16-05-2021-043351Limitless-Jim -Kwik

extremely strong motivator. “The power of social motivation is likely hardwired into us and perhaps all other creatures that

historically depended on living in groups to survive.”15

Ability

Fogg equates ability with simplicity, noting that when something is simple for us, we are considerably more likely to do it. He defines six categories of simplicity:

1.Time: We only perceive something to be simple if we have the time available to perform the function.

2.Money: Similarly, if something stretches our financial resources, we do not consider it simple.

3.Physical effort: We consider things that are physically easy for us to be simple.

4.Brain cycles: Simple things don’t tax our thinking, and we shy away from things that require us to think too hard.

5.Social deviance: This goes back to the acceptance motivation. A simple act fits into societal norms.

6.Nonroutine: How far something is out of one’s normal routine will define its level of simplicity.

Prompts

Finally, Fogg notes three types of prompts:

1.Spark: A spark is a type of prompt that immediately leads to a form of motivation. For example, if opening your e-mail leads to a level of fear over what you might find there, you’re likely to adopt a habit that will change that fear.

2.Facilitator: This type of prompt works when motivation is high, but ability is low. For example, if you want to use a certain kind of software on your computer but are tech-averse, a tool that

makes that software easier for you to use is likely to cause you to adopt this behavior.

3.Signal : In some cases, you’ll have both high motivation and high ability. The only other thing you need to make a behavior a habit is some kind of reminder or signal. If you love making brain smoothies, all you need is to walk into your kitchen in the morning and see the blender to prompt you to make one.

KWIK START

Can you identify the habits you want to break? What is that one habit that’s holding you back from doing other important things in your day? Write it down, then identify the prompts that trigger you to perform that habit.

CREATING A NEW HABIT

The Fogg Behavior Model shows us everything that needs to be in place for a particular behavior to become a habit. We know that making habits of behaviors we consider good for us is important to our growth, and we also know that the key to breaking bad habits is to replace them with more constructive ones. But how do you make something a habit? Just remember WIN:

W is for Want: Make sure you really want it. It’s nearly impossible to turn something into a habit if you don’t want to do that thing. Does one of the motivators in the Fogg Model apply to the habit you’re trying to adopt? If not, is there something close to this habit that might accomplish something similar for you?

I is for Innate: Does the new habit you’re trying to adopt align well with your innate abilities? Remember that you’re unlikely to make something a habit when it is consistently difficult for you to perform. If the habit you’re trying to adopt is something that

you’re good at or you know you can be good at, you’re well on your way.

N is for Now: Create a prompt for yourself that encourages you to perform the new habit now. This can be anything from a reminder on your phone to placing something in your office that makes you remember to set aside time to do what you’re setting out to do.

GROWING YOUR LIFE ONE HABIT AT A TIME

In case you’re still wondering how much of an effect establishing good habits can have on your life, let me share a story about one of our clients. Xiang suffered from schizophrenia and depression. He often heard voices telling him to hurt himself or others, and he endured several stints in psychiatric wards because of this. After finding the right medication and emerging from his latest round of treatment, he discovered my podcast and learned some of the tactics that I teach in my school. He started listening on a regular basis and participated in the Kwik Challenge, a series of exercises I take people through to introduce novelty to their thinking and therefore keep their brains tuned for learning.

At first, this was hard for Xiang, but he focused on doing just two particular challenges: brushing his teeth with his opposite hand and taking a cold shower every morning. He increased his time under the cold water by one minute each week and, in doing so, discovered that being able to do something hard, like standing under freezing cold water for several minutes each morning, made him realize that there were areas in his life in which he was fighting for his limitations. Building from these Kwik Challenge experiences, he started applying what he was learning about habits and behavior change to other areas.

Xiang’s life improved dramatically. He took his driver’s license test and passed. He changed his diet, cut out sugary drinks, and started taking a five-minute jog in the park every morning. He started reading books—the first being Mindset by Carol Dweck—and as he read, he listened to baroque music to pace his reading and distract

himself from hallucinations. It took him a month to finish the book, but when he did, he felt a sense of confidence he had never had before. Trips to the library became a regular thing. Xiang has even taken his learning to the next level and enrolled in computer science classes at a local college. And the best part is that he now believes he is a lifelong learner.

You may think that because of all your past failed attempts to change your habits and routines you’re doomed to failure forever. Xiang’s story shows that by changing just one or two small habits in your day, incredible progress can follow. Something as simple as brushing your teeth with the opposite hand can be the start to an entirely new way of life.

ESTABLISHING A MORNING ROUTINE

Why is your morning routine so important? I strongly believe that if you jump-start your day by jump-starting your brain with a series of simple activities, you have a huge advantage. In addition, if you set up winning routines early in the day, you can benefit from what Tony Robbins calls “the science of momentum”: the notion that once you set accomplishment in motion, you can keep it in motion with much less effort than if you were trying to accomplish something from a standing start.

I have a carefully developed morning routine to help me win the day that involves priming my mind. I don’t do every single one of these things every day, especially when I’m traveling, but I always do most of them, and I know for certain that it gets me mentally prepared and poised for performance, productivity, and positivity from the minute I get up.

Let me walk you through a typical morning.

Before I even get out of bed, I spend some time reflecting on my dreams. Dreams are an expression of the work your subconscious is doing while you’re sleeping, and there’s gold to be mined from them. Many geniuses throughout history have regularly accessed and often gleaned their best ideas and made their greatest discoveries from their dreams. Mary Shelley came up with the idea for Frankenstein in

her dreams. A dream was the source of Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday,” and Einstein’s theory of relativity.

So, the first thing I do every morning, even before lifting my head from the pillow, is think back on my dreams to see if there’s an idea or a perception or a new way of looking at something that can be useful to what I’m trying to accomplish. I know that some of you have trouble recalling your dreams, so I’m going to provide you with a quick mnemonic technique designed to help you do so. Just think of the word DREAMS:

D is for Decide: The night before, make a conscious decision that you’re going to recall your dreams. If you set the intention, your chances improve dramatically.

R is for Record: Keep a pen and paper by your bedside, or even have a recording app readily available on your phone. As soon as you wake up, record any lingering remembrance of your dreams.

E is for Eyes: Keep your eyes closed right after you awaken. Dreams can disappear within minutes, and if you keep your eyes closed, this will help you reflect.

A is for Affirm: Before you go to sleep, affirm that you are going to remember your dreams, because affirmation is a critical tool in accomplishment.

M is for Manage: For lots of reasons but specifically here for the sake of remembering your dreams, it’s important to manage your sleep and establish good sleep routines.

S is for Share: Talk about your dreams with others. When you do so, you bring them more and more to the surface, and you develop the routine of tapping into your dreams so you can discuss them later.

The first thing I do after I get out of bed is make the bed. This is a success habit, my first accomplishment of the day. It’s an easy win, and it has the added advantage of making my bedtime more pleasant, because it’s always nicer to return that night to a bed that

is made. It’s why, in the military, they train you to make your bed first thing in the morning, because it sets you up to be excellent at everything you do.

After that, I have a tall glass of water. Hydration is so important first thing in the morning because our bodies lose a lot of water while we sleep through the simple act of breathing. Remember: Our brains are approximately 75 percent water, so if we’re going to fire up our brains, we need to be well hydrated. I also have a glass of celery juice, which boosts the immune system, helps flush toxins from the liver, and helps restore the adrenal glands (hat tip to Anthony William, the Medical Medium, for this idea). Right after this, I’ll take my probiotics to make sure my second brain is getting what it needs.

Then I brush my teeth with my opposite hand. I do this to train my brain to do difficult things, because it stimulates a different part of your brain, and because it forces me to be present. I can’t be doing other things in order to do this well.

Then I do a three-minute workout. This is not my full workout, but I want to get my heart rate up first thing in the morning, as it helps with sleep and weight management, and with oxygenation to the brain.

Once I’m finished with that, I take a cold shower. I’m sure some of you will cringe at the idea of starting the day pummeling yourself with cold water, but cold therapies of this type do a great job of resetting the nervous system and have the added benefit of helping manage any inflammation.

When I’m out of the shower, I go through a series of breathing exercises to fully oxygenate my body. Then I do about 20 minutes of meditation to give me a clear mind as I enter the day. The process I use, Ziva Meditation, was developed by my meditation coach, Emily Fletcher, a three-step process that involves mindfulness, meditation, and manifestation. To watch a video of it, go to www.LimitlessBook.c om/resources.

Next, I make my “brain tea,” a combination of gotu kola, ginkgo, lion’s mane, MCT oil, and a few other things. Then I’ll sit down to spend some time journaling, getting my first thoughts of the day down on the page. My goal in any given day is to accomplish three things for work and three things personally, and I set this agenda now. I follow this with about a half hour of reading. I set a goal to

read a minimum of one book a week and making this a part of my morning routine to keep me on course.

Finally, I drink my “brain smoothie,” a combination of many of the brain foods we discussed earlier in this chapter (no salmon here, in case you were wondering).

Now, admittedly, this routine requires a good deal of time. As I mentioned, I can’t get to all of it every day, and I can appreciate if it seems like more than you can handle, particularly if you need to get others started on their day. But if your goal in reading this book is upgrading your brain, then some variation on a morning routine of this type is an integral part of the process. Here are the keys:

Check in on your dreams before you get out of bed. There’s so much gold to mine here, so I strongly recommend that you not skip this step.

Get yourself hydrated and oxygenated.

Nourish yourself with some of the brain foods mentioned in this chapter.

Set a plan for the day.

If you do at least these four things, you’ll be well on your way to revving up your brain to operate at a high-octane level. Build as many of these things into the start of your day as you can. The most important thing is having a productive morning routine. I can’t stress enough how much of an impact getting your day off to the right start has on how the day goes for you overall.

KWIK START

Create your new morning routine. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a lot. Even a simple three-step routine can help jump-start your morning. What are the three things you will always do when you first wake up to set up your day to win? Write them down.

BEFORE WE MOVE ON

None of us would be able to live without habits, of course, but consciously working to bring constructive new habits into your life and to replace bad habits with better ones will take your superpowers to a new level. Before you move on to the next chapter, here are a few things to do:

Bolster your understanding of the habit loop by thinking about the four components of some of your most common habits, like making your breakfast or taking the dog for a walk. What’s the cue, the craving, the response, and the reward for each of these?

Spend a few minutes thinking about a habit that you’d love to replace with a more constructive one. Using the Fogg Behavioral Model, what new behavior can you adopt that fits neatly into the model?

Walk yourself through the process of starting a valuable new habit using WIN.

10

Why is flow so important to becoming limitless? How do I achieve a flow state?

What are the key enemies of flow?

I’m sure there have been times when you were so completely caught up in what you were doing that everything else disappeared and it just felt like the most natural thing you’ve ever done. Time probably melted away for you during these experiences. People regularly tell me about focusing so deeply on what they were doing that they had no idea that afternoon had become night or that they’d missed multiple meals in the process.

This experience is flow.

In his groundbreaking book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” To

Csikszentmihalyi, flow is an expression of “optimal experience.”1

Dr. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as having eight characteristics:2

1.Absolute concentration

2.Total focus on goals