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

by Jim Kwik

Tony Robbins calls “the science of momentum”: the notion that once you set accomplishment in motion, you can keep it in motion with much less effort than if you were trying to accomplish something from a standing start.

Before I even get out of bed, I spend some time reflecting on my dreams.

Dreams are an expression of the work your subconscious is doing while you’re sleeping, and there’s gold to be mined from them.

D is for Decide:

R is for Record:

E is for Eyes:

A is for Affirm:

M is for Manage:

S is for Share:

The first thing I do after I get out of bed is make the bed. This is a success habit, my first accomplishment of the day. It’s an easy win,

After that, I have a tall glass of water.

Our brains are approximately 75 percent water, so if we’re going to fire up our brains, we need to be well hydrated.

have a glass of celery juice,

take my probiotics to make sure my second brain is getting what it needs.

I brush my teeth with my opposite hand.

Then I do a three-minute workout.

take a cold shower.

I go through a series of breathing exercises to fully oxygenate my body.

I do about 20 minutes of meditation

Ziva Meditation, was developed by my meditation coach...

I make my “brain tea,” a combination of gotu kola, ginkgo, lion’s mane, MCT oil, and a few other things.

I’ll sit down to spend some time journaling, getting my first thoughts of the day down on the page.

My goal in any given day is to accomplish three things for work and three things personally,...

I follow this with about a half hour of reading. I set a goal to read a min...

Finally, I drink my “brain smoothie,” a combination of many of the brain foods

Check in on your dreams before you get out of bed. There’s so much gold to mine here, so I strongly recommend that you not skip this step. Get yourself hydrated and oxygenated. Nourish yourself with some of the brain foods mentioned in this chapter. Set a plan for the day.

If you do at least these four things, you’ll be well on your way to revving up your brain to operate at a high-octane level.

Build as many of these things into the start of you...

The most important thing is having a productive morning routine. I can’t stress enough how much of an impact getting your day off to the right start...

flow as “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”

Dr. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as having eight characteristics:2 Absolute concentration Total focus on goals The sense that time is either speeding up or slowing down A feeling of reward from the experience A sense of effortlessness The experience is challenging, but not overly so Your actions almost seem to be happening on their own You feel comfort with what you are doing

flow can make you as much as five times more productive.

Steven Kotler, founder of the Flow Research Collective and the author of The Rise of Superman, has identified the four stages of flow:

Stage 1: Struggle

Stage 2: Relaxation

Stage 3: Flow

Stage 4: Consolidation

if you have motivation to accomplish a task but you have no flow, you will eventually burn out. Motivation and flow need to work together,

If you’re going to become limitless, you’re going to want to get yourself into a flow state as often as possible. So how do you do this? I can offer five ways:

1. Eliminate Distractions

2. Give Yourself Enough Time

Plan to set aside at least 90 minutes, and ideally a full two hours.

3. Do Something You Love

they are doing something that matters to them a great deal. They wouldn’t be satisfied with only being moderately competent,

4. Have Clear Goals

One of the most efficient flow preventers is a lack of clarity.

know what you’re trying to ...

5. Challenge Yourself . . . A Little

they are most likely to achieve flow when they’re doing something that is a little bit of a challenge. In other words, they’re outside of their comfort zone, but not way outside of it.

boredom