Evening Routines for Better Memory 🧠💤

Hi, it's your memory coach, Jim Kwik. And in this session, I want to share with you some habits and routines for a limitless memory. Habits and routine to unlock your incredible memory. Now, as I've talked about before, that there's no such thing as a good or bad memory, that you don't have a memory. Memory actually is a set of habits. And first you create your habits. Then guess what? Your habits create you. So what are the routines or the habits that you could cultivate daily for yourself, for your family, for your team, your friends, to unlock this incredible memory? So I'm going to talk about some of my routines, and I'm going to start not with the morning, but I'm going to start the night before. Okay? Because one of the things that will help you to grow your memory is review. Review. And yet sometimes we don't remember what we had for breakfast. We don't remember what we had for lunch. We don't remember the people that we talked to throughout the day. Somebody at the end of the day might ask you how your day was, and you're like, you know, I don't really remember what I did today. It just all blurred together or blended together. So it's called your episodic memory. Your episodic memory are the episodes of your life. And one of the things I do as I get ready for bed is when I'm in bed, I go through a quick 2 or 3 minute exercise where I review my day. You know, I believe that if your life is worth living, it's worth remembering. If your life is worth living, it's worth remembering. And you can increase your episodic memory by reviewing what you did that day. So take 2 or 3 minutes with your eyes closed and just walk yourself through the day. Just fast forward. When you woke up, what did you do? Who did you talk to? What did you eat? Go through the activities of your day, because remember, there is no such thing as a good or a bad memory. There's a trained memory and an untrained memory, and I want you to develop the habit of reviewing your day so the days don't blend together. From there, what I do is I'm in bed. I think of the things that I did that day, and I pull out one, two, or three things, and they can be small things that I'm grateful for. You know, gratitude is the memory of your heart. Gratitude is the memory of your spirit. And by going through your day, reviewing it, pull out—they don't have to be big things—one, two, or three—even small things, little things that you cherish, that you could appreciate. Because what you appreciate appreciates, right? And you don't have to wait for a greater life to feel grateful. Feel grateful and you're gonna have a greater life. And what I want you to do is after you go through reviewing your day and remembering, you're building your episodic memory, pull out 1, 2, or 3 things that you really cherish. Good things, things that you feel grateful for. Because what this does, gratitude rewires your nervous system for peace. It rewires your nervous system for performance, even prosperity, because what you appreciate appreciates. Like, for example, what if the only things you had in your life the next day were the things you expressed gratitude for today? If you wanna feel truly wealthy, do this exercise. Start making a list of all the things you have in your life. That money can't buy. And what gratitude does, this exercise, it puts you into a parasympathetic state. Now, what is that? A parasympathetic state is the rest and digest. And that's what you want to be doing while you're sleeping. You don't want to be in your executive mind and thinking about all the stuff about work and decisions you need to make. You want to feel it in your heart, inside of your body, so you can get in that parasympathetic state to rest and digest, because what's most important for good memory is sleep. Getting to sleep at the right time and putting yourself in that peaceful place where you feel gratitude will help you to fall asleep faster. Now, the reason why you want to prioritize sleep when we're talking about habits and routines for a better memory is because when you sleep, you consolidate short- to long-term memory. If you have long-term memory challenges, check your sleep. And some People feel they're getting sleep, but maybe they're not, and they should get a sleep study. So you could contact your physician, your doctor, if you have trouble sleeping and get a sleep study because you want to get that diagnosis so you can know how to treat it. Because when you sleep, it's imperative to be able to consolidate short to long-term memory. Because if you have long-term memory issues, check your sleep. And this is another reason why it's not just the habits you develop, it's the habits you don't develop. For those of you who pulled All-nighters in school, that's a very bad habit. I used to do it because I had my learning challenges and I had to compensate. In my mind, I thought I had to compensate by working and pulling all these all-nighters and not sleeping, but it actually yielded worse results because you need that sleep. Just like you don't build your muscles by working out, you build your muscles by working out and resting. It's during the rest that your muscles grow and repair and recover. Same thing with your mental muscles. The other reason why you want to sleep and make that part of your routine is because when you sleep, the sewage system in your brain kicks in, and that's where you clean out plaque that could lead to brain aging challenges like Alzheimer's, dementia. And this is something I'm very passionate about because I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer's. And so that's why we're so passionate about, and we donate to causes of, for Alzheimer's research, especially for women, because women are twice Twice as likely to experience Alzheimer's than men. And so you need to sleep to turn on that sewage system that cleans out the beta amyloid plaque, these tangles that could lead to brain aging challenges. Another fun reason to sleep is where you dream, and that's where you come up with a lot of treasures. Your mind doesn't shut off at night. It in some ways is actually more active, and it's coming not only consolidating short to long-term memory and cleaning out your brain, but it also comes up with ideas. Whatever you're studying and learning and working on, it comes up with ideas. And that's why it's so important to remember your dreams. So what I want you to do is in the comments, I want you to share some of your non-negotiables. What are the— some of the things that you do, or you're going to choose to do and try out, that's going to help build your better memory, build your brighter brain? Put that down below because this is your positive peer group. You're not in it alone anymore. We have each other, and together everyone achieves Magic. That's what TEAM stands for. Together everyone achieves more. We achieve miracles. We achieve magic. And you are the greatest project you're ever gonna get to work on, right? Take time, make time, create magic. I'll see you in our next video.