Limitless: How Will Smith and the X-Men Got That Way – Jim Kwik Tells Dave Asprey : 695

Bulletproof Radio, a state of high performance.

You're listening to Bulletproof Radio with Dave Asprey. Today's guest is someone, if you've listened to the show before, you might know who he is. And if you're in Hollywood or something, you might know who he is. But let me tell you a quote about this guy. This is a quote. Jim Kwik knows how to get the maximum out of me as a human being. You know who said that? Will Smith. So this is a guy who for 28 years has been the primary cognitive performance and brain trainer for huge, huge people in Hollywood. I mean, if you look on his Twitter profile or heck, I launched my first big book at his home in Hollywood and there were these giant statues of all the X Men figures and his pictures with Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart. But you see him and he's sort of this unassuming guy and you'd be like, who the hell is this guy? Well, Jim Kwik is a good friend and he has taught many of the Fortune 500 CEOs how to suck in the information the way they have to do it. People who are at the extreme levels of performance, the very top people in Hollywood. And after 28 years of doing this with a fascinating story, he finally said, I guess I should write a book. I talked to 200,000 people a year in live things about how to make them read faster and remember things and do things that literally normal people say are impossible. He said I should write a book about it. And you guys have already heard me talk about how the highest ROI you can get from someone is to read a high quality book that you write because you get at least 2,000 hours of a person's brain stuffed into just the most important, pared down, distilled knowledge stuff to do a few hours of reading. Well, Jim's been absorbing information at 20 times faster than most humans because he teaches speed reading and he distilled this. So he's writing a new book called Limitless, his first and only book after this. 28 years of working with these incredible badasses, and we're gonna get to pick his brain on the show today. Jim, welcome to Bulletproof Radio. I think for your second time, maybe your third.

Dave, thanks for having me. And thank you, everyone who's joining us.

We have a lot of new listeners. Bulletproof Radio is growing. So I'm going to talk just real briefly about, other than what I just shared, what happened very early on. In fact, I want you to talk about it. How did you start this this very idea back when you were in college when you had a brain injury. Just walk us through in one minute how you got to where you are, and then we're going to go deep on how to do it.

All right, so the quick story of it, quote, unquote, my last name really is quick. I didn't change it.

You didn't change it? Okay.

I was gonna. No, it's my father's name. It's my grandfather's name. It's. So I found my. Found my mission. When people see me at your events that you host, and I give those. One of the keynotes, I do these memory demonstrations that I'm known for. While I have 50 people Come on, you know, stand up, or a lot of people come on stage and I'll memorize all their names as they introduce themselves. Or people give me 100 words or 100 numbers, I recite them forwards and backwards. But I always tell people, I don't do this to impress you. I do this to express to you what's possible. Because the truth is, everyone listening can do that and a lot more. And then you're probably thinking, that's total bs, But I'm going to show you why that's not. That's not the case. And I know it's possible because I grew up with learning difficulties. When I was five years old, I had a very bad accident in elementary school. Head trauma brain injury, and I was a slow processor after that. When I was five years old, I had a very bad accident in elementary school. Head trauma brain injury, and I was a slow processor after that. I had very poor focus, poor memory. It took me an extra three years to learn how to read. Teachers would have to repeat themselves over and over again. And I eventually learned how to game it and say I understood, but I didn't really understand. When I was nine years old, I was slowing the whole class down. And I remember I was being made fun of, and a teacher pointed to me and said, that's the boy with the broken brain. And that label became my limit. And we're going to be talking about limitless. And three forces that really unlock help you to be able to do things that you don't believe are possible. But that put me in a box. And as somebody's listening to this right now, they might feel like they're not making progress in an area of their life. And I'm going to explain why and explain exactly how to go through a process I call unlimiting the act of removal of limits in our Life. And so when I was in college, I hit a wall where I was just studying all the time, you know, three times harder than everybody else. I was just wasting away. And I wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping, I wasn't working out. Ended up passing out one night in the library late at night. Fell down a flight of stairs, again, hit my head. I woke up two days later in the hospital, and at this point, I was down to 117 pounds. I mean, I was dying. I thought I did die. And maybe part of me thought, wished I did. And at that point, when I woke up, I thought, there has to be a better way. And the nurse came in with a mug of tea, and on it was a picture of Albert Einstein. Pretty smart dude. And it said this quote, the same level of thinking that's created your problem won't solve your problem. And made me ask him your question, what's my problem? I'm a really slow learner. I was like, well, how do I think differently about it? Well, maybe I could learn how to learn. And I asked the nurse for a course bulletin for next semester's classes. Flipped through all these pages, hundreds of pages, a couple hundred pages, and they're all classes on what to learn. Math, history, science, Spanish. There were zero classes on how to learn. So I realized that school teaches you what to learn, what to think, what to focus on, what to read, what to remember, what to study, but not how to do any of those things. And so I really focused on those subject matters. And about 60 days into studying multiple intelligence theory, adult learning, ancient mnemonics, speed reading, a light switch flipped on, and I just started to just understand things. My focus, concentration became, like, bulletproof, you know, my memory. And I. And I couldn't help but help other people. And my very first student got me on this path. She read 30 books in 30 days. I swear to you, like the din skimmer, scan Reddit. And I wanted to find out what her motivation was. And I found out her mother was dying of terminal cancer. And the book she was reading were books to save her mom's life. And I wished her luck, you know, for two months, you know, six months goes by, I don't hear from this young lady. And then I get a call, and she's crying, crying, crying. And I find out when she stops her tears of joy that her mother not only survived, but it's really getting better. Doctors don't know how, they don't know why. They called it a miracle, but her mother attributed 100% to the great advice she got from her daughter, who learned it from all these books. And in that moment, I realized that if knowledge is power, then learning is our superpower. And it's a superpower we all have access to. And I think it is the number one capability to cultivate today. Because if. If there was a genie could grant you any one wish, you would ask for limitless wishes. Now, if I was your learning genie, I could help grant any one learning wish, any subject, any one skill. What would be the equivalent of asking for limitless wishes? It would be learning how to learn. Because if you can learn how to learn, you can apply that towards everything. You could grant all your own learning wishes. It doesn't matter if it's money, martial arts, Mandarin, music, management, marketing, Everything gets easier. Especially today, where the faster you can learn, the faster you can earn. And I dedicated my life. 28. Almost three decades later, I've been doing it. That's all I've been doing is just.

Teaching people how to do it. And you did it because I kind of like me, I kept with autoimmunity weighing 300 pounds. If I can lose 100 pounds and keep it off for a while, it's probably easier for you. But I had to learn to do it because the normal stuff didn't work. And I think this might be why we're good friends. You have the same thing. Like, my brain is jacked. It's not working and I'm failing. And how do I turn that around? So that enlightened self interest motivates you, and suddenly you find that you can think about it differently. How did you get into, I mean, Hollywood and the CEO row for the highest levels of power. That in and of itself is different from learning how to learn. And it also maybe speaks to your mindset. I've never actually asked you. How did you just. You don't just call up the X Men guys and say, hey, yeah, I.

Think that they are. The commonality between all of these top performers is they subscribe to lifelong learning. Commonality between, you know, all of these top performers is they subscribe to lifelong learning. They have a certain level of mindset and dedication and discipline to personal growth. And so how the X Men actually happened was so one day I get a call from the chairman of 20th Century Fox, and he had seen me speak at an event and. And he brings me in, I fly out, and I spend a day, a Friday, with him and his executive team. And it was honestly my best training I did to date. Because walking to that Boardroom. I got to see all these movie posters of Star wars and Avatar, and it just put me in that playful state because I believe the limitless resource we have on planet Earth is human potential. There is no limit to our creativity. There is no limit to our imagination. There's no limit to human determination, our ability to solve problems. And. And I was in that playful state, and I gave my best training. And afterwards, the chairman gives me, says, this was amazing. Best training we've ever done for our team. And he gives me an actual walking tour of the lot. I've never been on a studio lot before. And I saw this movie poster of Wolverine, right? Hugh Jackman, and I said this comment, I said, I can't wait for that to come out, because it wasn't going to come out for a few months. And he picks up his phone and five minutes later, I. I'm sitting in the theater, his theater, wearing 3D glasses, watching Hugh Jackman fight all these super ninjas, right? And it was like the best Friday late afternoon ever. And he picks me up afterwards. He was like, how was the movie? And I was like, this was amazing. You don't know this, but I grew up with learning challenges, and I couldn't read. I taught myself how to read by reading comic books late at night. My favorite comic books were Wolverine and the X Men. And I told him that, you don't know this, but when I was. I found out in the comic books that the X Men School for the Gifted. Right, right. Professor Xavier, Professor X's school where he trained all these superheroes was in Westchester, New York, right outside of New York City. And that's where I lived. And when I was nine years old, I used to ride my bicycle around my neighborhood trying to find that school because I didn't fit in. Right. When I was nine, teacher pointed to me, said, that's the boy with the broken brain. That became my label again. And so I thought I was, you know, I wanted to find my superpowers and find my super friends. And I'm telling this to the chairman. He's like, jim, I didn't know you like superheroes. He was like, you want to go on set? I was like, what do you mean? He's like, we have another 30 days of filming the new X Men movie in Montreal. How would you like to go? And I was like, ah, that would be amazing, but what can I do for you? He was like, do what you did for us. Teach them how to speed, read their scripts, how to remember their lines faster, how to be focused and have concentration when they're on camera. I was like, I could totally do that. And the next morning, I get on a plane, they call it the xjet. And I step on the plane and the entire cast of X Men is on the plane and heading from LA to Montreal. I got to share these tools to be able to upgrade people's minds, to be able to learn faster. And when we land the next day, the very first scene took place in the X Men school. This place that I've been looking for my whole life.

It's like a spiritual calling for you, kind of.

Wow. It was insane. And then I was, it's like I was like a 9 year old watching my heroes come to life right in front of me. And I got to spend the week with them. And fast forward, I go home and there's a package waiting for me and I tear it open. It's about the size of a television. I tear it open and it's this frame photograph of me and the entire cast of X Men. People could see it on my Twitter profile, my, my, my Facebook cover photo. It'll always be there. And, and, but even it's like Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Holly Berry, Patrick Stewart, you know, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender. I mean, it is.

You help them all learn how to read faster. Even though they all are good readers, obviously.

They're all so amazingly, they trained. But when I was looking at that photograph, even better than that photo that people could see on my social media, is a note from the chairman. It said this, Jim, thank you so much for sharing your superpowers with all of us. I know since you were a little boy, you've been searching for your superhero school. Here's your class photograph, man. And I'm an awesome guy. Yes. So it really, it blew my mind and it, you know, I came full circle and it's me because I felt limited my whole childhood, you know, where I had to work harder than everybody else. And it became my inner talk every time I did badly on a test or a quiz or wasn't picked for sports, which was like all the time, I would always say, because I had the broken brain. And I believe that we all, most all of our limits are learned that and it came through a process of experience and environment. Other people's expectation put us in a box. So I've dedicated my life for the past almost three decades to show people how to unlimit themselves on how to the boy with the Broken Brain. I want to build better Brighter brains, no brain left behind. That's our mission.

That's a powerful story. Actually. You never told me that thing, even over dinner. So that's incredible. But it speaks to just who you are, kind of how you show up. And you're very humble about it. And all the times I've talked to you, I'm like, wait, you actually trained that CEO and you did this? And you're like, yeah, because it, I think, becomes normal for you. But for most people listening to the show, it's a pretty big deal to be able to have the scope and breadth of things. And the typical thing you're teaching them is not just speed reading, but more like that quote from Will Smith about how to get more to yourself, that limitless nature. And that's why you came up with the word unlimiting for your book. What is unlimiting? The way you're defining it in the book. Because I think I almost wish that was the title instead of Limitless. Although I understand why you chose Limitless.

You've seen the movie Limitless, obviously.

I'm pretty well known for her early use of Modafinil, which people call the limitless drug. So, yeah, definitely, yeah.

So everybody knows that it was Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro and he goes from zero to hero. So I don't have the pill, but I have the, the process for, you know, Bradley Cooper is able to learn languages, be able to read faster. He had this incredible memory. He had incredible focus, determination and drive and. But I figured out the processes for those things and I put them in the book. The process of unlimiting is the active removal of barriers and borders around the things that we want to accomplish. And again, Limitless is not about being perfect. It's about progressing and advancing beyond what we believe is possible. And I created a three part framework, framework that it's easy to understand and very, very practical, where people could see themselves in there and be able to take immediate action. And so when I talk about this, about being limitless, there's a, there's a quote I open the book with from a French philosopher that says, life is the C between B and D. Life is the C between B and D. And people are thinking I'm speaking in tongues or code. B is birthday, D is death, C, Life is choice. And I really do believe that our life is a series of sum total of all the choices we've made up to this point about little things like, you know, that add up to big things like what you're going to put in your body, you know what you're going to feed your body, what you're going to feed your mind. You know, whether you're going to move today or not, where you're going to live, you know, who you're going to spend time with, who you're going to marry. Like, all these choices, right? Where are we going to go to school? All those choices. And I do believe that that is the ultimate superpower, is our ability to make decisions, is these difficult times that we're in right now, these difficult times can diminish us, these difficult times can define us, or these difficult times can develop us. We decide, right? And so Limitless is about getting our power back. And that's why we had the option of moving this book in the future, post everything that's going on in the world. And I was like, no way. This book, while it's a manual on speed reading, learning languages rapidly, learning names and TED talks and all that stuff, it's, it's right now, it's about managing your mind. It's about optimizing your focus and your productivity while you're working from home. It's about supporting your kids while school is being closed down. It's about learning new skills and subjects since businesses are being disrupted and whole industries are going out of business. And so the reason I wrote this book, initially, it was a book completely about methodology. It was the things you and I have talked about before on previous episodes on how to do those things. The speed reading, the language learning and the making good decisions, all of those. And yet I asked myself, before I turned it into the publisher, I asked myself this question, will 100% of the people get the results if they read this book? And my honest answer was no. Because a lot of people know what to do, but they don't do what they know. And that's the thing. I remember I was doing a talk in, in Silicon Valley and afterwards Bill Gates comes up to me and interesting guy. And I have this habit of asking people if they could have any one superpower, what would it be? And he looks at me, he's like, the ability to read faster. And I'm like, oh, I could totally help you with that. Because leaders are readers, right? You mentioned that if someone has decades of experience like you do, and you put into a book or many books, which I have on my shelf behind me, you get. Somebody could download decades into days. And that's the biggest advantage somebody could have because you don't have to waste time, right? You can learn from other People's experience. And we start talking about the future of education. And I talk about it from a meta learning standpoint. Meta learning is the science of learning how to learn. That's really what this book is. And he talks about it from a technology standpoint. And a whole crowd, I post this on Instagram, start gathering around us, surrounding us, and somebody asks, is there anything missing? You have the theory and you have the technology. And we both came to the same conclusion. It's human motivation. A lot of people know what to do, but they're not doing those things. They're procrastinating because common sense is not common practice. People that listen to your show, they read your books, they know what they should be doing, but why aren't they doing it? I realized that there were two elements besides methodology that were missing in terms of performance. And I added them in and I created something I call the limitless model. And it's a three part framework that I could explain to everybody right now, and it will explain why you are stuck. All right, so what I would recommend everybody do is grab a piece of paper right now because we can make this interactive.

I was going to give the normal warning that says, oh, if you're commuting or driving right now, don't do that. But I don't have to because we're in the middle of a pandemic. No one's driving or commuting. And by the way, there'll be a transcript if they need it to.

Good, good, good. So. So I want everyone to picture three intersecting circles. And it kind of looks like Mickey Mouse. You have two ears that are overlapping and one face. So a Venn diagram. Venn diagram. Three intersecting circles. They. They all overlap a little bit. And these are exactly. Yes. For people watching this on video, you have, you have the three circles, the Venn diagram. And these are. I want you to think about an area of your life where you feel limited. I want you to think about specifically an area of your life where you're not making progress. It could be in your career, it could be in your income, it could be in your impact, your contribution. It could be in your relationships. It could be in your physical well being. What area of your life? It could be in your learning. Right. You feel like you're not making progress. You can't. Your memory's not making progress, your reading speed, your focus, it's. Something is keeping you feel like you're in a box. All right, so think about one area of your life and I'll walk you through this exercise. Now, this box is three dimensional. So there are three forces that keep you in that box, and these are the three circles because these are the same three forces that will liberate you from that box. All right? And the reason why I do this is because you can't change something that's invisible, right? If you don't give it a name, you can't be able to. You can't influence it if you don't know, if it doesn't exist. So here are the three forces. The first circle is. Is your mindset three M's. I alliterate everything because I use acronyms for everything. I use mnemonics for everything to make it very memorable. Three M's. The first M is your mindset. Now I'm going to define mindset as your assumptions and attitudes towards something. Your assumptions and attitudes towards the world, how it works, attitudes, assumptions about yourself. What would fall in this circle that'd be very relevant are what you believe is possible. Also in this circle, what you believe you are capable of. Because you could believe something is possible and you could believe, you could not believe that you're capable of achieving that, right? But somebody else could. So what you believe is possible, what you believe you're capable of, and what you believe you deserve would go in there also. So that's the first M. That's your mindset. Now, the last M as a spoiler I mentioned are the methods, right? And this book was primarily a textbook on how to unlock the most important technology, which is your brain. Yet without. If, if I teach you, if I teach you a strategy for learning a language faster or remembering walking into a room and meeting 20 strangers, remembering all their names. But your mindset says, I'm too old, I'm too stupid, I'm not smart enough, I have a horrible memory, then you're still going to be stuck in that box, right? Because all behavior is belief driven. Yeah. People come to me all the time at conferences. They pull me out in private and they're like, jim, I have a horrible memory. Let me tell you. And I'm like, wait, wait, stop. If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them. If you fight for your limits, they're yours. And people are always doing that. And I'm telling, your brain is like a supercomputer and your self talk is the 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 your mind is always eavesdropping on your self talk. And so that's part of mindset, right? And that's why it's important, because you can learn the method, but you can believe it's not possible or you might believe you're not capable of it, or you might not believe you deserve that relationship or deserve that body or deserve that income, right? And so you go through a process of unlimiting those lies. And in the book I point out 7 globally mass accepted lies around learning and intelligence and potential.

Go through the seven when we're done with the circle. That was my next question. You read my mind. That's one of your skills too, the Professor X thing.

So some of its lies. A lie for me is a limited idea entertained. So a lie is a limited idea entertained. It's not necessarily the truth that you're stupid or you're too old or you're not capable of it, but it's an idea that you're giving energy and power to. Right? It's complete BS Belief systems, right? And we know all behavior is belief driven. And so if you believe one of the mass lies, like let's say that genius is born, that genius is just born, like that's going to affect whether or not you feel like you can make progress because oh, that person is born with the ability to do music or make money or have incredible memory or not. Actually, can I read something? I've never, I've never done this on a podcast before. Can I read? And there's no audiobook available for this book right now, so this would be the first. I just want to just do one. One, one quick paragraph on this. This is a story I put in the book. A king was watching a great magician perform his act. The crowd was enthralled and so was the king. At the end, the audience roared with approval. And the king said, what a gift this man has. A God given talents. But a wise counselor said to the king, my lord, genius is built, not born. The magician's skill is the result of discipline and practice. These talents have been learned and honed over time with determination and discipline. The king was troubled by this message. The counselor's challenge had spoiled his pleasure in the magician's arts. Limited and spiteful man, how dare you criticize a true genius. As I said, you either have it or you don't. And you most certainly don't. The king turned to his bodyguard and said, throw this man into the deepest dungeon. And he added, for the counselor's benefit. So you Won't be lonely. You can have two of your kind that keep you company. You shall have two piglets as cellmates. From the very first day of his imprisonment, the wise counselor practiced running up the steps of his cell to the prison door, carrying in each hand a piglet. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, the piglets steadily grew into sturdy boars. And with every day of practice, the wise counselor increased his power and strength. One day, the king remembered the wise counselor and was curious to see how imprisonment had humbled him. He had the wise counselor summoned. When the prisoner appeared, he was a man of powerful physique, carrying a boar on each arm. The king exclaimed, what a gift this man has. A God given talent. The wise counselor replied, my lord, genius is built, not born. My skill is the result of discipline and practice. These talents have been learned and honed over time with determination and discipline. So the idea behind the chapter section there, so it's actually three books in one. We have a whole book or section on mindset. And in the area of mindset, I talk about really, truly what beliefs are and some of the overwhelmingly popular beliefs that we subscribe to the lies limited idea entertain. One of them is genius is born. And then I actually explain the science. And then I teach them a new weird install a new belief that genius is built. So for example, another one would be something like intelligence is fixed. Like you take a test when you're seven and that's your score or your potential when you're 77. And we know that IQ, that standardized test like an SAT measuring your reading and verbal and your mathematical. We know two things that it could be increased. You can increase your ability in both those areas. And there's not just two forms of genius or intelligence. You know, there is kinesthetic intelligence. People are amazing with their bodies. You know, dancers, martial artists, athletes. There is interpersonal intelligence. People are great with people. There is visual spatial intelligence for people who are great graphic artists and they're great architects. So we go through these myths and we really, this section is really about, or the book is really about transcending. I mean it's kind of cliche, but it's true, transcendental. Ending the trance, ending this massive gnosis that we get through marketing or through media, that we're, that we're not enough, you know, that we need to be fixed. And these things that we buy into. And I talk about the, the lies, like we use 10% of our brain or 20% of our brain. That's very popular in movies that we watch, you know, or television shows. But it's simply not true that we use 100% of our brain like we use 100 of our body. It's just some people, if they had to climb and hike up a large hill, there's. They're really good shape, they have good form. So it's effortless, there's an ease because they're very efficient, they're very fit. And somebody else could use all their body, but they might not be, it might not be that easy. And so some people, what I want to talk about, you know, when I'm talking about people talk about physical fitness, is mental fitness getting people brain fit. Just like how you want your physical muscles to be stronger, more agile, more. More flexible, more energized. You want your mental muscles to be stronger, more pliable, more, have greater endurance, more, more. More energized also as well. But that, that circle is your mindset. And so that's where we're dispelling lies.

And Jim, I read a new study. I would actually. I should have sent it to you, but I didn't. This just came out a week ago and it was about the effect of doing memory training, like the Asian, the ancients, the kind that you teach on the wiring and interconnectivity of the brain. Did you come across this?

No. I would love to see that.

I'll find it for you. In fact, I'll put it in the show notes. But they literally said 30 days of memory training. I'm like, oh my God, Jim has to have already seen this. I just figured it would have to be obvious. It would be like the top of your algorithmic feeds because they said it pretty much didn't say permanent, but creates long term changes in the connectome of the brain. And they actually quantified it with FMRI and eeg. So what you're saying there is very much true. It's the training of the mind. Now we can prove the statement you just said. And this is data that came out after your book went to press, but before it was published. So you were right.

Amazing. Yeah. The biggest chapter in the book is the chapter on memory. I actually wrote it in Greece because when I was doing studies about how the, you know, what did the people use before? How did they remember things before? Things like the printing press or external memory storage devices. And I found out the goddess of memory, there's actually a Greek goddess of memory. She has nine children and those are the nine muses.

Did you forget her name?

But the Nine children are the muses of art, literature and science. And it's interesting that our literature, science, the most mother is memory. And so I wrote that chapter there and it's the largest, it's actually the largest chapter, but I wanted to imbue it with it. Just put me in that space. But when we're talking about memory, we publish 28 years. We publish programs in 195 countries. So we have memory students in every country on the planet. And our programs are 30 days. And so we do every single day. Our speed reading, our focus program, our memory program, our student success program, critical thinking program. But it definitely has been our experience. You know, we have a lot of data. So going back to this formula, this is the limitless model. And so the first circle is your mindset. And I think we've established why it's important to be able to monitor that. Because all behavior is belief driven. If you don't believe it's possible, if you don't believe that you're capable of it, if you don't believe you even deserve it, the methods are only going to have not, they're not going to have its full potent effects. Now that's not it. Because you could have the mindset and have the methods, but you're lacking the second m which is your motivation.

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Now just when I say the word motivation, we know words affect your brain and we make assumptions around words because our experience has been motivation is going to an event and jumping up and down and getting really excited. I'm going to change this, this and this in my life. And the next morning it's gone. Just like that pill that expires after 24 hours. You have a surge of motivation, but then it disappears. Much like a warm bath. You have to keep on heating it up. And I've discovered a formula for sustainable motivation. And it's this. P times e times s3. P times e times s3. Now this is the evidence. Let's back up here. The evidence that somebody is motivated is not what they say. It's not how they feel. It's if they're doing that thing right, somebody's not truly motivated unless they're consistently taking action on something. And so let's do a thought experiment. Let's say we have. We are going to build the ultimate motivated human being, right? The ultimate motivated human being. What are the elements that make up that where that just their motivation never falters. I would say the first thing is P, which stands for purpose. You know, I realize that people who are motivated when I started to study clients that get up at 4 o' clock in the morning and they work out. And I asked, I asked one of them, I was like, do you, do you enjoy waking up this early? And they're like, absolutely not. I'm not a morning person. I was like, okay, what do you enjoy working out? Then that's why you get up, because you enjoy that. You're like, no, it's the thing I hate the most. I'm like, well, this is really weird because some people associate, they think that if they're motivated, they have to enjoy that thing. And it's not true. You need a reason to do it though. And so the reason is your purpose. And I'm not talking about your life purpose, although I address that in the book. I mean, having a reason to exercise, having a reason to read, having a reason to meditate, having a reason to eat certain foods. Like, for example, I take cold showers every single morning. I haven't missed it in seven years. I met Wim Hof seven years ago.

Come on, Jim, we're in a pandemic. You're still showering every day.

I still, it's just part of my routine. And I hate the cold. You know, on Instagram I'll do my four minute all ice baths. And people who see, like, I hate the. I grew up in the Northeast, I despise the cold, but I've never missed a day because I'm so clear on the reason, you know, And I believe reasons reap results. And so I, you know, for me, I feel amazing afterwards. And I. And so here's the thing. How do you feel the purpose? You can't just cognitively know the reasons, because a lot of people know why they should be exercising or eating a certain way or doing whatever, but they don't feel it. And so you have to allow yourself to feel the rewards and also the consequences or the pain or the uncomfort of not doing that thing and following through. Right. One of the people that endorsed the book, Besides, you know, Mr. Will Smith on the COVID you mentioned, is Simon Sinek, you know, and he wrote that book. Start with why. And so I believe things could stay in your head, but if you're not acting with your hands, you're procrastinating, you're putting things off. Check in with the second H, which is your heart, which are the emotions. Because we're not logical, right?

Yeah. Thank you for saying that.

We are biological. You think about dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, but we move. So you have to Allow yourself to have purpose and feel that purpose of doing, doing it, the rewards. And maybe if you can't get yourself to feel it, maybe you shouldn't be doing that in the first place. So you might want to question, you know, that, you know, whether if you feel not motivated to do certain things in certain activities, maybe, maybe you shouldn't be doing it. So you could analyze it that way. Now I pull back and I said, okay, we're designing the ultimate motivated human being. If the person has. Has deep purpose for doing that activity, is there any situation where they will not follow through and be motivated? I said, yes. If they're missing the E. And the E stands for energy. And this is like you are Mr. Energy, right? If somebody. Let's. Let's make it really, really simple. If somebody is not working out, exercising consistently, or let's say they're consistent about it, but one day, you know, maybe three days, three nights in a row, they didn't sleep well because they have a newborn or they're so stressed out, what's going on in the world. They have so much anxiety and they're on their phone and they have this news feed and they just see all the. And it keeps them up at night. They're not getting very motivated to work out if they haven't slept in a couple nights, right? If somebody, let's say they want to read 30 minutes a day. That's their thing. They want to be motivated. They don't. Leaders or readers, the faster they can learn, the faster they could earn. Knowledge is only power, it's profit. And you want to be an expert in my field? Yes. You have the reasons, you feel the benefits. But let's say you ate like a really crappy meal and you're in like a food coma. You're not going to be very motivated to follow through, to study, or to read.

Jim, what is X? I think I might know. And I'm going to tell you a story about equations when we're done.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's. So the formula is P times E, purpose times energy times S3 and S3. You want to do it over?

No, just S instead of X. I misheard it before, but it's times S. What's S?

So the formula again is P times E times S3 and S3 stands for small simple step. Because I realized that, okay, let somebody has massive purpose and they have loads of energy. They do everything that they read in Superhuman, right. Or in Bulletproof. They do everything right for the mitochondria. They have full energy. Are they always going to act and be motivated? And I said no. One more exception. If they feel that thing is too big or too intimidating or it's too not clear. It's confusing, right? Like they want the perfect body. They want to meet their soulmate and live happily ever after. They want to create the next billion dollar on that's way too big. So S3 stands for small simple step. And the question you ask in order to find that is simple question. What is the tiniest action I could take that gives me progress towards this goal? It's so tiny. I cannot fail because it requires very little effort and very little energy. Our mutual friend, Dr. B.J. fogg. It's like those tiny little habits. It's like you don't work out. Put on your running shoes or if you're not have to read 45 minutes a day. A small simple step. Open the book, read one line because you're not going to stop at one line. Like you're not going to stop at one tooth. Lost one tooth. You're going to go to the second, third. So you make it very doable. And that's the key to human motivation. And finally the last M are the methods now. And that's what we teach in the book, right? It's half the book. Are the accelerated learning methods in five specific categories that I feel like are real life superpowers for focus and concentration. Study technical information. How to study memory, which is a large chapter. Again, speed reading. And not just speed reading, but smart reading for comprehension and then finally critical thinking skills. Because the goal is to get over those five superpowers will help you to overcome the four super villains that we've talked about. You and I before I opened the book with the four super villains that hold us back. Digital deluge. Too much information, not enough time. Like taking a sip of water out of fire hose. That's why we teach speed reading and study so you can get through it faster. And then digital distraction, right? Ring pings, dings, you know, like share. It's just dopamine floods. Goes along the motivation learning centers. It makes it whatever we're doing repeatedly we're getting better at. And so if you're just distracting yourself all the time, those distraction muscles are very flexed. And so that's why we teach focus and concentration. And then digital. Besides digital deluge and digital distraction, you have digital dementia. And this is this new term in healthcare where we're outsourcing our brains to our smart devices and we don't have to keep that stuff in our head. And I don't want to memorize 200 numbers, but we've lost the ability to remember one number or one conversation or something we're going to say or a meeting or someone's name or, you know, some, any of that stuff. It causes challenge. And that's why we teach memory. And then finally, this is a new one. I introduced a new concept in the book called digital deduction. Because everything has to be deep, right? Digital deluge, digital distraction, digital dementia, digital deduction. Did you know that kids that are being tested for their analytical ability that it's lower now than before and they're placing the blame on our technology where sometimes we're using technology to do the thinking for us. Oh yeah, we don't have, we don't have to develop critical thinking skills, divergent thinking, reasoning, analytical abilities, and we just, you know, even whether it's fake news or anything, we just, we just take in stuff and we don't even just like look at it through, through, through a rational lens. So though, and that's why we teach the fifth superpower, which is all about quick thinking, you know, decision making models, mental models, physical frameworks for making good decisions for solving problems, exponential thinking. As you've, you've talked with, you know, mutual friends like Peter Diamandis and Naveen Jane and. But those are the five superpowers. Now, going back to the model, and here's the, here's the. Aha. You have the three circles, Mindset, motivation, and methods. Now where the cross over, there are three eyes. Where mindset crosses over with motivation, you have inspiration. Now this is a definition, meaning that there are books on mindset, the great book called Mindset by Carol Dweck, right? They're mindset experts, they're motivational books, they're motivational speakers. Where they cross over, you have the first I, which is inspiration. And there are inspirational speakers, there are inspirational books, there are inspirational movies, right? An inspirational movie will touch on their mindset, make you believe something is possible and it'll give you a little energy and motivation, but you're lacking the methods. So you're inspired, but you don't know what to do. Where mindset crosses over with methods, you believe it's possible in your mind and you know the methods in your head, that just stays an idea. So that's ideation. Ideation because you lack the motivation to do anything with it. And then finally the third eye, where motivation crosses over with methods, you have implementation, you're motivated and you know the Methods to do so, that's implementation. Yet you're still stuck in that box because you're only going to be able to achieve what you believe is possible, what you believe that you're capable of, what you believe you deserve. Now where all three I's and three M's collide right dead in the middle, that's the fourth I. That's integration. Integration, like integer or integral, it means you're whole and that's the limitless state. So people on watching on video, I don't know, this is a, this is the graph in the book, but it's basically three circles intersecting. And this is a framework not only for accelerated learning, that's how I apply it. But when we feel stuck, you could go into another perceptual position and say, okay, instead of me judging myself, where is my limit here? Is it in my mindset? Do I not believe it's possible? Do I not believe I'm capable of it? Do I not believe I deserve it? Is it in my motivation? Am I not feeling the rewards or the consequences? Am I, do I, am I low on energy? Because most people don't have the energy that they're not prioritizing their sleep, they're not taking things, so they're not optimizing their physiology. Or maybe it's, they're not breaking it down into small simple steps. Or maybe they're using a method for whatever that goal is. An old antiquated marketing method or investing method or a health or wellness method. Maybe it hasn't. In my case, I talk about all the bad habits and methods we learned back in school. The rote repetition, the sub vocalization, the regression, all these bad habits, methods that we learn and really what the conversation is about in these times. Don't downgrade your dreams to meet this current situation. Upgrade your mindset, your motivation and your methods to be able to meet those goals, Those dreams, those KPIs, your whatever, right? And that would be the goal.

It's a powerful model and you're a really good teacher because you've done it for a long time. A lot of people will ask Dave, how do you do the stuff you do? And saying, you got to understand. I spent five years teaching at the University of California, three or four nights a week taking complex tech and putting it into similar diagrams because how else do you take this amazing world? But you in your case have had a couple decades of thinking about how to structure this. And I love the equation in Limitless because as I was pondering for years, this how do I write what became the Bulletproof Diet? And I have in my notes, somewhere there you have like hundreds to thousands of pages of notes and emails and stuff all over. But I worked on this equation on a flight coming back from London and it was a very similar one. Like, what are the things that go into, you know, having this additional power to show up in the world, right? And it's like, like you're talking about you have to have a purpose for doing it. You have to have the amount of energy and you have to have. In the model that I was using was you have to have the, the technical skills, like the actual. The, the training or the experience, right? And you can get more experience by reading, you get more experience by apprenticing, right? But it's not reasonable to just show up and say, I've got the ability to do it, because that's actually called arrogance. So you somehow download the skills and whether you can be, I need guns, lots of guns in the Neo voice or some other way, that takes a little bit more work. You're working on that. I need guns, lots of guns. Give it to me now. Side of things which short circuits or shortcuts, the amount of time it takes to get that. So then you have your purpose, you have your energy, which has been a big focus for me because I didn't have that energy when I was fat and my brain didn't work. But the way you're thinking about, okay, this and this and this combine, it makes it very teachable and very understandable in the book. And then having the master map diagram, every course I ever taught after I learned how to be a good teacher, it took me two years of not being a good teacher. There is a, a capstone picture for every course, and you've got it in Limitless. So I think this is a really deep book and like you said, 28 years to decide to write it. I think you truly nailed it and this is a worthy book, that it will end up on people's bookshelves next to books from other masters of things like this, like Carol Dweck's book on motivation, things like that, because you've put it together in a way that just shows you've been pondering this for maybe too long. So thank you for the book. I found value in it and I like to think I'm no slouch in this space. So thank you.

No, I appreciate that very much. David. This is the reason why, again, it's not going to be the most bought book. Clearly, when I'm looking at this list just five minutes before you start recording. But I want it to be the most read book. And to that end, I believe that this book, you watch Lord of the Rings or read Lord of the Rings by chance, it's the one ring that rules them all.

I want the one book that rules them all.

No, no, no, not rules. But, but, but, but the one book to learn them all. Because in this, in this book, this is why in this book there's a whole chapter on how to read this book or any book, how to read this or any book. And literally I feel like most people buying a book is a different skill set than reading a book. And some people are really good at buying books, but they're not good at reading it. And if you're not good at it, you're not going to do it. And most people aren't good readers and that's why they don't do it. So that's understandable. So when they go to limitlessbook.com, i give them a 10 day audio video summary of Limitless, which includes reversing this negative talk, which includes optimizing or you're unleashing your motivation and includes days on speed, reading, memory, everything. So they're prime when the book shows up so they could have more, more skill set to be able to read it. And then I gift them after everybody gets their book next month everyone has their books, they're shipping, everyone has their books now, but in a couple of weeks I'm going to do a book club. And since they're, see, I outlined the book like the Hero's Journey, literally, you know, Joseph Campbell's work. And I literally, I walk them through the whole hero's journey and of going from the ordinary, the extraordinary, making decision trials and everything. But there's four main sections of it and I do one week per section, a book club, free. And so I teach them. We spend one week on each section. I show them how to read it, how to remember it and how to apply it. And it's all like gifted. Because I just want this to be the red book. I want this to be the one book to help them read them all. And also I'm giving 100% of the proceeds to charity. 100% of the proceeds go to Pencils of promise because for 10 years I built schools everywhere from different organizations from Guatemala to Kenya. And it provides not only education and schools for young girls and boys, but also healthcare and clean water and Alzheimer's research. So that's like, that's all of it. This is. Then people can go to limitlessbook.com and they can learn it there. And then that's the place.

So you guys have to understand something about Jim. He is one of the most humble guys that I know. And there's like covering his face right now. The first time I met Jim was years ago, I think like eight years ago or something. We sat down at dinner at this event. Our friend who's been on the show, Michael Fishman, put on and like, who is this guy? And JJ Virgin's there and I'm just making new friends and we just have this amazing talk. And I'm just mesmerized because he tells me a story and Hillary just kind of sits there and it just projects like none of this. It's not about him. It's about helping. And it always has been that way ever since I've known him, with every interaction I've ever had, and I've watched him with tens of thousands of people. He's spoken to my conference every time. How do I help? How do I help? How do I help? So, yes, you're donating all of your profits. Yes, this book is actually a master level book that's worth reading. And yes, we're leaving all of your no, don't tell people how good it is stuff right in the show because they need to hear it because it's real, right? And I work on that every day, every show. It's all real. And so you're as bad. As real as it gets. And you don't Even mention like 90% of this absolute, like incredible people you've coached in your book anyway. But you have enough guys like Will Smith willing to come out and go, yeah, sure, here's a quote for the COVID that says something in and of itself. So, Jim, limitlessbook.com guys, you're at home. It's a pandemic. Read this book and every other book you read, including my books you haven't read yet will be easier to do if you do this. And you'll probably actually pick them up if they're in your house and you haven't really read them yet. So it's worth your time, worth your trouble. If any book I've ever talked about is an amplifier on the show, it's Jim's work here. It's a lifetime's worth of work.

I just want to say thank you. You're such a force for good. You're a force of nature and you've helped me in so many levels, personally. And you know, those areas. I actually mentioned a couple of my kryptonites in the book, including my sleep apnea and everything. So you've served me on so many levels. And I want to. I really appreciate, you know, the cape that you wear. And I don't want to get cheesy, but it's like ever since I met you all those years ago, you were always extremely giving and, you know, and that. And I think that's important right now more than ever. I want to thank everyone for just being on this journey. I think we're all on this adventure together to be able to realize and reveal our fullest potential. And that while the growth, you know, while the beauty is in the butterfly, the growth happens in this cocoon. And this a wonderful opportunity to be able to come out of this and ask yourself, what's the story you want to tell? Not what was going on in the world, but what was going inside of you? And the reason I'm so excited is I, after 28 years of doing this every single day of my life, the reason I'm so excited is I know what's in this book, you know, but more importantly, I know it's in you, you know, and so that's why I'm very passionate about this in terms of. Of my mission, because I know the struggles and the suffering that comes from not owning who you really are and doing the things that you're really capable of doing, being and having and sharing. So I challenge everybody to do one thing, is not just go to limitlessbook.com, but to take a screenshot of this episode. And one of the best ways of learning something is to teach it to somebody else. You learn it for your own benefit, but then you also learn it so other people could benefit, right? And you light another spark. And I would say if you learn or listen to this again with the intent of teaching or giving a TED Talk, you would pay attention differently, you take notes differently. You would make it very personal. And it's an amazing way of learning things faster. And one way you could do it. Small, simple step. Take a screenshot of this episode, tag Dave, tag myself at Jim Quick, and share your big aha. Like, one thing that you got out of this conversation that you could act on or just was personally meaningful for you. So that way your friends and family could see that. And you never know who you're going to touch. Because while viruses are contagious and fear is contagious, so is positivity. So is performance, so is compassion, so is wisdom, so is kindness. And all this stuff is free, so sprinkle that stuff everywhere and I will repost some of my favorites as I always do and I'll actually gift a copy out to one random person, signed copy to somebody who posts about it.

Also as well as always your giving guy, Jim Kwik. Thanks for your work in the world. Thanks for powering a lot of those actors who make movies I enjoy watching. And thanks for writing a book that is worth people's time to read. Have a beautiful evening. I know that you're staying home just like I am. Order some good quality takeout. Keep a restaurant alive. Hopefully. Well, say if you were in la, you could order from the book Bulletproof Cafe. We're still doing the delivery service stuff, but you're in New York so support a local business, get some good food, have a good night. And thanks for being on Bulletproof Radio and just keep doing what you're doing man.

Thanks Dave.

A Human Upgrade Formerly, Bulletproof Radio was created and is hosted by Dave Asprey. The information contained in this podcast is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended for the purposes of diagnosing, treating, curing, or preventing any disease. Before using any products referenced on the podcast, consult with your healthcare provider carefully read all labels and heed all directions and cautions that accompany the products. Information found or received through the podcast should not be used in place of a consultation or advice from a healthcare provider. If you suspect you have a medical problem or should you have any healthcare questions, please promptly call or see your healthcare provider. This podcast, including Dave Asprey and the producers, disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein. Opinions of guests are their own and this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guest qualifications or credibility. This podcast may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products or services. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to herein. This podcast is owned by Bulletproof Media.