The Power of Practice with Jim Kwik

THE START OF KWIK BRAIN

• I am very proud of our podcast, which we launched a couple of years ago.
• Kwik Brain was born out of an effort to answer the same questions we seemed to get over and over including: how do you remember names? How do you study? How do you optimize your sleep? How do you change your habits? How do you have motivation?
• Initially, I was recorded on my phone, which is why the sound quality wasn’t that great at first, but my extraordinary team turned it into a podcast.
• Thank you to everyone that has tracked our growth and continues to be a part of our community.

PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS

• Lesson #1: The Value of Practice. Practice makes progress. The goal is not perfection, but progress instead.
• Every single moment you are training something — you are rewiring your brain for something. Neuroplasticity suggests that every time you do something you create new connections or strengthen existing ones.
• For example, every time you eat something or reach for food, you are training yourself. Every single time you are under stress, if you go into compassion, you are training compassion, but if you go into anger you are training anger. Every time you watch television, every time you exercise or pick up your phone you are practicing doing that thing.
• There is a quote that says, “we don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”
• What if you adopted the mindset that with everything you do, you are practicing something?
• Practice makes permanent is even more accurate because every time you have a thought, do a behavior, or have a feeling, you are practicing them.
• Are the things you are rehearsing, things you want to get better at?

FINISH WHAT YOU START

• Lesson #2: The Value of Finishing. With the help of social media, we have been trained to see and experience things in small characters and short bursts. Everything is in snaps and tweets and talks and posts, even our podcast is structured into quick bites or brain drops of information.
• We are training ourselves to want things that are brief and short. We don’t train ourselves any more that life is a marathon and not just a sprint.
• If you are not completing things and are just getting a jolt by buying a book and completing a few pages, for example, you are training yourself to quit.
• I’m not saying you must complete every single thing. You will need to let go of some things that are not working for you, such as a relationship or project. Sometimes a loss is actually a gain.
• Technology has powers to connect, share, and encourage, but also don’t be at the effect of technology. It is a tool for you to use, but if you are just picking up your phone out of habit then you become the tool.
• There is a great satisfaction that comes with completing what you start.
• Bonus Lesson: Don’t forget to CELEBRATE YOUR WINS. Reinforce things you want more of. We are quick to show love to others when they do well and we need to be just as comfortable showing that same love to ourselves.

LESS IS MORE

• Lesson #3: The Value of Doing Less. The goal is not just to be busy all of the time.
• One of my mentors, Dr. Stephen Covey, talks about the importance of not being so busy and efficiently climbing the ladder of success that when you get to the top, you realize it’s leaning toward the wrong wall.
• The goal is not to be busy but to be productive. Sometimes being productive means doing less than doing more of something.
• It’s great to have a to-do list but I also encourage you to have a not-to-do list.
• Sometimes part of self-care is being sure that when you say yes to somebody or something, you aren’t saying no to yourself. Putting boundaries on your time and emotions is extremely valuable for your wellbeing.
• When you subtract, you can actually multiply.

KINDNESS IS FREE

• Lesson #4: Kindness is a Superpower. Remember that everyone is fighting a battle that you don’t know about.
• For decades, I had trouble sleeping due to obstructive sleep apnea. I would stop breathing 214 times a night; I could not breathe for 10 seconds at a time.
• I was struggling but people did not know. Nice comments on social media and kind words from friends kept me going at times, so there is no such thing as a small act of kindness.
• Kindness ripples way beyond a pebble in a lake. Kindness is free so sprinkle that stuff everywhere.

GRIT & MORE

• Lesson #5: The Value of Persistence. I believe that grit is a superpower also.
• When you do difficult things, you are practicing showing up for yourself.
• Don’t confuse your current path with your final destination. It could be stormy right now but it does not mean you aren’t headed for sunshine.
• Claim that you are more powerful and stronger than you think.
• Lesson #6: The Value of Asking for Help. Asking can be vulnerable and it takes an immense amount of courage to ask for help.
• There is nobody that is “self-made.” There is no such thing as a self-made millionaire, for example. Everyone has people supporting them along the way from customers to their community.
• Lesson #7: The Value of Others. When you’re going through hard times, you discover who your friends really are. When things are going well for you, your friends discover who you are.
• We all need someone to encourage us and cheerlead for us. If you have not found that person for yourself, be that person for somebody else.
• Lesson #8: The Value of a Sense of Humor. At the end of our life, nobody’s opinions nor our fears will matter. What will matter is how you learned, how you lived, how you loved, and how you laughed.
• Think about it: two of my biggest struggles growing up were learning and speaking. What do I do for a living? I publicly speak about learning.
• Life has a sense of humor and struggles can be your power. My mess became my message.
• Find humor in things that can make you laugh. This is part of celebrating and not taking things too seriously.
• Not everything is for everybody, but I hope that one of these is a nugget for you to help you move in another direction. One step in another direction can completely change your destination.
• Lesson #9: The Value of Time. Not everyone has the same network, income, or education, but we all have the same amount of time in a day.
• Everyone has 86,400 seconds each day. Imagine every morning when you wake up there is $86,400 in your bank account. The only thing is, you have to invest it because, at the end of the day, you lose all of it.
• How would you invest it for a better life for your loved ones, for better learning? I believe an investment in self-education is the best investment there is.
• How do you value your time? Take a hard look at your priorities and what matters most in your life. One good way to filter things is with “heck yes” or “heck no.”

FINAL WORDS

• Our podcast has tens of millions of downloads and it is consistently one of the top education training shows on iTunes. I encourage you to start from episode one and work your way up.
• Remember to do the work. Treat this podcast as your Kwik Brain academy.
• Also, thank you again for making Limitless a New York Times bestseller again — three months later. It’s not just about speed reading and remembering names and learning languages. It’s about managing your mind in times of crisis, regaining your focus, and optimizing your productivity when you are forced to work from home. It’s about how to support your children when they are out of school and how to learn a new skill or subject faster after you’ve lost your job.
• I love you from my heart because you allow me to do my passion. My passion is learning and my purpose is teaching people how to learn. Thank you for allowing me to live my purpose.
• Check out my episode with Jay Shetty for more about passion and purpose, here.

SHARE WITH US

• Take a screenshot of this episode, tag me on social media (@JimKwik), and share your greatest “aha!” moment from this episode with us.
• Get your copy of Limitless, here and help us make it the most read book of the year.