Kwik Brain Episode 32: 4 Keys To Genius with Jim Kwik

Welcome to Quick Brain, bite-sized brain hacks for busy people who want to learn faster and achieve more. I'm your coach, Jim Kwik. Free your mind. Let's imagine if we could access 100% of our brain's capacity. I wasn't high, wasn't wired, just clear. I knew what I needed to do and how to do it. I know kung fu. Show me. Welcome back, Quick Brains. So here's the question. What are the keys to genius? And I'm gonna give you 4 of them in this episode. The 4 keys to genius, and I call them the 4 Gs. Now here's the first one, growth. Many of you read this book Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck, which I highly recommend. It's all about the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. And I noticed that the geniuses that I get to work with, and I'm not just talking about IQ geniuses, people who really excel at the highest level, whether it's in education or entertainment, maybe it's in technology, maybe it's Maybe it's in philanthropy, maybe it's in making a difference, maybe it's in art. Whatever those areas are, they're committed to growth. They're committed to consistent improvement. And it's not about perfection, it's about progress because practice makes progress. So in what ways are you committed to more of this growth mindset? And have you scheduled that growth in your calendar? A lot of people say they want to make things better. They want a better physical body. They want more vitality. They want to grow their income. They want to grow their brain, if you will. But if you don't schedule it, it's not going to happen. So do you have dedicated time every single day where this is your self-growth time? Everybody has a to-do list, but what's on your to-learn list? What's on your to-grow list? So the first G to genius is growth. The second G to genius is giving, because you know, on the road to excellence, it's not about me, it's about we. That everything in nature either grows or dies. And also everything in nature must give, right? It has to give, otherwise it's eliminated. Meaning you grow so you have more to give. And you know, with your Kwik Brain training, when we're talking about sharing and giving, that when you teach what you learn to somebody else, you get to learn it twice. That when you learn and you grow with the intention to give, you're going to have more yourself. And you don't give to get. You give because again, it's who you are. The 3rd G to genius is this thing called gratitude. You know, I'm all for setting goals. You could create your vision board with magazine clippings of the things that you want to be, to do, to have, and to share, going back to giving. And do you also have a gratitude board? Gratitude is something that I noticed that genius have a deep appreciation for. You may have listened to one of our previous episodes all about How I design my day and how I jumpstart my brain in the first hour of the day. And a big part of that is gratitude, because how are you going to appreciate all the things that you eventually have if you don't appreciate the things that you have right now? And if you ever want to feel really, truly wealthy, write down all the things that you have in your life that money can't buy. I mean, think about your health. Think about the things that you wouldn't trade for any amount of money, your sense of sight or hearing or the people in your life. Gratitude is the essence because success builds on success, but you have to appreciate the success you already have. And the 4th G to genius is grit. And grit is also the title of a bestselling book, which I highly recommend. But what is grit? Grit is your persistence. It's your perseverance. It's your ability to overcome difficulty because when you have a big goal, you're gonna have challenges. You're gonna have problems. And I remember one time at one of our events, I brought Quincy Jones up on stage. Right? And he's an incredible music producer. And I was asking him at his age, which was 84 at the time, how did you overcome all the problems of putting together all these incredible works of art? And of course you have challenges. He's like, Jim, I don't have any problems. He's like, what do you mean? Everybody has problems. He was like, no, I don't have problems. I have puzzles. Wow. That's powerful. Just changing that one little word. Because when I think of puzzles, I get excited because puzzles are fun. Puzzles You have a solution to that. And that was what got me on this path because I was labeled the boy with the broken brain. So I've dedicated my life to be able to solve this puzzle about how does memory work so I could work my memory and then go and give it to other people because I was so grateful for the opportunity because all my struggles led to strength. And I think you build grit through this practice, that grit is a muscle that when you go through struggles and you go through challenges, it leads to changes. And some people go through these traumatic times, and we've all heard about post-traumatic stress, but a lot of people don't hear about the other part of it, which is post-traumatic growth. That people have gone through a lot of adversary, they've gone through a lot of difficulty and trauma, they come out on the other side saying they wouldn't change anything. They wouldn't change anything because of it. Maybe you could relate to this because it gave them a new sense of meaning. It gave them a new sense of direction. It gave them a mission. It gave them a strength. that they couldn't get anywhere else. And that's one of the ways you could build grit is put yourself in uncomfortable positions. Bruce Lee has this quote that says, if you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits, there are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. And that's what I'm thinking about when I'm thinking about grit. I remember a few years ago, I got a message From Sylvester Stallone. And I bring up his name because it puts a picture in a context to the story, and it's going to be a memory trigger for you next time you hear this name. It'll remind you of the lesson. There was a boxing match that was going on, and he asked me to come over to his home if I wanted to be able to watch it with him. And of course I said yes. And I'm a little bit torn when it comes to boxing because I love competitive sports, because I love seeing excellence and people who are outstanding at what they do. And Not really fond of people being punched in the head because of my traumatic brain injuries that I've had and concussions and so on. But I go over there and I'm sitting on the couch and I'm watching this incredible competition on his television. And to my left is Sylvester Stallone and to his left is Arnold Schwarzenegger. And I'm just like blown away. If someone took a picture of that couch, they'd be like, who photoshopped that Asian guy in that photo? But seriously, afterwards I wanted to ask them, I said, because I believe genius leaves clues, talking about the 4 Gs to genius. I think genius leaves clues that if somebody is extremely extraordinary, they exhibit an incredible level of genius in any area of their life, that you could also exhibit that same level of genius, that same kind of genius, if you're willing to find out what those clues are. And I said to Arnold and to Sly, I said, what does it take to be a champion? Like those 2 guys right there, what's the difference between a normal person and a champion, like an amateur, if you will? And I remember, I'll always remember what Arnold said. He said, Jim, the difference between an amateur and a champion is a champion is willing to push past the pain period. Let me say that again. The difference between an amateur and a champion is that a champion is willing to push past the pain period. And I thought that was interesting because it's just like when you build a muscle, and they were using this as an example when I was talking to them, and you're doing these curls, it's the one that you don't want to do the most is the one that's going to help you the most. And are you willing to push past that pain period? And I'm spending a little bit more time on this thing called grit because I think based on the comments in our private Facebook group that when people are responding on my Instagram and they're saying they're going through difficult times and that's why they're listening to podcasts for inspiration and instruction and real ideas to help them, we realize that it's not about their resources. We had one of our prior speakers at our Kwik Brain event, the creator of MacGyver, and he was talking about MacGyver as being the ultimate Genius in that he has no resources. He has a pocket knife, he has some gum and some duct tape, and he's able to stop this nuclear warhead or whatever it is because he's incredibly resourceful. But in order to be able to tap into those resourcefulness, we need to be able to have a level of grit, a level of persistence. And one of the ways we could grow that is going through difficult times. And I remember I was going through a difficult time at that time, and I remember asking Sylvester Stallone about whether or not I should take on something. make a decision. And he asked me this question. He said, Jim, will the pleasure outweigh the pain? Will the pleasure outweigh the pain? And that's one of the important things when we're thinking about the 4 Gs to genius— committing yourself to growth, committing yourself to giving, committing yourself to gratitude, appreciating what you already have, and this thing called grit. You're going to go through some painful times, and I think grit really is an element of genius. And so these are the 4 Gs. to activating more of your genius? Growth, giving, gratitude, and grit. So here's what I'd like to do right now. I'd love to know what your thoughts are about growth, giving, gratitude, and grit. You could post it on Instagram or on Facebook or on Twitter. Make sure you tag me @JimKwik so I could reply. You could also tag @KwikLearning, and we also repost some of our favorite lessons. So post your ahas on social media, because when you share and you give, it comes back to you. Want to double your brain speed and memory power? If you'd like to learn rapidly and get ahead faster, I'd like to give you my brand new Quick Brain Accelerator program. You will discover exactly what I teach my clients to learn, read, and remember anything in half the time. There is no charge. It's my gift to you for being one of our subscribers. That's K W I K Brain. Or simply text the word podcast to 916-822-7246 and we'll send you a direct link. That's 916-82-BRAIN. Growing up struggling with learning challenges from a childhood brain injury, it's been my life's mission to help you have your very best brain so you can win more every single day. Now, want more quick brain? Here are 4 ways to fast-track your results. And lock in what you just learned into your long-term memory. Remember FAST. F-A-S-T. The F stands for Facebook. You're not alone on this journey. I invite you to join our free private online group. There you can connect with me, your fellow brain lovers, links to resources, and even submit your questions for me to answer in future episodes. Go to kwikbrain.com. That's kwikbrain.com. The A stands for apply. Act on what you learned today. Remember, knowledge is not power, it's potential power. It only becomes power when you use it. So use what you just learned. The S stands for subscribe. Don't miss the next episode and other free brain training. And finally, the T stands for teach. You want to learn faster now? The key is to lock it in right away by teaching it to someone else. When you teach something, you get to learn it twice. Here's a simple way to do that. Leave a review on iTunes. Leave a review with your biggest takeaway from this episode. You could also post and share this podcast on your social media. It helps us spread our mission of building better, brighter brains. And of course, tag us so our team could properly thank you. #KwikBrain, K-W-I-K Brain. Mine is @JimKwik, K-W-I-K On Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. So what does FAST stand for? Facebook, apply, subscribe, teach. I'll see you in our next episode of Kwik Brain. Until then, remember, you are faster and smarter than you think. Thank you.