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Language: en
We are with none other than Jim Quick is
in the house. If you guys haven't seen
his episode of Impact Theory yet, watch
it. Watch it. Watch it. It was amazing.
And for those of you that have seen the
um Inside Quest episode that Jim and I
did together, this one was radically
different. It was amazing. I was so
grateful. You want to talk about being
grateful for stuff? Um I was very sick
on the day that we recorded our episode
and you came in and saved my ass and
absolutely crushed it. I think I I only
had to ask like two or three questions.
It was amazing, man. And I really really
am very grateful. I don't know if people
knew that. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I talked
about it for sure. So Okay, cool. Um
really really incredible and it gave
such a totally different interview than
we had done the first time, which is
always my thing. Like doing a second
interview is actually surprisingly
hard. Like the first one is easy, but
then the second one you want to tread
new water. And so, um, you showed up and
played to win and I was very grateful.
Well, congratulations to you and the
entire team. It's always, it blows me
away. And, and Lisa, oh my god, the
podcast is so awesome. Shoic podcast lit
the world on fire. Their very first day,
they went to number one in the health
category. It was nuts. So, yeah, we're
all pretty jazzed up around here. So,
very exciting. All right, I want to
invite Mr.
Agent Smith himself, Jared, to join us
and we're going to be doing Yay. We're
going to be doing a little bit of uh
brain training. And uh yeah, so here we
are. Let's do this. Excited. Thank you.
So, for those of you that are meeting
Jim for the first time, I think it needs
to be said that Jim is an expert in
learning, like the actual fundamental
building blocks of what it takes to
learn. His story is incredible, and if
you want to see more about the story, we
definitely cover that uh in the episode.
So, be sure to watch the full Impact
Theory episode um that launched last
Tuesday. Uh really, really fantastic.
You'll get to hear all about his early
brain trauma, how he overcame it. It's
an absolutely miraculous story. I never
get tired of hearing about it. And
because of that, he's developed all
kinds of amazing techniques that he's
turned into his company, Quick Learning.
And with that, Mr. a quick learning
himself. What are what are some tips
that you have that you can show us in
real time here with Jared so we can
figure out how this hot seat learning
works? Yeah, I'm in the hot seat. I
don't know what's going to happen here.
We did not prepare in advance. I didn't
I haven't I'm seeing like three chairs
up here. So, this is very cool. Yeah. To
us as well. Um okay. So, I think a lot
of people who are watching this want to
um what they'll say is they want to
improve their memory, you know, and
they're looking for some quick brain
hacks, something they could do apply
towards their studies, something they
could apply towards work or just
everyday kind of thing. And um I
mentioned it briefly in um in one of our
episodes. This one of this this 2500y
old technique, which I know you're
familiar with. It's um this this loy
memory basically saying that we tend to
store information in our location. And
that's uh and because the reason why is
because when we're hunter gatherers, we
didn't need to need to memorize maybe
numbers and definitions, stuff like
that. Well, we needed to remember where
where things were for our own survival,
right? And so it's um like we need to
know where the clean water was, where
the good food is, the soil, enemy
tribes, and that was really um
everything. And so we learn to store
information in our environment. In fact,
when you forget someone's name, what's
the first question you ask yourself?
You're like, where where do I know this
person? Where did I meet this person?
Because the context gives you the con a
lot of the content. And I I really do
believe that if um if content is king,
then then context is the kingdom, right?
And so the place really gives you the
information. And so we learn to be able
to store information around us in uh
places. And so the idea behind this is
take a place that you're very familiar
with and store information that you need
to remember as a filing system around
your environment. Probably the one that
most people are most familiar with is
like their home, right? Because they
could imagine themselves in the kitchen.
They could see all this stuff and then
what you're doing is you're creating
landmarks saying, "Okay, the um the
microwave is is the first place. This
the stove is the second place. The
refrigerator is the third place. The the
dishwasher is the fourth place and maybe
the sink is the fifth place." But what
the trick is though is turning the
information you want to learn into a
picture because we tend to think in
pictures because we're very visual,
right? Um even when you're traveling, it
doesn't no longer and I know you've been
on the road for past couple weeks,
right? It doesn't say on the airplane,
"Fasten your seatelt or no smoking."
What what do you see? You see like
icons, right? Those icons, right?
Because we think in icons, we think in
symbols. We think in pictures. um
because a picture is worth a thousand
words no matter what language people are
are are in. And so that sometimes we
talk more more quickly when we're in
that visual mode because you know you
have to keep up with all the pictures
and and you can tell us how fast someone
uh thinks by how fast they're they're
they're speaking also as well. Um
anyway, so you're taking the information
you need to learn and you're putting it
the first bit in the first place, the
second bit in the second place, the
third bit in the third place. And if
you've ever found yourself saying that
um like in the you're arguing with
someone saying in the first place this
and the second place that and third
place that languaging came from that
technique that technique is 2500 years
old but the languaging is still here
right because that's how people used to
remember like large bits of information
and so what we're going to do is um just
for practice uh for people at home is um
we'll take another place that we're all
familiar with because we all live in
different homes um is your body right
you could create a your body use it as a
And we could store information we want
to remember on our body. And I had a
student um this is great. Like I I work
I love working with children because
children if they can learn how to learn
earlier, learn how to think, learn how
to focus, learn how to read faster,
learn how to remember more, they have
such a such an advantage, right? And so
this child um he was struggling in um in
school and he would work work work and I
was helping his parents out with
something and they asked me to come in
during dinner time and I guess showed
him a few things on this exact technique
and the next exam he took he took he got
an A on it which is extraordinary. And
and his parents are like how do you do
it? This is amazing. And he was like I
cheated. He was like I did what Jim
said. I cheated. And I was like whoa
wait I didn't tell you anything about
cheating on your test. Um, and you know,
it's a little boy and he's like, "Yeah,
I I had all my notes with me." And I'm
like, "Whoa." I'm like, "Explain to your
parents how you had your notes." He was
like, "No, it's not out in the outside.
Notes were on the inside." Wow. And he
was storing the things that he needed to
remember on his body and in his home in
his bedroom. And so, um, a simple
example we could do is is take, um, 10
places on our body. And these are the 10
places that I like to use because I I
think we have this kinesthetic
intelligence. And so, we could do it
together. Just we're going to name 10
places. And I I encourage people who are
watching at home to do this with me. Um
this is something you could use to
memorize a speech without um notes. You
know, when you're public speaking, um
sometimes you don't need to remember
things verbatim. Um with actors, they
need to remember things like word for
word for word. But sometimes you just
need to know, oh, what are the six
points I need to go through? Um but it's
what's important is the order of it
because sometimes as a as a speaker, you
know this, somebody interrupts you and
asks a question and then you get
sidetracked and you're like, "Oh, where
did I leave off?" And you try to
remember where that is. So the seek
syntax is very important. So what we're
going to do is 10 places in our body.
The first place is the top of our head.
So number one is top. So just kind of
touch the top of your head. This is
going to be kind of number one is top.
We got it. Number two is nose. Nose.
Three is your mouth. Mouth. And four are
your ears. Ears. There you go. Five is
your larynx. Like your throat area. So
that's one through five. Six is your
shoulders. Okay. Shoulders. Seven is
your collar. Collar. Eight are your
fingers. Nine is your belly. Belly. And
10 is your seat, like your rear end.
Right? So, we're going to go through it
really fast one more time. One is your
top. Top. Two is your nose. Nose. Three
is your mouth. Mouth. And four are your
ears. Ears. Good. Five is your larynx.
Larynx. Six is shoulders. Shoulders.
Seven is your collar. Collar. Eight are
your fingers. Nine is your belly. And
then 10 is your your seat. So, we have
10 places on your body. So, here's a
trick, right? This is the brain hack.
Since we tend to remember things in
different locations, these become filing
systems. It's just like if you were um
you're going to a party and there's like
these hooks or these pegs outside of the
outside of the living room, you hang up
your coat. You know when you leave where
your coat is, you just go to where the
the filing system is, right? So these
are filing systems on your body. So
let's say we need to memorize something
very simple. Let's say we're going to do
um Impact Theory barbecue. It's going to
be awesome. It's going to be a big meet
up with with fans and and guests and um
and Tom calls you up say, you know, hey,
can you stop by? Um can you stop by uh
the the the grocery store and pick up
these 10 things? And maybe you're in a
place where you can't write them down.
Like maybe you're driving or you're in
the shower and I don't know why you
would answer the phone in the shower,
but he's like rattles off these 10
things. So what you're going to do with
these 10 things instead of now most
people in our traditional school system,
it's wrote memory, right? It's
repetition and that's how people
memorize things there. There was no
creativity. There was no imagination. It
was just hard push it into your head.
Oh, I got to get avocados and just
repeat it 50 times. And do you know the
difference in the in what's going on in
the brain between a loy form and just
brute force memorization? We we do
because okay so a lot of the way we
could accelerate learning whether it's
reading faster or like remembering
something in 20% of the time like we do
this thing where we teach students how
to memorize 10 words a day in 10 minutes
a day like literally 300 new words a
month I mean it's pretty extraordinary
state capitals um you know the periodic
table in in literally in almost like
it's almost not an exaggeration seconds
and because it's possible for them
especially because the problem with rote
learning is it's very leftrain leftrain
is logical it's words, it sounds um like
even when we talked about you and I we
talked about speed reading, like what
what is what how do you read something
faster when you want to read faster? And
one of the big obstacles is
subvocalization, which is that inner
talk. Um and the reason why it's an
obstacle to effective reading is because
if you have to say all the words inside
your mind, you know that voice you hear
inside when you're reading to yourself,
yeah, hopefully it's your own voice.
It's not like somebody else's voice. Um
the reason I use Jared sometimes just
cuz it's better. I hear like two or
three voices in there. you you actually
hear like a Agent Smith like voice
that's awesome. Um the reason why it's
an obstacle to effective reading is you
have to say all the words inside your
mind. You can only read as fast as you
could speak. That means your reading
speed is limited to your talking speed
and not your thinking speed. That's why
a lot of us when we're listening to
podcasts um or you know audio um the
audible or something we're listening at
1.5 or 2 because we can think a lot
faster, right? And that's a trick also
for speed reading not to go off on a
tangent but people think if they read
faster they would not understand as much
as they read. But in actuality, you'll
actually understand more if it's done
properly. Because when you read too
slow, you're starving your brain for the
the stimulus. So it starts distracting.
You know, when people read, they'll read
a page in a book and get to the end just
forget what they just read cuz their
mind is not there. It's because it's
like driving slow. You know, you're
doing like five different things when
you're driving slow. But if you're
racing cars, all your focus is on what's
in front of you. Same thing with
reading. But going back to the sub
vocalization, when you're saying the
words, you don't have to pronounce the
words to actually understand what those
what those words are. And so I would say
when people read mostly it's a left
brain process much like wrote learning.
It's just um you know the sounds which
is like on the left side. Now it's a lot
more complicated than that. Um because
it's it's more metaphor because it's
more than just left and right brain
obviously. Um but if you were to if you
were hook up to a brain sensing device
when people are reading a lot of your
left side will be um lit up when people
are are going through repetition
learning basically you know this because
it's neuroplasticity every time you
learn a fact um it's kind of like a
little thread between two brain cells
and when you repeat it it becomes you
know a little bit thicker a little bit
thicker after 50 times your brain
registers okay this must be important
and then it but the only problem with it
though is through repetition um is it
takes time and that's the thing and it's
it's mind dulling, you know, for a lot
of people just to sit there and not know
relevancy, not have context. But
meanwhile, your creative side, your
imaginative side, your experiential side
is not getting entertained. So, it tends
to go out there and think about other
things that are going on. And so, I
would always think there's there's
actually three three factors. There's um
even when you're working out your body
or even when you're talking about
marketing, I mean, I'm thinking about
frequency, duration, and intensity. So,
frequency is like you're going to the
gym, you want to build your body, you go
more frequently, right? or duration is
like you spend more time on the
treadmill, right? More more more more
time holding that pose duration. And
then there's intensity um which could
shortcut it because you could get you
know some pretty magnificent fitness um
achievements um by making because if you
go to the you frequency and duration but
you're not using any intensity you're
not going to get the results also. So
the goal here is I focus on when it
comes to your memory and learning fully
immersive, fully um intense meaning
using as much of your brain, as much of
your senses and this thing called
sesthesia where there's this like
overlapping of senses together and then
it becomes more emotional um more more
more creative and you're more likely to
remember it. And so that's intense as
opposed to frequency and duration
because the problem with frequency
duration is they both take time. It's
saying whether it's building your body
or building a business, marketing too,
right? Marketing could be frequency, see
the ad a lot, right? Or duration. It
could be like a really long ad or, you
know, infomercial. But intensity is like
something that grabs your attention. It
goes viral right away because it's just
so intense and gets shared and all that
good stuff. Um, so going back to to the
the difference between like wrote memory
and using like more of a whole brain
method, just like whole brain
note-taking, a lot of people take Larry
leftrain notes which is outline one
little a Roman numeral stuff like that.
And you could have something more
important on page six than it's on page
one. But you know, the way it's set up,
you don't really see that as opposed to
like wholeb brain note takingaking
something like like mind mapping, right?
or some kind of visual mapping where you
have the main idea in the center like a
the center of a tree and then the
branches are coming out that show you
how things are related. So all of a
sudden you could have this thing called
health in between like the main trunk
and then have something like a branch
coming out say nutrition branch coming
out saying exercise and so on. But then
nutrition you could break down into what
kind of nutrition? Okay, I get nutrition
through here's my diet and another
branch coming off of that branch and
another branch coming off nutrition
called supplements. And then all of a
sudden you could go down to some, you
know, rare like, you know, wild salmon
that leads to this, leads to this to
fish to protein to to your diet to
nutrition back to health and it's like
embedded, you know, together and go to
exercise. You could do the same thing.
But that would be a whole brain way of
taking notes using colors and images
that not only is it going to help people
remember it better, but it is also it'll
help you make notes where a lot of
people, you know, I know you're very
prolific, right, with all your ideas and
such. And so you could actually use this
way of not only just capturing
information but making new connections
that you haven't seen before. And that's
more right brain. And so so just like
with with with speed reading for
example, left brain is more words and
everything. But what I like to get
people to do is not say the words but
just really experience the words. It's
kind of like um I remember seeing one of
our students. He was on our online speed
reading course and he was like Jim I saw
him on that on the street. He was like,
"Jim, I have a funny story for you. I
recently reread a book that I haven't um
read since your course and it was
totally different the second time. I was
like, "What do you mean?" I was like,
"What book was it?" He was like, "It was
the Old Man in the Sea." And I was like,
"Well, how is it different? I don't
think Hemingway updated the book
recently." He was like, "The second time
though, after training, you know, the
reading, I felt like I was in the book,
you know, like I could hear the ocean
waves. I could feel the sand beneath my
toes." He said the one thing I didn't
like was the smell of the fish. But
that's like a whole right brain
experience rather than or more whole
brain experience than just hearing the
words. Right? And so everything that I'm
talking about even like showing going
through this grocery list, right? So
people are just joining us. We're I'm
going to give a tip on how to how to
remember facts and um give a speech
without notes, maybe even a grocery
list. And so what we did was it's using
your your creative side and we so we put
10 places on our body and for people
just tuning in really fast. Number one
is your top of your head. Number two is
your nose. And we're just going down the
body. Three is your mouth. Four is your
ears. Five is your larynx like your
throat. Um six are your shoulders. Seven
is your collar. Eight is your fingers.
Nine is your belly. And then 10 is your
seat. So we have 10 places on your body.
And this is a 2500 year old memory
technique. It's so cool. It gets me so
excited when I when I started studying
this. It's it's attributed to Simonades
and Simonades is a Greek order and he um
he was giving a poetry reading. Um and
after he was done, something really u
tragic happened. The building collapsed
and killed everyone there. And he being
the sole survivor had the responsibility
of coming back and helping family
members identify their loved ones. But
back then, you know, it wasn't made out
of sheetrock and wood. Buildings were
like stone, right? And so he had to he
was able to remember where um who
everyone was based on where they were
sitting. And you could do that too. I
think everyone at home could remember
last time they went out for dinner or or
conference and remember who's sitting
around their table because again we
store information in our environment. Um
which is really interesting. Um one one
tangent I would just love to to kind of
test this on you. Um if you um and
people could do this if they're not like
driving or operating heavy machinery. I
know a lot of people listen to your show
like when they're like while operating
heavy machinery or or they're on a
treadmill or something like this. Put
that back hoe down for a second. So, uh
so like um so if you take a deep breath
and just exhale um and a Smith, you
could do this with me. I want you to
think about some and everyone at home
who can do this do this. Eyes closed.
Eyes closed. Ideally, helps you focus.
Ideally, I want you to imagine um
imagine somebody that um that you really
like. Just imagine if their presence was
here. just point in that direction.
There's no right or wrong, but if
depending on what kind of, you know,
rhythm that you're in right now in terms
of your your brain, if you could get a
sense of somebody that that you care
about, just point in that direction.
Just any any direction. There's no right
or wrong. Just point in direction of
somebody that you have, you know,
generally if you get a sense of where
they are, just point in that direction.
Good. Now, I want you to think about
somebody. Now, take another breath. And
now, exhale. And just think about
someone you necessarily don't really
like very much. Not that we hate
anybody, but just like somebody that Oh,
we do, Jim. Somebody we maybe don't have
a really positive feelings about. Get a
sense of where that person is and point
in that direction. Wow.
Interesting. And so what I would say is
like, okay, open your eyes, just
breathe. Isn't it interesting that I ask
you to imagine somebody that you like
and you point in one direction and then
I ask you somebody who you don't like,
you point in a different direction
because we store, this is like our
coding system. We store information in
our environment and it also it's like a
shortcut to teach us how to feel about
things. Um just one more time just humor
me this. Take a deep breath. Exhale. And
people do this at home. Um point in the
direction of something that's um point
in direction of something that's uh in
your past. Just point in the direction.
Where does the past feel like for you
when you think about past memories?
Point in that direction. Interesting.
And now um erase that. Now I want you to
think about something that's going to
happen in the future. It's going to
happen in the future at some point. It's
a memory. It's a future memory, if you
will. You know what's going to happen.
You're going to brush your teeth tonight
or there's a birthday party, whatever it
is. Future memory, point in that
direction.
Interesting. So, open your eyes. Isn't
it interesting that you that you point
in two separate directions? Like some
people when I ask what's in your past,
they point to the left and what's in
your future, they point to the right.
And I ask you what's, you know, or some
people point behind them like the two of
you did. And I said, what's you know,
what's your future look like? And it's
somewhere else. And that's how we that's
our timeline. That's our imaginary
timeline that we have. So there's this
thing like this timeline therapy where
if you connected the dots between where
your past is, where your future is, you
could actually, you know, when we talk
about imagine your goals and vision your
goals, what if you actually put those
right in your timeline, you know what I
mean? And when you're looking to make
changes in what happened in the past,
what if you actually go in the past and
you not not to forget about what
happened in the past, but just take the
angst out of it, right? And you could
kind of change your associations to
that. So my my point in bringing this up
is we store emotions and feelings and
sensations and people all around us, our
memories. So it's it's kind of it's kind
of that was more of an experiential
thing. So now we have our 10 places in
our body and what we're going to do is
so Simonades realized that he could
remember things based on where things
were. So he came up with this technique
of memorizing speeches like the 10
points to a speech, you know, like the
10 places in his living room and he
would put all that stuff or when you're
giving a presentation, which I know you
do a lot in these keynotes. And I know
you're you're amazing with your Q&A, by
the way. The fact that you stay until
every single question is answered. Like
that's that's grit. I mean, it's
passion, too. Like I for me, I'm more of
an introvert, so it's it's it's it's
amazing. I just I was just blown away
because I have so many people tell me
recently that that they saw you over the
Anyway. Wow. Thank you. big big props.
But but if you need to give a
presentation, you store the information
those 10 places and those are your key
points for your speech. So let's say um
you get a call saying, "Okay, we're
going to have an impact theory meetup
and everyone's going to get together.
Pick up these please pick up these 10
things at the grocery store. Now what
you're going to do instead of writing
down or putting in your phone, you know,
we talked about digital dementia and how
we're outsourcing our smart, you know,
our our smarts to our devices, our
memory, and we're losing that potential
to memorize things oursel like just put
the first thing in the first place,
second thing." So, what I'm going to do
is um I'm going to give you my fi my 10
favorite uh brain foods. You know, these
are these are like what I it's like the
staple for my diet because, you know,
there's some foods out there that really
wreck your brain, right? That make you
more hyperactive, that make you
distracted. It's not good for your
memory, that really drain your energy.
So, these are my these are my top 10
favorite. They're not the most powerful
brain foods, but they're up there and
they taste great, right? All right. So,
what we're going to do is I'm going to
name all 10. The first thing you're
going to put in the first place, the
second thing you're going to put in the
second place, and so on. Okay. All
right. You ready? Yeah. Yeah, I'm going
to test you afterwards. That's it. All
right. So, and here's the glue. What
you're going to do is you're going to
put it there, but you have want to use
exaggeration. You want to make it funny.
You want to make it humorous because
what glues it is here's here's the key
to memory. Information combined with
emotion becomes a long-term memory.
Information alone is not memorable
because it's ordinary. And that's just
there's so much stimulus. And you know
this, there's billion of stim stimulus
coming into our senses right now. And
primarily our nervous system is there to
delete information because if it wasn't
we would just go start crazy, right? And
so um the goal is like there's any all
these stimulus out there and so where do
we focus it on? What we're going to
focus on is we're going to make it
extraordinary. And so what makes it
extraordinary for me is emotion. So you
want to make it humorous. You make you
make it violent or whatever. But the
thing is what do I see and what do I
feel? Because you're already hearing it.
So you already have the auditory
component. But if you want to hit all
three learning styles, you want to make
sure like what do I see and how does
that make me feel? All right. So the
first one on the what's the what's your
first place? Uh top. The top. And I want
you to imagine avocados. Avocados.
Avocados on the top of your head. All
right. So what are you doing? Just like
pretend you're like 8 years old. I would
just imagine that my head is a giant
avocado. There you go. Perfect. Top of
the head. Avocado. Or maybe somebody's
coming. Maybe Tom's making some like
guacamole on on your on your head,
right? Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. So like
whatever. And that like what would an
8-year-old do? And now all of a sudden
it's more memorable as opposed to just
repeating. Okay, avocados. Avocados. All
right, the second place. What's the
second place on your body? It's your
nose. And I want you to remember uh
blueberries, right? Blueberries. Good
for the brain. Blueberries. I call them
brain berries. So I just want you to
imagine blueberries coming out of your
nose, right? You're sneezing.
Blueberries everywhere. It's really
gross. Blueberries stuck in your nose.
There you go. That's what I That's And
here's the thing. That's the goal for
things to be unforgettable. Cuz if that
ever happened, would you ever forget
that? No. Would you have to repeat it
100 times to memorize it? No. It happens
once. If someone actually make guacamole
in your head, you be you'd remember that
50 years from now. You'd be telling, you
know, your grandchildren all about that,
right? So that's what's making it
intense. But that's the difference
between frequency, you know, frequency,
duration and intensity, right? You don't
have to study 5 hours, you know, for it
to be there. The third place is what?
Mouth. Your mouth. I want you to imagine
broccoli. Broccoli. Let me use some
broccoli in your teeth. But here's the
thing. If you make it too ordinary,
you're not going to remember it because
we forget the ordinary, right? We
remember the extraordinary. So, how do
you make it? See, that's the thing with
memory. It's a representation. It's a
representation inside your mind. So, you
can make it however you want, right?
Yep. And so, broccoli,
uh, broccoli is just there's just a
giant bulb of broccoli in my mouth.
That's all I can think about. Yeah. You
can taste it, too, right? I know how
broccoli tastes. It's not the best, but
the fourth place is what? Ears. Is your
ears is the fourth place on your body.
And I want you to remember coconut oil.
Coconut oil. This has been in the news a
little bit, okay? Okay. So, this would
be a little controversial, but coconut
oil coming out of your ears. Coming out
of my ears. I don't know. Coconut
something. Or maybe you're cleaning your
your ears with coconut. Coconut oil
spewing out of my ears like in streams.
Tasted smell. It's kind of crazy, right?
Okay. The fifth place is your what? It's
your larynx. All right. And the fifth
place I want you to remember eggs. So,
just eggs. Okay. Eggs. Good. If that
happens to be someone's diet, the eggs
could be good for you for your brain.
Eggs. What's the movie where um he
swallow he eats all the eggs? Was it uh
cooland Luke? Is that right? Yeah. Eats
all the eggs. So that's what I'm going
to say. Like an egg stuck there. Like
perfect. So by the way, now like let's
just just test this to see. We're
halfway there. This is five. What was
the first what was the first place? So
avocado. Avocado. That's the second
place. Second place is blueberries in my
nose. Very You're really good. Three is
what? That's going to be broccoli in my
nose. And then what's four? Uh coconut
oil. Very cool. And number five. Uh
that's going to be the eggs. Very nice.
We're halfway there. So six is your
what? Shoulders. Your shoulders. And I
want you just to imagine green leafy
vegetables. Green leafy vegetables.
Spinach. Okay. I'm thinking about the
jolly green giant for some reason. Okay.
There you go. Because he's Isn't he in
like a vegetable shroud? So that's he's
like hanging out on your shoulders. You
have like a good one like a saint one
like the devil one. I think that's you
would describe it like that. It's 100%
accurate by the way, but nobody else's
vegetable shroud. That's right. It's
good. There's green leafy vegetables.
Green leafy vegetables. Perfect. Seventh
place is what? Your color. And I want
you to remember uh salmon. Okay? Right?
Certain fish is really tasty. That's
easy because uh collar the collar of a
fish is like their neck essentially,
right? Really tasty. Here's the thing.
Don't make make sure you don't make it
too logical. So make what do you see?
What what can you see? Cuz that's what
you're going to remember. So wearing a
necklace of salmon colors. Oh, nice. So
it would be salmon. Um also good are you
know the small fish like sardines and
and all that stuff cuz you have your
fish oils and everything. All right. So
that's seven. Eight is your what?
Fingers. Your fingers. um superfood um
that I've started to incorporate in my
diet is tumeric. Tumeric because um same
reason I do a lot some cold therapy and
stuff like that to lower inflammation.
So uh so turmeric you know what do you
do like I don't know what turmeric is
what it looks like tastes like nothing
so like how would I really simple you go
to grocery store and they actually sell
turmeric powder so it's a seasoning and
so it's like this golden yellow orange
advice though like do you suggest to use
a pneumonic like let's say I was hearing
the word turmeric for the first time so
now I have to remember two things one
that it's my fingers actually three it's
position eight it's my fingers good it's
called turmeric
which is turmeric, right? And then I
have to remember that it's like a
seasoning. So, how do I Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Hold on. Let's let's unpack
that. So, if somebody is watching this
and they don't know what turmeric is,
right? And so, um we we learn best.
Everyone's a little bit different. You
know, I know you're very um auditory,
right? Because you like to have
discussions and you like to listen to
things. Um everyone is different for the
for more than most people are are more
visual because if they see it, they tend
to remember it a little bit better.
Also, um it's only because the way your
your brain is more more more space is
being taken up by the visual cortex and
such. Um there's a Chinese proverb that
goes, "What I hear, I forget. What I
see, I remember. What I do, I
understand." Like like it's like people
with names. That's really good, by the
way. Yeah. It's like with like names and
faces, right? People always remember the
face. They don't remember the name,
right? You go to someone and say, "Hey,
I I remember your face, but I forgot
your name." You never go to someone and
say the opposite. You never go, "Timmy,
I don't recognize your face at all. your
name though. Totally. Um, so that mean
it's like so the Chinese proverb is like
what I hear I forget. What I see I
remember. What I do I understand. What I
hear I forget. I heard the name. I
forgot the name. What I see I remember.
I saw the face. I remember the face. And
what I do going back to practice, you
know, cuz I feel like people don't
really understand something unless they
could do it, right? It's like
intellectually they might get it, but
now if they're not doing it, I don't
feel like they really understand it. Um,
so for the for example here, my goal
with some take something like tumeric.
Now, your your auditory memory will your
true memory will know it because it
could remember so much information. You
just need a prompt to help remind you a
lot of the times. And a lot of stuff we
teach with quick learning um is like a
shortcut to overcome what I call the
six-second syndrome. It's like somebody
gives you their name, you better do
something with that name cuz you have 6
seconds cuz what happens after 6
seconds? It's like gone in the ether of
the of the universe, right? You break
you break the handshake and it just
falls right to the ground and you can't
remember it. So you want something to
capture in your working memory. And so
lots of times what I'll ask people to do
because we knew we've had this
conversation before about observation
skills and attention taking like with u
like President Clinton and and all that
being powerfully present is putting your
attention to the person's name and
trying to turn take that thing and turn
it into a picture, right? Because if you
could turn into a picture, you're more
likely to remember because we think of
pictures. We dream in pictures, right? I
don't think anybody has dreams and sees
like closed caption on the bottom like
scrolling down and stuff like in words,
right? But we think in pictures, we
dream in pictures and images, you know,
in the kind of video screen. Um, so I
would say one of the things that I would
ask people to do just to because they
already heard it through auditory is I
would ask them to picture it. And it's
like playing Pictionary like you
remember that game. You ever play
Pictionary where you have like a like a
like a whiteboard or something like
that? You had to get people to to say,
"Okay, this is like you know movie, you
know, it has this many words like
breakfast at Tiffany's." And you would
actually draw like breakfast eggs and
bacon and stuff like that. like
Tiffany's like a little blue Tiffany's
you know jewelry box and stuff like that
and people would know but if you don't
know what something is you would draw
like a little um ear because ear means
what sounds like sounds like right so if
you don't know what turmeric is then you
would you're right you would come up one
of the methods would be coming up with a
word or a picture that sounds like it
and people inherently do this because
when people forget people's names right
and um what do they do they sometimes
they go through the alphabet does it
start with an A does it start with a
doesn't start with and you nobody's ever
learned that everybody organically comes
up with the idea because you you know oh
you know D you know like you reminds you
because that little thing because your
true memory it's stored there you just
need to retrieve it out but there's
three parts to your memory is there
three stages it encodes it stores and
then retrieval a lot of times you could
people it's in there but you can't get
it out because the way you encoded it
and if you can encode it with more
senses right imagination you see it feel
it taste it then it's going to store a
lot better so when you need to pull it
out you have more connections to it. Um,
so all really fast. I'm going to
interrupt you. Are you doing what I'm
doing? Are you like cycling through to
make sure you don't forget? Um, no. But
really, yeah. I mean, but I am thinking
about how we're now going far away from
the list and then it's going to get
harder. I can't tell if he's doing it to
with us or like, you know, like he
just wants to see how far can I go. But
I have my tumeric uh picture already.
And and the point is yes I am because I
like to practice under real conditions
because one of the things that messes
with people's memories you know this is
is um is this distortion like we tend to
generalize and delete and distort and
there's always distractions going on
right so we might as well learn under
ideal situations just like if you're
practicing uh anything in real life in
business or in martial arts or fighting
like you want to practice under you know
real collective conditions like when we
practice speed reading and stuff like
that I want people doing it in the real
world because when is it ever completely
quiet and no distractions and that's
where you build the muscle. So, so
turmeric right we would all we would do
here is like so tumeric is this yellow
orangey powder everything. So just
imagine turmeric on your fingers like
finger painting. And so by the way, I
use it to make a and this is going to be
one cool really cool, you know, impact
theory like barbecue with the turmeric
and I but actually for for people I just
did a podcast on like on my my morning
routines, right? And tumeric tea is
really good for you like you mix
turmeric. So tumeric helps to lower
inflammation in your body which could
lead to a lot of challenges, you know,
even inflammation in different parts of
your systems, your organs and stuff. But
turmeric and then put a little pepper in
there because it helps you absorb it and
it's just delicious. You can put some
almond milk. Great. Um they called it
like a golden milk tumeric all over your
fingers right and finally nine and 10
the ninth thing um ninth place is what
the your belly and I want you to
remember walnuts just imagine walnuts on
I don't know walnuts coming out of your
belly button right like it takes the
reason why intensity works is you don't
have to repeat it you could just see it
once or feel it and you're like done
right and so walnuts and not notice how
walnuts look like the brain there's this
thing like the signature of of foods
like literally a sign signature sign the
sign of nature. And so like you know
when you cut into a carrot and you see
like you know the side of it you see the
inside you see it looks like an eye
because it looks like like the organ
that it's serving right same thing with
um with walnuts because it looks like
the brain. Avocado is good for like
female reproductive all all this there
this whole thing right it's kind of
interesting how food kind of look like
what the place is helping. Um, so
imagine walnuts coming out your belly
buttons. And finally, the 10th place is
your what? Seat. Your seat. And um, dark
chocolate. I don't even need I don't
even know. I don't even want to know
what image you're picturing and stuff.
But well, that makes that easy. Okay.
Dark chocolate. Um, could be sugar-free,
whatever. Um, but it's good for it's
good for your brain, right? Just
endorphins, put you in a good mood,
which is which is great also as well.
Yep. So, that's the 10. So, now check
this out. We haven't even gone through
it. I distracted you cuz I went on this
whole tangent for 15 minutes. put a lot
of distractions in there. Yes. So, but
now you're at you're at the grocery
store, right? And we have this Impact
Theory meetup. Are are you doing
meetups? Yeah, we just did one in
London, sub London, and we did one here
in LA, which sadly I wasn't here for,
but that's awesome. So, now you have the
10 things you need to buy for the party.
So, now you're at the grocery store.
Now, as you're walking down the aisles,
you're just looking up and down your
body saying, "What do I need to buy?"
Cuz, you know, have you ever gone to the
grocery store or gone to the store, you
had one thing to buy? Yeah. And you
literally went to the mall for one thing
or the booktoart sauce and you come back
with like a bag full of stuff or two
bags of stuff with everything but the
one thing that you need to buy, right?
So now and some people write it on a
list and they forget their list or it's
on their phone. Their phone dies or
whatever. Um so now you don't need your
grocery list in triplicates, right? You
have it with you. What's the first thing
you need to buy? Avocados. Avocados. Top
of my head. Yeah. And I want people like
it'd be cool if they could people could
post like their answers down on the on
the chat and stuff like that. Um, people
are watching. Yeah. I want to see if
they remember. I'm trying to like in my
head silently see if I can get it to
before you say it. The second is what?
The second is my nose. And those are
going to be blueberries. Blueberries.
Those are blueberries or brain berries.
Number three is What else do you need to
buy? The mouth. And I need to get
broccoli. Broccoli. Very good. Yep.
Next. Fourth is the ears, and that's
going to be coconut oil. Dude, Agent
Smith's like crushing this. Number five
is what? Uh, the larynx, and that's
eggs. Eggs. Very good. Six. Um, six is
is that shoulders? Yeah. Okay. So, leafy
greens. Yeah. Your green. Leafy green.
Perfect. Number seven. Number seven is
going to be the collar. That's salmon.
Salmon. You got it. Eight. Eight is
turmeric. Tumeric on your fingers. Nine
is nine is walnuts on the belly and then
uh chocolate on the seat. Let's just
give him a hand. That's just like That
was good. That was good. Respect. It
takes so much more time to explain it,
right? you know, than actually to do it
because then actually when you did it,
it just takes like a couple of seconds,
right? But it's kind of nice also
because your memory gets better because
you're also training your focus. How
often do you use this in real life?
That's what I want to know. No kidding.
Daily. Really? What's something you did
today? So, so here's the thing. And do
you use those 10 things? Okay, so this
is this is great cuz I I love I love
rolling up my sleeves and doing like
getting into into the micro of this. So,
I have to answer your question, I have
multiple lists. Um, and this is just
something this is just based on
different physical things. So, one's the
body, one's the kitchen, that kind of
thing. This is also I use it when it's
when it's practical, right? I mean, I'm
still not a I mean, I don't want to
memorize like, you know, people have
seen me memorize like numbers and
forwards and pi, you know, all that
stuff. Um, and they use the same
methods. It's just different. It's, you
know, tweaked towards whatever the
outcome is. Um, but I use it to the
degree for two things. I use it for
convenience because I it's there, right?
But number two, I do it also for
training because I also feel like you do
things for two reasons. I think mental
intelligence is good to be able to to
know stuff and know facts and figures
and foreign languages and formulas and
all that stuff. But I I'm even more
interested in besides mental intellig
and intelligence you could define many
different ways, but just say like you
know a lot of stuff, right? You are in
jeopardy, you're crushing it. Um but
equal to mental intelligence is mental
fitness. You know what I mean? Like I I
just want like a youthful mind, you
know? I want one that that's sharp,
that's focused, that has its imagination
intact. Sometimes when people go through
life, sometimes they they dumb it down a
little bit because they're not
challenging themselves in new ways. This
is my like my practice and this is just
one of the practice and I find that when
I'm remembering someone's name, like I
use the method every single time when
I'm people's names really. Now, now
after a while when you get really good
at it, you start doing it and you start
remembering names because that's just
who you are. We talked about in our
episode, you know, these levels, logical
levels of change everywhere from
identity to environment. You start
seeing yourself as somebody who is
capable, that's smart and so on. But
even when I need to remember like 50
people's names at an event, I'll
actually use the same method that we
teach, you know, in in in these kind of
conversations that we're having because
it focuses my my attention. It gets me
present with somebody, gets me focused
on the Have you read Moonwalking with
Einstein? I do. Okay. So do you so for
anybody watching the book is about a guy
who starts cold and decides to become a
memory champion and actually does and he
learns all these techniques using
pneumonic devices the like crazy intense
imagery like we just did with
blueberries flying out of our nose etc.
Um, and I wonder do you like so in that
they'll they'll assign like numbers like
it's always like 13 is always a clown
and so and it got me thinking when you
said you've how how many digits of pi
have you memorized? Well, I mean I I
train a lot more people on how to do
this kind of stuff cuz a lot of people
who like so I was there um I was invited
to go to um to many times to go to the
these championships, right? and uh and
the judge and that kind of stuff. And I
was actually with Josh um that day when
he won his full name Josh Josh for so
Josh for wrote this book and he was
basically a journalist and he was so you
know interested in this that he he
learned the stuff came back a year later
and won. Exactly what you said. And so
he and I have a picture of us having
lunch the day, you know, he did a
morning session competition. We had
lunch together just the two of us and
then he won it that afternoon. It's one
day in New York City. Really, really
great. But they all use some kind of
these methods, 100% of them. And I've
spent a lot of time and you know most a
lot of them are my students and such and
they buy our programs and I could tell
you that 100% of them and I like 99% of
them will all say if you ask them that
they weren't born with this ability to
memorize like you know like that like
hundreds of digits of like binary
numbers or or or you know faces or
anything else like that. But do you do
you personally like predetermine
numbers or names as things? Yeah. So I
have a I so for for for pictures yes. So
one of the methods that so sorry so for
for certain things I turn to pictures
always so names and numbers 100% because
and they're like pre-established so
every time you meet a Tom it's 100%
100%
and some of those came very early in my
career because here's the thing like a
lot of people forget people's names
because they it's abstract like a name
is abstract just like a number like what
does 1792 even what is how is that any
different than 1787 like people like
let's say it's a pin number for your for
your ATM, you know, machine or anything
that you need to or maybe it's your
hotel room are all the things that we
need to memorize all the time. The
problem is with numbers and names,
they're abstract and so it's not
tangible for us to be able to remember.
So the idea here is that the ultimate
tip tip is turn into picture like
because if you can imagine it, you could
remember it, right? And so for example,
when you're meeting someone for the
first time, you would pick a point on
their body, right? So I I teach this
thing called pi p I E. And I say
learn