in your survival

51:12

brain but it keeps you away

51:14

from your executive functioning, your problem

51:17

solving, your creativity. And so

51:19

0 to 10, 10 being the best, how

51:21

well are you coping with stress? What

51:23

activities? Some people get a massage or

51:26

body work, some people do yoga, some

51:28

people meditate, some people spend time in

51:30

nature but we need opportunities throughout the

51:32

week, throughout the day to be able

51:34

to mitigate that stress, you know, that

51:37

builds up in work and in life.

51:40

So those are the 10 keys for a

51:42

limitless brain and the idea here is you

51:44

see where you're scoring five or below and

51:47

start putting some attention and some time

51:49

into those areas because you could do all

51:51

of this, have the greatest supplements, the greatest

51:54

diet and not be sleeping well and

51:56

you're not going to prefer, right? Or you

51:58

could have the best night. sleep

52:01

and manage your stress but you're around

52:03

these energy vampires, right? That are just

52:05

kind of stealing your drive and

52:08

keeping us not so smart. So

52:10

again, common sense is not common practice. I don't think

52:13

anyone would debate any of these 10 things but

52:15

just as a coach bringing it into their

52:17

awareness again so that they can make small

52:20

little shifts can make a big

52:22

difference because little by little, a little

52:24

becomes a lot. Yeah, I'm like taking inventory

52:26

already so I'm going to punt on explaining where I'm

52:28

at and what I want to do. But

52:30

I want to go back to one thing you mentioned, donate

52:32

a lot to Alzheimer's research. There

52:34

are a lot of neuro generative diseases. Is

52:37

there any connection between improving your

52:39

brain health and brain function and

52:41

kind of delaying or preventing them?

52:44

So the idea here is all the

52:46

things I mentioned can help mitigate brain

52:48

aging challenges, exercise being

52:51

extremely important, even getting your steps in when

52:53

we're older maybe lose a little bit more

52:55

mobility. But being physically active, just think

52:57

about it. Anything that's going to be good for your

52:59

heart is generally going to be good for your head.

53:02

And so as you're getting that exercise, you're

53:04

creating BDNF which is the fertilizer for neuroplasticity

53:06

so we could get older but we could

53:08

still make new connections as we age and

53:10

what helps facilitate that is moving our body.

53:12

Even if you look at the other spectrum,

53:15

we have a one-year-old just initially just

53:17

watching him learn how to crawl, these

53:19

cross crawls, that's for brain development. The

53:21

primary reason you have a brain is

53:23

to control your movement. So

53:26

again, as your body moves, your brain

53:28

roos. A lot of issues that challenge

53:30

people, usually sleep is a contributing factor

53:33

to it and so optimizing

53:35

your sleep could help with brain aging

53:38

as you go because that's again

53:40

where the sewage system kicks in

53:42

that can lead to that beta

53:44

amyloid plaque buildup that has been

53:46

associated with Alzheimer's and dementia, getting

53:48

proper nutrients that are neuroprotective over

53:50

time like the antioxidants

53:52

that protect you from oxidative stress

53:54

that comes from your environment or

53:57

pollution or the foods that

53:59

we're eating, the chemicals. or relationship, financial

54:01

stress, you know, all of that. There

54:03

are certain nutrients that have been shown

54:05

to be able to stave off brain

54:07

aging challenges. All of these have

54:09

a factor. So your brain can grow older just

54:11

like our body because our brain is part of

54:13

our body but it

54:15

doesn't have to deteriorate and

54:18

if I can use that word as fast

54:20

and you can stave it off in my

54:22

own inner lifestyle. But again, one third of

54:24

your memory or your brain performance predetermine by

54:26

genetics and biology but two thirds is

54:29

in your control and these are the

54:31

10 levers that really influence the majority,

54:33

two thirds. And there's one thing

54:35

that I didn't hear in the 10 and maybe

54:37

it was a sub bullet of one. It

54:40

is. But how does our interaction with technology on a

54:42

daily basis play into our brain health?

54:45

From using our phones throughout the

54:47

day, using our phones to outsource

54:49

our memory, just you know, Google

54:51

everything or even just waking up and looking at them.

54:53

How do you think about that? So

54:56

I think about it like our brain is a muscle. It's

54:59

an organ obviously but it performs more like

55:01

a muscle and the primary understanding of the

55:04

muscle is you use it or you lose

55:06

it. If I put my arm

55:08

in a sling for a year or two, it wouldn't

55:10

grow stronger. It wouldn't even stay the

55:12

same, right? It would atrophy and that's

55:14

the idea with our mental muscles. If we're not

55:17

using it, we're going to lose it. And

55:19

that's why reading is the number one exercise that

55:22

you could do for your brain. You

55:24

can use it to your mind when exercise frankly is to your body.

55:27

But in the book Limitless, we

55:29

talk about the four horsemen of the

55:31

mental apocalypse, kind of sensationalize it a

55:33

little bit. Just really to dial in

55:35

the point, the first one

55:37

is Digital Deluge which I termed

55:40

the information overload. They

55:42

call it information anxiety where you're

55:44

drowning in information. There's more information

55:46

being produced because how many podcasts

55:48

are there? How many YouTube videos?

55:50

How many blogs, books, news, newspapers?

55:54

So we're drowning information. The amount of information

55:56

is doubling at dizzying speeds but how we

55:58

absorb it is the same. there or if

56:00

anything is decreasing. The growing gap is

56:02

digital deluge by our devices. Never before

56:05

have we had access to the world's

56:07

information in our pocket, right? Symptoms

56:10

of information anxiety, are

56:12

they called information fatigue syndrome,

56:15

higher blood pressure, the compression

56:17

of leisure time, more sleeplessness. I mean the

56:19

list goes on and on. So there's a

56:21

real health consequence. That's why we teach

56:23

you how to learn faster and read faster so they can keep

56:25

up with the deluge, right? Someone besides

56:27

digital deluge is digital distraction and this

56:30

is what you're alluding to before. I

56:32

mean how do you maintain your focus

56:34

and your concentration in a world full

56:36

of rings and pings and dings and

56:38

app notifications, social media alerts, likes and

56:40

chairs. I mean there's dopamine flood but

56:42

it's driving us to distraction. We

56:45

wonder why we can't focus with our kids. We

56:47

wonder why we can't focus in a meeting

56:49

or on Zoom or in a conversation. Our

56:52

mind wanders because that's all we're doing all

56:54

day is this context switching and we're

56:57

getting these dopamine hits and dopamine is

56:59

a molecule of more, right?

57:01

It's motivation, you know? So it's driving

57:04

you to distraction and focus

57:06

is like a muscle too. But

57:08

if we're like spending all this time flexing

57:10

our distraction muscles, we wonder why that's our

57:13

default when we're going throughout the day and

57:15

it affects our learning and it affects our

57:17

life. That's why there's a little

57:19

chapter on focus and concentration because it's

57:22

something that could be taught. Like going to somebody

57:24

on your team or your kids and say, can

57:26

you focus on this focus? That's

57:28

like going to somebody say play the

57:31

didgeridoo or the ukulele who's never been

57:33

taught how to play that instrument. Well, we've

57:35

never been taught how to focus. The

57:38

third one is digital, I coined this

57:40

because I tend to alliterate and they're

57:42

all these, digital deduction.

57:45

And this is where technology is doing the

57:47

thinking for us, right? I

57:49

mean even if you think about intelligence, it's not

57:51

just one form of intelligence. It's one form of

57:53

intelligence. And you know, I

57:55

did a podcast episode talking about multiple

57:58

intelligence theory. It's how regarders work on

58:00

intelligence. Harvard University and what we're seeing

58:02

is that intelligence can be enhanced, proper

58:04

training and discipline and deep work but

58:07

it takes focus. And

58:09

so, you know, when we're talking

58:11

about visual spatial intelligence, we used

58:13

to have that grader when

58:15

we did have these apps that could tell us how to get from here

58:18

to there. Now you go on your

58:20

phone, you look up GPS, your maps or whatever, Waze

58:22

and it tells you how to get to here to

58:24

there so we don't have to think, we don't have

58:26

to build our visual spatial awareness. So

58:28

it's like that harm in a cast again,

58:30

you know, it's not growing stronger, it's not

58:32

utilizing it. And I just

58:34

have to stipulate, technology is convenient as heck,

58:37

right? But it's just

58:39

like if the bank is eight

58:41

blocks away and you take your car, you don't

58:44

have to physically move and keep in shape,

58:46

right? If your office or your apartment is

58:48

on the third floor, you're always taking the

58:50

elevator, convenient as heck but

58:52

we're not getting our steps in, you

58:55

know, so we're not keeping in shape,

58:57

same thing mentally. Because the fourth one

58:59

really embodies this digital dementia which is

59:01

the fourth course of the mental apocalypse.

59:04

Digital dementia is where our

59:06

devices also become external memories, the storage

59:08

for us so we don't have to

59:10

remember our to-do's, we don't have to

59:12

remember our calendars, we don't have to

59:14

remember phone numbers. I mean think about

59:16

Chris, how many phone numbers you knew

59:18

growing up? Yeah, if you didn't remember

59:20

them, you know, I guess you can look at the phone

59:22

book but then exactly and then

59:25

but how many foreign phone numbers do you know,

59:27

you know, and there could be

59:29

somebody, a family member or you know, a

59:31

friend that you call or text every single

59:33

day but if your phone died,

59:36

right, or you didn't have it, you might not

59:38

know that phone number and not that I want

59:40

to memorize 300 phone numbers but it should be

59:42

concerning we've lost the ability to remember one phone

59:45

number or a PIN number or a passcode or

59:47

something we just read or something we're going to

59:49

say or something that was said to us or

59:51

somebody's name, right? And so

59:53

digital dementia is the high reliance

59:56

on our devices to store information

59:58

for us. we don't have

1:00:00

to exercise our mind. And again, it's

1:00:02

very convenient. I'm very pro-technology. Technology is what

1:00:05

allows us to happen, allows everyone to

1:00:07

listen to this conversation. It's how

1:00:09

it's utilized. Like fire is an early form

1:00:11

of technology, probably one of the earliest. Fire

1:00:14

could cook your food, but

1:00:16

fire could burn down your home, right? It's

1:00:18

just how it's applied. And so my

1:00:21

take on with technology is technology can

1:00:23

be an incredible resource

1:00:25

and a tool, but

1:00:27

technology is a tool for you to

1:00:29

use. But if the technology is using

1:00:31

us, then we become the tool, right?

1:00:34

If we're just picking up our phones because

1:00:36

we're at the DMV and we're not using

1:00:38

that white space to think and create or

1:00:40

to rest or whatever, then we're just doing

1:00:42

it out of boredom, then that's probably not

1:00:45

the best use of technology. And

1:00:47

so, you know, I use your example of Google

1:00:49

Maps. I'm not hearing you say

1:00:51

everyone should go by like, you know, the Rand

1:00:53

McNally Atlas and use it to, you know, get

1:00:56

around town. But are there any changes that you

1:00:58

think the average person could make to kind of

1:01:00

reduce the reliance on

1:01:02

technology that might improve brain function

1:01:04

or health? Yeah, just remember

1:01:07

that our choices make a difference and little

1:01:09

by little, little becomes a lot. Just asking

1:01:11

yourself what's your outcome? Like if you're using

1:01:13

technology to binge watch a show on Netflix

1:01:15

and that's your like entertainment time and your

1:01:17

rest or relax time, then you know

1:01:19

who am I to say like how should people should

1:01:22

spend their time and focus? But

1:01:24

if it's distracting you from the

1:01:26

things that are important, right? And

1:01:28

you're using it as a way to sabotage

1:01:30

or procrastinate and it's echoing the result that

1:01:32

you're looking to get, then

1:01:35

I probably recommend people have some

1:01:37

borders and boundaries around or

1:01:40

some kind of constraints. Like I think people are

1:01:42

extremely surprised when they pick up their phone and

1:01:44

they look up the usage of certain apps and

1:01:47

how many hours upon hours

1:01:49

and hours people spend watching

1:01:51

Netflix or YouTube or doing

1:01:53

certain things. And again, we

1:01:55

have podcasts and I want people to listen

1:01:57

to podcasts and watch our YouTube videos and I really appreciate it.

1:02:00

everything else like that that we produce but

1:02:02

it's just reminding people that they have choice

1:02:04

and the way they shouldn't do it mindlessly.

1:02:07

And so what I would say is like

1:02:09

for me the two times to do a

1:02:11

digital detox or dopamine detox

1:02:14

is maybe

1:02:16

on the weekends harping out like hey

1:02:18

for two hours I'm gonna leave the phone at home and

1:02:20

I'm gonna just be with my family, right?

1:02:22

And just go out in nature or the most

1:02:25

important times I think is the beginning of the day and

1:02:27

the end of the day for various

1:02:29

reasons but I think if you want to win the

1:02:31

day you have to win that first hour of the

1:02:33

day and you know I have a video with

1:02:36

me and Simon Sinek on Facebook has

1:02:38

like 37 million views and

1:02:40

it's just me saying don't touch your phone the first 30 minutes

1:02:42

of the day that's it. Because when

1:02:44

you wake up in the morning you're in

1:02:46

this relaxed state of awareness you're extremely suggestible

1:02:48

and the first thing you do is pick

1:02:51

up your device, you're wiring your brain for

1:02:53

two things that's hurting your productivity and your

1:02:55

performance. Number one, we already talked about distraction,

1:02:58

right? Every ring ping ding, happy location, social media,

1:03:00

or lecture, comment, cat video, it's just driving a

1:03:02

distraction and you're flexing that first thing in the

1:03:04

morning and you wonder why you can't focus at

1:03:07

work or with your family. The

1:03:09

second thing it does is it wires

1:03:11

your brain not only for distraction but

1:03:14

for reaction and that's

1:03:16

almost as damaging meaning it

1:03:18

puts you on the defense first thing in the morning

1:03:21

and we all know we've had this experience

1:03:23

so we wake up and we get a

1:03:25

message like a voicemail message, an email, social

1:03:27

media message, text message, WhatsApp, whatever and

1:03:30

it just hijacks our mood for hours, right?

1:03:32

And all of a sudden we're like fighting

1:03:34

fires and if you

1:03:36

want to be proactive and have

1:03:38

a design life, it's hard

1:03:41

to do that if you're just waking

1:03:43

up and putting yourself on the defense.

1:03:45

Like I have a friend, Brendan who

1:03:47

wrote Motivation Manifesto and he says

1:03:49

you're involved, there's nothing but a convenient

1:03:51

organizational system for other people's agenda for

1:03:53

your life. So it just rings true

1:03:55

to me and not that saying email

1:03:57

is bad but it's just like So

1:04:00

what do you do instead, right? For me, I wake

1:04:02

up in the morning, I keep

1:04:04

my phone specifically in my

1:04:06

bathroom. So we have

1:04:08

a whole chapter in the middle of this

1:04:11

on habit design and on our podcast, we've

1:04:13

interviewed the experts, Dr. BJ Fogg, who wrote

1:04:15

Tiny Habits, James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits.

1:04:18

And part of habit design is

1:04:21

you want to make what's good for you easy

1:04:23

and you want to make what's

1:04:25

not good for you more difficult. So, you

1:04:27

know, instead of me using willpower, you know,

1:04:30

trying not to touch the phone, I just keep it

1:04:32

in another room. Now, I don't think that hurts, right,

1:04:34

as much. But the reason why

1:04:36

I say the first 30 minutes for

1:04:38

reaction and for distraction, what do

1:04:40

I do instead? I'll wake up and

1:04:42

I'll just close my eyes, you know,

1:04:44

I won't open my eyes and I'll

1:04:46

just imagine myself coming back to bed

1:04:49

at the end of the day, like that

1:04:51

day. And maybe my wife asked me, how

1:04:54

was your day? And I say, wow, today

1:04:56

was really awesome. We crushed it today or

1:04:58

we have a deposit response. And then I

1:05:00

asked myself, what had to happen in order

1:05:02

for me to feel that way? And

1:05:05

I explicitly come up with three things personally

1:05:07

and three things professionally

1:05:10

because I think it's unrealistic for most

1:05:12

of us, including myself to get through

1:05:14

a 200 to do list. But when

1:05:16

it comes to it's not time management,

1:05:18

it's mind management and

1:05:20

priority management. And you know,

1:05:22

I always tell people the most important thing

1:05:24

is to get the most important things, the

1:05:27

most important things. And what

1:05:29

I focus on are those six things,

1:05:31

three things personally, three things professionally. Like

1:05:34

on my professional list was conversation with you.

1:05:36

It's like, hey, we have a character in

1:05:39

a few months, I'm really looking forward to

1:05:41

this conversation. I'm a fan of your work

1:05:43

and to reconnect with you and share and

1:05:45

hopefully have an impact with your audience and

1:05:47

your listeners. That was one of my three

1:05:49

things, right? And it's sports, you know, when

1:05:51

it's time to celebrate and to cheer and

1:05:54

open up the champagne because there's a scoreboard.

1:05:56

But I realized in our life, we don't really have

1:05:58

that scoreboard. to win the year,

1:06:00

you have goals but that day is, you know,

1:06:03

the year is made up of all these days

1:06:05

in that year and my scoreboard are those three

1:06:07

things personally and they don't have to be huge

1:06:09

things, right? It could be taking our dogs out

1:06:11

for a walk. Do you write them down

1:06:13

and like reflect on them later and... Yeah, I

1:06:15

just I write them down, I keep

1:06:18

a journal because I think part

1:06:20

of creating or achieving the first thing you

1:06:22

need to do is you take the invisible

1:06:24

and you make it visible and maybe

1:06:26

I learned this under an early age but

1:06:28

when I took the things, those dreams or

1:06:30

goals and I started writing them down, it's

1:06:32

the first step in taking and seeing something

1:06:35

external like taking action where something is

1:06:37

inside my mind and all of a

1:06:39

sudden it's out in the world in

1:06:41

some form like words and then I

1:06:43

focus on those three things firstly and

1:06:45

the three things professionally and that's kind

1:06:47

of my guide post throughout the day.

1:06:49

The last 30 minutes a day, I

1:06:51

don't touch my phone because how I

1:06:53

plan my day and I know not everybody has

1:06:55

this luxury so I state that

1:06:57

everybody has different careers and kids and everything.

1:06:59

For me, I don't want to struggle

1:07:02

with a lot of decision fatigue and

1:07:04

context switching which is your brain going from

1:07:06

one thing, it has to do one activity,

1:07:08

a certain part of your brain is lit

1:07:10

up but to switch and multitask and

1:07:12

focus or something else, you

1:07:14

waste time because it could take five, ten minutes to

1:07:16

regain your focus, right? You waste

1:07:19

energy because it needs more brain glucose than we

1:07:21

talked about to be able to switch from task

1:07:23

to task and you also make more mistakes when

1:07:25

trying to multitask. Just think about driving

1:07:27

and taxi, right? More accidents. So

1:07:30

what I do is I focus on three

1:07:32

C's throughout the day and it's not always

1:07:34

perfect, in fact it's never perfect but I

1:07:36

try to chunk my day and the morning

1:07:38

I want to be creative as the first

1:07:40

C. I write books, right? And I do

1:07:42

all that, you know, in a podcast I

1:07:44

write in the afternoon I

1:07:46

consume and that's where I read, where I

1:07:49

do research, I prepare, talk to my team

1:07:51

about podcast guests and stuff like that. I

1:07:54

do my own consuming. Then at

1:07:57

night I clear and really

1:07:59

for clear. It's like I journal to get the

1:08:01

things out of my head. I might even

1:08:03

plan out the day the night before so

1:08:05

I don't have to ruminate about all the things I

1:08:07

have to focus on the next day. If I do

1:08:10

some yoga nidra which is like five minute breathing exercise

1:08:12

and you can see it on YouTube or whatever kind

1:08:14

of guided meditation then on the health need to clear,

1:08:16

right? Or I talk to my

1:08:18

family about my day and I also make

1:08:20

it clear and it gets me in that

1:08:22

parasympathetic rest and digest place. Because what you

1:08:24

don't want to be is on that screen

1:08:27

for two reasons. Number one, the

1:08:29

screen mirrors the blue light and it fills

1:08:31

your mind and the thing is still daylight

1:08:33

so you don't create that melatonin on our

1:08:35

devices. And then number two, when

1:08:37

you're scrolling, you could doom scroll

1:08:40

forever, right? It's literally infinite and

1:08:42

it's context switching which means it's extremely taxing

1:08:44

to your mind and depending on what you're

1:08:47

looking at, you know, whether it's news and

1:08:49

everything going on in the world, it's very

1:08:51

stimulating which is not the kind of place

1:08:53

I want to be right before I go

1:08:55

to sleep. So to answer

1:08:57

your question for devices, I put my

1:08:59

non-negotiable don't touch my phone the first 30

1:09:01

minutes or the last 30 minutes and I'm

1:09:03

done. Love it. Okay, we

1:09:05

covered so much. I'm going to make sure we link

1:09:08

to the episodes you talked about, the diagnostic, the book,

1:09:10

anywhere else you want to send people who want to

1:09:12

get more. No, it's just

1:09:14

best on social media. I would challenge everybody

1:09:16

to take a screenshot of what they're listening

1:09:18

to, whatever platform they're consuming this right now

1:09:20

and take a screenshot and tag us both.

1:09:23

And what I would love is because I really feel like

1:09:26

ideas without implementation is

1:09:28

just knowledge is not power,

1:09:30

it has potentially power but it doesn't have power

1:09:33

to apply it. So challenge is to take a

1:09:35

small simple step, take a screenshot, tag Chris, tag

1:09:37

myself on social media, wherever you and then share

1:09:39

one thing you're going to do for a better,

1:09:41

brighter brain. You know, maybe it's that

1:09:43

diet, maybe it's going to do this for my sleep,

1:09:45

right? I'm going to take a warm bath or whatever,

1:09:47

I'm going to check out these supplements or, you know,

1:09:50

I'm going to manage this rest or something that they

1:09:52

heard in this conversation. And because you'll

1:09:54

tag us, I'll get to see it. And

1:09:56

I'll randomly share, you know, some of my

1:09:58

favorites and gift out. Two or three

1:10:00

copies of The Limitless just as a thank

1:10:02

you to your community for having me on

1:10:04

your show and or take a picture of

1:10:06

your animal, your brain quiz. If you come

1:10:09

to mybraincimal.com, you'll get the art posted and

1:10:11

let us know which animal you are because

1:10:13

I'm curious what a lot of your community

1:10:15

are dominant in. Yeah, I'm actually really

1:10:17

curious as well. So definitely do that latter one. Jim,

1:10:19

thank you so much for being here. Yes,

1:10:21

I appreciate it. Thank you. I

1:10:24

really hope you enjoyed that episode. I know

1:10:26

I thought it was amazing but more importantly,

1:10:28

I hope you can remember everything we covered.

1:10:30

Fortunately, if not, you can check out the

1:10:33

show notes for links to everything we discussed

1:10:35

as well as time stamps for the entire

1:10:37

conversation. And if you're enjoying the show,

1:10:39

it means a ton to me if you could

1:10:41

click the follow or subscribe button in your podcast

1:10:43

app if you haven't already. It really helps us

1:10:45

out and there is no better way to support

1:10:47

us beyond that than sharing the show with a

1:10:50

friend, colleague, family member or even someone you meet on

1:10:52

the street. Finally, if you have

1:10:54

any feedback or want to get in touch

1:10:56

or share a question you have for a

1:10:58

future mailbag episode, you can email us at

1:11:00

podcast at allthehacks.com. That's it

1:11:02

for this week. I will see you next week. I

1:11:08

want to tell you about another podcast

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