Kind: captions
Language: en
hey everybody Welcome to impact Theory
you were here my friends because you
believe that human potential is nearly
Limitless but you know that having
potential is not the same as actually
doing something with it so our goal with
this show and Company is to introduce
you to the people and ideas that are
going to help you actually execute on
your dreams all right today's guest is a
globally recognized leader in memory
improvement brain performance and
accelerated learning but no one would
have predicted that when he was a kid a
serious childhood accident left him with
a traumatic brain injury and a
significant learning disability but
instead of Simply accepting defeat he
set about making up for his shortcomings
through an obscene amount of hard work
he began sneaking comic books after bed
time to practice reading and something
about the Collision of the words images
and the superhero mindset spoke to him
and for the first time he began to make
progress but despite this he continued
to struggle having to work two or three
times as hard as everyone else to
achieve lesser
results after exhaustion caused him to
fall down a flight of stairs and sustain
yet another brain injury he realized
something had to change if he was going
to truly overcome his learning
disability he was going to have to
dramatically improve his efficiency at
learning itself this began an obsession
with the brain and the how of learning
an obsession he would ultimately turn
into quick learning a revolutionary
accelerated Learning System that now has
a bevy of celebrity clients and students
in over one 150 countries his hyper
effective techniques have been sought
out by the likes of Virgin Nike zapo
SpaceX Harvard and Singularity
University and he has directly trained
or shared the stage with such luminary
global leaders as Elon Musk Sir Richard
Branson and the dolly Lama his teachings
have been featured in prestigious
worldwide media including the New York
Times bestseller use your brain to
change your age please help me in
welcoming the man best-selling author
Steven Cotler calls superhero whose
superpower is learning itself the host
of the phenomenal podcast quick brain
Jim
quick how you
doing welcome man good to be here it's
good to have you here this is uh our
second time doing this bad boy and um I
have to say you're probably of all the
people that I've interviewed you're
probably the person I've gotten the
closest with off camera so it's a lot of
fun to bring you back and talk about
different things so people should go
sign up for your courses look at all
that stuff you got so much amazing
content out there about the actual howto
of learning so I want to start somewhere
a little bit different do it talk to me
about being the son of immigrant parents
so um my parents immigrated here to the
United States from Asia um we grew up uh
like a lot of a lot of individuals that
work really hard um grew up in the back
of a a laundry mat and they had uh many
different jobs um um and uh you know I
think one of the things that um that's
important for all of us is just the the
work ethic you know to be able to put in
like you do the incredible hours as an
entrepreneur as a Visionary to do what
whatever it takes because I don't
believe that there's a necessarily a
magic pill but I think there's a process
and doing the doing the work is very
important you know I don't want people
to believe that there's a silver bullet
all a sudden you have a great memory or
you have this great success or great
relationship or health and people always
ask what's the one thing I could do and
I always tell people that you have to do
you have to do most of it right and be
smart about it but you have to put in
the work because you know a lot of times
people see on social media they see all
of uh the success but what they don't
see is is the hustle right as as Gary ve
talks about and the uh I think what you
as they say what you practice in private
they say you rewarded for in public but
you have you have to do the work and I
think that's where I got my work ethic
the challenges growing up with a brain
injury and labeled the boy with a broken
brain I had to work so much harder as
everybody else and you wonder why that
why you're not getting those results and
so um so I got my my discipline from my
from my parents and I and I love them
for I really say that they are my they
are my superheroes and anything good
that's come out of me is is really a
product of a of them as setting example
what were they telling you as you were
going through all of that I mean your
story really is one of like grit and
perseverance and I think your story
would be a lot easier to understand if
it had been like really linear you get
the injury and then you like have the
magic moment you figur it out and it's
all roses from there but you actually
end up working your ass off only to then
like fall again literally fall again
what are they telling you through that
how are they encouraging you how do they
become your superheroes it would be it
would be really clean sometimes life is
messy right and success is not from Just
A to B in just a straight line it goes
all over the place and so I would have
loved that my story was oh I had this
brain injury and all of a sudden you
know this this this accident and I was
bitten by a radioactive elephant I have
this incredible memory or something like
that um but it wasn't quite that I
suffered and struggled um I had the
brain injury when I was 5 years old and
I suffered all through Elementary School
all through Middle School all through
high school and um and so it was like a
good 14 years of and a lot of it was um
you know this thing where it's even as a
young age maybe I I was pretending that
everything was fine and I'd be
struggling it's kind of like that
metaphor of a of a duck on a pond and
you see it's like all calm and and
relaxed but underneath it's just like
hustling really really fast and people
don't always see what's below the
iceberg but for me I I struggled
privately and um my parents because I
grew up um with these challenges and um
I didn't have a lot of people to talk to
because when you have feel like that
you're broken you don't connect with a
lot of people so on top of everything I
was also uh painfully shy I was
introverted but I was also shy and very
reserved and I would always sit in the
corner and I honestly I've never I've
never talked about this publicly but I
ask everybody you know what their
superpower is and I feel like that my
superpower growing up as an insecure kid
who Felts like he was broken and taught
that by adults um that uh that my
superpower was being invisible W like I
didn't want to be seen I mean I
ultimately did want to be seen and I
want to be heard like most of us and
accepted and acknowledged but I didn't
want the spotlight like I would do for
example um my parents instilled like
this work ethic about working working
hard and so I would do a book report and
even though it was more difficult for me
and to the point where I'd be like okay
I I I have it I was done but if a
teacher asked me in high school to
present it in front of a class I would
actually lie and say I didn't do it and
I would take a zero and because I was so
terrified of being in front of a group
of people and uh and I would throw it
out on the way out of class and it was
really scary but my but my parents
always held that there was there were
there was more that there was purpose
that was that there was a reason that
was going through these challenges I
mean my mother actually went into um
became a special ed teacher because she
just really wanted to to help because
that nobody knew because of what you
went through because of what I went
through and so because so they're very
caring like that but the challenge is we
don't know what we don't know and um and
they did the best they could to be able
to help me but what they did instill in
me was that there was a reason you know
that through going through struggles
just like when they came to this country
um all of us go through struggles right
in our health our relationship whatever
it is is but through struggles come come
strengths and people don't talk about
this as much and you know I probably
have a post-traumatic you know stress
from it um going through brain injury
after brain injury there's also
post-traumatic growth which which you
know like a lot of that it's not as
widely talked about but there's some
people that go through immense amount of
trauma and difficulty and challenge but
they come out of it actually more
empowered that they would they say to
themselves that because of going through
this I found a new Strength I found my
superpowers I found found a new meaning
in my life I found a new level of
commitment I found a strength a mission
if you will and they went and just a lot
of them the test that they wouldn't
trade that experience no matter how
painful it was at the time for for
anything and I and I find that growing
up with reading challenges and you know
I couldn't read for an extra 3 years I
pretended how to read um you know it's
it's like um it's like the impostor
syndrome it's like they have this image
of how they want to be projected to the
world and then they have this image of
what they fear they are and then they
have their real who they are but um I
think a lot of people are suffering and
overloaded and overwhelmed and they're
depleted because they're trying to hold
these images in place you know and and
and then be themselves also as well in
different context so that's why I love
you because you are the same on camera
and off and there's there's a congruency
there's an authenticity that's there um
and I feel like a lot of people expend
unnecessary amounts of energy trying to
hold up this image of their ideal self
to the world and then they they have
this image of that they fear so it's
going to be revealed to somebody else
and so growing up as a kid who couldn't
read I would pretend I understood things
like teachers would explain things and I
didn't want to be the only one who
didn't understand and I would pretend
but in private I was really suffering
and struggling and so um you know it's
one of those things where you wonder why
like my two biggest challenges growing
up were learning and public speaking so
crazy which is the universe has a weird
sense of humor because that's what I do
for my mission now and um so it's
interesting how things work how how did
you push through that because so as
somebody who's seen you speak publicly
you're so good at it like you have so
much energy and enthusiasm and projected
confidence um even if you're like
secretly overcoming something how how do
you go through the dark time of feeling
like you've been identified as the kid
with the broken brain really struggling
truly like how do you get your selft
talk going in a positive direction like
everything would be pushing back against
you yeah I think um so it's even I even
get nervous with doing things like this
and you know that you know even being on
camera or having my picture taken or
there's still this residual I always get
butterflies incredible amounts of
butterflies before I go on stage every
single time um how I get through it I
mean we talked about um we've talked
about previously about mindset and about
the importance of having a growth
mindset um and I always talk about the
second G for me is is Grit the 3Gs of
the superhero mistaken yeah and and I
think so I think having a a powerful
mindset being Unstoppable um or just
having the ability to go and and succeed
whatever success is for you you have you
have to always you have to be growing
because if you're not growing then
you're just you're you're backsliding
right but you also need a level of git
and I think grit just like growth is a
muscle it's something that you need to
sharpen through challenge CU through the
challenge you get all the change that
comes from it um I would say that if I'm
if I effective having an impact on stage
and we all have a stage of our life
whether it's on a physical stage or you
know just going through our day right um
that I challenge my my grid and my my
ability to persist um I feel like that
the most successful people on the planet
that that having the level of impact
that that they want to have to go
through challenges and they it's a m you
know just like the hero's journey that
we've talked about many times and and so
how I get myself through it I monitor
myself selft talk because I think that's
important I feel like um with a name
like quick you know you have to be a
runner right and so I had to be a runner
back in school and to be careful of
getting speeding tickets and everything
else like that but I was remember I was
reading a book years ago on uh preparing
for marathon and one of the chapters
again uh was on the psychology of it and
it said this verbum you know because I'm
the memory expert it said your your your
brain is like a supercomputer and your
selft talk is a program it will run so
if you tell yourself you're not good at
remembering names you will not remember
the name of the next person you meet
because you program your supercomputer
not to and I always tell people that um
and and now I I don't I don't think the
brain is like a super computer it's I
think it's a it's a weak metaphor for
for uh for what it is because you know
this is like a living computer that
could do so much more and has different
um capabilities but I would say that um
your selft talk is important and it is
the program that we would run and I
always tell people to keep it positive
keep it empowering um because your mind
is always EES dropping on your selft
talk right and you have to be careful
what you say to yourself because it's
this unconscious command so I would be
very careful like when I'm get when I
get nervous or I feel like I'm I think
some of the most successful people live
at the edge of their limits you know and
they and they play there also as well
and so and whenever I feel in my nervous
system I feel like I can't do it then I
feel like I really must do it because I
feel like How We Do Anything Is How We
Do Everything when did you have that
realization that you could overcome some
of the fears by knowing what your
motives were you've had many guests
address this and I really do feel and
congratulations Al with Mel and Simon
those videos are like you know hundreds
and millions of people watch it um and I
feel like I was having this conversation
um I did a talk in Silicon Valley and
afterwards Bill Gates comes up to me and
I ask him what superpower he could read
one and he's like the ability to read
faster and I was like oh I could totally
help with that and and I I I believe in
reading and I know you're an avid Abid
reader and we share that commonality U
leaders are readers um but we're talking
about the future education and I was
taking U the approach from Adult
Learning Theory and brain science and he
was approaching it from more technology
and scale and somebody who was listening
asked the question saying is there
anything missing you know what's missing
ABS in theory and and and technology and
we were talking about it and we came to
the conclusion is understanding human
motivation like the because motive
matters right and what drives us I
always tell people that there's a
success formula I subscribe to it I call
it h Cube that goes from your head to
your heart to your hands especially in
the personal development space or what
they teach you about goal setting you
could affirm things in your head or
think things in your head or visualize
things in your head um but if you're not
acting with your hands there's there's
something that's missing right there's
an in congruency there and I I what I
tell people is like you know check in
with the second age which is your heart
which is the symbol of like emotion the
energy of motion and so I feel like
that's the fuel that fuels the car that
gets you to take action for something
and I do believe what got me through it
is figuring out what my why was right I
don't want people to suffer the way I
did if I could do anything about it for
me it's like no brain left behind right
because I I live with that identity for
so long and I my my message to people
whether it's on stage or on podcast or
anything is that you know we are more
than what we're demonstrating that we've
been sold this lie that people are
taught through school like when I do
these demos and I on on stage memorize
100 names and words and numbers forwards
and backwards and it appears
effortlessly um I always tell people I
don't do this to impress you I do this
to express to you what's really possible
because the truth is everyone can do
this too and so much more apply towards
creativity and focus and flow and
problem solving and thinking and and and
really overcoming the biggest challenges
of their life and maybe even the the
world the challenges we were taught a
lie we were taught a lie that somehow
our intelligence our potential our
learning our memory somehow is fixed our
creativity is fixed our thinking is
fixed like our shoze and what we've
discovered you know um as you know more
about brain science the past two decades
we've discovered more than the previous
2,000 years and what we know is that
we're grossly underestimating its Capac
our own capacity to be able to grow to
be able to contribute to improve our
intelligence and our influence and our
impact and I'm really I want to kind of
pull the veil behind and just say hey
this is about transcending you know this
is about ending the trance ending the
trance that you're that we're not good
enough you know that we're not smart
enough that we we're not this genius and
um and telling the truth and and the
truth truth is people could we're faster
and we're smarter than we think and not
just to be able to wrote memorize things
but be able to really solve significant
challenges and maybe that these
challenges that we're going through are
the lessons that we need to to learn the
most and then some people who learn
those lessons feel compelled to be able
to share that voice with other people so
it's not just one candle you know we
just can set things Ablaze you know so
what are some of the the key problems
that you personally want to solve that
you think we face as a society like what
are those major movements for you um so
a lot of these conversations you and I
we've had with our our mutual friend
Peter diamandes over at xpre um I was at
the very early stages of their education
literacy prize when they first launched
it and um and so I think for for me um
my my platform is is is education um and
I feel like that growing up if anyone
who's watching this feels like they're
overloaded overwhelmed and they can't
keep up I always tell people that I
don't think it's completely their fault
it's just we all grew up with a 20th
century education that prepared us for a
20th century World which at the turn of
the century was working in factories and
farms and assembly line and our
education system was merried to that it
was assembly line one- siiz fits-all um
cookie cutter approach towards education
teaching us things about what to learn
math History Science Spanish but all
things we can find online nowadays right
so what do you need to be able to
regurgitate that information for um but
it wasn't it was about what to learn but
not how to learn and you know how to
think for yourself how to solve problems
how to be creative all the things that
you can't Outsource to you know to int
like automated or technology or you
can't Outsource to Asia you know our our
value in this world is really our our
creativity right because that's not
something that's easily outsourc our
ability to create value be creators take
our vision and turn them into reality
take the invisible and make it visible
but where are the classes on that right
on how to be able to live your your best
version of yourself that's why I love
this and the conversations that we have
and the conversations that you're
bringing out to the world because
nowadays you know we live in this see
here's the thing um I get to work you
mentioned with SpaceX and Elon and and
such and and Rocket scientists and all
these I mean there there think about
that we're we're living in a world of
autonomous electric cars and spaceships
that are going to Mars but our vehicle
Choice when it comes to learning it's
like we're choosing like a horse and
buggy right that's our choice and that
we wonder why wow this is taking so long
this is so hard this is so difficult but
it's not our fault we just weren't
prepared for this world that we're
living in right now they say that um
that if Rip Van winkl you know the
gentleman who who slept for decades of
Slumber right if he woke up today the
only thing he would recognize is our
schools and that's not a slight against
teachers like my mother's a school
teacher my my my my aunt is a college
professor I I love those individuals
because they are some of the most
hardworking individuals that I know and
I get to train a lot of them but it's a
systemic issue just like like many
challenges you know it doesn't grow and
it hasn't involve as much as the rest of
the world has but I love this because
right now classrooms you know they don't
have four walls I mean how many how many
people are watching this from how many
different countries right now and you
never know who's listening on the other
side that motivates inspires the heck
out of me because what if someone right
now is watching this on their smart
device and they you know they're in the
middle of some like a third world
country and they become the next Malala
or Elon Musk or or what have you and
that's that's what really juices me and
so education I feel like a lot of people
people feel like that when they graduate
school their their learning is done in
fact the two big dips in cognitive
performance is usually when people
graduate school and the second one is
when they retire from work so often when
people retire you know their mind you
know they feel like you know their body
is not too far behind either because of
that connection so have you thought
about what a new education system would
look like my Approach has always been
going directly to the student whoever
the student of Life happens to be now I
I know in terms of curriculum what I
would change just because I wouldn't
Focus so much on you know on dates I
think it's it's good to be well read
because I think that perspective is
really important but I would focus more
on functional usable tools and um that
would help people excel in today's day
and age you know the ability to create
to be able to think differently
leadership skills the ability to work
and manage teams uh collaboration tools
I think all those would be very
important I mean any of the learning
methodologies that we publish on how to
focus and how to concentrate um the
reason I focus on memory a lot even
though there's a lot of information
online because people like oh why why do
I need to memorize all this stuff if
it's available online and that that's a
valid point um there's two reasons I
would say number one I feel like because
people aren't memorizing things they're
losing their ability to remember things
because they're Outsourcing their their
brains to their smart devices right I
mean everything is kept here so they
don't have to be able to keep it here
and the challenge is is you're I believe
that the mind is more like a muscle as
opposed to a supercomputer that use it
or lose it grow stronger with use but a
lot of people aren't using it as much as
they used to and so because think about
it before technology how would you have
to remember personal history and all
your lessons you would pass it around
like you know share it over with stories
like this and that's why I love I love
this kind of context there' be a fire
here and we'd be sharing this and it' be
part of like who we are and um I feel
people are losing that ability so I
think storytelling is so important to be
able to teach right interpersonal skills
right we know that IQ is is kind of it's
erroneous right this idea where you have
a number and it's yours for the rest of
your life and it's fixed and it can't
move and it accurately describes your
value in society I think that's flawed I
think that we have multiple
intelligences like so generally in the
United States we reinforce two kinds of
intelligence it's like verbal linguistic
and mathematical like growing up that
was like the SATs it was like verbal and
the math right and if you're not good at
either one of them it's like okay this
is that's determines whether or not you
go to a school and everything else like
that but what about like interpersonal
skills I mean that's got to be at least
as important to be able your ability to
connect with individuals um like would
you have in Spades what about like
besides interpersonal skills what about
intrapersonal skill like just
self-awareness because I you know as
Gary ve talks about I think
self-awareness is a superpower like
awareness of yourself like your your own
condition and what motivates you what
drives you your own beliefs identity
your be cultivated I feel like I think
so I do believe in a combination of
Nature and nurture I do believe people
are are born with certain level of
talent but as the as you know it's
cliche but it's also true that that um
that hard work will be Talent if talent
doesn't work hard right so I do believe
you could refine and train this I think
when it comes to children that you it's
harder to model and and manage behaviors
like getting them to do something or
stop doing something but I think what we
could do because of children growing up
um they're incredibly um you know they
have their maror neurons and they're
always they IM they learn through ation
and such I feel like that they'll it's
what's easier with modeling or or being
good role model for kids and and this
goes for coaching or any kind of you
know relationship with a human being is
really to be an example and really
instead of model of of trying to manage
certain you know micro behaviors like
the thousands and hundreds and thousands
of different behaviors that your team
has or or your children have I would say
that it's it's be better to really focus
on um communicating like the values
right you said that behavior is belief
driven is that what you're is that what
you mean like focus on giving them the
belief system that's and the values like
I feel like in order people to transcend
to be able to to end the trance right
that we talked about earlier that a lot
of people are just trying to change a
lot of times like I just did a podcast
on habits right how to be able to um
adopt new habits and also delete and get
rid of you know break bad habits right
and so a lot of people always want to
make usually make a change on Behavior
they want to get themselves to work out
they want to get themselves to meditate
they want to get themselves to read more
each day they want to get themselves to
X right or they want to stop some
Behavior they want to stop smoking they
want to stop eating this food they want
to stop I always tell people stop
checking your phone the first hour of
the day I love that and I and I just
that's like sacred time for me you know
because I for me that's for I think that
if you want to be an elite mental
performer or you know real life
superhero you don't want to start off by
checking the phone we talked about this
in the past because you're training
yourself to be reactive right you're
getting your dopamine you're frying your
nervous system with all these likes
shares comments and everything else like
that um that you've said if I'm not
mistaken you sell your sovereignty we do
if you start by checking your phone I
love that so much because you're
reacting and firefighting to everyone's
like all everything everyone wants so
you're not really setting you're not
living you know it's you've heard this
many times right if you want to you you
win the first hour of the day to win the
rest you know you win win the day right
and so anything you want to stop so
let's say you want to stop checking your
phone right in the morning then there's
certain like that's a behavior right but
there's so many other elements to be
able to change because some most
behaviors don't stick right and so like
what I'm thinking about when I want to
transform or transcend or make a real
positive change I'm looking at all the
other areas of our s so I'm looking at
for example our environment are are
people setting up their environment to
win at at know so so change doesn't just
happen at this level of behavior but
what you have to change the environment
so for example if you want to stop
eating a certain food it helps to be
able to have not that not have that food
in your home right so you change the
environment if you want to read more it
helps to help set up your environment
where you have the books readily
available where you're going to read it
because they perform you know how I how
I approach habit change is this area of
motivation and this trigger right you
want a trigger to help remind you to do
the behavior right so are you setting up
the environment in a way that triggers
the behavior that you want but not only
the the the the be environment is like
the when and the where um but it's also
the behavior is also the capabilities
because a lot of people want to change a
behavior but they're not training in the
abilities what I love a lot about your
work and your passion is the area of
able to like ability those acquisition
new abilities for yourself and also that
could also benefit the rest of the world
but most people aren't training those
habits and there's capabilities but also
another level of change that we need to
address let's say everyone someone's
watching this and they have a thing that
something they want to change um and
it's not it's not sticking then maybe
it's not it's the environment maybe you
could check about your habits but maybe
it's your beliefs and your values some
people will not get themselves to read
every day because they don't value
reading every single day right some
people won't the the behavior they want
to change is you know we did a podcast
on how to remember names I could teach
them step by step on how to remember the
name of most people that they meet um
yet they won't do it because they don't
value it or because that's not important
to them or they don't believe that they
can right just like we talked about
earlier saying your brain is like a
supercomputer and you know your self
talk as a programmer runs so you tell
yourself you're not go to remember names
you will not remember the name of the
next person you meet because you program
your super computer not to they don't
have a belief that enables that so when
I say all behavior is belief-driven if
you want to do this Behavior whatever it
is Journal whatever it is then you need
a belief that allows that to happen
because you that's the program that
allows it so how do you get that belief
cuz you're going to feel like you're
faking it and that's where most people
stop right they they think okay I get it
I hear what Jimma saying that if I am
able to shift my belief then I can get a
different Behavior but I don't believe
it so now I'm just sort of Faking It how
do you help people overcome that right
and so you I mean so some people
approach it like they you know this
quote where they they fake it till they
make it right um so my my thing with
belief is
like when I do trainings in groups or or
online my my favorite way of changing a
belief is getting them to do something
they never thought they could do because
it opens up another possibility what so
so for example in 1954 Roger banister he
broke the 4minute Mile right and so
which is amazing right throughout human
history nobody can run a mile in less
than four minutes now if you if you look
into it how he was able to do it is he
would visualize himself crossing the
Finish Line looking at the clock and it
says 359 because he knew that success is
an inside out process that first it had
to happen in here in order for happing
out there right um Dr Wayne Dyer has has
his famous phrase where it's not oh I'll
believe it when I see it it's like I'll
see it when I believe it right because
it's the opposite right and so I I
always like modeling the outliers where
most people kind of just like kind of
dismissed them I was like oh what what's
going on there that allows this person
to get this kind of result right and so
with Roger banister he saw it in here be
able to produc it outside just like any
innovator or inventor or writer or any
Creator right but what was interesting
is after that what happened nobody could
do it from the beginning of humanity all
of a sudden one person does it what
happens after that everybody yeah
everyone starts doing it and so that's
the thing now what what happened was
there a big change that year in you know
training methodology and nutrition or no
it was a change of belief right because
the belief back then was if you ran a
mile less than 4 minutes Not only would
you die it was your heart would explode
in your chest and like think about like
that would and I'm a runner right that
would keep me not just running that
would keep me from running inform that
would keep me from running period right
and so my my thing is like that was a
change of a reference that was just that
shook up a belief so my goal with people
when it comes to learning is get
themselves to do something they never
thought they could do and then it opens
up another possibility it literally
opens up their their nervous system for
something what else could be possible
now I would also say that it all plays
together where it's not easy just a
change a belief overnight now that could
be a belief because it's like a meta
belief about what beliefs are but people
there's there's technology like
Inception right like a dream over dream
over dream um but I do believe that we
have more we have more power to
influence our thoughts and our beliefs
and so there are a lot of tools and
techniques out there that are resources
like when I grew up I you know we didn't
have any we we had no money right I had
no education because I was a very
learning challenge I didn't know any
anybody right right so I feel like it's
not when people that's where they'll go
though when they when they when there's
a gap stop gap between where they are
and where they want to be they'll say oh
I don't have the money or out on the
education out the intelligence out of
the network or anything else like that
and you know what what you know as for
all incredible success you've had and
the value you've created for the world
is that it's not about resources right
because we know a lot of people who who
didn't have any resources that were able
to impact the world um it's about our
internal resources and what I'm saying
is optimizing our environment optimizing
our behaviors our capabilities our
beliefs and our values and our identity
right that at the highest level our
identity because you can't just change
your belief or your values or your
behavior even if you don't believe
you're that kind of person you know
that's why I kind of always go to the
superhero Mythos because I I want people
that to claim that identity I call it
the superhero you that version of
ourselves that we're not Waiting for
Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman it's
like you are Wonder Woman you are Batman
you are Superman it's just we we have to
commit ourselves to be able to
unleashing
that dude I'm a huge believer in
identity driving behaviors um I have a
hard time explaining to people though
how to adopt a new identity how do you
how have you done it in your own life I
think that's the best I mean my identity
I mean obviously this is a a work in
progress right um I would say that I
would start with the they they call it
the two smallest World words in the
English language but they're the two
most powerful words in the English
language it's I am right I am because
whatever you put after that determines
your destination or your your destiny
right and I think in your identity is
who you believe you are and I feel like
when we're talking about playing to the
edge of our limits and really playing
there and living in that place where
we're stretching you know I do believe
and I get inspired every time I see your
Inc story you're like it's like 4:30 and
you're working out you're doing your
your your work but that's who you are
right you don't have to fight it because
you can't imagine yourself not doing
that and that's the level of that I that
I think is what's most important so I
would think about going through an
exercise and I've done this with friends
I've had them sit or in groups we do
these conferences and such and I find I
have people pair up with someone they
don't know and what they're going to do
is they're going to do an exercise I am
and they're going to talk they're
literally going to fill in the blanks
for 3 minutes until I call time so you
have to go like and you could do this
right now like if you were to fill in I
am blank like I would say you know I am
a student I am a teacher I am a son I am
a you know all this and but eventually
I'll get to a point where I don't know
what else to say and that's what the
real interesting answers come out of
right because it's a great way for
networking and knowing somebody else but
it also shows us this really big
tapestry of our life to the point that
we've G to right now where we could I
relate to these aspects of ourselves and
I think it's a nice exercise when we
talk about self-awareness being a
superpower really knowing who we think
we are because if we don't believe that
we are public speaker or we're a great
parent or we're a great learner or
genius then we'll never be able to reach
our full potential because that will
always be the ceiling that we bump up
against and also you know when I'm
talking to individuals and I'm
interviewing them on our podcast or just
talking to individuals like this I would
be thinking about especially High
performers because I think that Genius
Leaves Clues and I believe that it could
be replicated if you're willing to put
in the the work and the learning and the
discipline to be able to do that then I
want to know really I want to know their
beliefs I want to know what they value
because if I don't know that if I'm just
working on stepbystep hacks and
everything else it won't stick because
it's missing a huge part so I want to
model like their behaviors their values
their beliefs and also who they think
they are that allows them to do those
accomplish those amazing things in their
life and what are some of the clues that
Genius Leaves so it's interesting when
I'm talking about these levels of change
right the identity level is the who
right you know all the the five W's and
the H we learned back in school the
identity is who somebody is when we're
talking about beliefs and values that's
the why why they do what they do when
we're talking about capabilities that's
the how right that's the Habit right the
skill acquisition when we're talking the
behavior that's the what the what
they're doing right and then when we're
talking about environment that's really
the where and the when right so I'm
going to always going back if I want to
create change create a new habit create
a new level of learning for somebody I'm
addressing those different levels and if
I if I ignore one with somebody else or
myself then it's not going to stick
right because you're not going to have
that congruency where it's going to
affect where it becomes second nature
and so going back to this I think if I'm
modeling genius and Genius Leaves Clues
I'm thinking about okay where are they
and when are they doing these things so
certain people are early birds some
people are night owls so I could teach
people like I teach people how to read
one book a week I really think leaders
are readers that in order to stay
competitive in today's day and age if
somebody has Decades of experience and
they put it into a book and you can sit
down and read that in a few days
download decades into days I mean I'm
preaching to a choir for Everyone's
Watching but that that's that's a
superpower right that's a huge advantage
and so I'm thinking about but some
people when I'm telling them to practice
and I get these real adults in 30 you
know about four or five weeks
where it's permanent where they can read
300% faster with the same or better
comprehension essentially read something
in 20 minutes that takes normally takes
normal people an hour but the reason
what but you have to practice but some
people will practice at inopportune
times of the day and they won't get the
same results so part of it is a
self-awareness knowing your what they
call your chronotype when's the optimal
time to do this like for depending on
your body type there's certain times of
the day it's better to work out there's
better times a day to be able to make
love there better times a day to be able
to read to check email to ask for AR
raise so I would think about like
Geniuses found find their element their
sweet spot and they set up their
routines and their rituals throughout
the day to be able to align with their
time when they're most productive right
if they're not if they not have a lot of
energy in the morning working out is
probably not as good as sing at some
other time um so the when and the wear
and setting up your environment for
Success because all your triggers are
there that allow them so I think
Geniuses set themselves up so for
example they have their laptop but they
only use their laptop for work and it's
anchored that's part of their
environment it's anchored to get them
into flow states to be able to write or
be productive they don't use their
laptop to watch binge on Netflix right
they have a very they have an iPad that
they use when they do that because
that's the state that they want to
anchor for that and they don't use that
iPad to do work you know setting up your
environment like your bedroom like we
just did a whole episode on sleep hacks
and how to optimize your sleep cuz
that's a big you know personal challenge
for me um for many years because I had
suffered from sleep apnea it was a
breathing disorder I stopped breathing
200 times a night for at least 10
seconds which is the equivalent of
somebody coming in and choking and
suffocating you 200 times a night and so
I would the reason why I'm so adamant
about productivity and learning hacks is
because for the longest time for
literally 5 years straight and you know
this I've slept about 90 minutes to 2
hours a night total and you know how you
feel when you get like one bad nights of
of sleep and how like where your focus
is your energy level and you're I get
these horrible migraines and it's forced
me to double down in my practices you
know in terms of like I have a limit
amount of time I have to focus on the
things that really matter resources and
stuff but anyway going back to like my
bedroom is SEC space right it's I don't
do work in there I I keep it because
that's my trigger to be able to rest go
into parasympathetic space I set up my
environment so I have my blackout
curtains I'm at my grounding pad so it's
to optimize my restful sleep that I do
get so environment so Genius Leaves
Clues they set up genius environments
for themselves and then the behaviors
most people know because they're
intuitive you know these people are are
investing in themselves they're they're
investing in self-care um I always tell
people that self-love and self-care is
not selfish a lot of people you know
they're they're for their friends and
their family and their clients and
everybody else but they're not refilling
their their cup so I think that we have
to be you know grow givers meaning we
have to we grow so we have more to give
to other people so we have more impact
with other individuals so the behaviors
are reading each day and putting
together your to-do list and you're I
think having your not to-do list is so
important having being sleep deprived
for so many years you know I think a lot
of people I'm super sensitized to it but
I think one of the success rituals
people have should have is just going
through and keeping a consistent not
to-do list and I think the most
successful genius level individuals one
of the clues that they leave is their
not to-do list is bigger than their
to-do list right they don't check their
phone in the morning they don't take in
you know everything is hell yes or it's
hell no right that's their filter system
they don't you know they say no to good
so they can yes yes to great um so the
behaviors then you have the the habits
which and then you have the the beliefs
and the values and beliefs and the
values you know because I I watch this
is one of the reasons why I I watch your
show because I'm just hearing all the
time you're listening these amazing
beliefs and value from Achievers in all
every area I mean it's amazing I mean
you have W cluff there and like Mel and
you have all these amazing individuals
but you see that there's a pattern
that's there right and there's an art
and but there's a science to it there
and but there's an art to it and how
they express themselves and then I also
do believe that some of those successful
Geniuses and I say Geniuses not just I
I'm not talking about IQ right I'm
talking about an incredible you know
artist I'm talking about an athlete I'm
talking about an advocate you know in
some area um is they haven't they're
they're clear about their identity about
who they are and who they are to the to
the world and so but I know what they
what they do commit is they do the work
and they're committed to lifelong
learning and I feel like that learning I
always tell people and we've T this we
had this conversation that if knowledge
is power then learning is your
superpower and I think it's a superpower
that we all have it's just not we're not
taught like recently we had uh Quincy
Jones in our audience and I had to pull
him on stage right and I was just like I
was like I have to ask you you know we
are the world and Michael Jackson and
Oprah like you know what did you how did
you overcome these challenges that you
these problems that you had to be able
to create this you know this Legacy and
he looked at me he's like Jim he's like
I don't have any problems I'm like what
do you mean you're like you're 84 you
have no problems and she like no I have
puzzles and I was like wow like that
little shift of vocabulary changed
everything for me yeah because puzzles
are like riddles they you could you
could solve you could solve them right
there's answers for it and it was a
change of perspective and that was the
thing about growing up with superheroes
reading these comic books late at night
when I was so impressionable is for me a
superhero more than anything represents
hope do you know what I mean that one
person can make a difference and a lot
of superheroes go through a lot of
challenges right when you think about
the most popular superheroes they're all
orphans like Wonder Woman Batman
Superman Iron Man Spider-Man they all
lost their parents you know and they all
through these big challenges but through
it they they found their their Dharma
they found their mission and I find that
if someone's watching this and they
haven't found it quite yet maybe I have
a belief that that their mission and
that people's Mission their purpose and
their p is looking for them also but
most of us aren't sensitized to it you
know because it's coming in different
forms and we're not open to it as much
and so my my thing when it comes to
success rituals and high performance and
and making an impact is that we all have
that sovereignty we all have that power
and whenever we put it out there and
give it out to somebody else like we're
a thermometer right the metaphor I
always talk about it's like we're either
ther thermometers or we're thermostats
and a thermometer you think about the
functionality of it it just reflects
what the environment is giving it right
it just reflects the temperature and
stuff but a thermostat is different it
sets a a standard it sets a goal it sets
a vision and the environment changes
along with it and I feel like our
happiness our joy our level fulfillment
our success is all dependent on where we
put the locus of control and I feel like
we have more power than we realize in
these cases and it's hard because we
have to fight media we have to fight
marketing that's always telling us about
all the things that are going on in the
world but we live in an abundant
Universe right we talk about the Matrix
you know which pill people are going to
take and that determines everything and
every single morning you determine what
color pillar you're going to take I have
to say it is fascinating to watch you
deal with the Sleep issue cuz going into
it I wondered how your beliefs were
going to play right so a lot of times
the belief will kick in and when the
problem is solved relatively easily the
belief is intact and everything is right
with the
universe but dude you had to push for
years and years and years like you were
saying 400 things that you tried to
overcome that how did you stay focused
committed like how do you push the dark
times that's really my question cuz your
entire life is like yeah a story of grit
and pushing through like the darkest of
times and I would say what keeps me
going is is I have a belief that
everything can get better like that's my
selft talk when when it comes down to
what my primary belief is is I feel that
that things could get better because
otherwise if I didn't then I would just
give up right and I have too many
examples of friends and family and just
people I don't know which are just
friends of my mind that have superseded
much more difficult situations than I
have the other thing it's helped me to
do is really focus on the rituals and
the routines the habits the abilities
that really matter you know the 8020
rule because when I have a certain
amount of energy I can only do a certain
amount of things and I want I need to
get more back and I'm still doing the
job quote unquote of most you know three
or four people you know going on stage
and traveling to you know like the kind
of things that we do but it forces me to
focus on the things that's going to give
maximum return and we know and I think
we do teach the things that we need to
learn the most I think the best teachers
are the best students and I know I'm
going through this like I had surgery
recently to correct this and so my sleep
has jumped up from 90 minutes in 2 hours
to about 4 hours hours which doesn't
sound like a lot it's not perfect but
it's progress and that's my standard
like I'm just I'm never looking for
Perfection because I don't think that
the standard exists I'm just looking to
make incremental progress you know when
I wake up in the morning I have my daily
routine and it's so fine-tuned because I
think a lot of people suffer from
decision making fatigue right that and
this is very strong research saying that
you could only make a certain amount of
good decisions a day and after that is
spent you can't anymore and that's
really been fine-tuned in in the medical
field with surgeons and such in terms of
seeing their you know where they're
making their errors and stuff with with
early on in the day or later in their
days and stuff like that but we all as
entrepreneurs or as employees and
Executives or as parents we all can make
a certain amount of decisions and that's
why you know people like Mark Zuckerberg
or Tony Shay they wear the same t-shirts
and and sweatshirts all the time because
they don't want to spend you know use up
one of their decisions thinking oh what
am I going to wear today right right and
so my my goal is to streamline my my
life put the routines the first hour of
the day and the last hour of the day I
really micromanage to the point where
it's habitual I don't even have to think
about it and then because those are the
times of the day where I could really
have the most impact because later on in
the middle of the day you know team
members need this there's firefighting
this client needs that but the first
hour the last hour I really want to
control so all this really helped
develop grit and resilience you know in
my body so I could have the ability to
persevere and also I stand guard to my
brain all the time what goes in you know
I don't watch like a lot of the negative
news and all the mar I I really focus
like you I I I watch and I listen to
your your show and maybe a handful of
little things I read each day because I
need to keep it positive I want hope and
I'm looking for help I'm looking for
inspiration and also in instruction so
before I ask the last question where can
these guys find you online um the best
place is actually our podcast is quick
brain kwi K brain that's really my last
name I didn't change it to do what I did
it's my father's name my grandfather's
name but um this is a new Venture for us
we publish a couple episodes a week and
it's really every episode is less than
20 minutes um it's to be able to say
that this is these are brain hacks for
busy people who want to learn faster and
achieve more everything from read a book
a week to remember people's names to my
top 10 favorite brain foods to how to
eliminate or add new habits that's the
best place people go to quickbin
docomo download free we give them a $100
worth of brain training as as a gift or
any social media you know I love our
social media so anything at Jim quii on
Twitter Instagram or uh Facebook nice
all right what's the impact that you
want to have on the
world what is the impact I want to have
on the world so our team doesn't we're
we're small in people but we're really
big on purpose like yourself um we don't
measure it in billions of dollars but
billions of brains really light me up
you know you know billions of brains and
Minds coming online you know being their
best version of themselves that's that's
really that's really the mission is the
change for people's personal education
system and uh how people fall in love
with their brains again you know I think
that if people want greater that your
brain directly controls your
your your levels of intelligence your
level of um influence confidence with
people your level of income and also
your level of impact so we want to we
want billions of brains to come online
and create a world collectively that um
the future Generations could really um
thrive in I like it yeah brother thank
you so much for coming on the show man
amazing guys this is somebody who has a
degree of um being a tactician that you
have to see to believe to know that he
started out truly with a learning
disability and didn't just claw his way
back to normal becomes one of the most
World recognized experts in the field of
cognitive Improvement it's literally one
of the most amazing examples of grit
perseverance and a strong mission of
knowing why he's doing what he's doing
and wanting to give back and using that
desire to help other people as a way to
push through the dark times and man like
this poor guy the number of times that
he's had to redouble down come back to
his belief system and continue to push
through um when he and I first met he
was really at the beginning of his
journey of struggling with um the Sleep
problem and knowing him socially first
and then hearing the private struggle
that he was in it was a really
interesting time to ask how does this
play out is this somebody that really is
going to walk the walk and keep pushing
and do the 400 things that it takes to
actually see incremental Improvement or
is this going to be somebody that
ultimately Taps out and that belief ends
up getting choked um just by the
unrelenting nature of the problem and to
see him continue to push for years and
years and really come out the other side
and be in a position where he's able to
through the things that he believes
through his behaviors through his
identity continue to push through even
when I think the vast majority of the
world would give up is just speaks to
why he's been successful in this Arena
um for so long and at such a level it's
absolutely incredible to spend time with
you man thank you so much for coming on
guys check him out you won't regret it
and if you haven't already be sure to
subscribe and until next time my friends
be
legendary hey everybody thanks so much
for joining us for another episode of
impact theory if this content is adding
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time be legendary my friends
[Music]