Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life

by Jim Kwik

Just as there are people who have suffered strokes and have been able to rebuild and regain their brain functions, those that procrastinate, think excessive negative thoughts, or can’t stop eating junk food may also rewire and change their behaviors and transform their lives.

of restraints, I want you to temporarily suspend what you already know or think you know about the topic and approach it with what Zen philosophy calls “a beginner’s mind.” Remember that your mind is like a parachute—it only works when it’s open.

The French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre noted that, “Life is C between B and D,” meaning that the life we live is the choices we make between the “B” of birth and the “D” of death.

Someone who is constantly asking themselves how to get people to like them can never truly be their true self because they will always be molding themselves to the preferences of the people around them, even if they’re not aware of it.

I’d love for you to join me in celebrating JOMO—the joy of missing out.

Most of us feel tired and fatigued these days. I believe that’s because we feel like we need to say “yes” to every opportunity, invite, or request that comes our way. While it’s great to be open-minded and consider options, when you say yes to something, you need to be careful that you’re not inadvertently saying no to yourself and your own needs.

I’ve been teaching business executives, students, actors, and others a time-honored technique for making their presentations without notes. And when I say time-honored, I mean this quite literally. The method I teach and that I’m going to share with you now is a version of the loci method, something that has been around for more than 2,500 years. The legend behind the loci method is that the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos survived a building collapse that killed all others in attendance. When officials tried to identify the victims, Simonides was the only person who could help them, because he remembered who the victims were based on where they were standing at the time of the collapse. In the process, Simonides created a memory tool that is as effective today as it was in 500 B.C. Loci is the plural version of the word locus, which means “a particular point or place.” The loci method, then, is a memory tool that aligns the things you want to remember with specific points or places that you know well.