Exercises to Boost Focus and Concentration 🧠 Jim Kwik @TODAY

So this time of year, a lot of people resolve to improve their physical health, but we don't wanna forget about the mind. So this morning we brought in a brain coach. A brain coach is here to share some life lessons and some exercises to improve focus. Jim Kwik has worked with celebrities like Jim Carrey, Alex Rodriguez. He's also the author of Limitless and the recent expanded edition of Limitless as well, Jim Kwik. So good to have you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Hi, Jim. So good to be here.

So before we get to these exercises, let's talk just a little bit more about focus. Is focus something that the average person can actually really train, even improve on?

So focus, we've discovered, is more like a muscle. It's use it or lose it. The more you use it, the better it gets. So we wanna make sure we exercise it daily.

Okay. All right, so let's learn some simple exercises that you say we can do on a daily basis to sharpen our brain. So this first one is called cross crawl. Yes, right. What does that mean? How does it work?

And encourage all the viewers to do this also as well. We could. Can we stand up?

Yeah, sure. Work.

Okay. All right. So cross crawls. We're taking our our hand or elbow and touching the opposite knee.

Oh, we're like moving.

Yeah, we are moving. This is as your body moves, your brain grooves.

Okay. Oh, I like that.

So how is this helping our brains? So what this does, it encourages left and right brain connections, and so it helps you be able to focus. So before a meeting, we'll do this for like a minute.

Really?

It helps us to get. And, uh, and maximize our brain. Yeah, absolutely.

That's doable. Okay, another one you say involves the hands.

It does. Let's everybody just pull in some energy, like a little qigong here. Oh, and what I want to do is I want you to— I want to challenge you. I want you to try to take one hand and go the opposite direction. So—

Oh, so opposite.

One hand goes one way, one way goes out.

Oh, I'm bad at that. I can't do it.

Hey, Jim, when it comes to focus, how, how much is How much are phones getting in the way?

Or devices? You know, that's one of the big things, the digital distraction. How do you maintain your concentration in a world full of rings and pings and dings and app notifications and social media alerts? So these physical exercises, there's a mind-body connection, but there's also a body-mind connection that using your body in certain ways helps to stimulate your brain.

What about arm circles? You mentioned that.

Yes, these arm circles is a good way of doing it. There's other things you could do also as well. Like, we're on the computers a lot, right? So just kind of move your And I want to challenge everybody just to put some mindfulness and then try to make one go twice as fast as the other. So it would look like something like this. So go boom, boom, boom. So it's getting your mind into your body, and you can reverse it also as well.

So wait, one is going faster than the other?

One's going twice as fast. So you're just kind of like— there's so many different things you could do, like ballroom dancing is wonderful for the brain.

I saw you juggling.

Table tennis. Yes, juggling. I'll show everybody this. Shake out your dominant hand. Do this at home. This is the key, one of the keys to focus. Make a fist, put it to your chin. Now everybody, where's your chin?

Oh my gosh, I was just—

oh shoot.

So the art of memory, the art of our memory is the art of attention. The art of, like, even if we forget people's names, a lot of times it's not a retention issue, it's more of an attention issue.

Like I never grasped it in the first place.

Right.

Even if you think about the word listen, And you did this little brain teaser. You scramble the letters. It also spells another word perfect. It spells the word silent.

Only because I've listened to you on Instagram.

You're so good.

So, but wait, we all did it wrong. Like, we literally all touched. I was copying you. Yeah, doing what you did. And then also with this, like, I can't do it. So is that something worth practicing?

So practice makes progress. And even learning how to juggle. There was a study done at Oxford University saying jugglers actually have bigger brains. So, you know, you don't have to be a juggling master. You can go on YouTube. I'm not a master at all. But, you know, but this is like a metaphor for life.

It forces you to focus.

Yes, it forces your focus.

And your peripheral vision, because you can't look at all 3 at once.

Exactly. So that one of the things we teach is speed reading in the book. And one of the things is just softening your gaze so you could take in more words. So your brain is your most incredible asset, but there's no such thing as a good or bad brain. There's just a trained brain and there's an untrained brain.

That's really fascinating.

Really interesting. I'm going to take that book. Limitless. I am. Yeah. I figured I'd grab it first. Limitless. Thank you.

Thank you, Jim.