You are now listening to The Model Health Show with Shawn Stevenson.
For more, visit themodelhealthshow.com.
We know that reading is one of the most remarkable ways to learn and to retain information.
But when we say we're reading a book, if it's an audio book, does that still count?
On this episode, you're going to find out the differences and similarities when it comes to learning and retaining information from a physical book versus an audio book.
And you're also going to learn some incredible insights that will help you to accelerate how quickly you're able to read and to assimilate that information.
And you're also going to discover this incredible new science around something called neuro stacking, neuro stacking.
And one of my favorite parts about this interview with the world's leading accelerated learning expert is when we talked about something called cognitive flexibility.
And I'm telling you now this skill, this mental skill, this brain skill is needed today more than ever.
We need some cognitive flexibility.
When it comes to cognitive function, some people are stiff as a board.
And some people are super bendy.
Let me see you do that yoga.
All right.
And I'm telling you again, learning from the world's foremost expert is priceless.
And I've learned so much from our special guest today.
And not only that, being around him and being a part of the events that he's put together.
This is where I was able to share the stage with Quincy Jones.
This is where I was able, to another event, meet my literary agent, who was just there attending the event along with me.
And that was how my international bestselling book, Sleep Smarter, came to be in existence.
And at this point, Sleep Smarter has been translated and published in nearly 30 different languages.
Slash countries.
And it was from being around our special guest, attending his events online.
Another event that him and I attended together is where I found out about podcasting.
You know, nearly 15 years ago.
And it was due to somebody that he introduced me to.
Magical things happen around our special guest.
And I'm eternally grateful.
And I'm grateful to be able to share this with you today and to also share with you.
And you're going to get the details at the end of the episode that he has one of these live events coming up.
And I'm going to be there doing one of the keynotes, along with several other guests who've been here on the Model Health Show.
And you can come and hang out with me and our special guest in person.
And you can get the details for that event at LimitlessLive.com.
All right?
Come and hang out with me.
Experience an immersive event where I'm telling you magical things.
These incredible synchronicities.
These incredible connections happen.
Not to mention the priceless, the invaluable information and education that we get from these amazing speakers.
So...
Check out LimitlessLive.com.
And now let's get to our special guest and topic of the day.
Jim Quick is an internationally acclaimed authority in the realm of brain optimization, memory improvement and accelerated learning.
With over 30 years of experience, Jim has dedicated his life to helping people to tap into their brain's full potential.
Jim is a New York Times bestselling author and one of the most sought after coaches for industry giants like Google Nike, SpaceX and institutions like Harvard and the United Nations.
He's here today to teach you how to unlock your limitless brain potential.
Let's dive into this conversation with the one and only Jim Quick.
I've got one of my good friends here.
And people say that, but they're not really good friends.
You're actually one of my good friends, one of my favorite people in the world.
Jim Quick, good to see you.
We go way back.
It's great to be back.
So you're well known for reading a book a day.
All right.
You have consumed a lot of incredible information and you've been able to process things and share it with the world in various ways.
But a question that I have, we've got this huge innovation in audio books today.
Mm hmm. do audio books count when we're counting the number of books that we're reading?
So I teach people how to read faster, so it kind of helps to read a book a day.
I read a book a day for four and a half years.
I'm not doing that now, maybe three, four books a week.
I would rather go a day without eating, honestly, than a day without reading.
And because of my learning difficulties growing up and I couldn't read.
My teachers would have been surprised if I read a book, much less wrote a book.
But I love audiobooks.
I'm a fan.
There are some differences, though.
So I'm sure some people listening, they prefer audiobooks.
They're very convenient.
I grew up in the personal development industry where they say, turn your car into a university on wheels.
You could get a PhD or a master's just in your commute to work or school.
When people are tested though, for comprehension and retention, reading actually outperforms audiobooks.
And one of the reasons why, as everyone can imagine, is usually when we're listening to an audiobook, we're doing something else.
We're cooking, we're cleaning, we're working out.
And so we're distracted.
So part of it is our focus is going a little bit elsewhere.
Audiobooks activate this auditory cortex.
Reading is more visual.
So is your visual cortex, which takes up a little bit more real estate in your brain.
So we process the way we teach reading.
Smart reading is more based on sight rather than sound.
One of the things that slow people down when they're reading and I imagine everyone.
It could relate to this.
When you're reading something, you ever notice that inner voice reading along with you Hopefully your own voice.
It's not like somebody else's voice.
They call it sub vocalization sub, like under vocal speech.
It's your inner speech.
But the reason why it's kind of a bad habit is if you have to say all the words, you can only read as fast as you could speak And that means your reading speed is limited to your talking speed, not your thinking speed.
And certainly we could think a lot faster.
People say a picture is worth a thousand words.
That's something that you're seeing.
But audiobooks, I use audiobooks myself for exposure of information.
Yeah.
It helps me get a nice general glimpse of information.
Obviously, a lot of people listen to it at higher speeds because you can understand that.
But you can't maybe read that fast unless you've had certain training like what we do.
But also, so when it's fiction narrative content you're reading, it's pretty much equal.
You know, when you're listening to an audio book or reading it.
But if you want to study something, I listen for exposure, but I read for mastery.
Because like an audio book, it's not easy to go back, right?
If you're reading and you want to really understand something, you can go back and reread it.
You could highlight, you know, what you're reading and emphasize certain things.
But reading, I think, is the best exercise for the brain.
You know, reading is to your mind what exercise is for your body.
And so you know, somebody has decades of experience, like you do, and you put it into a book which you've done many books and somebody can sit down and read that book in a few days.
They could download decades into days.
And what an advantage that is.
But yeah, I love audiobooks when I can't physically read something.
And I'm also.
I don't read a lot on screens more because of preference, because I just feel like we spend a lot of time on screens, so I don't need another excuse.
I also find I have more eye strain sometimes.
You know, with that.
But certainly there's certain advantages of you know, especially I'm on six city travel right now and it's easier than carrying you know.
Six books.
Yeah, pretty much.
Or 16.
Yes.
Right.
Yeah, no doubt.
Something else that I picked up from that is so we're using different parts of our brain, which is kind of obvious, but not obvious if you don't really think about it.
But with reading a physical book, there are other senses that are coming into play, too.
Right.
There's going to be just this heightened state of focus because we're choosing to focus on the words on the page.
But there's a tactile experience.
There is a field.
We're touching the book.
And one of the things that I learned from you years ago that transformed my reading speed is using a visual pacer.
Right.
And so I do that to this day.
I use a pen or I use a highlighter or I use my finger.
Can you talk just a little bit about that?
Because there's going to be people listening to this that haven't heard this before.
Why does that matter?
And certainly back in school, you're not encouraged to use a finger while you read.
They call it a visual pacer.
You use a pen, a highlighter, a mouse on a computer.
We're training our two-year-old to learn how to read, and naturally, he will use his fingers to help him focus, naturally.
And sometimes in traditional school systems, they'll actually frown upon that and not encourage it.
Maybe hit you with a ruler.
Yeah, that's interesting feedback to associate to that.
Some conspiracy theorists would say they wanted people to read more slowly and not learn and have knowledge inside their mind.
But yeah, your visual focus leads your mental focus.
Your eyes are attached to your brain.
They're only part of it, like outside of your skull.
And that's why the visual, you had a great podcast, a number of podcasts on eye health.
But some people aren't reading just because they're visually fatigued.
And that leads to mental fatigue also as well, especially if you're reading more quickly and more efficiently.
So that could be a challenge.
But yeah, when you use your finger while you read to help you to focus, you back skip less.
You know, you don't go back and regress.
They call it regression.
Also, your eyes are attracted to motion.
You know, something ran across the room, you'd focus on it because it's your survival.
It's also how your nervous system is connected.
There are certain senses that are really closely linked.
The example I use is have you ever tasted a great piece of fruit right off the vine or at the farmer's market?
A great peach or something?
You're not actually tasting a peach.
Your tongue is not capable of tasting what a peach tastes like as much as it is smelling the peach.
But your sense of smell and taste are so closely linked that your mind, your nervous system, can't tell the difference.
So there's this overlapping of senses, and just as your sense of smell and taste are so closely linked, so is your sense of sight and touch.
When people use their finger while they read, they'll report to us anecdotally they feel more in touch with their reading.
You know, even small children, I'll go to my son and say, look at my keys.
Look at my keys and I'll shake it in front of them.
And what does he do?
He reaches out to touch them in order to look at them, right?
And so it's fascinating, you know, to be able to stack, kind of like neuro stack.
You know that you could actually use more of your senses to Enhance your learning.
Same thing with if you really want to stack, you can listen to an audiobook while you're reading it.
Right, then you have the auditory and the visual and the kinesthetic of the touch and And that that will lead to more activation of your nervous system.
So you're gonna retain and understand it better.
It's more comprehensive.
That is.
I love that and I've done that several times.
Like I have the audio version of a book and And I might go to the audio first and then read it.
Yeah.
But usually it's the other way around.
Right.
So I'll read a book to get that kind of very focused version.
And then I put the audio book on and just have that in the background if I'm driving, or maybe you know working out just around the house doing stuff and hearing the story.
And it's kind of like a refresher.
Yeah.
And you're hearing it a different way.
Right.
Also as well.
Plus, there's that narration. from whoever's reading the author or whoever's reading it.
So it's a little bit more personal.
You know, I imagine a lot of people listening even with your podcast.
They feel like they know you because they listen to you right before they go to bed or when they're getting ready for work or when they're in the shower.
You know, it's, it's very, it's very intimate and the power of voice.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now you mentioned something that I'm so excited to talk to you about today.
And this is a new topic for people to learn about.
And you, you mentioned neuro stacking.
So can you talk about what that is?
And this can be a game changer in our lives today, especially today.
Yeah.
I haven't.
I haven't talked about this in books or on even our own podcast.
Uh, more on stages and neuro stacking is what I do.
It's kind of like, uh, your brain is like a symphony.
And let's say there's an instrument that's playing.
That's great, right, to listen to one instrument.
But if you're in an orchestra, there are other instruments that are layered into it at certain times, which makes even more magic.
And so it's really the science, the art and science of stacking certain behaviors and habits together to get even better results in a way that's more enjoyable and with greater ease.
So it could be as simple as an example of what we talked about listening to an audio book while you're reading the physical book at the same time.
It could be in the morning.
What I'll do is I'll drink my water, because we can lose up to a pound of water while we sleep through respiration and perspiration.
And your brain is mostly water, as you know.
Our mutual friend Dr Lisa Moscone talks about, if you're just a little bit dehydrated, how it affects your cognitive health, your cognitive performance.
But I'll drink some water and hydrate in the morning, but then I'll also stack like neuro, stack with it, like an affirmation, something simple.
And if you look at Dr. Moto's work in Japan where water...
When the words that you put on the glass or you say changes the way it looks.
You know, found at a molecular level.
It's kind of interesting whether that's true or not.
You know, it sets my intention.
So I'm like stacking.
Or you're doing deep breathing but you're stacking visualization of what your wind will be that day.
Something similar to that.
Or maybe you're moving and you're getting sunlight first thing in the morning.
Yeah, to help reset your circadian rhythm, to help you sleep better at night.
But then you're also getting the movement also as well which, as you know more than most all the brain benefits that come from movement.
Or having tea outside in the fresh air, as the sun's coming up, stacking those things.
Yeah, for me it's interesting, because what I love about this is it doesn't take a lot of time and it costs near or no money.
So there's no excuse for anybody, Even with your kids.
You could do these things with your children also as well.
Doing something like gratitude.
You could do gratitude along with your family.
And then so you're stacking the gratitude, all the benefits that come with gratitude neurologically.
And we could talk about that.
But then also you're creating connection with your family.
And you know the power of gratitude, just like you write about being around the dining table together communing, you know the power of relationships and those deep relationships, how they affect our happiness and our longevity.
So always looking for either things to stack together or back to back.
Because when you're looking at the science of habit formation, what makes it really easy, where you don't have to use willpower is it's all about having a trigger that creates a behavior right.
And then there's some kind of reward.
So maybe it is, you're making your coffee as a trigger.
And then the few minutes it takes for it to brew, you're doing air squats, right?
That's your trigger.
And then after it becomes a habit, you don't have to think about it.
You don't have to use decision fatigue, right?
You don't have to utilize all that, any kind of willpower.
It's just habitual.
And so they say that first you create your habits and then your habits create you challenge.
And they say 40 of our behaviors each day approximately, are habitual.
But but where do we design those men, and especially the habits of the routines, first thing in the morning and before you go to bed, because that's usually what you can control once you're in the midst of the day, there's fires to put out and there's family and there's might be a little bit of chaos, and.
But I'm very those bookends, especially when I'm thinking about neuro stacking.
I'm thinking about how I stack things in the beginning and at the end of the day.
And my mind are really broken into three parts, three Cs I tend to alliterate a lot.
In the morning, and it's different for each person, maybe their chronotype or maybe their lifestyle.
The um.
The first C in the morning is I'm looking, I'm thinking about care like self-care, but I'm also thinking about uh, I'm most creative in the morning.
That's when I really write.
So in the morning time I try, instead of tasks switching so much, I try to focus on one cognitive activity, which is being creative.
So that's, that's where I'm designing and scripting out podcasts, or I'm I'm, I'm writing right now for my next book in the afternoon is where I'll do more consumption.
So I create where I'm pulling out of my mind.
Later in the afternoon I'm in the mode where I could just focus on consuming, where I do research or I read my books or I listen to other people's podcasts.
And then in the nighttime, in the evening time, the third C for me is I want to clear.
So it's like I want to Control alt delete, which younger generation probably doesn't know what that is.
But I want to do a mental reset.
Because I want to get in that parasympathetic, rest, digest, set myself up for a good night's sleep.
And so how do you clear?
I could talk to a family member.
I could talk to my wife about my day.
That's a way of me clearing.
I could journal gratitude or some things I learned that day.
I could plan my day out for the next day, so I don't have to think and ruminate about the things that I have to do the next day.
It's out of my mind, so I don't have to worry about it or anything like that.
I can do a little yoga nidra to clear before I go to bed.
So yes, that's kind of how I break up the day.
And it takes less, because when you're task switching throughout the day, not only do you make more mistakes, but it uses up more energy.
And we waste time.
When you go from one task to another.
That's in a different let's call it a category different cognitive web.
You have to open up and shut down.
Then you make more mistakes.
It takes more time.
It can take 5 or 10, 20 minutes to regain your focus on that new activity.
And it uses up a lot of glucose.
You lose a lot of energy. lot of energy.
And so, if you want to be maximally efficient and be more limitless, we can be a more intelligent and more deliberate, more intentional with the choices that we make.
So you can be listening to a book and reading it and you have this synergy, this deeper integration.
So powerful.
I love this.
You mentioned briefly there, gratitude.
And there's a lot of science on this now.
It's very remarkable for what it does for our overall health.
But can you talk a little bit specifically about what gratitude does as far as our brain is concerned?
Yeah, you know i, i really think that gratitude is the uh, the memory of the heart if, if you will, that we're not, we're not always logical, but we're biological.
And gratitude, in a world where people there's a lot of fear, there's a lot of unknown or uncertainty, I think gratitude is very grounding.
It calms your nervous system.
For me, it's a way of getting to that parasympathetic rest and digest where I could restore better.
Sometimes when we're in fight or flight, we don't make the best decisions, right?
We're stuck talking about the brain, kind of in our survival mode brain, and it holds you hostage from your executive functioning, your problem solving, your ability to be creative, your ability to vision new things.
Because when your amygdala is set off, then you're under threat, right?
There's saber tooth tigers everywhere.
So I think gratitude is a wonderful way to calm down your nervous system, to slow your heart rate also as well.
And you know, and the simple exercise I do to be more grateful is Something like if you want to feel wealthy, count all the things you have in your life that that money can't buy.
You know, if you're blessed to have any of your senses, like you know, What would you?
Would you?
Would there be any price you would take to be able to, to give that away?
You know, or?
Or what if the only things you had tomorrow is another mental experiment?
What if the only things you had in your life tomorrow were the things you express gratitude for today?
And And it just lands different.
And the expression is what's important.
You can't just mentally, oh yeah, I'm glad I have a place to live and a job and people in my life.
But when you feel it, it just changes.
Do you have some kind of gratitude practice yourself or prayer at the dining table?
What does that look like?
Of course that's how I start off my meditation practice.
You know, after I do, you know, maybe do some breath of fire maybe, you know, just do some kind of breath work, then I'll sit for a bit.
But once I get into more active versions of it, gratitude is the first thing.
I've been doing that for many, many years.
And as a family, whenever we sit down to eat a meal together, we go around and share three things that we're grateful for from that day.
And we've been doing that for years as well.
And truly, you know, especially when you're dealing with a negative, uh feeling situation emotion, gratitude isn't like it's like an antidote for so many things that we deem to be negative.
It's just like an instant perspective shift, and so it's like a muscle though too, you know, sometimes being able to tune into that gratitude station can be a little bit difficult if we haven't trained ourselves, but it can really help to pull us out, reframe and also, as far as that family context, it's like uh, it's a unifier.
It gets us talking, gets us thinking and starting to also search through the day unconsciously, for things to be grateful for.
Because we know we're going to be talking about it later.
There's nothing but upside when it comes to gratitude.
So it activates that we've talked about in previous episodes, that reticular activating system, that RAS, where you start observing things that you can appreciate more.
And you start seeing that, just like when those exercises where they say close your eyes and think about everything around you.
That's the color green.
And then you think about, you don't seal up, but then you open your eyes, you do.
And then you say, OK, close your eyes, what's red?
This shines a spotlight on those things that's always there.
Because our brain primarily is more of a deletion device.
Because if we let everything in, we would be overloaded and overwhelmed.
But what we decide to let in are things that we're interested in, things we have questions about, the things that are important to us.
And I think gratitude is the primary emotion for creating or manifesting anything you want in your life.
Because I know.
I mean, how many of us know people who have a lot of, let's say, a lot of material things, but they're not very happy.
Right.
Gratitude is the antidote for fear, for stress.
And when we're in that state of appreciation, I feel like we perform better.
And, you know, even giving is another part of it.
When you when you give, you teach your nervous system that there's there's enough.
And so being very intentional.
And what you just did at that meal, you're doing neuro stacking, right?
You're eating a healthy meal.
You're communing with people that you love.
And gratitude is grounding.
So it's like stacking.
So it doesn't take necessarily more time.
It's also, it's not just what you're doing is what you're not doing where most people are working while they're eating.
And that puts them in a stress state.
They're in the sympathetic state.
So not digesting.
So it's not even just like what you're eating.
Of course, you want to eat the best foods possible that are nourished, because what you nourish flourishes.
But it's also you know when you're eating and how you're eating it, because a lot of people are not even tasting their food nowadays because they're just focused on whatever else there is.
Yeah.
Wow.
And by the way, shout out to everybody who's watching on their phone right now.
Yes.
Thank you for having lunch with us or dinner, whatever the case might be.
But that's a that's a neural stack as well.
You can do it intentional and be able to sit with people who are virtual friends and mentors from afar.
Things that you can never do before.
It's such a blessing.
And with those mentors too.
If there's conversations then then you're getting the novelty and the nutrition at the same time.
You're learning and making those new connections because neuroplasticity, which is a phenomenon of our brains, our nervous system's ability to make new connections.
We could think new thoughts.
We could have new feelings.
We could change our beliefs and the way we look at the world.
So it requires novelty, like building a muscle, right?
You give it some kind of stimulus, some kind of novelty.
You work it out and then you give it the proper nutrition to build.
Same thing with neuroplasticity, novelty and nutrition.
So having great discussions around meals is you're getting your nutrition while you're getting the novelty of new ideas.
You're feeding your mind and your body.
Got a quick break coming up.
We'll be right back.
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And now back to the show.
We've already covered so much to make our brains stronger, but just like our physical body, our brain also needs flexibility.
It's something that we can develop, that can help us to be more resilient, that can help us to perform better, and this is something i'm so excited to talk to you about again.
Having having access to you and insights like this is priceless.
It's changed my life like 20 000 times.
But let's talk about cognitive flexibility.
What is that so, just like uh, physical flexibility, which everyone's familiar with, when you're more pliable uh you're you're, you're not, you're less rigid, You're less prone for injury.
You want to be mentally flexible.
Cognitive flexibility, I think, is one of the most important traits to cultivate, especially in the age of technology and information and artificial intelligence.
What it allows you to do is to be able to solve problems, to be more creative, to be able to be, as you mentioned, more mentally resilient when you're faced with difficulty.
You know, I'm thinking about cognitive flexibility where you're not stuck, and rigid where you're going to break, as opposed to bend, which is a big difference.
And so some people are so rigid in their thinking.
It's like the you know all the examples of Kodak was very.
They had the brilliant engineers back then but they weren't cognitively flexible to be able to adapt, to be able to change, to be able to evolve.
That would be an example.
Or Netflix and Blockbuster.
People stuck and being cognitively inflexible to a certain way and doing the same thing and not evolving.
And so I feel like now especially is important because the amount of information, the half-life information, is getting shorter and shorter, which means in X amount of very small amount of years, that information is outdated because of new research that comes out and new information.
I feel like your mind is like a parachute.
It only works when it's open.
But sometimes, even when I do corporate training, I train maybe 200 of the Fortune 500 companies out there on accelerated learning, building learning organizations, speed reading, memorizing sales scripts, names and faces, those kind of things.
And some people there, especially when I got started 34 years I'm 52 now.
34 years ago like I'd be in front of a corporation, an executive team and people there are two, three times my age.
And they say like, oh, I have, I have, I have.
30 years of experience in this sales or whatever it happens to be.
And then, when you have a conversation with that person, they're not cognitively flexible because they haven't adapted or evolved.
Because when you really find out, it's not that they have 30 years experience.
It's more accurate to say they had one year of experience that they've repeated 30 times.
Right.
And so they're not.
They're not improving and changing and evolving and adapting and learning and growing.
And then you become outdated.
Then we become more extinct.
And so cognitive flexibility is just like physical flexibility is your ability to adapt, to be able to be kind of like, it's like mental parkour, right?
It's like you'd be able to go and jump and go and not be stuck in one place.
And I feel like knowledge.
Yes, you have more knowledge.
You can make better decisions and create a better life or business or whatever your pursuits are.
But I think really human beings it's not, it's more our ability to adapt and adapt intelligently and quickly, to be able to respond, because it's like your operating system.
If you have an opportunity to get these software updates in real time and these patches in real time, that's like the greatest advantage ever, as opposed to having the old things.
That was five years ago, because then you're just going to slow down, you're going to make mistakes, there are going to be bugs and blind spots.
And so I think cognitive flexibility would be in one of my top superpowers to cultivate, because it's not something you're just born with.
It's something like everything else, like gratitude, is something that's trained right and you have to be able to have to make the decision, the self-awareness that's important, and and introduce yourselves.
Even now.
People are so tied to certain identities, right.
They have a certain way of knowing something and really what they're doing when they're faced with something else.
That's an opposing opinion and There's that threat.
There's a psychological threat which lights up your amygdala, where you feel like you're under attack.
And then you go into defense mode.
And then you get your state changes into one of fear or anger.
And you're not really thinking about what they're saying as much as you're thinking about how to protect your own identity.
Because our ego gets in the way also as well.
So how do you remain cognitive, flexible in a world when you see opposing information?
Something contrary to your worldview.
And that can be a challenge.
I'm sure all of us have a belief that we used to have that we'd be embarrassed to say today.
Maybe it's a health thing.
Like for me.
30 years ago, I heard Someone very notable saying you should juice all these oranges every morning.
And when I was in college, I didn't have any money to get organic oranges.
And I would have to walk to the grocery store with the little money I had to get these oranges and walk all the way back and spend all the time juicing them, thinking it was good for me.
And I didn't realize that this was going to affect my insulin and my glucose and all these spikes long term.
But that was what my current belief level was.
But being open and cognitively flexible to new ideas based on new research allows you to make different choices, which allows you to do different behaviors and get different results.
So, yeah, mental parkour parkour.
Yes.
Shout out to that episode of The Office.
You know what this reminds me of?
There's an amazing quote and it's just it really it really complements the story that you shared.
This is a quote from Muhammad Ali.
He said, the man who views the world at 50 the same way as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.
I love that quote.
And this also has me thinking about what we were talking about before the show.
And I love for you to share this story.
We were talking about, and I just asked you, do you, have you watched boxing recently?
You know, because a big fight just happened, Canelo versus Crawford.
And I asked you when's the last time you know you?
You saw a fight and then you said share that story.
Oh well, I don't want to.
I don't want to drop names, but I work with a lot of people in Hollywood helping them speed read.
Scripts remain focused on sad when they need to memorize their lines and all those, those many pages of scripts.
And I got I get a message from uh Sylvester Stallone when this uh Mayweather Pacquiao fight was happening years ago.
And, uh, he says, you want to watch the fight together?
And, uh, cause he was, he was kind of hosting a watch party at his home.
And I was like, yeah, of course I want to watch the biggest fight with Rocky.
Right.
So I go over there and uh, we're in his, he has his home theater and I'm sitting on the couch and uh, right next to me is is Sly Stallone.
And this is great.
And then right a few minutes afterwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger comes in and sits right next to him.
And uh and I swear, if you take a picture of that couch, people would be like who Photoshopped that Asian dude in that, in that photo?
Um, but I'm also curious, like them in the fight, you know when when uh, the distance wasn't too thrilling, but I always feel like genius leaves clues.
So when I asked these two individuals, like, you know, what did you think about that fight?
And uh, And I was like what's the difference between somebody at that level and somebody like an amateur?
Because I feel like, wherever you are in your stage of growth, it's just important to remember that every professional was once a beginner, right.
Every expert was once an amateur, right?
And we're just showing up every single day and growing.
And we all start in kind of that place.
You know they're willing to.
I mean, it's kind of cliche about working hard, but this is like they're willing to do what other people aren't willing to do, right.
And then, when you're willing to do what other people aren't willing to do, you can live a life that most people don't most people can right.
If, if they're willing to push past the pain to be able to get that thing that they really want.
You know, it's like it's kind of like that marshmallow test that they do with kids, where they put a marshmallow in front of a child and said this is yours.
Um, but if you don't eat it, for if you wait for 15 minutes, we'll give you three marshmallows, or something like that.
And they follow up years later and those people could delay gratification um, which is also a superpower, you know, tend to uh, Be more happier and have more wealth and abundance and health and all that good stuff.
But yeah, that was a fight to remember for sure.
Incredible.
So basically also you don't be watching fights.
No, I don't.
Just to be clear, obviously boxing and fighting is not good for your brain at all.
To be absolutely clear.
And I'm honestly kind of torn because I enjoy, you know, I go to occasional UFC fight.
I like seeing people in sports.
Yeah. especially because I think there is a great metaphor.
I like this human excellence.
Yeah.
You know, especially the mental component to it.
But I'm not a big fan of concussions and TBIs.
And maybe I've been traumatized with my own, you know, as a child and work with so many people who struggle, you know, with those focus issues and brain fog and migraines and all the things that I had, you know, from my injuries.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The same.
I'm a big fan of excellence.
I love studying excellence and witnessing it, getting proximity to it.
It's contagious.
And this Crawford Canelo fight, like these are those generational fights.
These don't happen very often.
Two undefeated, well, Canelo, he's like 62-2.
He lost two fights.
And Crawford was undefeated.
I think he was like 39-0.
And undisputed champions, they both have all the belts, belts on belts.
But it's a great example with Crawford who won that fight, which again beating Canelo is, I mean to say it's extremely, extremely difficult to do.
Mayweather is, you know, one of the only people to beat him.
And nobody's ever knocked either of these fighters down in all these fights.
But Crawford was a fantastic example of cognitive flexibility.
And Canelo even shared that in so many words.
He shared that he couldn't figure him out.
In all of his years of experience and his dominance in the sport.
He said I couldn't figure him out.
And it's because Crawford was so dynamic and flexible in what he was able to do.
He can literally.
There's an orthodox stance where you're right-handed stance, and then there's a southpaw stance where it's the left-handed stance.
And he is arguably the greatest fighter ever to be equally as effective with both.
And he utilized what was working best as well as his footwork, with keeping Canelo from being able to do what he wants to do.
And so I'm watching and I'm witnessing these small things and I'm just like, this is so incredible.
It's a chess match.
It's a chess match.
And Again, not to glorify getting punched in the head, but to witness excellence is something special.
And just to put a little cherry on top with the fighting and the brain trauma, one of our mutual friends, Dr Daniel Amen.
He has the largest database of in the world by far of brain scans.
He's scanned everybody's brain, from Muhammad Ali to Justin Bieber, you know to, of course, tons of everyday folks and executives and athletes.
And his data was used for the big NFL study.
And so one of those obvious things was that came from his data.
Yeah, combat sports, worst thing for your brain.
Football.
That's up there in the top three as well.
But surprisingly, soccer, soccer players have some of the worst brains.
And it was when he first said it.
It was then I was like oh, but the ball seems so like light, like that's not.
But it's the jarring of the brain because the brain is existing in this fluid.
And he's just like basically, it's like shaking up a pickle jar, like your brain being a big you know two pound consistency of butter thing organ in this pickle jar and just getting shaken up all these times when you're heading the ball.
So we need to be aware of this stuff, not to take away from the joy of sport, but one of the things he advocates, and so do you.
Brain protection.
Brain protection yeah where where, where?
Even simple things like wear a helmet and avoid those kind of those kind of micro concussions or those micro impacts which could really add up to to big you know he talks about changing your brain and changing your life.
I went to dr amin in 2010 to get my brain scanned.
Yeah, it was a challenge because of my TBI as a child and I've also flipped off bikes.
Back then, it was different, right?
We were out there, and we'd climb monkey bars, and there would be no mat or anything.
It would just be concrete or gravel right below you.
It was those times.
I remember I wasn't very well supervised.
My parents immigrated here and they had many jobs, so I was just home alone a lot and I would climb up to the attic.
And I remember falling down from the attic straight down and just like, just like yeah, these kinds of things right.
It was definitely a booby trap in yourself.
Yeah.
We definitely have to protect our brain, you know, but it also affects our cognitive flexibility because, I mean, the brain is very resilient but it's very fragile.
But also when it comes to our mental state.
And, you know, I think one of the things people could do to develop more cognitive flexibility is to introduce, you know, kind of like CrossFit, for your brain is challenging yourself with new things and new ideas.
You know when something could be like something as simple as your frame of the way you look at things.
Like we have an event that we do annually, a brain performance event that you've spoken at.
And I remember that one particular one that you spoke at.
Could we kind of bring together the Avengers of performance?
And we have one coming up in December, which we're so excited.
It'll be the best we've ever done, three days of just deep immersion and performance.
But this one, Quincy Jones was there, and I pulled him out of the audience, and, you know, a legend.
You know, he was in his 80s, and he's just...
You know this amazing producer music thriller founded Oprah.
Like all this, you know Will Smith, all of that.
And so I won all these Grammys.
And when they pulled him on stage for Fireside Chat, kind of an impromptu, he was like I was asking him, like everybody knows your successes.
We are the world and all this.
I want to know like about your problems.
And I don't know if you remember this, but he said that I don't have any problems.
I'm like, what do you mean?
Like everybody has struggles and problems.
And he's like, no, I don't have problems.
I have puzzles.
So that would be a reframe.
That's being more cognitively flexible.
Because all of a sudden you put a new label on something and you perceive it completely different.
I'm like, wow.
That was a big aha for me.
Even if we have the video, my face changed because I've never looked at problems the same way.
Because problems are something you dread, right?
Problems are something you have to deal with.
But a puzzle is like.
At least when I grew up, puzzles were fun.
They were challenging.
There was a solution to it.
So you could change the frame, and that changes.
It helps you become more cognitively flexible.
It opens up more options, more solutions.
And another one is just leveraging these micro-stimulus, where you could do something different.
I've been talking about this for 30 years.
Try, when you're brushing your teeth, use your opposite hand.
That helps you to be more cognitively flexible.
You're challenging a routine.
And it's not just potentially, it's engaging a different part of your brain, these cross laterals that one half of your brain controls the other half of the body.
God forbid somebody has had a stroke.
If it happened on the left side, maybe they're paralyzed.
They're going to be probably likely if there's any paralysis on the right side.
Right.
Because one half of the brain controls the other half of the body below the neck.
But it's not just that, you know, it's just not the mind body connection.
It could be a body mind connection, where using certain parts of your body could stimulate different parts of your brain.
That's why the cross laterals are so important, so important for children to learn to be able to crawl.
Because the number one reason you have a brain is to control your movement.
And as your body moves, your brain grooves.
So something simple as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand okay.
So potentially it's activating a different part of your brain.
Or maybe even using your opposite hand.
While you're using a visual pacer, going back to reading could challenge a different part of your brain.
But not only that, there's two other benefits of doing it.
It forces you to be present.
Because if you never brush your teeth with the opposite hand, you're not going to do anything else.
You're going to focus on that activity, right?
So, especially first thing in the morning, you get to flex your focus muscles as opposed to your distraction muscles, right?
Multitasking while you're brushing your teeth.
And then the other thing is, I think the biggest benefit, it becomes a gateway habit.
Wow, I've learned to brush my teeth with the opposite hand.
That's a new habit that I do now.
What else can I add?
What else can I do so I actually can change my habits?
I don't have to be kind of like, as a reminder that you could be the pilot of your mind, not the passenger.
So like little things like that, challenging yourself to do new things.
You could.
You know if it's safe to be able to do things with your eyes closed.
You know, with sensory deprivation, help enhance you know, your coordination, develop other senses.
That'd be like a way of flexing your cognitive flexibility, right?
And also having conversations with other individuals that hold opposing views.
So many of us.
Especially with algorithms on social media, we tend to see the things that we engage with the most, and it becomes this echo chamber where you just hear the same thing.
You're validating, you see the same evidence.
And so many people because thinking is the hardest activity.
What's the quote?
Thinking is the hardest activity there is.
That's why few people indulge in it, because it takes a lot of energy to change our thinking for things.
But generally, we're not looking for new ideas.
We're looking to reinforce what we already know.
And with algorithms, we only see that, but we don't see the opposing view.
And then when we are in a conversation with somebody And there's this whole idea where you could have your strong convictions loosely held.
Not my idea.
It's just this idea where, if you're presented with new information or new facts or new research, that you're open to that.
But when you feel like your amygdala is on fire, it's on fight or flight because you feel like you're being threatened, you know.
And then it's how do you create psychological safety when you're communicating to somebody that you care about and you're holding this like deep emotional, like charge over some thing, some situation or some, some ethos?
Um, you know, and that's why i think it's so important to negotiate to make that person feel safe.
Right, because it's really hard to change them with new ideas, or another thing is somebody holds the opposing idea.
Get curious yourself, you know, like if you had to argue for that point of view for five minutes, what would you say?
And you know, and so you get to exercise your own empathy and you also, through mirror neurons, you demonstrate that this is okay to like when you're talking to somebody with an opposing view, that you're vulnerable, that you're curious, that we don't.
It's humbling because we don't know it all.
And that makes them feel more safe also, also as well.
And then maybe, instead of spewing facts which is because people are just going to just delete and distort, to reinforce what they already know, right?
That's part of the human condition.
You could talk about stories, which tend to be more the narrative tends to go in easier.
You know talking about, when you talk about stories and we used to be talking about storytelling to be able to remember things like the greatest teachers in the world, use parables and metaphors.
It just allows people to feel a little bit safe and open to new ideas.
And you don't have to switch somebody.
Let's say you want to talk to somebody who's cognitively inflexible.
You could demonstrate your own flexibility.
Entertain that nobody is 100 right, but nobody's 100 wrong.
You could get curious, which is a superpower, because that keeps you learning and growing.
And when you're talking to them, you don't have to switch them to 180 degrees.
Maybe just try to shift their perspective, even five degrees, know a little, a little bit, and start bringing some momentum and some kind of uh, mutual understanding um, and can you find understanding within yourself?
Try to understand them yeah, where they're coming from their perspective, ask questions, especially with their own cognitive biases that we all have.
That's something that i'm so grateful.
I don't know where it came from, But I have this check in with myself.
You know occasionally, especially when I start to, it's kind of like that.
Mark Twain quote.
You know, when you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.
And so questioning my biases, questioning what I believe to be right and just inquiring.
And I think it's healthy because it keeps you it keeps you more balanced.
And I think it it also makes it easier to to understand people.
And there's that great quote from St.
Francis of Assisi, seek first to understand and then to be understood.
Right.
And so, by me having that open ability to question myself, it makes it so much easier and more graceful to to ask questions and try to understand someone else.
Yeah.
And that openness is cognitive flexibility in action.
And when you're flexible, you have more options.
And in game theory, everything else being equal, the person who has the most options will inevitably win.
And that's the thing.
It allows you to see more opportunity.
It allows you to see more solutions.
And it allows us to evolve.
It's the same thing.
With this idea, where you mean who wants to be the same person that they were, like you mentioned 5 10 20, 50 years ago, you know, like in and down the line.
And you know, for me, I don't want to put my head on the pillow at night, as the same, you know, mentality or understanding as the one that woke up on that same pillow.
Right.
And I feel like we're here all to grow.
Like in nature, you grow.
And if you're not growing, you're sliding, right?
Obviously, we're talking a lot about transforming our brain and our results and our performance in our lives.
One of the most powerful ways to do that and I would argue has been the most powerful thing in my life, is going to a live event because of the immersion.
Yeah.
So many of my experiences, you just mentioned that Quincy Jones experience.
I came to this event.
I spoke at the event.
Daniel Amen spoke at the event.
All these other superheroes, like you said.
And Quincy Jones comes on stage.
It is so visceral.
I have chills right now.
I can see it.
I see it.
I feel that experience.
It changed the game for me.
And I remember you also asking him. about how he stays so youthful and so creative.
And he said, essentially, to make it a practice to never stop learning.
And that's one of those things.
And he says decades, decades upon decades of influence.
A lot of people realize.
You know, of course, the music side, Michael Jackson thriller, all that good stuff, him being an artist himself But also the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Just all this cultural influence and to learn from people like that.
That's the kind of thing that happens around you Yeah and, as you mentioned, you've got an event coming up in December.
I'm gonna be a part of it You've got these other superstars who are gonna be there as well.
And of course, you're gonna be speaking and teaching and I
If you can, can you let people know where they can get information about the event?
Come and hang out with us.
Oh, that'd be so fun.
And listen, when I tell you, let me give one more example.
Being around you, an event that you put together is where I met my literary agent.
Hmm.
Since then, Sleep Smarter is now translated into almost 30 different languages, 30 different countries.
I just got goosebumps.
I call them truth bumps.
Man, it's just so powerful.
And also the manifestation of podcasting and me being a part of that.
Maybe 14 years ago, we were at an event together.
That's where the idea came from.
And so I cannot stress enough how valuable it is to attend live events online.
And also, again, come hang out with me and hang out with Jim.
So let everybody know about the event coming up.
You know, I feel like the world needs people who are going to step up.
And really it's about the story of human evolution is around going from limitation to becoming more limitless right.
Going from the limitation of self-doubt or lack of self-confidence, lack of self-worth or self-belief, or lack of a certain skill set or tool set or mindset.
Um, you know, every movie is about that freedom, that liberation.
And, but, and it starts with the mind, but where, where do you learn how to do that?
I love podcasts.
I absolutely love books.
Nothing has changed me as much as deep immersion around people who who are at the best of what they do, and different areas.
So, you know, everything I've done in my career has been what I wish I had.
When I didn't know how to read, I did the research and created a reading program to help people read around the world three times faster, with better comprehension.
When I had a lack of memory, we created memory improvement.
When I couldn't find a supplement for our brain, we created QuickMind, a nootropic to help with focus and memory and mood and mental energy improvement.
I and when there's no books on an owner's manual for your brain, you know i wanted a right limit things that i wish i had to give me that edge so you know, people don't have to spend literally a million dollars, like i have, on learning all this and three decades of my life.
I did the work for them, paid the cost for them and made it easier for them.
But the best thing is in person, right?
In a world where we're kind of on screens, where there's no distractions.
You could just be three days and learn from individuals and insights and then also be surrounded with people who are on the same path, right.
Who are on the quest to reveal and realize your fullest potential.
And I think it starts with the mind.
So we created an event called Limitless Live, and it's a three-day deep immersion event, live in person, where there are no distractions, where I've handpicked my superhero friends, people that are mentors to me, people that I respect, people that have changed my life.
And yeah, I'm so grateful that you're one of those individuals.
And so we have At this event everyone from Dr Mindy to Dr Gabriel Lyons coming to Jamie Kern Lima talking about self-worth.
Billionaire Jamie Kern Lima.
Yeah.
We have everyone from and for entrepreneurs out there, we have Jason Pfeiffer, who's the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, talking about forecasting for the future and how to be able to adapt.
And also other speakers that you might not have heard from because they don't have books but like, the creator of MacGyver is coming.
And what is MacGyver known for?
Be able to solve a big problem with duct tape or a paper clip or whatever.
How to use the resources that you have to be able to tap in to solve problems, to make your life better, to save the day.
So it's not a matter of your resources, but more your internal resourcefulness.
So we've handpicked 20 of the most amazing experts and, you know, I ask them to share something that they don't really share publicly, really tailored for that group.
And my goal is for every one of those sessions to be people feel like it was worth the time travel tuition just to come for that one session.
Plus, you're in a room.
In the past, as you mentioned, Quincy Jones has attended.
We've had the founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, attend multiple times.
We've had the CEO of Sprint.
I mean that room, the person to your left and to your right.
You'll get as much value as the people on stage.
And plus, you'll love this.
This is a five-star wellness resort outside of San Diego.
I mean for the people who really prize health.
It's like farm-to-table organic gardens, not chlorinated but saline pools.
I mean, it is like a paradise for... of nourishment for your mind, your body, your spirit.
So three days Limitless Live, it's all about activating your mind.
We'll take you on a journey where you become the superhero of your own story.
And I can promise you, it'll be an event people will never forget.
My life was also changed by events.
So I know the power of it.
It'll be fun.
So people go to LimitlessLive.com and get all the details and spend time with you.
And a lot of our authors and speakers will be doing book signings there and photos and everything.
And it's a different experience because we don't just teach you how to learn faster and perform better.
We actually do it.
So everything detailed, from the food to the music that puts you in alpha states or theta states in the morning.
We have activities of breath work and movement and cold plunges, like all the fun stuff.
But you know, I believe that one step in another direction right changes your destination or your destiny.
And we want people to come here to leave feeling limitless to really win in 2026.
So yeah, it's going to be a blast.
It's going to be so much fun.
I mean, we have mental, there's just so much experiences there.
In the past, you know, we've set up ping pong tables and Dr. Amen has challenged a lot of people.
We bring in like chess players and we do, it's an experience you'll always remember.
Yeah, I can't wait.
I cannot wait, man. again, I just thought about why you were sharing that.
I thought about somebody else who attended the event and he came as an attendee and he was a little known actor at the time.
And now he just played Mr. Terrific in this new Superman movie.
Right.
So it's just like the most incredible people come there and their lives change.
Like it changes the course of your life being around you, man.
And I'm so grateful for you.
I share this all the time, but I don't think you are ever going to understand how important you've been in the trajectory of my life.
And I'm so grateful for you, man.
And it comes from such a good place.
And you really are about that life.
You show up and you deliver and you give.
And I'm so grateful for you.
I feel the same way.
I mean, I'm echoing something that I know all your listeners would agree with.
You're an inspiring force of nature.
You're an unstoppable force for good.
So I can't tell you how much you've helped me personally, my family.
You know our team also as well.
And, you know, it's great.
I think we're all.
If you're listening to this right now, I think there's a reason you know, and certainly that there's a version.
I want to remind people that there's a version of yourself that's patiently waiting.
And the goal is we show up every single day until we're introduced to that person.
Because, you know, sometimes...
It could be lonely on this path.
People are like, why are you at those events?
Why are you just reading those books or listening to that podcast?
Maybe your friends and family don't understand.
Everyone in that room will understand because they're on the same path.
I believe the life you live are the lessons you teach.
You could come and make those changes, become more, be more, do more, have more, share more, so you can be a living example and inspiration, like you are, for so many other people in your life.
Because nobody does it alone.
People ask, why is it limitless?
Limitless is not about being perfect.
Limitless is about advancing and progressing beyond what you believe is possible.
So one of the topics we'll talk about is more your cognitive flexibility.
But that's only one.
I'll be teaching accelerated learning, speed reading, memory, all of that.
But we've brought in the Justice League, or the Avengers, depending if you're DC or Marvel.
About performance, you know, and it'll be it and, most of all, it'll be fun.
You know, I feel like education is one thing, but education with entertainment Really leads to real, real empowerment for people.
Yeah.
Yeah, right now, limitless livecom.
Go and check out the event, get your tickets, come and hang out with us in person.
I can't wait man I appreciate you so much.
Thank you for coming to Sharon today.
Thank you Sean the one and only Jim quick Thank you so much for tuning into this episode today.
What a wealth of information and we're just scratching the surface.
All right.
Make sure to head over to limitlesslivecom and come and hang out with me and Jim and these other incredible speakers for a full immersion.
All right.
Come and hang out with us.
I'd love to meet you in person.
And truly these events don't come around all the time.
And I want to reiterate this point.
My life personally would not be what it is and what I've been able to accomplish, the lives that I've been able to impact, had I not met Jim Quick.
He's been an incredible friend.
He's been an incredible mentor.
He's been an incredible supporter.
And he lifted up my voice early on when no one else did.
But he was able to see my heart and my intention and my potential and Very, very early on.
I've been in this field now for about 23 years.
Is that Jordan number?
All right.
But this is like early first few years.
And I was able to be on a conference call back in the day of conference calls.
All right.
With Jim Quick and he asked me to co-host one of these calls with him that was reaching all of these people.
And I was just like, oh, my goodness, this is the greatest opportunity.
And I was so grateful.
And we've been great friends ever since.
And just being around him, being in the environment, coming to these events.
I've got friends, lifelong friends, from these events.
I've had experiences that are just like they are so visceral and so vivid in my memory, like being able to sit there and listen to Quincy Jones in person, left a true mark on my life.
And not to mention just learning, I learned how to juggle at one of these events.
Like what?
Like.
Just all these incredible things happen when you are around Jim Quick and his incredible team and these events limitlesslivecom.
Head over there, get your ticket.
Can't wait to see you there.
We've got some amazing master classes and world-class guests coming your way very, very soon, so make sure to stay tuned.
Take care, have an amazing day and i'll talk with you soon and for more after the show.
Make sure to head over to themodelhealthshowcom.
That's where you can find all of the show notes.
You can find transcriptions, videos for each episode and if you got a comment, you can leave me a comment there as well.
And please make sure to head over to itunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome and i appreciate that so much.
And take care.
I promise to keep giving you more powerful empowering, great content to help you transform your life.
Thanks for tuning in.
