Memory expert Jim Kwik met President Clinton at a charity gala. Clinton shared how his grandfather in Arkansas would tell stories then quiz the kids, teaching him to pay attention. Kwik says this presence and deep listening is Clinton's secret to a bulletproof memory, and anyone can do it.
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I met President Bill Clinton at a charity event. It was like 2,000 people. And I go to my assigned seating. Forest Whitaker sits right next to me, right next to him, Richard Branson, and then Ashton Kutcher, and then Ashton Kutcher's twin brother. And then about 20 minutes into it, President Clinton sits right next to me. And we had met years before, very, very briefly. When he sat down, he said hello to me by name. And I was just like, wait. And then I was like, okay, of course he knew who was sitting at his table. And then he picks up a conversation that we had a couple years earlier. Nobody was privy to that conversation. And I was like, dude, I'm the memory guy. I need to know how you're doing this. Right. And he tells me this story in Arkansas with his grandparents. My grandfather in the living room would tell stories to all the kids, but afterwards he would quiz each of the children to see if they were paying attention. So he learned very early on to really listen and be present. The secret is he's powerfully present with people. And who could do that? We can all do that. But sometimes when we're at events, we have the habit of looking over people's shoulders. Or maybe you've been at the receiving end of this where people, you know, they're not listening. They're looking around seeing who's more important and they're not listening. They're thinking about how they're going to respond or they're waiting for their turn to speak.
