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everybody welcome to another episode of
after impact I am your host Tom bill you
and I am here with the lovely and
talented Agent Smith mr. bill you I'm
doing very well thank you
I'm excited for today's episode yeah me
Jim mr. quick has become of all the
people I've interviewed I think he is
the person I become the closest with
which is pretty awesome he's a good dude
he's a friend of the family here in fact
he is so fun dad mom cool well welcome
everyone this is after impact
we are pre recording this episode
because Tom is about to go out of town
for a couple of weeks yeah just crazy
yeah so apologize that you can't be on
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live again very shortly so please do
check in every Wednesday 10:00 a.m.
Pacific time we're doing after impact
this is the show where Tom and I go deep
into the episode of impact theory that
just launched and today is Jim quick Jim
quick Jim quick this man right here wait
learning yep so if you don't know Jim
quick he is a memory and learning expert
he has for many decades been a coach a
brain coach for brand CEOs athletes
celebrities he's worked with a lot of
stars and celebrities for movies of
memorizing lines I'm assuming and he is
just he's a he's a beast at this
particular technique and training your
brain to understand concepts better he
has a podcast called quick brain podcast
which just launched recently and that's
how so go check that out but he's a
great guy he was originally on inside
quest way back in the day and now we
have him here on impact theory and its
interest Ori is interesting because the
reason he developed all these skills and
techniques for understanding how to
learn faster and learn better is because
he himself struggled growing up because
he had a brain injury as a child and I
want to jump into that to kick things
off here so he describes in this episode
how everything when he was
was a struggle all of his life and he
was labeled the boy with the broken
brain he didn't want to get up in front
of class ever because he was terrified
of not being able to remember things and
run out well but he says that the thing
that got him through all that was that
his parents gave him purpose and that
there's a reason he's going through all
this suffering they said that the
struggle to become the strength I found
that to be a very powerful part that I
wanted to get yourself in that yeah I
mean that obviously served Jim very well
and I think that I don't believe things
happen for a reason but I believe that
you can extract meaning from anything so
you know when something like this
happens to shift your mindset away from
focusing on all the ways which it sucks
and it's bad and think about all the
ways in which can be useful and I mean
very much a powerful example of the
obstacle is the way right so if Jim
hadn't had the accident if he hadn't had
a traumatic brain injury as a kid if he
hadn't been literally learning disabled
and had to find a way somehow to catch
up he never would have developed the
techniques that have literally become
his mission in life is to teach other
people to do that and whether you're
normal and trying to get better whether
you better and trying to be great or
whether you're really starting at a
deficit and trying to work your way all
the way from deficits greatness he is
able to help people with that and would
not have been able to do that
had he not chosen to really turn that
you know what to most people would just
be this huge detriment into something
that's really powerful for him so I
think and they've done incredible
Studies on this if you take somebody and
they become paralyzed you take somebody
and they have a traumatic brain injury
you take somebody and they have
significant loss in their life when it
happens immediately they're going to say
this is horrible it's worst thing that's
ever happened to me and then at about a
year people get to the point where
they're saying this is actually the best
thing that's ever happened to me and
they there is just a cognitive algorithm
at work that's going to find a way to
rebalance you recalibrate you and get
you to the point where you can see the
extraordinary positive and whatever
happens you and I love that about the
human mind I love that we do that
that we all get back to a baseline of
happiness and what's really interesting
is that baseline of happiness goes both
ways so whether it's you know traumatic
brain injury or it's winning the lottery
or whatever you're going to go back to
neutral
right so the body fights for homeostasis
it fights to get back to neutral so
you're never going to be too happy for
too long you're never going to be too
sad for too long and Jim is living proof
of one of the ways that that expresses
itself where now his whole life is built
around that thing that happened to him
by him slipping it yeah and so bringing
this down to a micro level in sort of
the day-to-day sense so everyone has
days where things just aren't going well
you have a bad day right how do you use
that as a trigger to shift your mind
into thinking about how can this be the
best day or how can I extract value out
of this yeah I mean it really is
techniques and it is arming yourself
with like literally asking and answering
that question for yourself so what do i
do on bad days how do I protect myself
against that it so I'll answer it from a
little trauma perspective where it's
like it's just a bad day first and then
we can talk about like how to really
deal with the hard stuff but if it's a
bad day it's it's such an easy fix which
is stop and focus on three things you're
grateful for right gratitude is so
powerful and it really like your mind
can be in two places at once so if
you're focusing on gratitude you're
going to start to feel that from a
neurochemical standpoint also changing
your posture you'll find if you're
having a bad day you're just more and
more likely to do things like this
you're sort of coming in on yourself so
when you feel it like do this smile like
it is so weird like when you feel the
like little muscles in your face
engaging in a smile you feel better and
if it's true that that all comes from
your neurons and our ability to
understand somebody create theory of
mind has to do with actually mimicking
like people talk about mirroring and
matching and posture and so if someone
has their arms folded you'll notice the
person they're talking to will fold
their arms if they don't they won't if
they lean against something that lean
against something I mean it's really
interesting and that we do all this
stuff including mimicking their facial
expressions to really feel to actually
feel what they're feeling and so we've
it's created this feedback loop of
physicality so a minor bad day using
your physicality to really
pull yourself out of that to smile more
to stand in a better posture just to put
yourself mentally onto the things that
you're grateful for to put on a comedy
and watch a funny movie like all the
really simple stuff actually can have a
profound effect and one of Li Sinai's
favorite stories with each other was we
were living in London at the time and
just had an absolutely horrific day and
I think we'd gotten into a really big
argument and so we went we decided to go
see a movie and happen to be rush hour
two and thought okay I see a funny movie
and by the end of it we found that would
be so hilarious
and it took us from like really being
just bad moods to being elated and it
was so funny that to this day that's
like as a couple certainly one of our
favorite films ever just because it was
so cool to go through that cathartic
transition if it's a big thing and it's
like a really traumatic event that's
when you really have to have bigger
tools of your disposal and the one that
I found that's the most powerful is how
is this the best thing that's ever
happened to me and I find that that's
even powerful like right there in the
moment as you're going through it like
how do I make this a big deal and so I
never had these words in the past but
now post Goggins episode I have the
notion of the cookie jar right and so
getting through that like I would be
saying this to myself as it's happening
so let's say like I've been a car
accident and I shatter my leg literally
the amount of agony that you be in in
that moment is is blinding but if I
needed to turn to something I would turn
to this really [ __ ] sucks but getting
through this is a cookie in the cookie
jar like getting through this Manning up
like just staying focused get through it
find a way whatever it takes
it's going to be a cookie in the cookie
jar so you know that being the person
that you want to be in that moment of
heightened stress of pain of anguish and
it can be emotional anguish doesn't have
to be physical but in that moment if you
stop and really hold yourself
accountable to the identity that you've
created with the awareness that when you
get on the other side of it you get to
be proud of how you acted and that's a
big deal and like knowing that like
working now in a moment where
thing is going wrong working in a moment
where nothing is going wrong to build
that framework to know that okay the
only thing I know for sure is that hard
times are coming for me
and when those hard times come it's
actually an awesome test and I think we
all need to be tested I actually think
we need the suffering to grow as an
individual so when that happens when
you're being tested to know that your
goal during that test is the show from
be the person that you want to be and if
you can do that then you get that
credibility with yourself that's awesome
I think that actually ties into my next
question around something Jim said he
said that everyone has an image of the
ideal self that we want happy right and
then there is an image that we are
afraid of what we actually are and then
there's who we actually are and he said
that there's a lot of stress and fatigue
that comes from people trying to juggle
all of these images at once and really
what it is is just you just need to be
yourself and own that and be okay with
that but how common do you think this
problem is for people juggling sort of
these different ideal selves and
struggling with the gaps there I think
it's I mean and for people that are
willing to dare to dream to become
something else I think it's the
permanent state of human nature okay I
think everybody projects more than who
they are and I think that's a really
useful strategy when you believe you can
actually become that person and you're
trying to walk the part as like that
smile faking the smile so that you can
actually make it a part of who you are I
think that's great and I think that that
can actually help people like moving
like you're confident will actually
actually help you grow confident over
time and so I don't think that that's
like a certain level there's people that
take it to a pathological nourishing
lying in Aladdin I certainly don't
support that but there is there is a an
amount of like the belief has to come
first you have to act confidently before
you're going to feel confidently like
all those things you that you really
have to do I think those are all
important but I think when you when the
idealized version of yourself is more
humble more willing to admit when there
more willing to learn more prepared to
sit as somebody else's speed more
prepared to be a follower and not need
to lead at all times like when that's
the idealized version of yourself like
the more that you really I think you're
actually getting closer to who you are
because I think the lacking humility and
those things that's bravado that you're
trying to put there because you think it
makes you better than you really are
and so it becomes a stripping away
process rather than an additive process
and so I really do think there's like
you can lower your anxiety levels like I
remember when I first started doing this
people used to say all the time like why
are you humble or or how do you stay
humble or wow it's so weird that you
aren't trying to act cool and my whole
thing is trying that cool made me
anxious like I felt like I was going to
be discovered like people going to find
out that I'm not that bright that I'm I
don't have all the answers that you know
I'm mulling my way through this just
like anybody else so I thought to lower
my anxiety I don't want to pretend I
don't want to pretend I'm something I'm
not I don't want to pretend I have an
answer that I don't like and hear me say
it routinely like we are now at the edge
of my understanding like it's important
to me to say all that stuff for two
reasons one because it makes me feel
less anxious and two because people will
see me grow over time and that's leading
by example it's very important to my
identity so I want people that have been
following me now you know there's some
people that have been following me for
like two years and so in those two years
they've already seen me changing it
better and one of the comments that I'm
most proud of getting socially is whoa
like you've really gotten better as an
interviewer as a influencer or whatever
the case may be like that's meaningful
that people can really see that and if
for no other reason then I want them to
know that that's possible in their lives
and that when I say pulling people out
of the matrix that's what I'm talking
about that that they will believe of
themselves they are capable of so much
more than they think they are right now
so if they see me do it and I'm not
making any pretense is that cool or
whatever I think that that teaches that
lesson so you know to Jim's point it's
like it's less anxiety-producing
it'll help you really find out who you
are in and there are going to be times
where you do something that you wish you
hadn't and once you view yourself in a
long enough timeline you know you can
polish that off it's not a permanent
part of your personality all that then
then it really adds up to
self-improvement this another thing Jim
said is that you should keep yourself
talk positive because your mind is
always Eve draw eavesdropping on your
self-talk which I thought was a really
interesting point and there seems to be
this sense from from his perspective at
least that you know you're unconsciously
always registering your self-talk and I
know that you believe in not silencing
the inner critic that in some negative
self-talk right but what if you're not
conscious of that inner critic what if
it's just registering unconsciously but
you're not fully aware of it can that be
corrosive oh it is indefinitely I mean
it's definitely excuse me corrosive like
no question about it becoming more
self-aware like there's so many
influencers out there and they've
created a lane for me which is nobody's
talking about how to become more
self-aware and it is a very hard
question to answer so I've really
stopped think about okay how did I
become self-aware like what were the
things that I did how can people
practice self-awareness because I
believe everything can be practiced so
when I really stop and look at this
reading the book homo Deus gave me the
new lexicon to talk about it so I think
this is very powerful and I actually
totally agree with Jim that your
subconscious is always eavesdropping but
I also think your subconscious is
talking to you a lot and you need to
learn to eavesdrop on your subconscious
so the negative voice is a conscious
thing you also need to eavesdrop on your
subconscious so you know like what's
running there and there's this weird
self reinforcing loop your subconscious
listening to your conscious mind and so
that may become a subconscious process
right so you can make that subconscious
process migrate positive or you can make
it migrate negative but I don't think
they're one I don't think there's a way
to get rid of the negative voice that's
the way the human mind is wired I just
think it's also useful we can't let's do
too much so anyway here's the language
that homo Deus gave me to really
Stan what's going on so you can you can
synthesize and process a lot more data
subconsciously than you can consciously
okay that's probably why the conscious
mind and the subconscious mind exist one
is a just deeply efficient process the
subconscious and one is the deeply
inefficient process the conscious mind
so when you think about the conscious
mind and there's definitely tears of the
conscious mind like I find that when I
think of a concept I can think of the
concept and I know what it is and then I
can actually sub vocally vocalize it
right so you actually hear a voice
articulating syllables and words in your
mind right so we're all familiar with
that concept and in between those is
already a change in efficiency but below
that in the subconscious mind you have a
just a much more efficient program so
like right now I'm talking to you but
for whatever weird reason I guess
because I'm thinking about the
subconscious for a split second I became
aware of the blue wall behind you but
I'm going to again get lost in the
conversation and I'll forget that it's
there but not only do I see that I see
Jim out of the quantum eye I see the
daylight out the window and I'm we're
aware of what's there and all that but
like we'll sort of come in and out of
these moments where I'm totally locked
in on you and what I'm saying and I
absolutely am 100% unaware of these even
though my subconscious is paying
attention to all of them and if it were
to detect movement or danger whatever it
would once again grab my attention so
the subconscious has to be there
scanning everything that's in your belt
okay so your belt is all the things that
we can perceive sight sound touch you
know all that speaking of we have an
alarm going off here which now my
subconscious mind process brought it to
the forefront of my conscious mind so
that's really like your subconscious has
to process all the data points so my
subconscious is processing like you're
that little micro expression that just
went across your eyebrows like you know
your face like your posture everything
and it's assimilating it and it's
keeping me abreast now the way that it's
keeping me abreast and this is the big
thing I got from home ideas is the
subconscious the language that it speaks
in the way that it gives you data in a
deadly efficient way is emotion okay let
that one sink in so the things that you
feel
from your subconscious processing a lot
of data and rather than trying to give
you words thoughts like clear thoughts
it just gives you a motion of feeling
and that's why the first thing you're
going to get when you encounter somebody
you get a gut reaction like right away
because you're reading like it's what I
call the pub brawler effect so there's
just a certain type of person there was
a guy in the MMA and his name is Jeffrey
Monson and he just looked violent like
the view saw him on the street wouldn't
matter like you wouldn't have to like
ask visa fighter he just looks like a
fighter he's got like that square head
the big jaw the thick neck like just
looks solid right versus somebody that
looks like a little nerdy right you're
not like if I put them next to each
other even if the nerdy guy is the MMA
fighter like and I said one of these two
people is a fighter which one is it like
the overwhelming majority of people are
going to put it on the guy that looks
like a pub brawler
right it's the type of guy that would
get in a fight in the hub yeah so that's
your subconscious right gives you this
gut feeling about that person so it
plays out as an emotion so all the
emotions that you're having that's your
subconscious speaking to you in a very
efficient language in the book he gives
an example of a baboon trying to judge
the distance so if there's like bushel
of bananas and it wants to go grab the
bananas but there's a tiger on the other
side so all the things in the envelop
that it's going to be taking in the
distance
how spry am I feeling right now my high
energy how hungry am i is it worth
taking a risk how hungry does the tiger
look what's the Tigers like body
language you know running the the
geometry and the math like even taking
in like if the tiger were standing let's
say knee-deep in water like how much
that might slow them down but all that's
processed in the blink of an eye and you
just get a feeling either go for it or
I'm not so sure right that feeling is
the subconscious processing that just
vast amount of data so it really does
work both ways I think that because you
really really need to train like the
part of your brain that can process so
much data so rapidly you need to train
it so you need and that's why I believe
you should spend at least 80% of your
time thinking on the positive the
beautiful and all that because now
you're going to train your subconscious
to be looking for opportunity to be
viewing the world in an optimistic way -
instead of see the potential danger and
downside and always getting this doom
and gloom feeling like I mean just to be
really cheesy for a second like to make
real the notion of is it the glass half
empty or half full like when you see it
train your subconscious to give you a
positive feeling rather than negative
feeling which is you know I believe that
people can train themselves to be more
optimistic or train themselves to be
more negative certainly life is doing
its best to teach you all that and I
don't believe in that were born blank
slates but I believe that we're born
very malleable and I think that we
maintain that malleability that's super
interesting I've never heard it
described that way that your
subconscious is processing and the
emotion is the output that's really
really fascinating um what about do you
think writing is a tool for
self-awareness wow that's interesting
I've never thought of it like that
before but most definitely especially if
you're just doing stream of
consciousness you mean one thing that's
really interesting on the verbal
processor and I remember the first time
I heard somebody say and I always forget
who wrote this but I don't speak to be
understood I speak so I can understand
and that is very true for me and that's
one of the reasons I love doing the show
is I gained more and more clarity about
myself by having to answer these
questions and it really forces me to
think about God what do I think about
that what do I believe about that and
that's where your subconscious is like
going to cough up the answer and so it's
already residing in your subconscious
but by having to put words around it you
bring that into your conscious mind so I
find that very very interesting I find
the same thing it's happening when
you're writing and writing is just slow
enough that the process gives you a
chance to cough up that that concept
into your conscious mind in the time
that it takes you you know to finish
writing that first word you're like on
to the next and that X and X and so if
you're not trying to write to like
publish because I find that then I like
clamp down on things I already
understand and I really try to write
that in the best way possible to punch
this way whereas if I'm doing free flow
then I'll surprise
myself easy and be like wow I never
thought that and that's one thing that I
like about writing fiction or writing a
screenplay is the characters really do
seem to be in control like it's so weird
and I remember I was writing the
screenplay one time and I had this
female character and I had to name her
and all the sudden I was like her name's
Mike and then it was like why is her
name like litter I have no concept of
why that would jump into my conscious
mind wrote her name down as Mike and
then like my subconscious is like
coughing up all the stuff she had a dad
that wanted a boy and so he named her
Mike because he was just I couldn't let
go of it and like all the stuff and she
was like you know it's not my nickname
like that's really my name and so then
she started to feel real and it started
to be like I didn't know where it was
coming from right like it was just and
so obviously at some point like these
ideas have been forming in my
subconscious and going through the
fiction writing process especially
because the best way I find to write the
first draft don't like get hung up in
the words and stuff like just get the
ideas out and so there really is the
sense that they've sort of within the
confines of the story that you're trying
to tell but they've taken over and are
letting you know who they are which
makes the process truly magical and it's
one of the reasons that I so love which
is I run it for a guy didn't read any
fiction anymore that I so loved the
process of writing fiction because it
you're on this like exploration yeah
I've heard a lot of writers talk about
like you have to listen to your
characters because they're telling you
kind of how the story is going to unfold
and then also writers when they finish a
book said it like they miss the
characters right like for sad ones you
know yeah it's super interesting all
right let's bring it back to the episode
here so Jim also talks about that our
value in this world is creativity
and it stopped me because this is
becoming a pattern like how many of our
guests have said that creativity is one
of the most valuable things you can
assess and one
most important things to work on I mean
Chase Jarvis talked about it Andy Walsh
talked about it Jim is talking about it
especially in the future world of AI and
James so I wanted to I just wanted to
get your response on that
well creativity especially in a world
where things that are easy to automate
are going to be automated that things
that require the ability to truly
multitask which humans can do is going
to be automated um that a lot of jobs
are going to be going away and
creativity doesn't necessarily mean
drawing so that's like important for
people to understand we're not talking
about sculpting painting drawing that's
England expression right that's one type
of creativity but like there are
mathematicians that are wildly creative
Einstein used to talk about like physics
is a game of creativity you know
imagination is more important than
knowledge and and like that's where you
get into at least right now what the
human mind is uniquely gifted at the
ability to connect to empathize to
creatively solve problems to imagine a
world that doesn't yet exist where the
only animal that can do that which is
really really interesting and I think it
would be very hard for AI to do that so
that's where just from like a future
proofing yourself like creativity is
very interesting but also feeling alive
is when you feel like you're making a
unique contribution that you like
without you things would be
fundamentally different and worse right
that's when it gets really exciting and
the only way to get there is when you're
having a unique idea which I find the
only way to have unique ideas is take a
lot of ideas into this unique internal
world that is you that will never again
be that never before was because you're
the unique circumstances of not only
your genetics the epigenetic factors in
your microbiome which is my new
obsession and the family that you were
raised in the things that have happened
to you but also your time period so
literally even if all the other
variables somehow magically were
identical
your time period is going to shape you
and that's obviously never going to come
again so that to me is is really how
once you start focusing on creativity
which I'll say is the ability to have
mastered something so well that you can
confidently make a counterintuitive move
because almost certainly it comes from a
gut instinct like you've trained
yourself so well and by gut instincts I
mean you've taken it out of the
conscious mind it's now so deeply rooted
in your subconscious which using jim's
vernacular it's been eavesdropping on
you the whole time during your learning
process it's now got this vast amount of
data that it's drawing from you've
pulled in in your game of becoming a
master in that and then like somebody
playing musical notes it throws up these
interesting ideas based on who you are
and your unique wiring of your brain and
it brings up in this very new and unique
pattern like the different solutions so
so there's no creativity without mastery
I don't not not I'm going to ask you to
draw a line there yeah there's not there
really isn't
really I mean maybe clumsy creativity in
the way that a kid might surprise you
something that's like oh that's
interesting but I think that's more you
sort of painting on top of it like your
interpretation is creative more than
necessarily what they created was
creative so yeah like I've never like
answered that question for myself but I
don't think there is have you ever heard
of the studies where they give like a
second grader a first grader a paper
clip and ask them they give them a
certain amount of time and how many
different things can you do with this
and they can come up with like 150 or
something like that right you give it to
an adult and they can come up with six
in the same amount of time yeah what do
you make of that
that's a really interesting question
that is really challenging my notions of
like what is the definition of creative
and I think that's really where because
in all fairness like bending a
paperclips not very interesting so the
fact that they can bend it into 150
different shapes like so what but give
them
the parts to make the Large Hadron
Collider and will they know so but
somebody who can you know I mean take
Einstein so somebody who really caused
these fundamental shifts in physics did
it from the point of he had a
willingness to be wrong he had an
insatiable curiosity but it was like his
thought experiments like say you're
traveling on a beam of light and there's
a train going near the speed of light
and you turn on a flashlight on the
train like what happens to those two
beams of light does one pull away from
the other do they go the same speed
if you don't understand physics you
can't even ask that question right so to
me getting or take piano like they say
that if you it's usually a typewriter if
you leave a monkey to type right or long
enough randomly hitting keys and an
infinitely random universe like
ultimately it will write warn peace but
like are we going to call that
creativity not really that's just a law
of big numbers so I think that
creativity like hiding in my mind as I
articulate all of this is a usefulness
so whether that's a concerto that
actually moves me in a certain way
whether that's a painting that moves me
in a certain way you know that's like to
me like you would have to have mastered
like even take Jackson Pollock whose and
I'm not saying aren't flash in the pans
where people convince themselves as
something is creative like they've had
the monkeys like splatter panes and you
know people convince themselves that
it's amazing or the same bottle of wine
taste by wine experts and they think
it's eight different wines and they rate
them all differently but same [ __ ]
bottle of wine poured from the same
bottle and everything so not saying that
people can't trick themselves but in
terms of like enduring value from
something creative Jackson Pollock when
you break it down he basically painted
in fractals and so at you can actually
break his paintings down mathematically
so as the average person you look at it
and for whatever reason you just like it
and you like it more and he's been more
enduring than other painters who did
what on the surface seem similar but
then when you break theirs down the
mathematics don't hold up so for
whatever reason like as
he was creating these mask collages of
just like what seemed like really random
stuff there's actually a balance in the
mathematics to what he's doing that
speaks to something inside the human
being so I think there's a reason that
he's endured I think there's a reason
that Einstein had breakthroughs in
physics that a seventh-grader is never
going to have and those things to me are
mastery I think that there's a reason
you know the whole notion of take MMA
right the most creative jiu-jitsu
practitioners are the ones that know the
most so is it possible that a guy rolls
on the mat for the first time ever and
he does something interesting maybe but
like I really think the the real
breakthroughs are going to come from
your you so understand something that it
removes it's no longer residing in the
neocortex it's no longer in your
conscious mind it's you know Bruce Lee's
concept of kick until you don't think
kick you just kick it's so engrained in
you that it's all the like higher level
cognitive processes that clamp down too
tightly on something are removed because
it drops down into the subconscious and
now like just the sheer amount of time
that you've put into getting really
great at that like even take playing
piano like your fingers getting away
until you're great playing guitar like I
remember how long it took me to learn
how to do a bar chord physically to get
to the point where I could do it so like
those things stand in the way to me of
creativity so yes I am now more certain
than ever despite your paperclip bending
child because I I think that it does
take mastery now you need to approach
things like you can't let things get
dogmatic that's where people really get
into trouble and you'll hear high-level
scientists talk about that a lot that
people end up holding themselves back
because they're so convinced they know
the truth and so you know I'll lean on
my boy Einstein again that I really
think that imagination really is more
important than knowledge and that your
knowledge can calcified the dogma and
hold you back but one final repetition
and I will stop mastery is needed for
creativity all right there we have it so
speaking of Einstein Jim says that if
you're a genius
you're not to-do list is bigger than
your to-do list so what are some things
on your
to do list don't check email I mean
that's like my most aggressive don't
check email I don't take naps during the
day unless it's the weekend what I like
to do is I more so I rank things in
order of importance you so any one day
like what's on my not to-do list is
going to be completely random like don't
call that person back don't reply to
that person don't do that podcast like
there's a thousand just because I need
to do this thing I don't respond to a
lot of comments during the day because I
love it so much I so enjoy engaging the
community that I distrust it I've found
in business like when you're doing the
thing you really want to do like a lot
of times it's because it's easy versus
it being the right thing so I usually do
comments late at night like that that's
when I really go in on it so my last one
to two hours of the day I spend like
going hard on comments every day and I
don't get me wrong you're going to see
me like a five minutes here five minutes
they're doing comics just just to
continue to build that connection with
the community but yeah I just trust
things if I like it too much and look I
get how new once that is because I'm
normally like hey if I'm that thing that
makes you feel alive to do that but it's
like when you're building a business it
sadly is not about like each task making
you feel alive if it was we never would
have gotten an EIN number from the IRS
it was one of the most painful things
that I had to do I remember starting
this [ __ ] company you know or like
our taxes or dealing with the account
like I hate that stuff so completely but
I just recognize that it all needs to be
done so yeah there it is there it is Jim
said something really interesting about
how we outsource our brains to our smart
devices today which I had never really
thought of but he said people are
forgetting how to memorize things
because why would you you have a
computer in your pocket you can just
look it up and he sees this as a you
know possibly a dangerous thing how do
we rely on technology and machines
without becoming
dependence um I think it's a false
question so I think we are going to
become cyborgs at some point I think
we'll straight transcend biology so I
think we're in an intermediary period
because where I want to be is where I'm
and maybe it's not even wearing glasses
but we'll just make it easy I'm wearing
glasses and I have like a little
earpiece in my ear and my own AI is
talking to me and it's like that's Jared
you call him Agent Smith he got his hair
cut three days ago you know to mean like
or it just goes like he got his hair cut
his hair has been changed by 62% you
know what I mean and so it's like ah did
you have a sign like that's where you're
going so that's the intermediary step
now before we get there then you can
make a huge impact on somebody and to me
it comes down to like how does it help
you connect with other people so you
know Jim is talk I can't remember if it
came up in this episode or not but I've
talked about it so many times I
associated with him
Bill Clinton being able to remember
people's names and like remembering
things about them and Christopher talked
about how Will Smith could do that and
that how good it made Christopher feel
that he meets Will Smith and then three
years later meets him again and Will's
like Christopher what's up man and he
was just like freaking out that he
remembered him so right now it's such an
incredibly powerful way to connect with
somebody that I fully get what Jim is
saying now but if I like think out 10
years the thing that I just described is
real so and it's for sure within 10
years
Faith's facial recognition even
translation like one thing I'm deeply
sad about 10 years from now it will be
meaningless to people that I learned
Greek right and that was brutally
difficult I put a lot of work into it
and I did it to impress my wife and be
able to like prove something to myself
and all that but in ten years like
literally I'll have that device in my
ear and you'll speak in real-time in a
foreign language and I'll hear it like
with no latency so it's it's inevitable
that that's where we're going so it's
like to put a lot of time and energy
into it for the interim is I don't know
it's find out a great use of time but
don't you think you need to kind of
store a bunch of these things in your
memory bank for instance
to successfully execute an interview of
impact good that yeah
so let's differentiate between
memorizing things and educating yourself
educating yourself is always going to be
useful otherwise you're like mr. Potato
Head waiting for like feedback from your
AI device and you cease to be in
existence essentially you're just going
to mouth these for your AI so yeah
educating yourself getting great at
something that will forever be
profoundly interesting so yeah like that
100 cent
learn learn learn get really good at
very specific executable tasks that have
value there's you know no getting away
from that and that's why I am so
obsessed with reading because I'm trying
to get as much information into my not
only my conscious mind but my
subconscious mind so yeah that's really
critical and going back to mastery
making more creative like I can do a
show where people can ask me anything
about anything and I feel very confident
doing that because I know that unless
somebody goes really specific I'm like
something like hardcore science I'll be
able to answer just a wide array of
questions in a useful manner always
willing to admit when it's like okay I'm
not the right person to ask that
question to but because I'm constantly
like digesting like a wide variety of
information and I think that that will
always be powerful even like and I mean
so I like to answer the hard questions
so I'm pushing myself like Watson beat
the guys at jeopardy and so is there a
time where as you're asking me a
question like Watson enabled device in
my ear is giving me the answer I guess
but that I think that's very different
than having so much information and this
is absolutely the difference I would
continue to want to do that even if that
Watson AI device existed because I want
to have so much information that I'm
making unique connections based on what
I've assimilated and that only comes
from gaining mastery and disparate
disciplines right I think we have time
for maybe one more question
okay so it Jim says he's very mindful of
his commitments and at most level
overcommitted they say what yes way too
much so if someone is trying to achieve
greatness you know maybe they're
starting a business maybe they want to
be a lynchpin a great parent whatever it
is how do they balance over commitment
with aggressively pursuing new
opportunities so I'll answer for myself
so I would rather be over committed than
not efficiently using my time and every
now and then it gets a little
frustrating because there's multiple
things that I want to do and I committed
to something weaker than something that
comes up and to keep my commitments like
I have to do the weaker thing and but I
think that's really important like - but
you know you you change it over time so
it used to be I would do anyone's
podcast if you asked and you had a
follower like I was still going to do
your podcast I needed to practice right
I wanted to pay it forward like I
remember how hard it was to get a good
guest for us in the beginning so it was
like all those things come together and
I want to do that and then now it's had
to change to where I will do it if I can
so now becomes a scheduling concern and
then I just prioritize based on who who
will allow me to have the biggest impact
so if you hit me up in a moment I don't
have a lot going on yeah for sure no
question but if you hit me up in a
moment where I've got a bunch of people
and some of them have you know 500
thousand a million followers whatever
and you're you know at 150 then I just
logically I have to prioritize those so
yeah that's where it is all right I
think we'll wrap it up there all right
well guys thank you so much for joining
us for after impact I am so grateful to
all the guests that come on it's
absolutely amazing and I love going
deeper and being able to touch on the
things we're not able to always carve
out in the episode and quite frankly I
love that agent Smith takes the time to
give a new take on each of these guests
and things that hit you that maybe I
haven't had a chance to think about or
just even pressing me with the paper
clips and other amazing questions that
you have that was a lot of fun so if you
guys have questions please submit them
it's always fun to answer your questions
during our live Q&A s as well and
normally these are lives so we get your
questions on these shows so please you
can submit them at connected impact you
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this is a weekly show and until next
time my friends be legendary
take care