Listen to my latest podcast episode:

831: The #1 Stretch You Need to Do Every Day & How to Get Rid of Pain – with Juliet Starrett

TMHS 318: Thinking Faster & Better (& How to Recover From the Mistakes You Make) with Jim Kwik

How we think influences every aspect of our lives, from personal development and creating habits to how we show up in our relationships. If we can simply implement small shifts in our perspective, then we can transform our lives in immense ways.

If there’s anyone on the planet that knows about using thought to boost productivity, it’s world-renowned learning expert, Jim Kwik. On today’s show, we’re discussing the importance of building memory fitness, and the power of identity. You’ll learn mind-blowing hacks to broaden your perspective, optimize your thinking, and boost your productivity.

As always, Jim is bringing you practical and effective tips that you can use to elevate the way you think. You’re about to uncover powerful tools that truly hold the potential to change the way you think and behave.

In this episode you’ll discover:

  • The surprising effects of decision fatigue.
  • What it means to live in a knowledge economy.
  • The importance of having internal resourcefulness.
  • How books and podcasts can help you broaden your perspective.
  • The two most powerful words in the English language.
  • How to strengthen your decision making muscles.
  • What the six thinking hats are, and how they can help you maximize your thinking.
  • How a shift in identity can spark transformation.
  • The powerful implications of thinking of your problems as puzzles.
  • How to find a balance between logic and emotional thinking.
  • Why knowledge is not power.
  • The three areas in which technology cannot replace humans.
  • How to recover from making mistakes.
  • Why the fear of judgment can halt your progress.
  • The correlation between failure and success.

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Model Health Show. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute and leave a quick rating and review of the show on Apple Podcast by clicking on the link below. It will help us to keep delivering life-changing information for you every week!

Transcript:

Shawn Stevenson: Welcome to The Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, and I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today.

I'm on the road right now, and I'm in NYC, one of my favorite places on the planet. I didn't know that I would love this city so much, but just all the activity, all of the culture, and the things to learn and experience is just really amazing, and to see what humans are capable of creating is really fascinating.

But at the end of the day, it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to learn when we travel, to experience, and all of our experiences really help to kind of create this tapestry of who we are, and also the inner workings of our mind. Right?

Experience is critical for the healthy perception of reality, and the healthy functioning of our brain to not be so isolated in our own tiny little world, and to really open up our minds.

And speaking of opening our minds, today we've got the one and only- this guy is the top memory expert on the planet, the top accelerated learning teacher on the planet.

He's been on the show before several times, and now we're going to talk about a new topic, and I think it's really going to blow your mind.

So make sure to buckle in and be ready for that. But for me, also when I travel, I've got a list- a sequence of things that I miss when I'm on the road.

Number one, I miss my wife. Alright? That should be kind of obvious. Number two, I miss my kids. I miss my kiddos. Number three, I miss my sheets.

I know you're like, "That doesn't fit. Like, what about-" my sheets. Alright? I love my sheets. It's that home field advantage, alright?

For a couple years now, I've been sleeping exclusively - when I'm at home - on Ettitude Sheets, and this is because these are thermal regulating sheets.

So they don't get too hot and trap in this heat, because being over-heated with thermoregulation for our bodies is one of the things we see now clinically, is that folks that have difficulties sleeping tend to run hotter.

They tend to have elevated body temperature, and that suppresses certain processes related to neurotransmitters and hormones that are linked to our sleep quality.

And so, being hot is not cool. Man, I just did that. Alright? Being hot is not cool. But real talk, these Ettitude Sheets are just absolutely amazing.

These are made from bamboo lyocell. This is significantly softer than cotton. Alright? This is like the fanciest cotton that you can get, this is better.

Alright? Also, not only are they thermoregulating, but also antimicrobial, hypoallergenic, and moisture wicking. Alright?

So one of the big issues also with our bedding is just trapping a lot of like nastiness, right? Bacteria and all that gross stuff. Right?

So this is moisture wicking, so you're not over-heating and getting all sweated up, and they just feel good. When you sleep on these Ettitude Sheets, it's like slipping into a love song. Alright?

Have you ever slept in a Luther Vandross song? Chances are you haven't, unless you've slept on Ettitude Sheets. Alright? It's incredible experiencing.

I'm all about sleep wellness, and just creating that, and the biggest thing for me is just creating that sleep sanctuary, you know? Somewhere that is really affirmative and supportive of getting great deep restful sleep, and this is something you deserve, and something that just improves your sleep quality.

Alright? So head over, check them out. It's www.Ettitude.com/model. That's www.Ettitude.com/model, and you get 10% off all of their sheets, and they also have pajama jammie jams as well, if you want to get some nice hypoallergenic antimicrobial thermoregulating pajamas that also feel good and they're cute.

Alright? Head over, check them out. Definitely we always- we have multiple sets of Ettitude sheets because I just don't want to sleep on anything else.

So head over and check them out, www.Ettitude.com/model. And now, let's get to the Apple Podcasts review of the week.

ITunes Review: Another five-star review titled, 'Best of the Best,' by AmberFitFox.

"This show has changed my life. I have listened to Shawn's podcast for over two years, and now I'm finally leaving a review. When I first started listening, I was in a place where I dreamed of being in shape, and now, two years later, I'm a health coach and mentor other ladies to get healthy and strong.

Shawn, you and your guests have given me the knowledge, tools, and resources to radically change my health. You are an extraordinary educator. I love your voice, and I love how you break really tough topics into super digestible ways of learning.

You live the healthy lifestyle that we all need to model to the world. Thank you for being the light of health, both physically and mentally, to all of us who listen. You are changing the world."

Shawn Stevenson: Awesome. Thank you so much, Amber. That means so much to me, and I'm just grateful to be a part of your life, and a part of your story.

And everybody, please if you've yet to do so, please pop over to Apple Podcasts and leave a review for the show. Alright? I appreciate that so very much.

And on that note, let's get to our special guest and topic of the day.

Our guest today is the one and only Jim Kwik. He's an accelerated learning expert, memory expert, and speed reading expert. And we've done master class episodes on those subjects with him that we'll put in the show notes.

So make sure to go back and check those out. But today, we're going to be talking about a new topic, that I think is going to be just transformative to your life.

And he's one of my favorite people on the planet, we've been friends for many years, and it's just incredible to see the impact he's making.

He's the guy that these movie studios are turning to, to work with their actors, to help them to memorize their scripts faster. He's brought in by Nike, and by Richard Branson, and Will Smith, and just the list goes on and on.

The impact and the influence that he has, and the first four-time guest on The Model Health Show, my friend, my man, Jim Kwik. What's up, man.

Jim Kwik: Hey, Super Shawn. It's a real honor. Thank you.

Shawn Stevenson: It's my pleasure, man. I'm in your territory, you know? We had to MacGyver the studio.

Jim Kwik: That was really impressive.

Shawn Stevenson: But man, I'm just so happy to see you, as always. You've had such a big impact on my life in so many areas. I've shared with you many times, but I'm pumped to talk about some of this new stuff, man.

We've talked about accelerated learning, we've talked about optimizing our memory. We're going to talk about thinking faster today.

Jim Kwik: Yeah, that's really what it's about. It's funny, because you mentioned MacGyver. MacGyver is an incredible thinker, right? He has maybe very little resources, and I think a lot of people could identify with that.

Because it's not everything is equal. People have different networks, they have different levels of education, they have different levels of finances, and such.

But MacGyver took like bubblegum and some duct tape.

Shawn Stevenson: A paperclip, made a parachute.

Jim Kwik: Exactly. And one of his super powers is the ability to think.

Shawn Stevenson: Right.

Jim Kwik: And I know we've talked about speed reading, and focus, and memory in the past, and you and I were kind of geeking out about critical thinking.

Like if our life right now is a reflection of our thinking, because how we think determines what we focus on, it determines how we feel, it determines what we do.

And so really, the sum of our thinking really reflects our day-to-day life in our relationships, in our health, in our habits, in our career.

You know, I always thought it was interesting back in school, they teach you more what to think but not how to think.

Shawn Stevenson: Right.

Jim Kwik: And I think that's one of the big challenges. In a world where everything is being outsourced overseas - you know, jobs - or it's being automated, there's software that could do a lot of left brain jobs, or there's something like artificial intelligence.

What do we have as human beings? What makes us human, it makes us valuable in life, in the workplace? And I think it's our ability to think, our ability to solve problems, our ability to make really good decisions.

Shawn Stevenson: Right.

Jim Kwik: But I think- but I think it's one of those things people take for granted because we're not just conscious of our thinking.

They say we have an average of what, 60,000 thoughts a day? The challenge is 95% of those thoughts are the same thoughts we had yesterday and the day before that.

So how do we create growth? How do we stretch ourselves to new levels? And so I love this because I feel like you make one little distinction in the way you think differently.

And there's an Oliver Wendell Holmes quote that says, 'A man's mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions.'

And so I want people to be able to think in a way that makes them more productive, allows them to perform better, allows them also greater peace of mind.

Because in this world of- we've had this conversation in past episodes about digital distraction, and digital depression, and digital overload.

It's really weighing on people's health, this world where people are comparing themselves to other people in social media world, or they're comparing themselves to this highly filtered life- highlight reel of everyone else's life.

But that all comes down to our ability to think, the ability to think for ourselves, to produce new results.

Shawn Stevenson: That's so powerful, man. Because thinking is everything really, you know? I've said this before, our perception is our reality, and that all has to do with what we're thinking, and how we're thinking about ourselves in relation to our environment, ourselves in relation to ourselves.

And so I think it's of the utmost importance for us to really understand our thinking a little bit more, and that's why I'm really happy to have you on today.

But also, how can we optimize our thinking? You know? So one of the first things I want to ask you about has to do with decision making, because that's a big component of our thinking that has a huge impact on the results we get in our lives.

So what are some of the new insights, some of the things you've been coming across lately, and teaching in regards to decision making?

Jim Kwik: Yeah, I can think exactly that our life is a reflection of all the decisions- the sum total of all the decisions we made to this point.

You know, where we're going to live, what we're going to do, who we're going to be with, and such. And so these daily decisions, a lot of people are suffering from decision fatigue, you know this, and it's a big health concern.

It's just people are wasting their mental energy on decisions that really don't matter in their life, and really I think it comes down to- I tweeted this a few years ago.

I said, "The most important thing is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing." The most important thing is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing.

Because people are getting really good at things that don't really matter, or they're using their decisions on things that really don't matter.

You know, we've had this conversation in the past, about some leaders who are wearing the same outfit pretty much every day because they don't want to waste one of their good decisions.

They buy ten of those shirts so they don't have to think about- or meal prep, and they don't want to waste that.

But I did a podcast recently, and I called it, 'How to Work Smart Versus Working Hard.' And everyone always says, "Yes, of course we want to work smarter and not harder."

I filmed it actually in a powerplant, an actual powerplant, and I opened it with a story that basically said this. One day, this really busy powerplant just shuts down out of nowhere, and it's dead silent.

And the employees are running around with their head cut off, not knowing what to do. The Operations Manager, after hours, doesn't know what to do. Nobody could solve the problem.

So the Operations Manager picks up the phone, calls a local technician, and luckily the technician was in the area and he says, "You've got help me. We're losing all this business, time is money, we're going to shut down. Please save us."

The technician was like, "You're lucky, I'm right around the corner." He shows up, and he walks around the powerplant, and he goes to one beam.

Now this powerplant is full of different beams, right? And on those beams have all these different electrical boxes, and he goes to one specific electrical box, and he takes out a marker, and he puts a big X on it.

And he opens up the box, and inside as you would expect, there are bolts, there are wires, there are screws. Out of all that he goes to one specific screw.

He turns it not a quarter of an inch, and then bam, the entire powerplant lights up. And the technician is like, "Thank you so much, you saved the day, you saved our business. How much do I owe you?"

And the technician looks at him and he says, "That will be $10,000." And then the Operations Manager was like, "You must be crazy. You were here for five minutes. All you did was turn one screw. Any of us could have turned that screw."

He was like, "Give me an itemized bill," and he was like, "No problem." The technician reaches in his back pocket, takes out his notebook, scribbles on it for a second, tears out the page, gives it to the Operations Manager.

The Operations Manager looks at it and says, "I understand." He goes to his desk, takes out his checkbook, writes a check for $10,000, hands it to the man.

And you zoom in on that bill, and it says this, 'Turning screw: $1.00. Knowing what screw to turn: $9,999.00.' And my message to everybody who's listening is not that you have a screw loose, it's really two things.

Number one, we live in the knowledge economy where knowledge is not only power, it's profit. Right? Specialized knowledge. That's why I love your show, and I learn so much, because it's not just the have and have nots, it's those who know and those who don't know.

Right? Those who know wellness and optimization and human performance, and those who just don't know better. And so there's that gap, and that's why I dedicate my life to accelerated learning.

But the other reason I tell this story is not only so you can be an expert at what you do, is that there are usually one or two screws- there's one beam, there's on box, one or two screws that really are what I call a focal point.

A focal point. It's one or things, they call it- other people have called it a lead domino, right? One of the first early dominos you hit, it knocks down other things.

In military, they call it a forced multiplier, meaning that for the same amount of input, you get multiple outputs or multiple rewards.

So my life based on- you know my learning difficulties that I had growing up from my head injury, you know my sleep issues which you've helped me a lot with.

Those deficits have created a really big drive in my wanting to get the most out of the energy that I have. When we're talking about resources, like going back to MacGyver, he has very little resources but he has a lot of internal resourcefulness.

And I feel like every single person listening to this has a lot of internal resourcefulness. It's things that might not be on an asset sheet, but they're things like your creativity, your decision making, your ability to solve problems, your ability to meta think.

Think about your thinking, your self-awareness, and that's really the owner's manual.

And so when it comes to decision making, I'm really excited about this because again, if you could just think about some of the bad decisions we've made in our lives and the cost that it's had for us, I'm a big proponent on- we've had this conversation about mistakes. And a lot of people, as we grow older, we're afraid of making mistakes.

Shawn Stevenson: Right.

Jim Kwik: And we're not making decisions. And even I would say, not- like failing to make a decision is also a decision. You know what I mean?

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah, for sure.

Jim Kwik: You know, like when people have a decision about what to eat or not, they go into default mode. They're still making a decision.

So I feel like part of it is the decision is fitness. So you want to build your decision making muscles because a lot of people are so lackadaisical over like what's important to them, so they don't really build those muscles, so they don't have that strength, if you will.

But then there's also strategies besides fitness, just like in past episodes we've talked about memory fitness, and how even if you don't use the strategy on like how to remember names, you could still remember names because your brain is fitter, it's stronger, it's more energized. It's stronger just like your physical muscles.

You could also do that with your thinking muscles, and so there are strategies also.

So for example, one of my favorite ones, it's really classic, it's called Six Thinking Hats. And it's a great model because I feel like a lot of people aren't able to solve a problem or make a new, better decision, because they're stuck from one point of view.

Do you know what I mean?

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: It's like you wonder why somebody maybe dates the same person, or they make the same mistake financially in a business, they hire the same people, or maybe they do the same problem with their diet, and they always fall in the same pattern.

It's because we never really get out of our own way and see things from another point of view. One of the reasons why I love podcasts is that- or reading books, is you get to see something from an author or an expert's point of view, and it gives you another perspective.

And in order to change your perspective- I remember we did that event that you spoke at along with an illuminous group of individuals, your peers, and we had Quincy Jones was one of them.

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: And he was talking about getting perspective, that you have to- two ways of changing your perspective is changing your place or changing the people you spend time with.

Because we know that who you spend time with is who you become, because one of the- a good way of making better decisions is spend time with people who make good decisions, because- you know this from your nervous system.

In neuroscience, you have mirror neurons, and mirror neurons are your- to simplify it, they are your imitation neurons. The reason why, it's not just your biological networks, or your neurological networks.

It's your social networks because they say if you spend time with nine broke people, you're going to be the tenth, and it's because you're constantly imitating people around you, and not just their behavior.

You're imitating also- you're adopting their beliefs, you're adopting their values, you're adopting their habits. Right?

And we know from habits, first you create your habits, and then your habits create you.

Shawn Stevenson: Right.

Jim Kwik: And it's not just your habits of meditation, and movement, and journaling. Those are important, but really what I'm very- those are on the physical plane, if you will, but it's also the internal changes that are going on inside.

Because when you're constantly doing something, and you show up for it - as you've heard this phrase - as you do anything is how you do everything.

Right? You start the habit of, "Oh, I'm somebody who follows through." Like that's an identity level. I mean, that's really deep because you change- one of the most powerful ways to make a transformation stick is to change how you look at yourself.

They say that the two most powerful words in the English language are 'I am,' because whatever you put after that determines your destiny or your destination in your life.

And so one of the ways of changing your identity is by having these habits, because it's like you show up.

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: You show up, and when you show up constantly, all of a sudden you start looking at yourself different, and that's really powerful to look at yourself as somebody who shows up in life, because that'll ripple into all your different behaviors.

But going back to the Six Thinking Hats, this is a way of changing your perspective, meaning a lot of people don't make new decisions because they're stuck in one mode.

And so the summary of it - it was created by Edward de Bono - and he metaphorically created six color hats, and then when you imagine - and we know imagination is more powerful than knowledge - you imagine yourself putting on this color hat, you have to look at this decision or this problem through that lens.

So for example, let's take the white hat. When somebody puts on a white hat, metaphorically- and I'll give you some memory aids because I'm the memory guy.

White is imagine like a doctor's uniform, right? Or a scientist is in white. That reminds you of logic.

So let's say- I want everybody right now, we'll make this interactive, to think about a decision that you're struggling with, or think about a problem that you need to solve.

And I think everybody has one of those things, right? Going back to Quincy Jones, remember on stage I was asking him like about the problems he had. Not just his successes, but the problems.

He was like, "Jim, I don't have any problems." He was like, "I have puzzles." And that's a different way of thinking about something because for me, when I think about problems, I'm like, "Oh, something I have to deal with, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle this."

But a puzzle is like fun, puzzles have a solution. So it's a different way of thinking, because the words change the way we think also.

But going back to this, when you put on- you think about a problem or a decision you have right now, you put on- imagine yourself putting on the white hat, and actually physically like grab something in front of you and put it on so you have your kinesthetic- your muscles in it.

And you have to look at the problem or decision just based on facts and logic, right? So that's the only way. And that's great for individuals because some people don't- they're not used to doing it, but when they have that hat on, it forces you to look through that perspective.

Shawn Stevenson: Right, to be honest with yourself.

Jim Kwik: Exactly.

Shawn Stevenson: Because I think a lot of times we're lying to ourselves on how complicated or difficult it might be.

Jim Kwik: Right.

Shawn Stevenson: And so actually using logic can only help to get rid of some of the mystery.

Jim Kwik: So that's like your Spock hat, for those people who follow Star Trek. You have to look at the issue completely logically and more science-based. Now, another-

Shawn Stevenson: Or Data. Shout-out to Data.

Jim Kwik: Yeah, there you go, Next Generation.

Shawn Stevenson: And by the way, that guy was born to play that role.

Jim Kwik: Oh my God, yeah completely. So you have to look at it analytically. And even if you don't feel like that's you, make it a game.

We've said this- you and I have said this before, that it's not that you stop playing because you grew older. You grew older because you stopped playing.

And so this is a thinking exercise, a thought experiment if you will, because this is an episode all about maximizing your thinking. That's what Einstein used to do.

Einstein used to do these, what he called, thought experiments, these imagination experiments, and this is what we're doing right now.

So you put on the white hat, and then you have to look at it through logic. You take off the white hat, now I want you to put on the red hat.

So imagine yourself reaching out in front of you, putting on the red hat, and the red hat represents - as a mnemonic device - red is emotion, red is heart.

So I want you to think about now how does this make you feel? So this gives you permission, because some people look at everything logically, but they don't go with their feelings.

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: Right? And that- we know that's a super power also as well.

Shawn Stevenson: Absolutely.

Jim Kwik: So think about this problem that you have. Maybe it's somebody you need to hire, maybe it's somebody in a relationship, whether or not you want to enter a relationship, or maybe exit a relationship. You know, maybe it's something having to do with your health.

Think about it now from an emotional standpoint, so you're wearing the red hat.

Shawn Stevenson: And by the way, some folks ignore that part.

Jim Kwik: Exactly.

Shawn Stevenson: They're just more bent on logic and not being honest about, "How do I feel about this?" Or even just asking ourselves, "How do I feel about the situation?"

Jim Kwik: Exactly, and then when we're talking about being a better thinker, this gives you more perspective. This gives you a spectrum, or a rainbow if you will, of points of view so you can see something.

We've heard of like the elephant, right? Where there's an elephant there, and you have these blind monks, and they're reaching out, and they can't see but they just feel.

And one of them is feeling like the tail, and thinks the elephant is a snake. And one of them is feeling like the leg of the elephant, thinks it's a tree. Right?

Everyone sees different parts or feels different parts, but they don't see the whole, and through this exercise, you get to see it from these different points of view.

So what are our other different color hats? Take off the red hat and now what you're going to do, is you're going to put on the black hat.

So you put on the black hat. Now, a mnemonic device- the black hat is the critic. Alright? So what I want you to think about for a memory aid, from your memory coach, is imagine a judge in black robes. Right? That's the one that's going to judge. Right?

So now I want you to look at this and think about what could go wrong here? You know? You can meta yourself, be the critic here, give yourself- some people live with the black hat and they're just critical about everything.

Shawn Stevenson: Right.

Jim Kwik: You know what I mean?

Shawn Stevenson: Absolutely.

Jim Kwik: But it makes sense because that's how they were raised through nurture.

Shawn Stevenson: And it can be valuable.

Jim Kwik: Exactly, and it could save you from making mistakes and everything, but you don't see the whole picture.

And so the black hat, when you put that on, look at this problem or this decision, and think about it like, "What could go wrong here?" You know? Think about your plan B and such, any negative consequences.

Take off the black hat, and now what you're going to do, is you're going to put on the yellow hat. Now the yellow hat is the opposite of the black hat.

Yellow is like the sun, it's opportunity, so what could go right here? So that's more of the- if the black is more the critic, the yellow is more of the opportunistic, like more of the- this is like what are the benefits that could come out of making this decision?

Shawn Stevenson: The best case scenario.

Jim Kwik: Exactly.

Shawn Stevenson: The outcome you want.

Jim Kwik: Now, some people live with the yellow hat, like a lot of entrepreneurs do this, and they just look at the rosy side of everything, and they only see that, and then they wonder why they don't look at the risks, they don't look at the threats, they don't look at the weaknesses, or the competition, or anything that could go wrong.

They just move towards anything that's pleasurable, and that's not necessarily good either.

So we went through this. We go through the red- we went through the white, we went through the red, we went through the black, and then the yellow.

The green hat is the growth hat. So this is where you need to make a decision or solve a problem, and when you put on the green hat, green is like growth. It's like plant life, it's like growing grass, right?

And so this is where you're thinking out of the box. This is the hat you wear where it's like, "What could be an out of the box, new, something we're not even thinking about, solution to this whole thing? A different way of looking at it." So green is growth.

And then finally the last hat is the blue hat. And I saved the blue for last because the blue is kind of like the manager of all the other hats. It listens to all the other perspectives.

The one with the black hat, the white hat, the yellow hat, the red hat, the green hat, and blue is like the sky, it oversees everything else.

And so it listens to everything, and then it makes the decision because it's heard all of the different points of view, can weigh it from different perspectives, and then that's your answer, if you will.

And so this is kind of a fun strategy, and I would really encourage everyone who's listening, not just- you know this, knowledge is not power. We've talked about this.

All the podcasts, and the online programs, and the coaching, and the seminars, they don't work unless you work. So I would challenge everybody who's listening to this, is maybe take a screenshot of this episode, post it, tag both of us, and share with us a decision that you applied this to. You know?

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: Because then you really get to feel it and see how it works in your life. But I've heard- I've been sharing this for about twenty years. And again, I didn't create this actual model - it was Edward de Bono - but I've heard so many great testimonials from people and great amazing stories about their relationship, about their health, about big decisions they had to make, about where they're going to live, and their career, and it makes sense. Right?

Shawn Stevenson: Absolutely.

Jim Kwik: So you're not stuck in one point of view.

Shawn Stevenson: Exactly. That's exactly what I was going to say, because we tend to get stuck in our way of thinking, and we have access to so many different ways of thinking, like inherently in us, and so it's just having- first of all, just giving permission, like you just did, to think differently.

And here's how you do it, you know? Put on this hat, and look at the situation. And so for myself personally, I just want to share this, I had started to get more into this kind of fact-based thinking about certain decisions in my life, and that's a big part of my natural approach, but there's also the big feeling part.

And I had started to lessen the feeling part, and so I was going on more of things of, "These are things that I should do, logically speaking."

Jim Kwik: Right.

Shawn Stevenson: Right? But they didn't feel right, and lo and behold when I'd keep taking steps in that direction, it just didn't work out right because I wasn't acknowledging- like literally your feelings oftentimes will give you direct feedback.

Jim Kwik: Right.

Shawn Stevenson: But you cannot just get caught up in your feelings, because feelings can be very temporary.

Jim Kwik: Of course. Of course.

Shawn Stevenson: You know? So I love this kind of whole brain, whole being thinking. And man, thank you so much for sharing that. That's just like blowing my mind right now.

Jim Kwik: Absolutely, Shawn. I would encourage also, when everyone's listening to this, this doesn't have to just apply to your life. This works really well for teams.

So let's say your business- let's say you're a small business entrepreneur, you have a small group of five individuals on your team, and you're facing something that's an issue in your industry, or something internally like should you do this product, or should you stop doing this show, or whatever you need to do.

Is get everybody in a room and then take turns wearing these different hats.

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: This is also great for parents to teach their children at an early age, because it builds empathy. It allows you to- I've had parents actually make out of different color pieces of paper, like these actual hats, and they'll take their children through these exercises.

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: Children will have a question about school, they'll have a question about going to- whatever their decision is. And then you could play with this with them also as well. So it's not just your own benefit, you could do this with your team, your family, and more.

Shawn Stevenson: This is something super valuable too for ourselves to practice, but also to teach and instill in other folks this concept of divergent thinking, and being able to really 'think outside of the box,' and just look at things from all these different perspectives.

It's so interesting how many creative solutions there are to the same problem, but when we're in it, we can think that there's this problem, and I don't know how to solve it.

When there are like tens, hundreds of different solutions for it, but we have to be divergent in it. So man, I love that so much.

Jim Kwik: And it's an incredibly valuable skill to have right now, when we're talking about skill-based success, meaning that when we talked about a lot of jobs are going overseas, or AI is going to replace them, or automation is.

The three areas that computers aren't as easily going to be able to do that is three areas. Creativity, which is a thinking process. Imagination, because think about the entertainment industry, think about all these wonderful superhero movies you and I geek out about that come from somebody's imagination.

And then the third thing a computer is not going to be able to do as well as a human, at least not yet, is strategy. And so be able to make these kind of good decisions, and solve problems, that's our value in society.

An entrepreneur is nothing but a professional problem solver. Right? They're taking challenges, whether they're small life challenges or grand big challenges that are going on that the planet is facing right now.

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah. I love this. I love the six hats, and I also love what you shared, and it's just like still blowing my mind right now.

If you want to start making better decisions, get yourself around people making good decisions, because we are inherently - we just are - we become our environment.

Jim Kwik: Yeah.

Shawn Stevenson: So if you know somebody in your life who has a tendency to make good decisions, be around that person more often, and those mirror neurons can do their work.

And what you said earlier, as soon as you mentioned some really highly successful folks taking a decision off the table, because we do get this decision fatigue.

Like at the end of the day, after you've done a lot of stuff, you just don't care. You know? Just like, whatever. "What do you want for dinner?" "Whatever." Right?

And having them wear the same thing every day, like somebody is coming with that approach.

I think I saw Dr. Dre did that. He's got a great documentary, The Defiant Ones. He's got like these- I think they're white Air Force Ones he wears every day.

But you know, he's kind of frivolous so he has like a new pair every day, and like the same outfit, and it's just kind of weird. And the same thing with some other folks as well.

But that also made me think about Kingpin, as well. I'm just saying it might be a little psychotic, but hey, they're winning.

Jim Kwik: Right.

Shawn Stevenson: You know? So let's just be real about it.

Jim Kwik: You have all the superheroes. Batman wears the same outfit, Spiderman. I wear this brain shirt pretty much every day.

Shawn Stevenson: At least- I would hope you've got a couple of them.

Jim Kwik: Yeah, I do.

Shawn Stevenson: So I want to ask you about- well first of all, really quickly, we can't have this conversation about the brain without talking a little bit about nutrition, and I just came across this study- this is a brand new study.

Published in 2018, and this was published in 'Nutritional Neuroscience,' investigated whether it was possible to treat severe neonatal infection by administering a spirulina enriched diet to the nursing mothers.

So not even directly to the child, just through the mother to the baby. And the researchers stated that severe infection and the associated brain inflammation can cause long-term changes to the developing brain due to oxidative stress, even after the original infection has been treated.

And here's what the researchers found after they compiled the data. A spirulina enriched diet given to lactating mothers reduced the level of brain inflammation - wow - and provided an antioxidant defense for the developing neonatal brain.

It's just incredibly powerful that this food could do something like that, and something like Honeycomb cereal cannot do anything remotely close to this.

So again, spirulina is in the formula with Organifi. Moringa, ashwagandha, and it tastes good. So head over, check them out. It's www.Organifi.com/model. That's www.Organifi.com/model and you get 20% off everything. So head over there, check them out.
Get yourself some Organifi and these incredible brain benefits, alright, www.Organifi.com/model.

So Jim, I want to ask you about- so we talked a little bit about decisions, and becoming a better problem solver, which just blew my mind with that.

Let's talk about- because one of the things that tends to happen, we make decisions, and we might make a bad decision.

Jim Kwik: Right.

Shawn Stevenson: Or something that we feel is a bad decision, something that costs us. What can we do to recover? Is there anything that you know about that can help us to recover from making mistakes?

Jim Kwik: Absolutely, and so when we're talking about mistakes, I think a lot of people don't make progress in their life because of the fear of judgment, the fear of looking bad.

A lot of people won't go to that exercise at the gym because they're brand new, and I think that's something that's very important to get over, and I'll talk about first a lot of people make mistakes to begin with, but mistakes are just a sign that we're trying something.

Right? It's similar to a child who's learning how to walk. You wouldn't see your child stumble a few times and just be like, "Okay, don't try this anymore. You're looking really bad. Don't walk. Walking is not for you."

But as we grow older, sometimes we're so concerned about other people's opinions and expectations.

I know a lot of your listeners take notes, I would write this down and just put it by your computer or something. It's just you can go broke buying into the opinions and expectations of other people.

And when I was working- I help a lot of actors speed read scripts, have focus on set, memorize their lines faster. And I remember when I was working with Jim Carey, and we were making guacamole of all things in his kitchen, which is a great brain food.

By the way, what you eat matters, especially for your gray matter.

So we're making this and I'm asking him the same question I ask a lot of people like, "Why do you do what you do?" I'm very interested in human motivation because that's a thinking process.

And I find out that the reason why he acts so insane, if you will, or extreme on set, is because he wants to give everybody who's watching permission to be themselves.

And I feel like- and he calls it freeing people from the concern of others. You know, that's his 'religion,' freeing other people from the concern of other people.

And I feel like constantly we're mitigating ourselves, our way we can express ourselves, because we're scared of how we're going to look, we're scared of judgment, and what critics are going to say.

But the critics- I mean, that's the easiest job in the world because all they do is- they don't have to do anything, they can just criticize other people who are trying to do things.

So my first comment on when it comes to mistakes is- you've all heard this before, but in order to learn, you have to make mistakes. That's how we learn, because there's no such thing as failure.

People think failure is the opposite of success, but I feel like- and you and I, the people that we get to spend time with, and we get to interview for our shows and such, and our personal experience, failure is not the opposite of success; it's part of success.

Shawn Stevenson: Yeah.

Jim Kwik: Right? And I feel like there's no such thing as failure, there's only failure to learn, because if you're getting feedback, then you know what to do different.

And I just did a podcast episode with Beth Comstock, who's the former Vice Chair of General Electric, which was all about imagination, and she has a new book called, 'Imagine It Forward,' and the power of imagination.

And we're talking about Edison, who started General Electric, and he was a great marketer, but obviously you've all heard that he tried- he was like, "Oh, I didn't fail thousands of times to make the lightbulb. I succeeded in learning what not to do." Right?

And so it's a mindset. So I would say first start with making more mistakes, and we fail forward, and give yourself permission.

But the big thing is how do you recover from a mistake? And I would give everyone- I like acronyms, you know this because we've talked about this in other shows on how to remember names and speed read, I use acronyms.

What I would say is put the mistake behind you and make it OLD. And so the acronym is OLD. I want everyone to think about a mistake that they are holding onto, because I think a lot of us have regret, and they live in the past.

But I always tell people if you're living in the past, then you're dying in the present. You know? Because you're always looking in that rearview mirror, and then you can't be here, right?

And so if you learn from the past, but you've got to live for today, and then you can leave your legacy tomorrow. And so remember OLD.

And so the O- everyone right now, we'll make this interactive because we don't want to make this theoretical, we're going to make it relevant to you.

Think about a mistake you're holding onto. You want to make it OLD. The O is you need to own it. You need to own that, and here's a few things that will allow you to own it.

The A is you need to be accountable for it. Okay? So I'm going to give you a few A's. Here's the first A; be accountable for it, because you need to take responsibility for it.

You and I have talked about the time I've sent with Stan Lee - the co-creator of all these amazing Spiderman, X-Men, Avengers.

And you know, he told me in the car one day, he was like, "Who's your favorite superhero?" I was like, "Spiderman." He was like, "With great power comes great responsibility."

And in my mind, because I had my learning difficulties, I reverse things. I was like, "Stan, you're right but the opposite is also true. With great responsibility comes great power."

When we take responsibility for something, even our mistakes, we have great power to make things better. And so first thing is you need to become accountable for it.

Now another A is just acknowledge that you're human. You know, acknowledge that it is a mistake, and that you made it, because some people deny that they made that mistake, and that's a challenge also as well.

So you need to be able to acknowledge it in order to be able to- because some people, what you resist persists, and they fight with it, and they try to defend it, but if you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them. And so just acknowledge it.

Another A is apologize. You know? Apologize if you've hurt somebody. If this mistake cost somebody else outside of you, apologize to that person.

You know, you can keep it brief, but be clear and apologize in a way that is sincere obviously.

Shawn Stevenson: Mean it.

Jim Kwik: Exactly, because people- we all have this radar. We know if something is sincere or not. But apologize for it because that's a way of owning it.

If you apologize for it, explain if you need to why it happened, and explain how it's never going to happen again, if you will.

Shawn Stevenson: And if you really mean it, you're not expecting the other person to necessarily do anything differently. It's you're apologizing for yourself.

Jim Kwik: Absolutely.

Shawn Stevenson: And the potential for healing.

Jim Kwik: Absolutely, I agree with that completely. So you're accountable for it, and you acknowledge it, you apologize for it, and maybe you need to apologize to yourself also, because forgiveness goes a long way.

You know, I've spent a lot of time, especially with my brain injury, going through spec scans, having my brain analyzed, neuro feedback, and one of the best ways to get into those deep healing states, the number one way that I've found from personal experience, is forgiveness.

And studies done in self-compassion say that when you don't beat yourself up- because a lot of people, they are really hard on themselves. They ate that cupcake, or they didn't work out that day, or they were a little short with their child, or whatever it is.

And they beat themselves up, and we find in the studies that actually kindness goes farther. When you're kind to yourself, meaning that you say, "I'm human, I had a long day, and I did make a mistake," but you're kind with yourself as opposed to beating yourself up, you're more likely to follow through in the future.

So the O in OLD, is you make the mistake OLD, is you own it. You're accountable, you acknowledge it, you apologize for it.

The L in OLD stands for- of course learn from it. Right? Like the whole idea behind making mistakes is that where's the gift in this? You know?

And I ask that myself all the time when there's a mistake that's made, either by myself or somebody around me, is like, "Where's the gift?" And usually the gift comes from a new distinction that you have or a new learning.

And so when I'm doing this, and I'm making a mistake, and I've made a mistake, what I'll do is I'll even journal about it a little bit. Because I was like, "What was my intention here? What was the environment that allowed this mistake to happen?"

Was I multi-tasking? Was I taking too much- taking on too much? Was I exhausted and I didn't sleep the night before? Like what created this environment for this mistake to happen? Did I not have enough information?

Right? And so I think that reflection is very important because otherwise what happens is you don't handle the D.

So the O, again, is you own it. The L is you learn from it. And a big part of it for me is I journal about it because I like to write about it and reflect on it, otherwise there's no learning from it. And then the D stands for don't repeat it. Don't repeat it.

Because if you truly learned from it, then you're not going to repeat it, because the first time you did, it's a mistake, but the second time you do it, it's a choice. You know?

Because a lot of people, they say- and you've heard this phrase in self-improvement forever, 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.' And I don't know if that's insanity, maybe that's just poor memory, because you don't remember the lesson that came from it.

And I feel like a lot of people repeat mistakes, and the D again says don't repeat it because they don't remember the lesson or the pain that came, so they end up dating the same kind of person, right? They make the same kind of mistake with their health over and over again, or they hire the same person, or they again wait and procrastinate on their taxes, or whatever those things are.

And in order to not repeat it, I would say a few things. I like iteration. Maybe a few Ps. And I did a whole episode on this back with deepen it, about making mistakes, P is like prepare next time. You know, when you learn it, and you journal about it, you're prepared for the next time.

I would say plan. When you know something- the situation could come up in the future, plan ahead, and that would prevent you from making that kind of mistake. Because these thought experiments, using your imagination to project into the future, and really imagination is really rehearsal, you know?

When somebody is fearful that they're going to make a mistake, whether they're public speaking- and you know this. Like a lot of people, one of the big fears, is people- when you and I go to events. Even people don't know, like backstage, you know a lot of our peers are really scared to go on stage and do their work, but they're so mission-driven, they have a moral obligation to do it, so that's the motivation.

But preparation is just a signal to your mind. Fear is just meaning, "You need to prepare more." And so I would say the D is don't repeat it, because if you really do own it, and you really did learn from it, then don't repeat that, because then it's a choice.

Shawn Stevenson: Jim, this is so powerful because people- even you, asking me about what have I done to get to the place that I'm at personally.

Jim Kwik: Exactly.

Shawn Stevenson: And it's literally like this formula that you just mentioned. I'm very, very big on learning from my mistakes. I'm very, very passionate about it, but it starts with owning it, and saying, "This is my responsibility. This is my bad." Even if it's not directly like you did the thing.

If you were involved, and you put something in position, or you made the choice to be involved in something, taking responsibility for whatever you can, because it gives you the opportunity to actually learn from it.

And so learning from it, and then don't repeat it. Because man, like I want that lesson. Because you'd better believe, like I've got this one. I'm not going to do that again.

Jim Kwik: Exactly.

Shawn Stevenson: You know? So just like I cut the cord, and so if people can start to embrace this- and I love it. It's so powerful, this acronym of OLD. And man, it's like it is old. You know, we've got to let this stuff go.

Jim Kwik: We've got to put it in the past. And that's the other thing when it comes to mistakes. Is when I was talking about forgiveness, it's just you are not your mistakes. Your mistakes don't define you, but how you deal with those mistakes can define you.

And I'm saying that using this model of OLD - and again, going back to thinking because this conversation has been all about thinking, I wish they taught this back in school because this is our ability to make mistakes, and to grow through our mistakes.

I feel like when we do these things also, it increases our integrity with other people because they see we own it, that we learn from it, and we don't repeat it.

Shawn Stevenson: Right.

Jim Kwik: And yeah, I love what you said about how it falls on your shoulder. That even if somebody on your team did something, ultimately you had a part in it, because maybe you hired that person, or it was a manager and you take responsibility.

Shawn Stevenson: Or you gave them the job or the task.

Jim Kwik: And we always appreciate leaders who do that because we are forgiving when we see somebody is growing from their mistakes, and they're not putting it on somebody else, and making somebody else blaming, and all the other stuff, and we stay in our power.

And yes, there could be some short-term pain, like there is doing any kind of growth, but I think that if you do the easy thing, which is procrastinate and put it off, and not take responsibility, then life gets really hard.

Shawn Stevenson: Absolutely.

Jim Kwik: But you if you do the hard things, and you own it, and you apologize for it, and you do everything you can to make it better and learn from it, then life gets a lot easier.

Shawn Stevenson: Definitely. I want to ask you about one more thing.

Jim Kwik: Yes?

Shawn Stevenson: So many things I want to talk to you about.

Jim Kwik: Yeah, I'm honored to be here.

Shawn Stevenson: I'm just thinking about some of the biggest issues that we tend to have as humans, but also as people, especially The Model Health Show community, people who are involved in this mission, and this movement are really growth-driven.

Like we want to be the best us possible, you know? We want to have the health that we truly want. We want to have the relationships, we want to have the careers that we want.

But a big barrier for that is- it's oftentimes not the environment, it's ourselves. We are our biggest trap door, alright? This self-sabotage. We set ourselves up for failure.

So can you talk a little bit about the idea of self-sabotage, and any kind of insights you can offer to people to kind of move past that?

Jim Kwik: Completely. I mean, this comes down to- again, how we think about things, and how we think about ourselves, and how we think about our behaviors.

And I'll give somebody who's listening to this- I think everyone can relate to taking one step forward towards their goal, and then taking two steps back. Right? Why do we do things that could harm ourselves in the long-term?

Or we procrastinate. We know we need to do something, but we put it off, and we don't have the discipline.

And I'll give everyone a framework for this. Everybody's always trying to wonder why they're not doing a behavior. "Why am I not working out today?" "Why am I not eating right today?" "Why am I not reading thirty minutes a day?" "Why am I not journaling or meditating?"

Right? But they could use willpower and motivation, but it only gets you so far because there are other levels that they're not being addressed.

Above the level of behavior is this level of capability, and this is your skill. You know, I'm really big- I know you are, in skill development, because we don't necessarily rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our skills, of our training, if you will.

And so are you trained in reading faster or remembering names or working out? Because you need that training in order to do that behavior. Right?

But even if you have the training and the capability and the skill, look at the level above that, and that's the level of belief and values. Belief and values.

Meaning that let's say the behavior is you want somebody to read thirty minutes a day, and they even have the ability - because they were taught - but they have a belief like they're not that smart, or they don't value reading.

Or let's say, in my case, remembering names. That's a behavior. I want to teach everyone to remember the names of everyone they meet. And maybe they even learned because they listened to a couple podcasts on how to remember names. Capability.

But they have a belief it's not important, or they have a value, like listening to names is not very important to them, or believe they have a bad memory, then it's not going to work. Right? And you wonder why they don't do the behavior.

And then finally the level above belief and values is this level I'll call identity, and this is something you and I talked about, the two most powerful words are 'I am.'

So let's say the behavior is you want somebody to stop smoking, but their identity is, "I am a smoker." That's going to be a hard shift, right?

Because people are going to try to fight on behavior every single time, twenty times, 100 times a day, but their identity hasn't shifted. Right?

And so let's say the behavior is they want to stop procrastinating, but their identity is, "I am a procrastinator," that's a challenge. The last level-

Shawn Stevenson: Paper is due tomorrow. I just got started, baby. I had two months.

Jim Kwik: Exactly. Exactly. You wonder why people put it off. And then the level below behavior, as everyone is thinking about behavior that they've been putting off, is this level called environments. Environments.

And what I would say at a high level, let's say they want to- their behavior is they want to read more, but their environment is they have no books, or maybe the environment is too dark.

Or maybe the behavior is they want to meet more people, but the environment- they're not putting themselves in environments to meet new people, it's going to keep them there.

Or maybe they want to stop smoking is the behavior, but their environment is they're around smokers. Right? Or they're putting their environment- they want to eat good food, but their environment is they have all those crazy-

Shawn Stevenson: They work at Chuck E. Cheese's. Like they're dressed up as a mouse.

Jim Kwik: Exactly. And the reason why this works ultimately is because when we're talking about thinking, thinking is the process of asking questions and answering them.

So even if people are listening and they're like, "Oh, is that true?" Notice, 'is that true' is a question. So the main questions back in school - watch this - are the five W's.

Right? The five W's and the H. So questions really are the answer, because that's what questions are, that's what thinking is. It's asking questions.

The reason why an Elon Musk could come up with Tesla or something like that, is he was outside the industry looking in. He was thinking, asked himself the question, "Why aren't we doing it this way with today's technology?"

Right? That's what your power is to be able to ask questions. But going through the five W's and the H, the identity level answers the question 'who.' The level of beliefs and value answers the question 'why.' The level of capability answers the question of 'how.' The level of behavior answers the question of 'what.' And then level of environment answers the question 'when' and 'where.'

So it's tight, and what I'm all about is having congruency. The reason why- it's not just about when people see me memorizing 100 people's names in an audience, or 100 words or numbers, or they know I read a book a day, is that there's a structure to this because it's about we use such a small percentage of our mental potential, but when it's completely aligned in your whole self, it's like whole self-learning, or whole self-thinking.

Then it becomes almost, what appears to be effortless to yourself compared to like what people are struggling with.

And part of it, again, is going back to this knowledge gap. Is there are some people who know, some people don't know, but I'm hoping during this conversation, the distinctions people learn, whether it's the Six Thinking Hats, or the OLD method about making mistakes and how to own it, and learn from it, and don't repeat it.

Or it comes down to like this framework, these five levels of transformation. It gives you these distinctions so it allows you a new way of thinking about it, and because you're thinking about it different, you'll get different results. And isn't that what we all want?

Shawn Stevenson: Man, I want to go and make some mistakes right now. I'm so excited, man. Just to employ thinking differently, you know? More consciously, and whenever I'm around you, I learn something new, and I'm just super grateful for you coming on, and I'm glad we got to do this in person.

Jim Kwik: Absolutely, Shawn.

Shawn Stevenson: And can you let everybody know- guys, you've got to check out his podcast. It's one of my favorite podcasts, one of the podcasts that I personally listen to, and always providing like master classes and nuggets.

Very power-packed short sessions with stuff to walk away from every episode. Can you let everybody know about your show?

Jim Kwik: Yeah, I mean people could find it just searching my name on their podcast app on their phones; Jim Kwik. Our show is called Kwik Brain. People could go to www.KwikBrain.com is the best place for people to do it.

We also offer at that site a number of training videos on how to read faster and remember people's names.

I'm a big fan of your show, brother, so I really appreciate this because you're a big inspiration of us starting our show. Our show is brain bites for busy people who want to learn faster and achieve more, so every episode is about fifteen minutes.

We've had you on the show, of course, and we need to have you back on many times.

Shawn Stevenson: Done.

Jim Kwik: And my outcome for you, because I know your time is valuable, so in fifteen minutes I want to give you one thing you could do.

We have episodes on how to read a book a week, and how to remember names, and how to learn another language, on how to change your habits, the top ten- my favorite brain foods.

All those good things, and it's kind of like your online academy to fill in the education gaps from our school. You know, school taught us what to learn and what to think, but not how to learn and how to think.

And my goal is you could learn- we're faster and smarter than we think. And really I think the nature of both our works is about transcending, ending the trance.

And in this massive noses for media marketing that says we're not enough, that we're somehow broken. I was labeled the boy with the broken brain back when I was nine years old because of all my learning difficulties.

But anyone who could identify with some kind of struggle or adversity, I would say your struggles - when you're persistent and consistent - become strengths.

You don't have to change your life overnight, just little things done daily become big things. You know? And just like a cocoon.

Yes, the beauty is in the butterfly, but the growth is in that cocoon. You know? We can get the strength and add some wings to be able to fly, and I think everybody on here could soar to new heights.

So the podcast is there for everybody, and also on social media @JimKwik. So I would challenge people again, is to take a screenshot of this episode of The Model Health Show, and then tag Shawn, tag myself @JimKwik, and tell us your big ah-ha.

I feel like- I'll leave you with this. To be a faster thinker, a faster learner, when you teach something, you get to learn it twice.

So share your big ah-ha. What was your one big ah-ha from this conversation, and post that on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Tag us both, and I want to see what everyone's big learnings were. And I'll re-share a bunch of those.

Shawn Stevenson: Oh man, Jim, you're incredible, man.

Jim Kwik: Thank you, Shawn.

Shawn Stevenson: And just like with anything in life, if you want to master it, or even if you want to become adequate at it, you have to make it a study.

And so I just can't stress enough how much I believe that you are one of the greatest teachers in teaching people how to actually think, and how to maximize the potential that we have right upstairs. And I love you, man. Thank you so much for coming on.

Jim Kwik: Thanks, Shawn.

Shawn Stevenson: Everybody, thank you so much for tuning into the show today. Listen, this is especially powerful for me because I've been working with my youngest son, Braden, about this.

He's very critical. He's just kind of fallen into this place where he doesn't like making mistakes. He wants to be good at everything that he does, which isn't- isn't that something that all of us do?

Like we tend to avoid things that we're not good at. We don't like to be new, but it's a big part of being more childlike is to experiment and try new things.

But he gets frustrated easily because he wants to be good at it, and even in his schoolwork, you know? He wants to mass his Math Facts. He wants to set the best times.

And it's a beautiful thing because there's a drive in him to want to be great, but at the same time, I want him to understand how important it is for him to know that making mistakes is not a failure.

And so I challenge my young son every day, I want him to come home and to share something that he's failed at. I want him to share something with me each and every day that he's struggled with, and he had to think differently, that he had to grow, that he had to improve.

And we all have access to that, you know? And so it's important for us as big adult babies, but also instilling this in our children, to take action, to make mistakes, to give our best but understand that our best might not be what's adequate at the moment, and we'll get better the more that we learn from the mistakes that we're making.

Alright? So this episode is just blowing my mind. I'm processing so much, and I hope that you feel the same way. If you got a lot of value out of this, make sure to share this out with your friends and family on social media; Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all that good stuff.

Of course on Instagram, like he mentioned, tag us, put it in your story, let Jim know and myself your big ah-ha moment. Alright? I would appreciate that so much.

And guys, we've got some incredible episodes coming your way, so make sure to stay tuned. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon.

And for more after the show, make sure to head over to www.TheModelHealthShow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes, you can find transcriptions, videos for each episode, and if you've got a comment you can leave me a comment there as well.

And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome, and I appreciate that so much.

And take care, I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.
 

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