Jim Kwik: Limitless
EPISODE 173
For the last 25 years, Jim Kwik has helped everyone from celebrities to CEOs to students improve their memory, increase their decision-making skills, learn to speed-read, and unleash their superbrains.
In Limitless, readers will learn Jim's revolutionary strategies and shortcuts to break free from their perceived limitations. They'll learn how to supercharge their brains with simple, actionable tools to sharpen the mind, enhance focus, and fast-track their fullest potential.
INTRO
Jim Kwik introduces us to ‘unlimiting’ our life
Limitless Framework (3m41)
MINDSET & MOTIVATION
Jim Kwik and 10 (quick) ways for unlocking your brain
Limitless Mindset (55s)
Jim Kwik says we all have a purpose (P) but we need to optimise our energy (E) and focus only on small simple steps (S3)
Limitless Motivation (3m33)
METHODS
Jim Kwik gives us 5 mental hacks to be more productive
End procrastination (2m56)
Jim Kwik breaks down hacks on improving your comprehension and retention rate
Speed reading (1m41)
OUTRO
Jim Kwik gives us the one skill we need to master
Learn how to learn (1m39)
READING:
READING LIST:
Limitless — Book Summary and Application
5 Ways To Finally Stop Procrastinating Using The Zeigarnik Effect
TRANSCRIPT
MikeParsons: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the moonshots podcast. It's episode 173. I'm your co-host Mike Parsons. And as always I'm joined by the quickest gun in the west. Mr. Mark. Pearson Freeland. Good morning, mark. Good
MarkPearsonFreeland: morning, Mike. But rest assured again, similar to last week, I'm not asleep at the wheel and maybe I'm not even pulling the guns outta the holster, but I am firing an all cylinders inside my brain today.
Mike, how are you doing?
MikeParsons: I have a certain cerebral activity going on and I think our listeners are about to get that too.
MarkPearsonFreeland: I think you're totally right. Listeners Mike moonshots team today as part of show 173, we are digging into Jim Quick's limitless. Upgrade your brain, learn anything faster and unlock your exceptional life.
Mike, I could barely even get out the title. I was that excited to do into the show.
MikeParsons: It's could he make any more promises on the cover of his book?[00:01:00] Upgrading your brain, you had me there. Yeah. Learn anything faster. And then how's that unlock your exceptional life? We talk about being the best version of yourself, but.
An exceptional life sounds pretty good. And this book by Jim quick limitless is pretty hot stuff in the kind of self transformation universe. It really covers mindset, motivation, the mission and learning. And what's really great is I think we get at the chance to put learning into context and understand why it matters and remind ourself of that.
But I think we also get some pretty good hacks on thinking. Better and learning better. Don't you? Yeah.
MarkPearsonFreeland: I think what I really enjoy and I'm excited to get into today's show about limitless with Jim Kwik is we cover so many individuals, entrepreneurs, superstars, authors, who are moonshots.
They've gone out, they've done something and. [00:02:00] I think we always gravitate Mike around the idea of learning, being essential part of these individuals. I think what's really interesting in a slightly different take as we reach number two within our latest habit series is Jim Kwik's books. Like you say, bringing us down into the essentials hacks or ways of thinking that can unlock our brain's capacity to learn better.
And Jim quick he's a self-professed brain performance expert who better to teach us those core techniques to unlock our brains than Jim quick.
MikeParsons: I know. And it's really interesting. It's This is, with all of these new authors, it's a chance for us to reinvestigate, reexamine, how we think about some really fundamental things.
And today's no difference. It's all about learning. And I really love this opportunity to. Step back and say, oh my gosh, learning is so important. I would argue [00:03:00] mark, that learning is a fundamental practice of a growth mindset. And if you accept that the world is ever changing and ever growing, then you need to continuously learn.
And I love the idea that by learning we can, open up possibilities, we can grow, we can, we can build our self-esteem and confidence of adding another book into our, personal libraries of skills and expertise. I really do that. One thing that is so fundamental to my satisfaction and fulfillment, both at home in the office, professional and personal.
However you wanna say, it's all about learning and you are hearing this from somebody who only spent seven weeks at college mark . So I'm all about hacking, learning. Nontraditional ways of learning to optimize how we think making better decisions and getting the most outta life. I think it's all in front of us.
Mark. Don't you.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Oh, [00:04:00] blind me. I couldn't agree more. I see learning in exactly the same light. I get so much out of learning out loud with you and our listeners each week on the moonshots podcast, as well as obviously our master series. So learning really for me is a foundational level for me to try and be that best version of myself and Mike talking about best version of ourselves.
I'd love to just jump straight into a fantastic intro clip with our author of this week's show 173 Jim Kwik, and the fundamental foundation, I suppose you could say of his book, limitless is around what he calls a limitless framework. So to set ourselves off and you and I, and our listeners world of Jim quick and limitless, why don't we hear from the author himself talking to us about the limitless framework.
JimKwik: So fearless motivation as a saying strong mind, strong life. And I wanna take it to a new level. This is about limitless mind, limitless [00:05:00] life. This is a framework I call the limitless model and it's a three part framework. Imagine three intersecting circles. They overlap each other. And each of these three things are, what's gonna unlimit you process.
I call in the book, unlimiting a. Actively removing the borders and barriers to your life. So I want you to imagine a box that you feel stuck in. It could be an area of your life where you're not making progress, or you're not advancing. You feel like you're being held back. Maybe it's in your relationship.
Maybe it's in your income. Maybe it's in your career. Maybe it might be in your health or your fitness. Think about an area of your life right now, where you feel like you're in a box. Now that box is a three dimensional box and there are three forces that keep you in that box. And there are also three forces that will liberate you out of that.
So let me give you the framework right now. It's in these three circles. The first circle is called your mindset. Your [00:06:00] mindset and how I define that is your set of assumptions and attitudes on what you believe is possible, what you believe you deserve, what you believe you are capable of, what you believe is in your power.
And so that's your mindset. Now the second circle is your motivation. What is your motive for taking action? Now, a lot of people, they think motivation is getting hyped up, going to an event. But the evidence that you are motivated is that you do something you could say you're motivated. You could feel like you're motivated, but if you're not acting and working out or reading or doing the thing you need to do, and you're not really motivated.
Are you the final piece though? The third M you have mindset and motivation is. Your methods are the strategies, the techniques, the tools, the process, if you will, for achieving that goal. Now in the book, we talk about accelerated learning and the methods are on speed. Reading on memory improvement [00:07:00] on.
Focus concentration on how to study technical material and half the time. But if you don't have the mindset and the motivation to use those tools, there's a big lie. And that lie is that knowledge is power. Here's the thing. All the videos, podcast programs, none of it works unless you work too knowledge is potential power.
It becomes power. When you, what. When you put it into action and that's really the key. So when you see this framework of mindset, motivation, and methods, what I want you to see is those intersecting points where mindset crosses over with motivation. You have something called inspiration. Where mindset and motivation mix, you have inspiration.
And there are mindset books and motivational books and mindset speakers and motivational speakers. And they're inspirational speakers and inspirational books and inspirational movies where mindset crosses over with methods. You believe it's possible. And you know [00:08:00] what to do. That's idea. It only stays an idea because you lack.
The what the motivation and where motivation crosses over with methods, you have something called implementation. You're motivated and you know what to do the methods, but you can still be stuck in that box because you're only gonna be able to achieve what you believe is possible, what you believe you are cap of what you believe you deserve.
MikeParsons: Oh, mark. That is one big model he's dropping on us. I just wanna break this down and make this super practical because I can imagine when you hear all of these, my brain is oh, pause Jim you were talking about my and possibility. Just stop there for a moment. Let me this. Let's walk it through mark let's break down this limitless framework. I think, he talks about 3m S motivation, mindset and methods. Okay. And if you're getting into this, just jump over to moonshots, do a, hit our show [00:09:00] notes and you'll be able to actually see this framework. We'll have a link in the show notes for you, but we'll paint a good picture for you here on the show.
So let's start with motivation. We've actually done a whole master series on that. So you can dig that up@moonshots.io as well. And I think what he's saying is a limitless framework of continuous and hyper learning making learning a superpower starts with motivation and you asked.
Know your purpose. Why are you here? This is really critical. And if you want to explore. Answering the question, why am I doing what I do? What is it that I am born to do? What is my purpose in life? Why do I exist on this planet? What is my gift? If you are at all unclear, as I ask those questions, you have to ask yourself why to help build your motivation.
So go do our, a master class [00:10:00] on, on that, because that will really help you out. You definitely wanna check out Simon Sinek as well. If you want get into motivation and understanding your okay, mark, that seems to be the big motivation piece he's saying be. Where be present in your purpose?
Isn't he?
MarkPearsonFreeland: Yeah. How else can we become limitless as Jim quick says, unless we know exactly what it is that motivates us, because if you don't know what motivates you, you are always going to have a limit or a ceiling to your mental capacity capabilities and drive to go out and do something.
Because if you get. Your passion undercover. And you understand yourself. That's when I think you can go out and be that 10 X version of yourself. Can't you.
MikeParsons: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we got motivation down. He was talking about his second M the mindset thing. What were you thinking? Let's UN help me unpack that one, mark.
MarkPearsonFreeland: I think we cover mindset a lot on the show. Don't we? We've done a number of [00:11:00] master classes and mindset seems to come up with a lot of the moonshots that we do on the show. And fundamentally what Jim quick calling out here is that your brain is a super computer. Your brain is so powerful.
And we hear from another couple of clips with later in the show, he gives us advice and techniques in order to hack that supercomputer to a certain extent. But what I think he's really calling out here is how to harness your mindset and therefore not be. Your greatest enemy, not let bad habits or procrastinations get in the way of you being efficient, not allowing you to be and have too much of a traditional mindset.
And instead, try to harness through the power of motivation, a better growth mindset when it comes to. Looking at the borders or boundaries of some of the things that you see in your life, whether it's work or social or family life. And instead it allows you to almost redraw those boundaries and anything that you saw as fixed or [00:12:00] traditional and unmovable.
If you harness your mindset you essentially can go out and achieve and absolutely anything in your life. And therefore be. Limitless. I think that's really what Jim
Quick's
MikeParsons: going for here. Yeah. So to achieve this mindset of possibility, he's talking about, you have to stop avoiding challenges. You have to stop giving up.
Don't be threatened by others. Don't feel a need to try and be the smartest person in the room. Don't ignore feedback. And. Really turn yourself towards a world of possibility to see value and perseverance, accept feedback, and criticism, accept challenges, and have the deep desire to find inspiration from the efforts of others to build your own abilities and to learn.
That's a whole world of possibility there. So we got mindset and we got motivation done, but then he brings us to methods and what's so great [00:13:00] about the work. That Jim quick has done in the book limitless. And what we're gonna do together on this show is we're gonna dig into a whole lot of methods for having this limitless learning superpower.
Mark, this is, we are setting the scene for a, quite a fundamental sea change. If you're looking for a turbo boost in learning. I tell you what, you've come to the right place. And I'll tell you, there's a whole bunch of people mark, who are looking for that turbo boost. That would be our Patreon members.
Do you not agree?
MarkPearsonFreeland: I totally agree. These are our limitless moonshot family. Aren't they. These guys and girls and individuals, they're all going out there being their limitless self. So I think Mike, as per our traditional, I've gotta give them out a role call. So drum roll, please. For all of our members on Patreon, we've got Bob Neils, John Terry Bridey, Nile Marline, and Ken Dimar, Tom Byron and mark Aja [00:14:00] con RGO Yasin spaceman, Daniel, Lisa, Sid, Maria Paul.
Berg and Kaman guys, thank you so much for being members of the moonshots family.
MikeParsons: Yeah. We're so grateful. We've got, it's crazy this modern world of software as a service, it feels like you can get any cool service for. Recording transcription for hosting for our website, but they all cost us 30 bucks a month.
So we end up, paying, in excess of a thousand dollars a year, just to put the show together before that even considers our time. And it's you, our Patreon members. That are actually helping us pay some of those bills. And we are super grateful and we invite all of you who are listening right now.
And there is over 50,000 of you. We encourage you to, what, jump over to moonshots.ao. Go and click on that member button and you [00:15:00] will be able to have all of that Luna powered, good karma, knowing that you are supporting this show, helping you, helping all of us to learn out loud, but I'll tell you what we threw a little extra in there.
Didn't we mark? What's that one thing that our members get that nobody else can get.
MarkPearsonFreeland: It's something pretty exciting, Mike. It is our master series. This is in addition to our weekly moonshot podcast. These are comprehensive deep dives into subjects and topics like motivation. First principles, collaboration habits, circle of influence the art communication entrepreneurship.
Finding your purpose, which Mike you've already referenced on the show, particularly for today and brand new, hot off the press is second order thinking. So a wealth of masterclass is comprehensive deep dives into a lot of the subjects and the topics that we run into on the moonshot show. So if that sounds intriguing and you wanna learn more.
Pop on over to [00:16:00] moonshots.io, clip on the membership button and become members like all of the individuals who we love to give a roll call out every single show,
MikeParsons: right now we've got about 25 30 members, which is really cool, if we get a few more mark, we can actually start doing moonshots swag.
We can have a moonshots t-shirt we can have all this cool stuff that Patreon would help us do, but I feel like we needed like a minimum number of members mark to, to launch the moonshots to I've got some great designs in mind. One commemorating the moonshots speech by JFK ton of other ideas for the moonshots teases.
But what do you think is a good number? Like when do we release the moonshots swag? Ooh,
MarkPearsonFreeland: I've got a number in mind, Mike. And I'm feeling like 50 is a good number, but actually, maybe we should 10 X and maybe go a hundred. [00:17:00] What are you thinking?
MikeParsons: Yeah I'm with you. I think if we have a hundred members, cuz the is only available to the members.
I think that makes sense. And what we'll do is, if we get up to 30, let's say we crack the 30. Maybe what we can do is I can share some of the designs and people can see what they might look like and let's try and get crack the a hundred. Let's see if we can get the moonshots him to the next level.
What do you think mark?
MarkPearsonFreeland: I can't wait because I just wanna wear, I wanna wear that JFK
MikeParsons: t-shirt oh mate, I'm such a great design in mind for that one. So I'm pretty excited about that. And lots of ideas around shooting for the moon and realizing potential, I think is some really nice Really nice themes.
So head over to moonshots, do a, become a member and unlock the swag bag. But meanwhile, we are gonna tune back into everything to do with the limitless mindset. So once again, let's have a listen to Jim quick.
JimKwik: So really fast, the 10 keys [00:18:00] for unlocking your quick brain and we can do it together. Number one is good brain food.
All right. Good brain food because you are what you eat matters as. To your gray matter. All right. Number two is killing ants, automatic negative thoughts, your self talk. So the third thing, exercise, number four, brain nutrients. If you're low on B vitamins, if you're low on DHA, then you're gonna have cognitive issues.
So supplement number five, positive peer group. We know who you spend time with is who you become six thing for your brain, clean environment, clean air, clean water, because there's a lot of pollutants. That's, that's not good for your cognition, right? Number seven, sleep. This is a big one for so many people.
Number eight is brain protection, meaning that I work with a lot of athletes, high perform athletes. Concussions are a big deal. Ninth key to keeping your brain alive is new learnings. Finally, number 10, stress management.
MarkPearsonFreeland: 10, very short, quick fire tips and tricks, Mike, that we can utilize to unlock [00:19:00] our optimal or limitless brain health.
These feel very in line with some of the tips and tricks that we uncover every week on the moonshot show. But there's definitely a couple of brand new ones in there on.
MikeParsons: There is, we recently did the Robin Sharma show and I think there's some really nice overlaps here. I wonder, there's whole, there's 10 here.
And if you wanna dig deep in those head over to moonshot.ao, check out the show notes, you'll get it there. I think we should play a game. Mark. Let's pick one. That's the most unusual or surprising from Jim kwik's 10 keys to unlock optimal brain health.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Okay, I'll go first. I think the one that is coming up a lot within our future shows show number 174 that we'll do with Jen.
Sinero you are a badass. There you go. There's a quick teaser for you listeners on what's to come in the moonshots schedule. And I'm actually really interested in the idea of [00:20:00] that killing ants. So what he means by hand. So automatic, negative thoughts, and as we all know, sometimes your subconscious your own worst enemy is that old classic phrase.
That's the thing that gets in the way of maybe innovation, a lack of confidence gets in the way of having the tough discussions or the tough moments at work. When actually when you put yourself out there, the re the reward is far greater. Than you think, or maybe the situation isn't as bad as you've imagined.
I think that's a great tip very short and sharp, and we can dig into it more in the next show as well. Killing Anne's automatic ne negative thoughts really stands out to me.
MikeParsons: Yeah. And I think one of the things that we've learned is that very successful people, prime their subconscious with.
Like a burning desire, a clear vision positive affirmations.[00:21:00] And I think that do not underestimate the power of what we learned from, Dale Carnegie and Stephen Covey or Napoleon Hill, for example, all of which present. This idea that you can make the switch away from automatic negative talk and prime yourself to automatic positive.
Talk through those things that I mentioned. Breath work, relaxing, positive affirmations, envisioning the future, feeling the future. This is a really big pattern amongst successful people. This is when they're working on themselves, they see themselves in the future succeeding at realizing their vision.
It sounds so cheesy. Doesn't I'm, I've climbed. I am there with the trophy, but. As cheesy as it sounds, do not underestimate. If you can get over that. And get [00:22:00] into envisioning seeing you yourself doing the thing you deeply want, but maybe you're too scared to even take that first step. Envision it, dream it, visualize it, affirm to yourself on a daily basis.
You can do it. You want on to that's to me at the heart of killing ants, don't think.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Yeah. And I've utilized that technique before in my career, you before a big important meeting a presentation and it is quite. Relaxing in a sort in a certain way you can believe or visualize as you say, the good success.
Maybe it's a happy client or a great call with some colleagues where everybody feels super, super happy. If you can visualize that, then you are creating that atmosphere in your mind that yeah, it went well and therefore. Because you've killed those ants. You're able, which sounds a bit aggressive, actually killing [00:23:00] ants, but if you kill those ants, then you are going into it far more open and I would argue in more of a growth mindset again.
MikeParsons: Yeah. And I'm gonna pick, I'm gonna pick something fun. He talked about. Looking at your nutrition looking at your brain nutrients I thought it would be really interesting to explore that, and I know there's all sorts of supplements that you can take. Some people say.
The debate, the value or the effectivity of supplements, but just generally speaking for if you wanna boost some brain power, you can start with caffeine. Okay. That's definitely one that you'll see. A lot of people will refer to another one that I'm a fan of fish oils.
So a omega three fatty acids. They're really good, but if you wanna abstract away from, all of these different supplements like [00:24:00] creatine there's a whole bunch that you can get into. I think the clear call to action would be to go to the Michael whole show that we did where he said, eat food, mostly green.
Not too much. And what the real message there is, make sure that the food you eat is not highly processed, have a bias. They don't, you don't have to be hardcore vegan or anything, but have a bias towards eating green stuff, like broccoli, spinach, this kind of good stuff. And then, not too much portion control, particularly in the Western world, portion sizes can be quite ridiculous.
So follow that simple mantra and I think your brain will thank you. Won it, mark. Yeah,
MarkPearsonFreeland: I totally agree. So listeners, if that sounds intriguing and you are hungry for more head on over to moonshots dot I or your podcast app of choice and check out show number 158, Michael POS in defense of [00:25:00] food in order to get that little bit of brain power going.
And Mike, we're not quite done yet with mindsets and motor innovation. Actually, we've got another clip from Jim quick. Who's now gonna break down the formula. That he believes adds up towards a really efficient way of unlocking your limitless motivation. So let's hear from Jim quick again on motivation.
JimKwik: Now there's a key formula for achieving sustainable motivation. And if you procrastinate, you put things off or you sabotage, you need to look at your motivation. The three step formula is this P times, E times S three P times E times. Three. So the P stands for a purpose. When you wanna be motivated. I want you to ask yourself this question, why must I do this?
What are all the benefits that will come the rewards that I'll achieve by doing this thing? And what are the consequences that I will feel [00:26:00] if I do not do this? So the P eat is purpose. Have a reason. Great book. Start with why by Simon Sinek, start with your, why. Why must I do this? The E in the equation of motivation is this energy.
Here's what my mind did. I pulled out in my thought experiment and I said, I wanna build the ultimate motivated human being. If they have a big enough purpose, will they always be motivated? And I thought, no. Because they could be lacking the energy. If they don't have the energy, let's say that maybe they're motivated they're they have purpose to work out.
They know all the reasons and all the benefits, how they're gonna feel and look, but maybe they have a newborn and they didn't sleep for two days in a row. What are they gonna do? They're not gonna be motivated cuz they lack. Energy or let's say you wanna read, we're famous for teaching people, how to read at least one book a week.
Maybe you wanna read one book a week, but you ate a really big processed meal and you're in a food coma and [00:27:00] you can have all the reasons and purpose, but you don't have the mental. Energy, a mental fatigue and brain fog. So you can't get yourself motivated to read. So you need to optimize your energy in the book.
We talk a lot about the best brain foods, how to lower stress, how to optimize your sleep so much more, but you need to tap in. To that well of energy. And finally my mind said, okay, if we're building the ultimate motivated human being and you have the purpose and that person has unlimited energy, will they always be motivated?
And I thought, no, something's missing. If that thing is too big. Your goal is too big, too intimidating or too confusing. Like maybe your goal is to find your soulmate and live happily ever after that's way too big. Maybe your goal is to have, the perfect physique and six pack abs that's way too big.
Maybe your goal is to make the next billion dollar online brand. Way too big S three stands for small, simple [00:28:00] steps. Here's how you get that small, simple step. You asked yourself this question, what is the smallest action I can take that will allow me progress towards this goal where I cannot fail? What is the smallest action I could take that allows me progress towards this goal where I cannot fail.
Because it requires very little effort, very little energy. So maybe you're not gonna think, oh, I gotta work out every single day. Maybe your small, simple step. If you're not motivated is getting on your running shoes. Maybe if you wanna read a book a week, maybe that's too big. Maybe it's just that day.
Opening up the book or read one sentence and you're not gonna stop at one sentence. Are you? No, of course not yard by yard. It's. Too hard, but inch by inch, it's a cinch. That's the goal. Break it down in a tiny steps.
MikeParsons: Inch by inch it's Essent. It is so true. Like I think what [00:29:00] we learned in the Tim Ferris show is, so many people suffer from what Jim just talked about.
They set these wildly ambitious targets. They're so big that they become overwhelming. And pretty soon you can't track any progress towards it. Cause it's you've you've set the goal at the outer limits of the universe. And you've you've. Just can't see any perspective to that. It's just too big, too far away.
I love this idea. Of like defining the smallest possible next step. Gosh, that really helps getting to, to the bigger stuff. Doesn't
MarkPearsonFreeland: it? It reminds me of James Clear's atomic habits. So the idea of compound interest over time through those small little steps or as Jim quick puts it the S three small.
So if you can, rather than take on a huge, maybe it's your new year, I'm gonna get a six. Within the first couple of weeks. Hey, I'm I haven't got a six pack yet. Okay. I'll throw it out the window.[00:30:00] I think this is exactly what he's saying, Jim, quick saying, isn't it. Break it down into those manageable chunks, those small little steps that therefore you are not gonna get put off instead of.
Trying to lose 10 stone, just start smaller because otherwise you're gonna lose that motivation. And I think that's really speaking to, in that clip, this idea of habits, this idea of motivation being essential towards achieving your goals. And again, As we heard from Jim quick, it all starts again with purpose, which is, and purpose and energy, which he's really speaking about throughout the rest of the book, as well as mindset.
Yeah. And I'm getting quite a lot from that. Mike how did you find it?
MikeParsons: I like apart from the small things, I like the energy piece. And I think that for everyone listening to the show right now, we're all probably like feeling a bit knackered a bit tired because there's a lot going on in the world of which we don't control, but causes us some concern and some worry, and that kind of car us a little bit of a [00:31:00] cloud across our day.
I've got a couple of quick questions, mark, to unlock the energy factor. Should you want me to try them on you and let's see how you are doing on your energy factor. You want for this? Yes, please. Yeah, it's a bit of an experience. Okay. And these are questions that I ask myself if I wanna make sure my energy out of the blocks is good.
All right. So listeners, I want you to think about these questions and your answers will reveal to you. Are you creating the conditions for having lots of energy during the day? Okay, here we go. Marker. Let's test it on you. Do you regularly get enough sleep brackets? Roughly eight hours? Yes.
Okay, good start. Good start. Do you reflect and plan the day in the morning in a quiet and calm setting?
MarkPearsonFreeland: I do sometimes I'll even allow it to overlap into the night before. [00:32:00] So that I have a little bit of a plan before I start winding down for bed. But my morning it is when I'll review the, to do list the calendar.
Sometimes it isn't the quietest setting. Maybe I'll be on the exercise bike, but it's in a situation where I can start to reflect and think about what it is that I need to go and achieve.
MikeParsons: So that's interesting. So you could do a little experiment of doing your reflections and planning. In a calmer setting because that's right.
The could improve exercise. Yeah. The exercise bite might be just taking you out of the reflection a little, right?
MarkPearsonFreeland: I think so. I think that's definitely something I could try and
MikeParsons: improve the calm setting. All right. Question number three. Do you meditate or sit in stillness on a daily basis?
MarkPearsonFreeland: I do, but it's invariably as I'm winding down to, to go to bed.
So it is not. Necessarily, and I've flirted with different structures for that meditation moment in [00:33:00] my day. At the moment I tend to be leaning towards the latter half I E just before I'm winding down for bed. So I think again, I could improve that. I could bring that earlier in the day, perhaps, even into my morning as we were learning from the F IBM club with
MikeParsons: Sharma.
Yeah, exactly. Because you, when you meditate, when you are off. Fresh and awakening. It's very different to the wind down, right? Correct.
MarkPearsonFreeland: It is a different feeling
MikeParsons: actually. Yeah, because what I find really nice about meditation in the morning is you find stillness and calmness. Whereas when I'm.
When I'm meditating in the evening, I often am waiting for the reveal of my body to send me the signal that I'm tired. When you feel those fatigue moments or those wind down signals. So very different states, both are really pleasant. Don't get me wrong, but you [00:34:00] might enjoy that.
And you might find that gives you a new energy during the
MarkPearsonFreeland: day. Yeah, I think that's very easy to inject into the routine actually.
MikeParsons: All right. So here we go. So we're I got a couple more, so stick with me mark and listeners, make sure you're asking these questions of yourselves because this is what I believe will unlock your energy.
Do you move, stretch or walk out every morning?
MarkPearsonFreeland: I. I do every single morning. Sometimes it'll vary this morning. I managed to get a good, long run and stretch in. So that was a luxury sometimes if there's meetings or requirements to do in the morning that therefore force me to shorten that window.
I will do that, but it is essential in my. Preparation for the day to get moving, to do some form of exercise, whether it's walking or cycling or running, it's just stretching. Great. That's 100% part of my day, my morning
MikeParsons: two more inspired by Michael Poland. Do you eat [00:35:00] a balance diet with mild portion?
So eyes on most days.
MarkPearsonFreeland: I remember when we did the Michael PO show and I confessed that I had pretty big portions. I have a good di and it's pretty healthy and similar to what pollen was saying, focusing on greens and vegetables and plants. And for example, a good salad last night, but I think I must admit portions are often pretty big.
So I think I could bring
MikeParsons: that.
Do you perform and recite your plan, your life plan, positive affirmations and positive visualizations daily?
MarkPearsonFreeland: No, not daily. Oh, I'll be honest
MikeParsons: too. Here's what's really interesting. Mark you just through going through that in order to meet Jim Creek's energy factor, we found that, Hey, sleep looking pretty good.
Reflection little optimization could open [00:36:00] up some meditation in the morning. Great. On, on, on diet and exercise and you could prime your subconscious with some more positive ideas. Yep. And see how that unlocks more energy. How cool is that?
MarkPearsonFreeland: What a simple little test. Yeah. And it and I think obviously, as we tried to do just then you've gotta be honest.
Don't you have to be disciplined with your answers. And. I've been scribbling notes as we've done that. Mike and listeners we did that off the cuff. So don't think we had a, my answers written down that was a pure behind the curtain of Mark's motivations and energy there. I am, I'm taking quite a lot away from that, actually, that's a few really clear, actionable points to,
MikeParsons: to test you.
Yeah. And I just think all of us, myself included all of us. Feel like the last few years have been a big energy drain. So that's why to me, this, the practice that we've just done together is so important for us all to do regularly is to ensure that [00:37:00] we protect our sleep that we reflect in, in, in calm and quiet plan in the quiet meditate, sit in stillness and think about.
Nada move every day, eat well every day. And one of the big things from some of these classics that I keep mentioning is prime your subconscious with PO productivity, with positive ideas, productive ideas. And that is the perfect, punch back at negative thinking, which Jim quick has mentioned.
So a lot in the energy factor, isn't there. Mark.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Huge elements within the energy factor, all of which enables us and drives us towards that limitless idea of mindset and performance.
MikeParsons: Totally. And if you're feeling rather limitless and you are now primed with some energy I reckon you want to jump into your podcast app, leave a reviewer, right?
Don't you.
MarkPearsonFreeland: That's right. I think it will be only for those limitless individuals. And again, just to give them a [00:38:00] quick call out, we had some great ratings and reviews coming from Sarah goes vegan as well as Caleb podcasts over the last few weeks. And we really appreciate, again for those individuals who either join us.
As Patal members, all those who leave us a rating and review it's really appreciated because it helps get our word out there into the four corners of the globe, helping everybody around the world, learn out loud with us.
MikeParsons: Yeah. It tells those algorithms, you know what? This moonshot podcast it's right. It ain't too bad.
Maybe our recommended in some search results. So there you go. That the inner workings of machine learning at both apple and Spotify now, As you are fully primed and ready to rock and roll. What we have to remember is it's not always, we are leaping into action. In fact, sometimes we differ and mark, I'm a little guilty of putting things off sometimes.
How about
MarkPearsonFreeland: you? I could answer that [00:39:00] question, Mike, but I don't think I will yet. Maybe I'll come to it later.
MikeParsons: While you are thinking about your your answer, why you are deferring and delaying your answer, why don't we learn from gene quick, how you can end such procrastination. The
JimKwik: question is how do I stop procrastinating?
How do you stop putting things off that are important that you need to be able to do? So I'm gonna give you a few quick tips on how to eliminate procrastination. The first tip I would say is put it off procrastinate, procrastinating, right? I put that tongue in sheet, but if you're so good at putting things off, then put off putting is off the second tip.
I would say on how to overcome procrastination is this thing called break things into chunks, break things into chunks. They call 'em tiny habits. And here's the thing. Sometimes we have it in our mind that it's a big monster that we need to slay or a big mountain that we need to be able to climb. The best thing to do is to break it down into individual tasks.
The third tip on how to overcome and beat procrastination is [00:40:00] begin. The ZY Garic effect. What's a ZY Garic effect and our memory training, the that we do and teaching people how to remember names and faces and languages. And so on, we talk about the ZY garlic effect, and basically it was this.
Psychiatrist Dr. Psych Gar. And she was in Europe at a cafe. And she noticed that the wait staff would remember everyone's orders. Have you ever had somebody like that at a restaurant remembered all the orders by using their memory. And she wanted to find out how, and she called and said psych Garic effect.
And basically it says that they would remember things for as long as that order and delivered. But as soon as that order was delivered, it closed the loop. And all of a sudden they forgot. How do you apply that to procrastination? If you start somewhere anywhere, just one place, you have this open loop and you're more likely to finish it and close that loop.
The next thing I would recommend on how to overcome procrastination is be kind to yourself. What do when I say, be kind to yourself? Studies and self-compassion reveal something interesting that when you're [00:41:00] hard on yourself and you beat yourself up because you didn't work out because you didn't write in your journal because you didn't meditate that day because of whatever you didn't do you think that it would help you to be able to overcome it the next time to be more motivated to do it, but it actually has the opposite effect when you were actually kind to yourself and you.
Self compassion. You're more likely to follow through in the future. And the last quick tip I would recommend is really to tune in to your why. One of my very favorite books is a book called star with Y by Simon Sinek. And really, I believe there's a success formula that if you're not getting yourself to do the things you need to do, I call it H cube.
It goes from your head to your heart, to your hand, could a firm thing and think about all the things and set goals in your head. But if you're not acting with your hands, You're procrastinating. You're usually not tapping into the second age, which is your heart, your emotion, the energy emotion. One of my early martial arts teachers taught me that you can't steer a parked car, right?
You need fuel. You need energy. So tap into your why. So what I want you to do is think about all the [00:42:00] rewards that come from doing this activity, the things that you're gonna incentivize yourself, the things that motivate you, all the benefits that come from doing this thing that you're putting off, because remember this reasons.
Reap results.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Reasons reap results, Mike, again, we're gonna dive into one or two of these in more detail, but just to recap, cuz it was pretty quickfire there. We had put off procrastination from Jim quick, breaking it into chunks. So again, I think small, simple steps and habits. There's iconic effects that I think we should break down in a second.
The idea of being kind to yourself, as well as finding your purpose or your reason why similar to Simon Sinek. So five big tips and tricks and mental hacks in order to be more productive. How did you and less procrastinated, how did you feel about those five hacks? What really stood out to you, Mike?
MikeParsons: The I think it was more of a confirmation on remembering your purpose. Breaking big things into small things.[00:43:00] I thought the putting off procrastination thing, it reminded me of the Eisenhower matrix, which we've mentioned before on the show, which is all about plan and allocating time to tasks.
Putting it actually in your agenda, not just in a to-do list. I think that's a really powerful practice because otherwise it's very easy for your inbox to steal the day from you. So plan it into your calendar as is what I took from that. And it's just there's just so many of these great hacks from Jim quick.
I feel like I've now got into fifth gear and I now wanna learn how to do this speed reading thing that he talks about a lot in the book.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Yeah, that's right. Funny, you should say that, Mike, because we've got the next clip really breaking down into some of the other tips and tricks that Jim quick has within his book limitless.
And that is, as you just said, speed reading. So let's hear from Jim quick now, breaking down, hacks on understanding and retaining more. When you do read reading. [00:44:00]
JimKwik: If you've ever read a page in a book, got to the end and just forgot what you just read your mind. Wanders, get easily distracted. Here's why, when you read something, you feed this incredible super computer of a brain, one word at time metaphorically you're starving your mind.
And if you don't give your brain, the stimulus, it needs, you don't seek entertainment elsewhere in the form of this. Traction in the form of mind wandering the biggest myth and lie about speed reading. And I think it's spread around by slow readers is that if you read faster, your comprehension would what you feel like it would go down, but it's not true.
The truth is the faster readers tend to have better apprehension cause they have better focus. Eating slow is riding a bicycle, slow you wobble, and then you fall. But here's the secret. If you [00:45:00] want better comprehension while you read faster, because it's like driving a car. If you're driving a car going slow through traffic, you're not really focused on driving.
You're doing five different things. You're drinking your coffee. You're texting, even though, you shouldn't, you're putting on makeup. I saw. Someone the other day shave it. You're doing five different things, but if you're racing cars and you're taking care, pin turns as fast as you go, do you have more or less focus?
The answer is obvious. You're focused on what, on the act of driving and on what's in front of you. That's exactly what it's like for reading. When you're reading faster, you have focus on the act of reading and what's in front of you.
MikeParsons: So I love that. I love that idea of it's like riding a bike too slow. I was so busy visualizing this idea of reading one word at a time. Like you're almost losing balance on the bike. That was really powerful metaphor. It's a
MarkPearsonFreeland: really handy metaphor and speed reading for me has [00:46:00] always been.
A, a lesson or an exercise that I've wanted to get into, but I've never found the time or an easy way of doing it. I've always tried to at particularly recently I read a lot of books in my Kindle because it's handy for moving house traveling so and so forth. And.
Occasionally, I will find my, as we all do, my mind will drift and I never until really digging into Jim Quick's book limitless and his ideas around speed reading. Did I put two, two together and. Conclude that my brain was just a little bit bored. not necessarily by the story or by the content, but by the speed that I was doing it and what I, and it's a really interesting, almost meta idea, thinking of my brain as slightly separate to me.
And unless I control the. The flow of information into my brain, will it be able to comprehend and therefore retain [00:47:00] work and content or videos or books in this case? And I think that's a really nice little visualization of a bikes when you go slow at wobbles and B maybe F1 drivers going around a at a hundred miles an hour, they're gonna be more focused than the ones in LA traffic.
Aren't they, it's a really nice little breakdown there from Jim quick.
MikeParsons: Yeah. And I know that in his book he talks about a whole bunch of small things you can do. You can use a visual pacer, like you use your finger to track the words. And you can what he calls, activate your peripheral vision.
So trying to see the whole page or whole paragraph rather than just the word. And then as you go through it, Asking good questions skim. He talks about skimming the whole page first. And then definitely marking it up, capturing it. That's something that you've heard me talk a lot about. I'm always marking up everything I read, whether it's on a Kindle or in Insta paper, that's a really good way of active learning, because [00:48:00] feel there's no problem when you are just reading for leisure.
For example, I love cheesy spy books, right? So I'll jump in there and I'll just kick back and in, just enjoy the book. But if you are reading something that is really designed to be a insight and content for you to learn, perhaps it's nonfiction, you. Then I think you should be sitting up noting questioning pausing.
Did I really understand what they said? I think this idea of active reading and using some of those quick hacks can get you a long way to not only reading faster, but retaining more.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Maybe Mike on the next show, you and I should speed. Listen, and we'll listen to all of the clips at double speed.
MikeParsons: oh, that does my head in that totally does my head in.
MarkPearsonFreeland: I've tried that before and it does it, it does go a little bit too quick but it, for me, this insight around speed eating and building on what you just [00:49:00] said. Is a really interesting one. And I've even been since going into the show and thinking about limitless, I've been trying to practice speed reading more regularly.
Whenever I'm sitting there, either, either reading a fiction book or something more educational, let's call it. And it is it I'm still. Learning the ropes. And I still don't know whether I'm retaining quite as much as I would if I was going slower. But I think like anything in life, it's just about practice making it a habit.
Exactly. Making it almost your behavior. So I'm quite excited at this concept of fine learning, a good piece of advice. Good little bit. A lesson from Jim quick with regards to speed reading.
MikeParsons: Yeah. And it almost brings us perfectly to this idea of whether you are speed reading or preventing procrastination using the 3m model from Jim quick, all of this is in service of learning how to learn, and that's exactly what we are going to enjoy for [00:50:00] Jim quick, in our last clip of the show on how to learn.
How to learn.
JimKwik: And I think if there's one skill to master in the 21st century, especially today, it's your ability to learn faster. If there was a genie could grant you any one, wish any one wish, but just one wish. What would you wish for infinite wishes? Millions of wishes. If I was your learning genie and I could help you learn any one subject or anyone's.
Skill become a master, any one subject or one skill. What would the equivalent be of asking for infinite wishes? What skill or subject it'll be learning, how to, what learning, how to learn? Because if you can learn how to learn, you could grant all your wishes. You could apply that towards money, towards marketing, towards management, towards Mandarin, towards music, towards martial arts.
Everything in your life gets easier. Learning how to learn is the most important skill to apply it towards something like [00:51:00] upgrading your brain. Like you would upgrade your phone and simple things that you could do, because here's the thing. This is not about how smart you are. It's not how smart you are.
It's how are you smart. It's not how March you are. It is how. Are you smart and here's the final words. Your life is like an egg that if an egg is 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 now is a time to apply that fearless motivation to have your limitless mind, to have and enjoy your limitless life.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Let greatness and genius come from within, Mike, Jim's just done a nice little synopsis for us there in that final little clip he has. I think once again, his power in creating quite nice visual [00:52:00] metaphors is doing Testament here because I love this idea of having the three wishes, but really if you can unlock your desire, almost make a ha a hobby of learning, being the thing that you dream of.
You can go out and master and learn any skill. I think that's such a. Good affirmation as to the value of being a lifelong
MikeParsons: learner. It really is of all the things we covered today. It was rather limitless agenda. But is there one that, that really grabs you, mark? Is there one that is gonna get some further study from you?
Maybe this one? I, by the sound, but it sounds like that's the big experiment that's happening.
MarkPearsonFreeland: Exactly. I think that as well as the idea of the motivation, so the little exercise you and I did around energy I think I can work on that as well as the speed reading. I think that those are gonna be the things that I'm gonna take away and proactively look into.
Wh what area, what technique, what concept to habit [00:53:00] is gonna be something that you are gonna take forward after the.
MikeParsons: There's a lot, I liked his 10 keys to optimal brain health. I'm totally into that kind of stuff. And that was perhaps a bigger message for me in setting the conditions. We did that little exercise.
We went through that checklist of questions. I think, So much of it for me is the self-awareness to create the conditions for the best work to happen. And in his case, Jim quick is explaining how we can do that for learning. And I'm an avid learner. I'm like number one fan for learning. I feel like this is almost.
It's got me super inspired to set the conditions. And then I feel like I'm gonna tap back in for different little things, speed reading, comprehension, retaining more knowledge. That was actually how it worked for me. So a little bit different from you, right? Yeah,
MarkPearsonFreeland: a little bit different, but I think that speaks that's Testament to the variety that we can get from any of these [00:54:00] shows.
Whatever works for you. Sometimes people are running 10 K sometimes you're running one. K I think with any of these. These habits or practices, we're all just going at our own pace.
MikeParsons: Aren't we certainly are. And mark, I've enjoyed running this pace with you, this limitless pace. So thank you so much for learning out loud with me and thank you to you, our listeners and our members here, we are on.
And.
Limitless and boy, it was a limitless show. And I think more than anything, we learned how to upgrade your brain, learn anything faster and how that can help us unlock your exceptional life. And at the heart of that was Jim Quick's, limitless framework, mindset, motivation, and methods. And we explored in each of those areas, we learned how to end procrastination.
We learned how to improve our comprehension of information. Through speed reading and [00:55:00] all of this ladders up to the meta practice, the letter mindset the really meta habit, which is learning how to learn. And if you do that, you'll be well on your way to a growth mindset, because learning and growth are intertwined.
They are inseparable. If you pursue those, if you prioritize those, you are guaranteed to giving it a good shot to realizing the very best vote. Of yourself. And you can do that all here with us at the moonshots podcast where we learn out loud together. That's a. wrap