Key concepts from LIMITLESS by Jim Kwik

In his book, Jim Kwik introduces the concept of the four digital villains that are harming our ability to think, learn, and grow: digital deluge, digital distraction, digital dementia, and digital deduction. These villains are a result of the unending flood of information that we face, which leads to overwhelm, anxiety, and sleeplessness. They rob us of our focus, attention, and learning, and hinder our ability to truly think.

• World doesn’t foster a healthy environment for our brain.
• The FOUR GROWING VILLIANS that are challenging our capacity to think, focus, learn , grow, and be fully human

1. DIGITAL DELUGE:- unending flood of information in a world of finite time and unfair expectations that leads to over whelm, anxiety and sleeplessness. Drowning in data and rapid change, we long for strategies and tools to regain some semblance of Productivity , performance and peace of mind.
2. DIGITAL DISTRACTION:- The fleeting ping of digital dopamine pleasure replaces our ability to sustain the attention necessary for deep relationship, deep learning or deep work. Texts, social media notifications, e-mails, and news alerts, while important in context, can derail our concentration and train us to be distracted from what matters the most in the moment. It hinders us to be alive in the moment and enjoy the nature.
3. DIGITAL DEMENTIA:- Most of us have supercomputer in our pockets. While there are benefits to have them, think of it like an electric bicycle. It’s fun and easy but doesn’t get you in shape. The more mental “Brainercise” we perform—the lower our risk of dementia . We have outsourced our memory to our detriment.
4. DIGITAL DEDUCTION:- Information is abundantly accessible, we’ve perhaps gone too far in how we use that information, even getting to the point where we are letting technology do much of our critical thinking and reasoning for us. Online, there are so many conclusions being drawn by others that we have begun to surrender our own ability to draw conclusions.

The cumulative effects of these 4 DIGITAL VILLIANS robs us of our focus, attention, learning and most importantly our ability to truly think. It clutters our mental vision and as a result we suffer from brain fatigue, distraction, inability to easily learn, and unhappiness.

The technological advances of our time have the potential to both help and harm, the way we use them in our society can lead to an epidemic of overload, memory loss, distraction and dependency.

Just like you want a healthy body, you want a flexible, strong, energized, and fit brain. The key to living an exceptional life is a process of un limiting ourselves. For this Jim Kwik proposes LIMITLESS MODEL. One must ask for one’s self limit. We are experiencing a limit in our mindset, motivation or methods – which means that it’s not a personal shortcoming or failure pointing to any perceived lack of ability. And contrary to what we tend to believe, our barriers are not set. We’re in full control and can overcome them at any time.

Mindset must be aligned with our desires or goals, and we will achieve them. It’s critical to identify our limiting beliefs, stories, and deeply held beliefs, attitudes and assumptions about oneself and what’s possible. Examining, excavating and expunging those beliefs is the first step to having a limitless mindset.

The second step to a limitless life is our motivation. Jim outlines 3 Key Elements to Motivation

1. Your purpose. The reason why matters. The purpose supersedes the discomfort.
2. The ability to do what you want. This requires Energy and energy requires something called ENERGY MANAGEMENT.
3. The tasks must be bite-size, small steps that lead to success. (Floss one tooth, Read one page of a book, Do one push-up, meditate for one minute, all of which will lead to confidence and ultimately bigger success.

The third key to being limitless is using the right method. The five key methods to achieve whatever we want: FOCUS, STUDY, MEMORY ENHANCEMENT, SPEED READING, and CRITICAL THINKING.

Being LIMITLESS is the prescription for healing our brains, reframing limiting beliefs, and upgrading our life. Learning how to learn is the ultimate superpower, the one that makes every other skill and ability possible.

1. Becoming Limitless