How to Win the Next Six Months | Jim Kwik

All right. Welcome back, Kwik Brain, to a very special live podcast. Now in this episode, we're going to talk about 6 Steps to winning the next six months. This really could be six steps towards winning the next six weeks, if you will, the next six years. But if you're watching this live now, I have multiple cameras here. We are broadcasting live in our private Facebook group where we have over 100,000 people in our private group to search Quick Brain on there or Limitless Book. Also, we're broadcasting this on Instagram as well. So hello to everybody in Instagram land. If you're not following us on either of these, please join us there and make sure you click notify me notifications. Write down exactly in the chat where you're watching this from. Very good. What is my first? My shirt says follow your heart, but bring your brain. All these shirts are available also on there's a link in my Instagram for these shirts. We cycle them out every every one or two months. And if you want to really wear your brains on your sleeve, if you will, or on your chest, part of the proceeds go to charity. Just go to shop.jimkwik.com. Anyway, I want to welcome you to this special episode. And if you are watching this live and not recorded, I know many of you listen to this recorded, which is fine, then we are halfway through the year. We are halfway through the year. And can you believe that? Like already 6+ months gone by in this year, which has been a very crazy year. Um, but how do you get the most out of the next 6 months? How do you make the first, uh, the previous 6 months, regardless of when you're listening to this, because the same thing would apply. These are timeless principles and tactics I'm going to share with you. How do you make the last 6 months jealous? You know, uh, like that of the next 6 months. And that's what we're going to talk about, right? Now, so I want to talk about steps, very tactical things that new ideas you could look at the way the your brain, the way the world is to get the most out of the next coming months. All right, and I'm gonna share with those six, and part of it is spawned, and I'm doing this obviously off the cuff, but part of me is doing the stream of consciousness because I just got off an interview, and. the interviewer was asking me, um, a lot of people ask me, how do you read faster? How do you learn languages? How do you remember people's names? Right? Um, or information about, you know, the book Limitless, um, which you haven't— by the way, thank you. This, this book is in dozens of different languages, speaking of languages. Um, and we're so proud that people are enjoying this book, um, around the world. And thank you for over the 10,000, uh, ratings on Amazon. Thank you for the 4,000+ ratings on iTunes. Thank you so much because please leave a review because your words, your story, we read every single one of them and know that your words and your stories are superpower and it can inspire somebody else to love their brain, right? And get on this journey with us to be able to realize and reveal our, our, the best version of ourself. All right. So thank you. Thank you for that and all your support. Our mission is No Brain Left Behind. And it means everything. Like, I can't even put it into words. But since this interviewer asked me a different question saying, how did you get involved in coaching? How did you become a brain coach? And, you know, you read in the book how I ended up learning these skills and developing them and how to apply them in your own life. But how did I get started 3 decades ago? And I haven't— this is all I do full-time, right? And so I wanted to answer that, talking about the choices that I made and how you could apply some of these ideas and these steps to really getting more out of the next 6 months. Okay. Now here's the thing. I share my— this story in that maybe there are elements that you could relate to. Everybody's story is different. And recommend if you can take some notes, some of you are driving, some of you working out, some of you are multitasking. Multitasking, which is absolutely fine. Maybe you could go back and re-listen to it, but I will get to the six steps. But let me give you some some some history. When when I learned these skills, I I met a mentor, and you know if you read my book, and it changed my life because I never had my mentor really. I didn't have those that network, if you will, or that education and that that that knowledge, those skills, those abilities, and that's kind of what a coach. does. And he made me commit to reading one book a week. And I was— as history, I had a series of learning disabilities and challenges. It took me years longer to learn how to read, and I never read a book. My teachers would've been surprised if I read a book cover to cover, much less wrote a book. But reading one book a week where I've never finished a book before was a big commitment. Anyway, It took me on a path where I eventually discovered these tactics and these strategies on how to win in school, right? How to read 3 times faster, understand more, how to learn languages, facts, figures, improve my memory. And so my grades, as you can imagine, skyrocketed. But I couldn't help but help other people because I was upset. The real, the real, my state was I was angry because I suffered and I struggled, you know, since I had my accident when I was 5 years old to 18 years old. And every single day feeling insecure, working harder than everybody else and getting, you know, less results, not believing in myself, right? Having a lot of negative self-talk that we talk about. And, you know, I was spiraling in a, not a great momentum and I was ready to quit school, but everything changed. But I was upset that there were simple things I could have done, simple frameworks and understandings, ability, skills, techniques, and tools that would help me with my focus, with my memory, with my study skills, with my ability to think, my reading ability, and so much more. Anyway, I was thinking I have to help other people, right? That's why you learn something. How it could help yourself, but you learn it so you could help other people, so other people could benefit. So I was walking when I had that thought and I saw a room that wasn't being used. And I said, okay, next week at the same day, you know, day and the same time, I'm going to just put 5 people there for free and just teach them for an hour or 2, teach them some of the skills that I'm using that helped me with, with my grades and my, my study. And I didn't know how to find these people. So when I get back to my dorm room, I take a piece of paper and a black magic marker, and I write, free speed reading memory tips, get better grades in less time. And I'm a little bit hoarse right now just 'cause I've been on interviews all day. So just bear with me. And the next morning, as I put the classroom, you know, Thursday, 7 o'clock, next morning I make some photocopies on the way to class and I just put some of the, flyers on bulletin boards, right? That was like the marketing. I mean, the internet really wasn't around back then. Nobody had email and stuff like that. And, you know, it's kind of different, right? We have students now in 195 nations. Many of you have downloaded our KwikBrain Universe app. And so you're connecting. That's, by the way, where I'm spending 90% of our time and not so much in social media, but we have this platform in this app where you create your own profile. You can connect with other students and it's free. Right? And there's exclusive content that we don't put on social media there. And you could create, you know, connect with your positive peer group and encourage each other, share best practices on how you're learning this language and how you're studying this anatomy and everything. You just definitely, if you haven't downloaded it, download. There's a link in my Instagram profile if you're watching this on Instagram, or just search KwikBrain Universe, you know, in the App Store. Anyway, we didn't have that back then. But I just put the flyers around and, and fast forward to Thursday, 7 o'clock, I start walking to the classroom and I'm just thinking, I hope 5 people just show up, right? Just 5 people. It's like, for me, if I find 1 or 2 to tutor. And I turned the corner and outside the classroom there's a group of people, like a crowd of people. And my, my honest thought at that time was Wow, I hope whatever's going on ends soon so I could do my thing, right? And I go to the doorway and I can't get in because there's this tall guy there. And I just like, I was like, what's going on inside? And he looks at me, he's like, there's a speed reading class. And honest to God, my first reaction was, wow, what a coincidence. What are the chances that the same night, the same time, on the same, you know, the day, in the same classroom, there's another speed reading class? Um, and I, I pushed my way in and there's a crowd of people, people standing in the back. Uh, all the seats are taken and no one's teaching. And it takes all that time for me to realize what you already realize, that they're all there for who? For me, right? Because you only could see what you believe is possible, right? That's why I talk about the limitless model and mindset, your attitudes, assumptions about something. And I can't even see it because I didn't even realize why they were there because it was outside my reality that all those people were there. Now, by the way, I do start doing headcount and I was hoping 5 or 10 people are there. There's 110 people there. And just as a frame of reference, I'm 18 years old. I look younger than that. I'm wearing t-shirts and shorts. I have nothing planned to talk about, like no specific agenda or talking points. So I thought I was just going to have a conversation with 5 people. And there are a lot of older, like they're graduate students there, teaching assistants there. And, oh, and I'm phobic of public speaking. Now I know many of you say you have a fear of public speaking. I'm phobic of public speaking back then. Meaning that when I had my brain injury when I was 5 and I was called on to read and, you know, pass around that book in that circle and it didn't mean anything. So I would get terrified. I would sit behind the tall kid in class. I would sit all the way in the back. I would do the work. I would do the book report. I would work hard, right? But if teacher asked me to present it, I would actually say— I would lie and say I didn't do it and take a complete zero, even though I worked on it for weeks. And that's how bad it was. So like my heart's beating out of my chest, right? And I'm sweating and I can't even— I mean, just thinking about it, like I'm getting a little choked up just with that memory. Because I'm very— I was very insecure. And it's— the universe has a sense of humor, right? Because my 2 biggest challenges growing up were learning and public speaking. And what do I do? I, for a living, I public speak on this thing called learning. But that's just a side note, a reminder that your struggles can become strengths, right? That with challenge comes change, and that these difficult times, they could diminish you or they could develop you. You know, we decide. But I didn't feel that way back then, so I left. I completely— I leave. I would love to say, oh yeah, I showed up with, you know, cape on my back and I wowed the crowd and I got a standing ovation. No, none of that happened. I embarrassingly admit that I just left because I can't even— I can't describe to you what it's like to to be phobic of public speaking. Not most people, like, you know, nervous about it, maybe fearful, but phobic is like you lose control of your body. So I leave and I can't even go back to my dorm room because— I can't believe I'm sharing this story because you're like, get to the 6 steps of how do I win the next 6 months. I can't even go back to my dorm room because my, my, my suitemates would make fun of me, right? So I go back, I go to this fountain, and water always centers me. And I, I don't meditate. I mean, I've never— back then I didn't know what meditation was, but I'm just Kind of meditating. I'm quiet, right? And I'm just trying to get my composure and I'm just thinking. And, um, and I hear this voice and it's my mom's voice. And I won't tell you exactly what she said in my head, but it's like 100 people came out and to learn what you promised them and you're disappointing them and you're disappointing me kind of message, right? And I'm doing this walking meditation back to my dorm room. And I don't even realize it, but I stop. And I'm going to encourage you, maybe now is a nice time to stop and to pause. And unconsciously, I take one step towards back to the classroom. And my big message for you in this podcast episode, in this video, or I hope you're watching this actually on YouTube because we don't— we put the extended version on YouTube because as you know, iTunes and Spotify, we limit 20 minutes because It's Kwik Brain, right? You know, these are quick brain bite, right? Um, tips to be able to level up your learning in 20 minutes or less. But always subscribe. Be one of the 600,000+ that subscribe on YouTube. Please do that also. Just open it up if you can. I know you're not supposed to multitask, but it does take a lot of thinking to be able to do that. Subscribe on all the channels. Anyway, um, I take one step. One step in another direction can completely change your destination. So I want to talk about steps you could take that's going to completely change the next 6 months for you and make the previous 6 months jealous of you, of what you're about to do now. And I go back to the classroom, and honestly, as a memory expert, it's embarrassing to say I don't remember what I said. I know I opened with an apology to the 100 people that were there, but I talked for like 2 hours straight. And have you ever had just things flow through you. I know, um, Wayne Dyer was a mentor. We had the same publisher. We shared stage many times, spent some time in Hawaii together, like years and years ago. But he would have this process where he wouldn't prepare. He would just— he would trust, right? And before he would go on stage, and pure magic came out. I'm not saying at all that I was like Wayne Dyer. I was 18 years old, and I just like— but, but Things flew through me, right? I was in that kind of flow state, for those of you who read the chapter or listened to our podcast episodes on the science and art of flow. And I don't remember what I said as a memory expert, but when I was done, I was just like— I remember it was like, I don't know if I could help all of you, but I need about 10 hours to teach you what I've learned, you know, maybe a couple hours a week over the next 5 weeks. If you're interested, I'll be in the student center tomorrow. 12 o'clock, and I can answer your questions, and we can get you going. And honestly, everybody stands up and they leave. They leave. No, not one person talks to me afterwards. Not one. And now it's at this point like 10 o'clock at night, and I am by myself in that room, and I'm feeling 2 things. I'm feeling Completely and utterly confused, like, what, what just happened? And I feel exhausted. I mean, I feel spent mentally, emotionally, physically spent, because this was my big fear. I've never done any public speaking at all, ever, and I've always done everything to avoid it, right? And have you ever, like, done something that just took so much out of you and you just you're just depleted, right? And I end up falling asleep right on the carpet of that classroom. And probably the best night of sleep I've ever had in my adult life. And I get woken up. This is how deep I was in sleep. I get woken up the next morning by the class coming in at 8 o'clock. And, you know, when you're just on the ground sleeping, uh, you're just like, you get woken up. I just freaked out. I went back to my dorm room. I showered, went to breakfast, went to class. 12 o'clock comes up and I realized, oh, I told everybody I'd be there and answer questions. I go to Student Center and I'm just hoping one person, just one person shows up that I recognize to just validate that it wasn't a complete waste, that I didn't just completely trip over myself. And when I get to the Student Center, that same group of people were there waiting for me. And at the end of 2 hours, a couple hours, 71 of the 100 students signed up for a program that didn't even exist. And, um, and that put me on a completely different track because one of those 71 students, as you read in Limitless, uh, she was a college freshman. She read 30 books in 30 days, and there were books on health and wellness, medicine, and she ended up saving her mom's life of terminal cancer. And when I heard that, I realized that if knowledge is power, learning is your superpower. That if knowledge is power, learning is your superpower. And it's a superpower we all have. And in that moment, I dedicated my life to be able to support people to have their best brain so you can have your brightest future. And that's my mission, no brain left behind. That's what our team does, you know, like tirelessly. And so Here in that context, and I'm going to share that story is not in the book or in any podcast episode or probably not in any interview that's out there, but I wanted to share with you just as an example of how I got started as your brain coach, many of your brain coaches. And then also what was going on here, those little decisions that you make, one step in another direction. Completely can change your destination. If you're watching this on video, I'm saying this is the direction you're headed. One step in another direction completely changed your destination. Some people will call it their destiny, right? So I'm going to give you 6, and the theme of 6, uh, 6 A's, right? So 6 A's, and you please say you jot them down. You'll probably be able to remember them if you're one of our students, but I'll make it very easy if you're listening to this on Instagram. Uh, please put In the comments, like your notes, so other people could see it and answer each other's questions. I love how you're doing that. Thank you. Like so when people ask questions that you know the answer to, please put it there. All right, let's go. Ready? Get some water. Okay. All right. The first A I would say is assess. You need to assess. So assess the previous six months, and this is what's that. assess. This is where you're making a judgment. You're doing a little bit of an internal audit about something. And so this is where you can't really manage something unless you can measure it. So how were the past 6 months? And you can do this in any area of your life. And I'm going to go through these 6 quick because, you know, this is called the Kwik Brain Show, right? So do a quick assessment. How were the past 6 months? Just honestly, you don't have to put it in the comments. Okay. But just in these areas of your relationships, Of your physical health, of your, of your mental intelligence, you know, of the, of your finance, your career, and the areas that are important. Do just a little quick assessment and just notice where it is. And maybe if you want, you can rate yourself in those different areas. All right. But just do a little assessment. So that's the first thing I would say is do an assessment. The second A is I would say and encourage you to accept. All right, after you assess, which you're doing an audit of like where things are, I want you just to, to accept things because you can't change it, right? And it's part of being accepting of yourself as being content that you are a work in progress, right? That, that's what you are. You are a work in progress and not necessarily seeking the approval of others, but you're just being yourself and you're not comparing yourself to anybody else other than your best version of yourself. And you're not even looking back to— you're doing it as an assessment, right? But you're accepting, and you're accepting what you can't change, which is the past. And you only look back to see how far you've come, right? And so accept what you can't change and change what you can accept. I'll say it again: accept what you can't change, change what you can accept. All right. So you have to acknowledge, you acknowledge that it's there and then you accept it, that it is what happened. Right. Because I feel like that creates a good foundation to move forward. And then what's the third A? You aspire again. All right. Once you've gone back and you've done like a little assessment on the past and you've accepted it. And now what I want you to do is aspire, you know, aspire to inspire. Right. And what you're doing is you're seeking to attain or accomplish some new vision for yourself. And, you know, and maybe it's a new particular goal. You want to ascend, you want to be able to soar. And I think that's why Limitless is doing so well this year. You know, as many of you know, if you follow me on social media, which obviously some of you here on video are, that, um, we were the— for 6 straight days, uh, the beginning of, uh, 2021, we overtook Obama's book to be the number one nonfiction book of all of Amazon. And I think, you know, hopefully it was because part of the work, but, but also the book's called Limitless. I feel like in 2020, people felt so limited and they were looking for something aspiring. So that's what I would say. The third A is aspire. Okay. So aspire, what inspires you? What, what new vision do you have now that you've gone back and you've done this audit and you've accepted things, what do you aspire the next 6 months to look like? And we've done multiple episodes on goal setting versus goal getting, and how to be able to build that big audacious vision for yourself. Because the brain is really organized to be able to be inspired by big thinking, right? And just this, we did a whole section on the thinking section of the book on exponential thinking and just thinking big, right? The Magic of Thinking Big is another great book. But you want to aspire something that just doesn't just touch your head, but also touches your heart. But here's the thing that I want you to do. I want you to be able to— the 4th A is I want you to act. This is the big one, right? Accept, then act. Actually, Eckhart Tolle said that. Eckhart Tolle said, accept, then act. That whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you have chosen it. Right? But always work with it, not against it. He said accept and act. And so where can you act? Because you know this, right? You know that that knowledge is not power. We've talked about it so much. It has the potential to be a lot of power, but all the books, the podcasts, the seminars, the online programs, the Instagram and the Facebook, you know, none of it helps. None of it really works unless you work it, right? None of it works until you do, right? Information without application is just useless. And the great aim of education education is not, it's not just self-help, right? You know, not just having knowledge for knowledge's sake, but it's action. Right. And you want to think like a person of action and you want to act like a person of thought. Right. And so how can you act now that you have aspired? Right. What's something that you could do to act? Because remember, knowledge times action equals power. Even when you listen to our show, for every hour you spend on Clubhouse or on Instagram Lives or on podcasts, Spend another hour putting it to action. All right, that's his fair equation. For every hour you spend learning, for reading or anything else, spend one hour actually applying what you just learned. And that's what I would say, that you need to act. Now here's the actions I would take: five and six. Right? So the fifth A, I would say, is acts. Acts. What does that mean? Acts. Because nothing changes if nothing changes, right? So you have to. You know, act, and there's two ways of acting. You either stop doing something or you start doing something, right? If you're going to act, you either stop doing something, right? You're putting a pause on something or you're going forward with something, and that's what I'm asking you to do. Axe is like you put an axe to it; you cut, right? And that's that's what you're doing. You you have a to-do list. What's on your not-to-do list? What are you going to stop? And this is really up to you because you've listened to our show. I don't have to go through methods and techniques. Are you stopping just one? One little simple stop. Stop looking at the phone in the morning or stop looking at the phone at night, right? Stop looking at the— keep your phone off the dinner table. Some of you who are watching this on Facebook, you've watched that video of me and Simon Sinek, who we had on the podcast 3 times, Start With Why, another great book. You know, it has 37 million views. And he was talking about on the video, not having your phone at the At the table when you eat a meal because it creates anxiety, right? Maybe you're stopping that. Maybe you're stopping smoking. Maybe you're stop this. The episode we did on stop not to do list: stop caring what other people think. Stop complaining. Stop comparing. Stop overthinking. Stop self-judgment, right? Re-listen to all those things that we've talked about. Stop. Stop eating junk food, right? You know what? What? What do you need to stop? And then I would just say that the last thing besides acts. Is that's where you add. And that's exactly what we're doing. We're stopping one, but you can't just stop doing something. You have to start doing something else. So you stop one thing. This is what the actions are. You stop one thing, you start another. All right. So what can you add? Because you can't just stop doing something, right? You have to fill that void. So what are you going to replace, you know, watching, binge watching that show on? Maybe you're going to replace it with reading. Maybe you're gonna just replace it, you know, maybe you're gonna stop subvocalization and you're in your reading skills, stop backskipping, right? Stop multitasking, right? But maybe you're gonna start doing something else. Maybe you're gonna start meditating. Maybe you're gonna start brushing your teeth with the opposite hand. A lot of you went through our Limitless Challenge, right? Maybe you're gonna start cold showers, right? You're gonna whatever. Again, we've done like 200 Close to 250 episodes, and you read the book, right? You've done listen to this in Audible. By the way, our audiobook such a hit. Thank you. That has actually hours upon hours of content that's not in the book because at the end of every chapter, I have a discussion with somebody and we talk about the applications of that chapter, right? But maybe you listen to there, right? But maybe you're gonna that's gonna be something you're gonna start ten minutes or thirty minutes of listening to something positive in your commute to work. Oh, you know, or. your workout. You're maybe going to stop listening to music, start listening to something positive, right? Maybe whatever it happens to be, just own it.

All right.

So that's it. Stop one, start one. You got it. Take out a piece of paper right now, or if you're watching this on, on Instagram or Facebook and just jot down the 6 things. What are the 6 A's? All right. And teach it to somebody else because that's where you get to what you get to learn it twice. That's it. I mean, I'll go a little bit longer and maybe answer some questions here, but I just want to remind you that this is, this is where it's, this is where it's happening. All right. So final words, actually, we should— oh goodness, actually, I have to go. All right, here, just remember this. There are some things, if you're going through challenges during this time, the past 6 months have been challenging for you, there are some things you can only learn in a storm. And you've heard me say this before. You know, stay strong, focus on what you can do, control the controllables, and know that the clouds will soon part. There is sunshine, I promise you, behind those clouds. And not all storms come to disrupt your life, right? Just remember that some come to be able to clear your path. And you might not see it today. Sometimes things take time. You might not see it tomorrow, but I hope you look back Maybe it'll be six months from now, right? And or maybe it'll be six years, and you're going to be absolutely perplexed. Maybe you're going to be in in this amazing shock, amazing awe actually positive by how every little thing just kind of added up and brought you somewhere, somewhere incredible, somewhere amazing, somewhere wonderful where you always wanted to be. That maybe I I pray for you that you would look back and you're you become grateful that things didn't work out maybe the way you once. Wish them they would. And let's, let's do that. Let's make the next 6 months, you know, amazing. So amazing that the past 6 months, that gets jealous, right? And remember that big things, you know, they stay— they have small beginnings. I, I couldn't even imagine looking back 30 years from now when I, when I started this, that it would take me on the road that it has. And it hasn't been a direct line by any stretch, you know, peaks and valleys. But, you know, my inspiration really was my desperation. And remember that every pro was once an amateur, every expert was once a beginner, and that there's a version of ourselves that we haven't met yet. So just keep on working hard, keep on showing up, keep on, keep on learning until you're introduced. All right, that's my message for all of you everywhere. Be too optimistic to scare, too positive to doubt, be too determined To be defeated. Every journey begins with a single step. In any moments, we have 2 options: we step forward or we step back. We step forward into growth, into possibility, or retreat and we step back, you know, trying to be safe. But today it's, it's hard to play safe. And sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being like the biggest step, you know, sometimes the leap of our lives.

And there's—

maybe it's not a big leap. You know, there's maybe there's no gigantic step. Maybe it's just a lot of little steps. Remember, little by little, a little becomes a lot, and you're one step closer every single day. This is your brain coach, Jim Kwik. I want to thank you for listening to me in this rant on this live episode of the Kwik Brain Podcast. Make sure you subscribe. Make sure you share this. Take a screenshot if you like. And what I want you to do is tag me in it and share just one thing you're gonna do. What's, what's your word for the next 6 months? What's one thing you're gonna do to upgrade your learning, to upgrade your life? Hi, Kwik Brain.

It's your brain coach. I want to thank you so much for watching this video. 3 things to do. Number 1, make sure you share this, because when you teach something, you get to learn it twice. Update your learning so you can update other people's learning as well. Number two, make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a thing. Because if you miss a video, you miss a lot. And finally, make sure you hit that bell so you're notified and you find out when we put out the latest and the greatest. One extra thing: if you want really close attention, then text me. Here is my phone number: 310-299-9362. Did you? Remember that number: 310-299-9362. Shoot me a text and we'll stay in touch. Ask me your burning question, and I wish your days be full lots of life, lots of love, lots of laughter, and always lots of learning. I'll see you in our next video.