Recap #1: Limitless by Jim Kwik
This is my first short recap of books that I read and love, during the recap I’m introducing the core concepts of the book.
I want to try something new and because of that, I’ll start a series of recaps of books that I read and love. I’ll release them occasionally. So here we go with my first recap.
What’s in it for you: Unlimited power for your brain
Jim Kwik was in kindergarten when he severely banged his head against a radiator and suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with concentration problems and learning disabilities. Throughout his school, he had to work harder than anyone else and had to cope with exclusion. Once, a teacher called him “the boy with the broken brain.”
However, in college, Kwik found out that he didn’t have to study harder than the others, but that he simply had to learn differently. Better. Intrigued, he set out on a quest to find effective learning and memory training methods. He found ways to increase his concentration and memory and came across techniques that enabled him to absorb information faster and more effectively than ever before.
In this article, I review the findings from his book Limitless.
“Limitless”- and offer you theoretical knowledge about learning as well as concrete learning techniques that will help you unlock the limitless potential of your cognitive abilities.
You’ll also learn why London cab drivers have bigger brains,
how Johann Sebastian Bach helps you learn, and why you read as slowly as a fourth-grader.
Too Much Smart Makes You Stupid
The following question may sound simple.
Is digital technology good or bad for us?
But the answer is not simple at all.
On the one hand, smart devices make our lives easier.
They take over many of our “lower” brain functions, from calculating and remembering to spatial orientation. Pretty practical, huh?
But there is a catch: researchers fear that this “outsourcing” will cause our brains to atrophy in the long run.
Today, we are always just a click away from the entire world’s knowledge. And that around the clock. According to studies, we now consume a staggering
three times as much information as people did in 1960 and that has
consequences.
What was the name of the capital of Slovenia? What was it? Scraping such knowledge out of your brain is a challenge. But at the same time, it also promotes memory.
If you can look up everything immediately, you don’t have to use your
brain, but at the same time, it makes your memory shrink like a neglected muscle.
Nowadays, we are constantly switching back and forth between different
applications. We interrupt our work and conversations for incoming messages and more often feel stressed and worn out.
According to neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, we use up our mental forces much faster than more joyful ones. This wear and tear also affect your critical thinking skills. The Internet is just overflowing with opinions. You’d think that would be a good thing: at least you can see things from different points of view.
But only very few people have the leisure for so much research. Most of us use sources with which they agree anyway.
They adopt preconceived information to confirm their beliefs.
All of this weakens the ability to do our analysis. In short, it’s more important than ever to keep your mind sharp. In shape.
But how? I provide concrete examples below.
The author recommends the following exercise to get you started:
Take thirty minutes a day to turn off all your devices.
Use this time consciously to relax, be creative, or let your mind wander.
Let’s face it: technology makes our lives easier. But you
limit its use to preserve your cognitive abilities.
And what if you’ve already spent way too much time on devices? Is it
too late to save your brain? Don’t worry. In the next section
we’ll look at how resilient and changeable the brain is.
Intelligence Can Grow
We constantly question our intelligence.
We think things like:
“I’m too stupid for foreign languages,”
“I have a memory like a Swiss cheese,”
“I just can’t do math.”
But that’s not true.
The problem is that we compare ourselves too often.
Because of the permanent comparison, many people mistakenly think that others are fundamentally smart or more talented.
The frustration keeps us from realizing our full potential.
But no matter how dissatisfied you are with your current performance, it says
nothing about your success tomorrow. Because your brain is highly
neuroplastic.
That means it will change throughout your life. To wit.
Many people think of their cognitive career as a downhill slide: They assume
assume that their brain has reached its maximum capacity at some point in adolescence.
From then on, in their opinion, it goes inexorably downhill.
However, research findings suggest the opposite.
A frequently cited example is that of London cab drivers.
cabs, you have to pass an extremely difficult final exam.
pass.
He or she must memorize the names and locations of all 25,000 streets in the city.
This enormous cramming of information changes the candidates’ brain structures of the candidates.
According to brain scans, London cabbies have significantly more gray matter in their memory centers than other people. Their memory centers on other people.
Memorizing the map forces their brains to create new neuronal connections.
As a result, areas of the brain become larger and more powerful.
So what does this have to do with you?
Quite simply: You too can extend your brain structures!
But to do so, you first have to get rid of what the the author calls learning lies. One of the biggest learning lies in the fairy tale of the supposedly unchangeable intelligence.
Indeed, the IQ test results often remain stable.
However, the IQ does not say anything about your ability to learn, nor does it reflect your intelligence in its entirety.
Your cognitive abilities can always vary and grow.
Get it through your head: You can learn throughout your life.
Each of us has the power to build our brain structures.
The idea of fixed intelligence is not only wrong but also dangerous.
It prevents countless people from believing in their abilities It’s about time,
that you free yourself from such learning lies.
Ask Yourself the Right Questions.
We all toss tens of thousands of thoughts back and forth in our heads every day.
Often we ask ourselves questions that we then reel off countless times. Levitin calls the most persistent of these dominant questions.
Dominant questions have a great influence on how we feel.
To illustrate, here’s an anecdote: Years ago, the author was invited to meet
to accompany actor Will Smith on a film shoot in Toronto.
The crew toiled outside, in the freezing Canadian winter, from six in the evening in the evening until six in the morning.
During a break, Smith and the author and the author engaged in a conversation. In the process, they discovered the dominant question
the actor was asking. It was: “How can I make this experience more magical?
Smith was always guided by this question. He acted on it. Instead of
resting during breaks, he supplied the entire crew with hot cocoa
and cracked jokes nonstop to create a pleasant mood.
This makes Will Smith is a great example of someone who consciously chooses to think positively.
What about you? What dominant thoughts are driving you? And how do they
do they help you?
Unfortunately, many people are preoccupied with negative questions like:
“How do I get others to like me?
“How can I make myself invisible?”
Such questions are unproductive.
They intimidate us and superimpose our true selves. That’s why we need new questions that give us strength and courage.
These new questions are different for everyone. The author, for example, works with “How can I do this or that better?” and “How can I understand my mind and understand my mind to use it better?”
Such questions help a positive mentality that is not only good for your mind but also your body.
According to studies, positive people carry a 13 percent lower risk of suffering strokes or depression.
So the next time you’re using phrases like, “I can’t “ or “I’m not…” — turn the tables.
Instead, say to yourself, “I haven’t been good at it, but today is a new day. I can improve and do great things!”
Remember actual moments of success, no matter how big or small they were.
small they were.
That’s how you start beating your inner critic. You can even make fun of him
even make fun of it in your mind by giving it a silly appearance or a ridiculous name.
Make a fool of him whenever he tries to make you feel insecure. Learn to distinguish between this chronic doubter and the real you.
In short, you can free yourself from negative thoughts. Align your
mentality to constructive questions and ignore your inner doubter.
You can train your positive mentality like a muscle. This opens
your view for the beautiful sides and countless possibilities in life.
Passion With Meaning Or: What Drives You
The terms “passion” and “purpose” describe a drive:
The spark that ignites our fire.
We see both as the reason why we particularly love certain activities. Therefore, both terms are often used synonymously.
But actually, passion and purpose are two fundamentally different things.
Passion works internally. It flows through you like an invisible force that has nothing to do with the expectations or prejudices of your environment.
Purpose on the other hand, pushes outward. It flows in the direction of a goal or contribution that you want to make you want to make for the good of others.
For example, let’s say you are passionate about weaving baskets. Then it would be a meaningful goal to share that passion with the world. You could take basket weaving classes, for example.
The distinction may sound a little petty. Passion is important.
But only by linking it to a deeper purpose does it unleash the
true powers of your motivation.
Let’s illustrate this with another example. Imagine a healthy
and vigorous 70-year-old. He gets up every morning at five o’clock and
and lifts weights. But why?
Maybe he has always been a passionate athlete. But now he combines the routine with a purpose. He is now a grandfather and wants to keep up with his grandchildren. He wants to stay fit and spend many more years with them.
Now transfer this thought to your own life. Ask yourself how often you have to force you to do certain things. Why do you do these activities? What are they good for? The more you associate the answer with a purpose, the more motivated you will be.
There are many more motivational tricks. One of them is to stick to
your self-image and your values. This awareness can influence your behavior enormously, as a psychological study of the University of Stanford shows.
One of two groups of subjects was asked the question:
“How important is it for you to vote?” For the second group, the
question was minimally different: “How important is it for you to be a voter?” It’s no surprise that with the second group, the likelihood increased by
13 percent that the subjects actually went to vote later.
From this we learn that motivation is closely linked to the identity factor. The more you identify with a goal or resolution, the more motivated you are to get down to business.
Fuel For Your Brain
So let’s say you have a meaningful goal. You know that you will enjoy
will be fun. But you still can’t get going. Why not? Are you fooling yourself?
The answer is much simpler:
In most cases, you simply don’t have the energy.
Your body needs strength to push you forward. And among its most important are sufficient sleep, plenty of exercise and healthy food. We more and more often skimp on a good night’s sleep, but a lack of sleep causes many
numerous problems, from irritability and lack of concentration to heart disease to depression and Alzheimer’s disease. So put an end to it.
Make sure recharge your batteries at night.
As paradoxical as it may sound at first, sleep is closely linked to exercise.
Regular exercise makes you sleep better. This was also shown in a 16-week
study on the relationship between aerobic exercise and sleep quality.
After four months of gymnastics, the test subjects slept significantly longer each night for an average of 75 minutes.
We all know that exercise is healthy. So why do many act against
better knowledge and skip exercise so often?
Because people always have an excuse ready. Time is short, lifting weights is boring, and the gym subscription is too expensive.
But the advantages are much more important. Because sport not only promotes weight loss and muscle development, but also brain development.
So regular aerobic exercise can increase your hippocampus. This area
controls your memory and learning abilities, among other things.
The third body fuel is high-quality food. Neuroscientist Dr. Lisa Mosconi lists these ten among the most important nutrients for the brain.
Avocados, blueberries, broccoli, dark chocolate, eggs, leafy greens, salmon, turmeric, walnuts and water.
We’ll note: You need energy to accomplish your goals.
Support your brain by getting enough sleep, plenty of exercise and a
healthy diet.
Sleep, exercise and good nutrition. These are not flash in the pan, but rather
but permanent. So you need to establish habits accordingly. We
people need between 18 and 254 days to establish new routines.
But no matter how long it takes you — you can do it! Start with small
and gradually integrate the healthy habits into your everyday life.
Exhilarating Flows and Baby Steps
Sometimes you get so absorbed in an activity that you completely forget about the time around you.
Before you know it, hours have passed. This is the state that psychologists call flow.
When you’re in flow like this, things come effortlessly to you. Although you perceive the challenge of your task — but you don’t perceive it as too high.
On the contrary: You enjoy mastering it. You get into a pleasant, fulfilling high.
Flow has the added benefit of increasing your productivity dramatically, sometimes by as much as five hundred percent!
By a whopping five hundred percent! Read that again.
So how do you achieve this state?
By first cutting out all distractions. You can’t obliviously dive into the flow if you’re looking at your smartphone every few minutes. Even worse, studies show that it can take up to twenty minutes after each interruption before you are fully focused again.
So schedule enough time. Block out at least ninety minutes for your task, ideally a full two hours. And don’t succumb to the temptation of multitasking. This myth has long since been disenchanted by sober science. Multitasking doesn’t make you faster, it makes you less productive.
As exhilarating as it feels to be in the flow, you can’t accomplish all tasks in this state.
Some are simply too complex or annoying. For such cases of hardship you have to use another technique: small, simple steps.
Tedious and unpleasant tasks are the reason why we procrastinate But the procrastination causes psychological damage. Unfinished tasks create tension in the brain. You have to think about them about them until the task is done. On top of that, there are often other negative feelings like guilt and shame.
And now guess what most people do about these unpleasant feelings. That’s right: they procrastinate.
Leverage this dynamic by breaking down tiresome tasks into mini-steps. Let’s say you’re procrastinating from writing an important speech. Then take the pressure off your own shoulders. You don’t have to the whole speech into the keys at once.
Concentrate only on the introduction! And who knows, maybe you’ll get into such a groove that you’ll end up accomplishing more than expected?
Remember: Increase your productivity by getting into the flow with enough time.
Tackle even large and tedious tasks by breaking them down into small steps.
Now let’s look at some concrete tips and techniques to better memorize what you’ve learned.
Secret Tips For Your Memory
Prize question:
What does Johann Sebastian Bach have to do with your learning success?
Well, quite a lot.
Studies show a close relationship between music, mood, and brain reception.
of the brain.
Certain types of music increase human learning ability. And that’s where Bach comes into play. His baroque music, with its fifty to eighty beats per minute, creates the ideal conditions for productive focus.
But music is just one of many strategies you can use to stimulate lesser-known brain functions and thus enhance your ability to learn. Another is your sense of smell. We often associate smells with memories. Close your eyes once. And now remember the scent of your grandmother’s perfume.
That will catapult you back to your childhood in a flash. This is just one example of how effectively aromas activate memories.
You can use the power of smells to help you prepare for exams or presentations. Just rub an essential oil such as lavender, tea tree or rosemary on your wrist as you prepare. Then apply the scent again shortly before your test to stimulate your memory!
Or you can use the so-called primacy-recency effect. The primacy effect describes the fact that content at the beginning of a learning unit
The recency effect complements this with the information at the end of a unit. With this knowledge you can learn more effectively in the future.
No matter what and how long you cram: Put the most important content at the beginning and the end and the the less essential material in between.
The best way to combine these effects is to use the Pomodoro technique developed by Francesco Cirillo.
Devote exactly 25 minutes to each task and topic. The brain cannot concentrate longer at a stretch. Then let what you’ve learned sink in for five minutes before continuing. You need nothing more than a watch for this technique.
These short learning blocks are even more sustainable if you combine them with the technique of active remembering.
Just check regularly to see if the new information is sticking. Fold
the book or pause the video and note what you have just learned.
Support this sustainability with the repetition technique, where you repeat what you’ve learned at regular intervals.
The day after, two and then four days later, and so on.
In this way you anchor the the new knowledge firmly in your memory.
There are countless techniques for effective learning. Stimulate your brain with music or sounds.
Use the primacy-recency effect, the and active remembering, to anchor new
knowledge deep in your memory.
That was a lot of ideas. Let’s continue with more learning tips in the next section.
The Power of Visualization
Here’s a little warm-up exercise:
Visualize the target of your concentration as a brightly shining ball of light.
If you are having a conversation, for example, that conversation is the source of that bright light and whenever your focus drifts, you direct it back to the light.
There is only you and this glow.
This is a beautiful example of visualization. Visualization techniques help you strengthen your concentration.
They also support your memory. No matter what you want to remember — words, numbers or processes — the better you visualize it, the better it will stick.
Let’s illustrate this with an experiment. Memorize the following words in this sequence:
hydrant, balloon, battery, barrel, board, diamond.
Well, could you repeat them after only one time?
Probably you would recite the words in your head until you remember the sequence. But this is not effective, because the words have no apparent connection. You would probably forget them in no time.
Instead, try to knit a story around the words, no matter how absurd.
Imagine that the hydrant is lifted into the air by brightly colored helium balloons. But then the balloons burst at gigantic batteries sticking out of open wooden barrels. The funny mixture of hydrant, balloons, batteries and barrels lands on the end of a tilted board that rises up like a seesaw. Then a huge diamond slams into the other end of the board, catapulting the mixture back up into the air.
I bet you can repeat the grotesque story already?
Similar tricks help you prepare for exams and lectures. Probably the best known is the so-called loci method. “Loci” is Latin for “places” or “squares.”
For example, let’s say you want to give a presentation.
Divide your presentation into ten important arguments or sections. Then visualize a place or room that you know like the back of your hand — for example, your bedroom.
Now link each of your ten arguments to an object or position in the room. The door handle for example, can stand for the opening of your speech. Then rehearse your performance by spatially the stations of your presentation spatially.
The message is clear: memory can be trained. With stories and techniques like the Loci method, you can better structure and recall your memories.
The results are remarkable. Whether you want to learn a new language, make a great presentation, or simply or just learning new things, a good memory is half the battle.
Learn to Read Better
Let’s face it Not everyone likes to read. Many people find it too tiring, boring or time-consuming,
They prefer to wind down a hard day’s work in front of the TV or a video game. That’s understandable, but a shame. Because as studies show, reading skills correlate with life success.
Statistically, the better you read, the better your chances of earning a good income and having a life full of attractive options. Apart from that, reading keeps your brain on its toes. It activates various cognitive functions simultaneously and improves both your memory and your concentration. Or simply put: Reading is one of the most important prerequisites for learning. And we can all develop this skill.
How fast do you think you can read? Most adults can read about two hundred
words per minute — which is about the same level as elementary school students.
The reason is simple: Sometime between second and fifth grade, people stop talking in school about how to read.
But why do people read slowly? The culprit is what is known as subvocalization.
This means that readers speak along internally, i.e. articulate each word individually in their heads. This slows things down considerably. Those who
subvocalizes, reads only as fast as he can speak.
If you recognize yourself, don’t worry. You can suppress subvocalization by counting aloud as you read.
That’s right: you audibly say “one, two, three” and so on, while your eyes wander over the text.
text.
It’s not easy, but it’s effective. Eventually, you’ll see the words more like a movie, rather than saying or hearing them in your mind.
Another way is to use a visual “pacemaker” and simply drag your finger from top to bottom across the text as you read. This technique also works because your eyes are conditioned to follow movement.
Such a visual pacemaker speeds up your reading speed by 25 to 100 percent!
Of course, all these techniques only work if you’re actually reading. So take your time.
Schedule at least thirty minutes a day for reading.
Once again, take notes and read along: Reading is the essential prerequisite for learning.
Your reading skills accelerate your career advancement.
And you can learn to read better.
This brings us to the last big piece of the puzzle: the question of how you can think better!
Thinking Without Limits
What do you think of when you hear the word “genius”?
Of bright minds like Albert Einstein or Marie Curie? Rightly so.
But neither is genius innate, nor is it limited to people with high IQs or
outstanding mathematical abilities.
In fact, there are different forms of intelligence. Think of Venus Williams. The tennis icon proved her kinesthetic intelligence throughout her career. She was extremely good at using her body. And that, too, is a form of genius.
You, too, have a special form of intelligence that you can build up to genius. And that is only the first step on the way to better and more efficient thinking. Another trick is to look at things from new angles: You break be-consciously with patterns of thought in order to approach a problem in a completely new way.
A suitable method is the thinking hat technique. Imagine that you have different colored hats, each representing a different way of thinking.
for example red for an emotional approach or green for a creative approach.
Then try to change your thinking hat every few minutes when dealing with a problem.
But for some problems even such creative techniques are not enough, then you have to change your way of thinking even more radically — for example, by switching from linear to exponential thinking.
With linear thinking you shimmy from one crisis to the next in exponential thinking you search for the root of all evil that provoked the original crisis.
One proponent of exponential thinking is entrepreneur and innovator Naveen Jain.
In 2016, he founded his company Viome because he considered chronic disease to be the biggest health problem facing humanity.
But his company’s goal wasn’t to find a cure for every one of those ailments. Jain wanted an approach. That’s why he developed a testing method that people can use to analyze their gastric microbiome. The results help them change their diet to the foods their body really needs.
This individual adaptation is intended to lead to a healthy lifestyle that prevents chronic diseases.
So the final insight is that ingenuity is also a trainable skill. Always try
new and unconventional ways of thinking to solve problems better.
Even if you don’t tackle the really big problems, creative thinking strategies open up valuable new perspectives.
perspectives.
And that increases your chances of achieving your goals.
Conclusion
Let’s go back to the beginning: Intelligence is trainable. Life is not about learning harder but about learning better. For that, you need the right mindset.
Realize, that you influence your own cognitive abilities. Think of the London Cabbies!
Ask yourself inner questions that motivate you and make you feel constructive. Link both pleasant and unpleasant tasks with a deeper
with a deeper meaning.
Remind yourself why you do what you do. The next step is about the right methods. Support your body with sleep, exercise and healthy
healthy diet.
Use the power of flow and avoid procrastination by breaking down duties into small and simple steps.
Strengthen your concentration with music, smells or specific techniques:
With the Pomodoro technique, you work in 25-minute blocks, and with the Loci method, you link learning content with visualized locations.
Learn to read faster by counting aloud as you read, or using your finger as a pace finger as a pacemaker to avoid subvocalizing, and try the thinking hat technique to look at problems from new, unfamiliar perspectives!
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