Kwik Brain Episodes 100: My Top 10 Takeaways from Kwik Brain Episodes

Kwik Brains, we did it, episode 100. And in this episode, I'm gonna share 10 takeaways that I've learned from previous episodes. Now, I could probably, as many of you can, share dozens and dozens, if not hundreds, of insights and instructions, implementations, things you could do to integrate into your mind, your body, and in your— really, in your life. So what I'm gonna do in this And what I'd like to do to celebrate is share with you just 10, because as you know, this show began as our mission to be able to build better and brighter brains. And it's not so much an interview podcast show, it's really more of a masterclass. We design every single conversation, whether it's just me or me with a guest, to turn it into not just a conversation, but this is a how-to get this kind of result. And so it's really a call to action to start from the beginning. And if you haven't listened to every episode, I promise you there are gems in there. There are real gems. In fact, I will say that the lesson, the treasure that you are seeking is probably hidden in the episode that you skipped. So listen to all the episodes because it— I created it, as you know, as coming from the boy with the broken brain with all my learning difficulties and my— my challenges, if you will, as an online academy, a mobile academy to galvanize your most valuable asset that you have, which is your brain. It controls everything. And so this is really meant to be an owner's manual on how to upgrade your brain, how to learn anything faster, and how to become limitless, how to unlock your true potential, because that's the quest that we're really on. The quest to, to To reach our full potential, to be able to express it, to be able to share it. And so going into this, I'm gonna share with you just 10 episodes, and I could probably do it for 99 or more episodes, but just to give you a highlight of some of the things that we've done along this journey. And if you've listened to these episodes already, then you could really let it sink in, because I believe— What robs you of mastery and transformation is saying, oh, I know this already. And so you wanna get really good at the basics and the fundamentals. And so let's go through 10, just 10, of some of the interesting episodes that we've shared with you the past couple years. So scrolling from the beginning, and I'm gonna talk about specifically the episodes I had guests on, because I know what I learned from my solo episodes. Episode number 15, On how to create a brand new habit with Dr. BJ Fogg from Stanford University. Now remember, one of his students co-founded Instagram, and think about how habitual or addictive that is. And so do you have a habit you want to start or stop? We did 2 episodes with him, and I really think this is important because it's one of the through lines we have in Kwik Brain is First you create your habits, then your habits create you. But why is it difficult to create a new habit? And why is it difficult to break a limiting habit? So we talked about a formula. He shared with you a formula called B equals MAT. B equals MAT, M-A-T. The behavior, so the B is the behavior, and that's the habit that, the desired habit you want or the one that you have. So that's the behavior. The B equals M, M stands for motivation. And what we're saying here is you're more likely to stay on a course if you're motivated to do so, right? It's a lot easier to keep a habit of eating chocolate cake, sugar-free, gluten-free, if you're motivated to do so. Or if you wanna work out, or if you wanna journal, if your motivation is high, and it's not static. On a scale of 0 to 10, you could rate yourself. Does it feel like a 5? Like, I wanna, Jim, I wanna meditate today, but my motivation's only a 3. And then what if you ask yourself, well, what do I need to do to make it a 5? What do I need to think about or maybe reward myself with? What's my incentive to be able to increase it? When the motivation is higher, you're more likely to get that initial B, which is the behavior. The A in BMAT stands for ability, because what's the ability? That's your training. That's, that's your competence, if you will. If you want the behavior of remembering names, it helps to have the training or the ability to be able to remember somebody's name. All right, so that's where the system comes in. And finally, the T. And I'm just doing an abridged version. You have to listen to that episode. Remember, every single one of our episodes are like 5, 10, maximum 20 minutes, because the other valuable thing you have besides your brain Is your time. And so this is for busy people who want to get real results real fast. The T stands for trigger, and this is something that I want to shed a light to because it's very practical. The trigger is the prompt that gets you to do the behavior, and it's wonderful because if you want to stop a limiting behavior like eating that chocolate cake, take that trigger out of your home. That makes sense. If you want to work out more often or read a book, Make sure you have your running shoes right where you could see them, or the book right where you want to be able to read, because it creates a what? A trigger, and then you're more likely to do the behavior. It's just like if you want to break a bad habit. You know, I want you to stop looking at your phone the first hour of the day. If you take that trigger out of the bedroom, for example, then you're likely to collapse that habit. Does that make sense? Wonderful. Episode number 25, Sleep Smarter, with our friend Shawn Stevenson. This was a wonderful episode because sleep is so critical. Talking about habits, how do you feel when you get a bad night's sleep the next day? You don't have the focus, you can't think, you can't make good decisions. So we know the power of sleep. And he talked about many different lessons, and we've done multiple episodes with him and Dr. Michael Breus, with Ben Greenfield, talking about the power of sleep. Now, a quick tip, the study he cited from Appalachian State University saying when's the best time to exercise, 7 AM, 1 PM, or 7 PM? The answer is what? Do you remember? Did you listen to that episode? If you haven't, you definitely want to, to get further instruction. 7 AM. 7 AM. They found that the subjects that worked out at 7 AM, and it doesn't have to be a full-blown workout, it could be just 5 minutes, 4 minutes of calisthenics just to get the heart rate going, they slept longer and they slept deeper. I mean, that's something you could do right now. So even as you're making your brainpower smoothie or you're in the shower, you're taking your cold shower, you could do some crunches, you could do some squats, you could do some push-ups, pull-ups, whatever it is, jumping jacks, not in the shower, you want to be safe also as well, but practice working out at 7:00 a.m. and notice. If there are outstanding results. Episode number 29, Goals Done Right, with Dr. Jeff Spencer. Now we talk about the habits, you know, the sleep. What about setting goals? And we've all heard about SMART goals. And in this episode, Olympian Dr. Jeff Spencer, who also has trained many gold medalists, talks about it's great to have the SMART goals, but you really need to have the right goals. If you haven't listened or watched this episode, you want to do that because really you need a goal in life because as they say, you can't hit a target that you can't see. So the R is relevant. The I are your indicators. And after that, the G, if you will, is the gravity, the gravity of the actual goal. Like what is it, what's pulling you when you're thinking about or feeling that specific goal? The H is the height, and finally the T stands for time. The other episode I would listen to when it comes to Dr. Jeff Spencer is episode number 31 on the power of grit, because as an Olympian, I mean, we all have times where we're facing adversity where we want to be able to push through, but what is grit exactly, and how is it different from willpower, and how do you— when people say, just keep going, Don't give up. How do you actually do that? Listen to that episode. It's about the difference between being persistent and being consistent. If you're persistent, you could get it, but if you're consistent, you could keep it. All right, next, episode number 35, 36, and 37, How to Supercharge Your Brain and Your Life with New York Times bestselling author Brendon Burchard. Now, in these episodes, we break down The 10 drives that make you feel alive. And there were 10 C's. Do you remember the 10 C's? We started with what? It was competence, control, congruence. Now, before going through this, actually, I would recommend you listen to those episodes again, 35, 36, and 37, because it's a deep, deep dive into what makes you feel alive. We talk about that it's It's not this— you're not burnt out all the time or tired just because you're doing too much. It's because you're doing too little of the things that really light you up. If you haven't listened to that episode, make sure you download all 10 into your mind and definitely, definitely apply it. It'll make certain things obvious. If you feel tired or you don't feel inspired, re-listen to those 3 episodes. Episode number 38, Eliminate Stress. And make anxiety disappear with Nick Ortner. Now, if you haven't listened to this episode, I actually recommend for this one you watch this. We did a video, and this is all about the power of EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique, otherwise known as what? Tapping. Tapping, where you could tap limiting beliefs, negative self-talk, and disempowering emotions away. So it's a very— you could listen to it certainly, because he does a great job doing it based on what you hear. But if you could watch it on video, and again, all our show notes, jimkwik.com/notes, we have videos of most of all of our podcast episodes. So this one, he actually demonstrates the different tapping points on your body, the meridian points, and walks you through a process. It's— each one's like 10 steps, but he'll actually guide you as you think of a negative belief or an emotion that's holding you back. You go in that place and you go through and you tap the different places around your body and you just could feel it. And you actually— what I love about it, it's very measurable. You rate the level of pain or anxiety or stress around a specific thought or behavior or situation, and then you go through the tapping and then you rate yourself again. And it's remarkable to be able to see the progression and how you could actually transcend the things that are holding you back. Absolutely. At dealing with these emotional freedom, these points, if you will. Next, episode number 43, The Best Time to Do Anything, with Dr. Michael Breus. Now, Dr. Breus is an expert on sleep. He's extraordinary about this. In this episode though, people are always talking about the why or the what or the how. In this episode, we talk about his book, The Power of When, and it's a real masterclass in this thing called chronotypes. Chronotype is like a body type, and because your body— everyone's a little bit different— we express our hormone production. And so based on those hormones, there are different types, time types if you will, and you can identify the best time to do certain things. And so the 4 chronotypes are a lion. And so it's kind of interesting, you have an early bird and a night owl. Which one do you— Lion. identify with more. The early bird, he calls a lion. The night owl, he calls a wolf. And then there's a bear, and there's a dolphin, and then we go through this whole assessment. If you haven't listened to this, the reason why it's important is because it's, it's not just reading, but it's when's the best time to actually, based on my body type, to read, to check my email, to be able to maybe work out, to be able to go to sleep. To do all these different things. And so once you know the power of when, you know when you're gonna get the most return on the most important investment you have, which is your time and your attention. Episodes number 51 and 52, I want to highlight. This is How to Fix a Broken Brain. A lot of the questions we get are, Jim, I could identify with what you went through, or I'm suffering from these conditions or struggling with this, or my child has this. And for this episode, we bring in Dr. Mark Hyman, who's the New York Times bestselling author of 11 books and also the founder of that Broken Brain series, which I was a part of. And so we did 2 episodes on how to fix a broken brain. In the first one, we talk about things to add, and we also talked about things to take away. And we did this whole thing, he shared a whole process for detoxing, getting rid of the toxins in your brain and your body, which your brain is obviously part of. of your body. Foods also, foods like broccoli, foods like garlic that help detoxify. We talk about the power of heat therapy and saunas, and when you go through a sauna, using like charcoal afterwards to help pull out the toxins out of your body. So Dr. Mark Hyman is an expert in this field, and if this resonates with you, make sure you listen or re-listen to those episodes. Episode number 55, Creating Smart Learning Organizations and Teams. with Vishen Lakhiani. Now, this was a really popular episode because many of you have relationships, whether it's with work or if you're with your family, and you're thinking, how do I get them committed to really utilize all this incredible resource, this human capital, if you will? How do we find their passions so that they feel lit up when they're working? And here he shows a model, a framework, if you will, to help people define more of their drives around 3 things. Goal setting around 3 things. Number one, it was around experiences. What experiences do your team want to be able to enjoy? Number 2, growth. Growth. Who do they have to become in order to be able to experience those experiences, if you will? So their growth goals. And then finally, the third one are their impact or their contribution goals that drive them. So when they're growing, they have more to be able to what? Give. 'Cause I really do believe the process is you learn to earn so you can return. Learn, earn, return. It's be, do, have, share, right? And because once you be a certain thing or you believe a certain thing, you can do those activities or those behaviors and get, have those results, whatever those results might be. And then finally, what do you wanna do with those? You wanna share them with other people because when you share something, We talk about the power of giving. In our episode, we talked about the 4 Gs, about growth, about grit, about gratitude, and the power of giving, and how it rewires your nervous system, and how altruism, the power of altruism, which we talk about in another future episode, it helps you stay in what they call that flow state. If you haven't listened to this episode with Vishen Lakhiani, highly recommend. If you have a team, you have a family that you wanna get Really passionate about learning and growing and contributing, this would be the episode. And episode number 79, using the power of your imagination for more courage, more creativity, and more what? Change. Because a lot of people, they want to change something in their life, and we brought on Beth Comstock, former vice chair of General Electric, an incredible learning, leader, you know, a learning leader, someone who learns all the time so they can lead at the highest level. I mean, at the time she had over 300,000 employees, and it was all about using imagination at work and in your life. And there was this quote, she talked about failure and the power of making mistakes and how to get past the, you know, free yourself from the concern of making mistakes with other people, because she, as an introvert, would sit in boardrooms and she would have these ideas. But how do you use your imagination in a way that feels good for you to have courage to be able to express those ideas? And she has this great quote that I ended up putting on my desk that I think about, about failure. Because I believe that failure is not the opposite of success. It's what? It's part of success. And you might be thinking, Jim, you know, yeah, there is one area of my life I'm not putting a spotlight on, and there is some fear around there because I'm fearful of what? Making a mistake or looking bad or not being enough. or failing in some way. And what I would say to you is this. She said this exactly. These are the words. She said, if failure is not an option, then neither is success. I mean, just, that's like a truth bomb for me. I literally have goosebumps. I call them truth bumps. If failure is not an option, then neither is success. And so reframe what failure is. When you take a child and he or she falls 5, 6, 7 times, They don't give up. They don't like, oh, I'm not gonna walk anymore, right? But as adults, sometimes we do this because we suffer from this learned helplessness. So I would encourage you, if you want to use imagination and put it to work towards your life, towards your career, to have greater courage, to have greater creativity, or make bigger changes in your life, re-listen to that episode. Now you see the through line of what I'm talking about in these 10. There are many more, obviously, that we could pull out of this. I would recommend you Go to the ones that really inspire you the most, the one that you feel pulled towards. The one thing all these experts would agree on is that knowledge is not power, that it only becomes power when you what? When you utilize it, because all the podcasts and episodes and coaching and even all our speed reading and online programs, none of it works unless you work. And so what I encourage you is put this to use. And to help you to be able to do that, over the next few weeks, we're gonna do something really special. We're gonna create a Kwik Challenge. You can actually go to kwikchallenge.com. If you want inspiration and motivation to be able to take on new things and change your habits and to do the things that I just talked about in this episode, we're gonna make a free challenge where every single week I'm gonna give you a new challenge and we're all gonna do it together. And there'll be prizes because, as you know, many of you are doing our One Book a Week Challenge, which we've done for a couple years now, where every single week we send out books. And Amazon gift cards for people who post pictures of the books that they're reading and share their big ahas with everybody else. We want you to fall in love with learning again. So if you wanna be part of this Kwik Challenge and put these— this knowledge into action and turn it into real power, because knowing is half the battle, but applying is the other half. So go to kwikchallenge.com, K-W-I-K challenge dot com. You get all the details there, and we'll go through every single week I'll challenge you to get to the next level of your learning and also to your life. Take a screenshot of this, share your big aha from this, your favorite episodes if you have a favorite episode, and thank you again for making this podcast so successful. Every time you listen to it, every time you share it, every time you subscribe or leave a review, that means everything. I mean, we're— our team, it's the biggest joy we have because we know what's in this podcast. And we know what's in you. You know, as I say, your life is like an egg. If it's broken by an outside force, life ends. But if it's broken by an inside force, life begins. Great things begin on the inside, and you have greatness inside of you. You have genius inside of you. And when would today be a great time to let it out? I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you.