Jimmy Tookour

Your brain believes what you tell it. Monitor your self talk.

If you fight for your limitations, you have to keep them. And so you will.

Use body as memory palace for short lists (10 items). Combine visual association (link method of memory)

Delta waves : sleep Theta waves : creativity (shower, transe, between sleep and consciousness) Beta waves : normal activity Alpha waves : focus, capture, meditation, TV... And phone scrolling

10 Keys to a superbrain Use "body memory palace" to remember !

BE SUAVE to remember names Believe : eliminate negative self talk Exercice : practice makes progress Say : say the person's name Use : it in conversation (no abuse) Ask : spelling, origin, meaning Visualize : turn it into a picture associating face and item (ex: Mary in wedding dress) End : use the name to say goodbye

Learn FASTER - Forget : your limitations, the world around, what you think you know ("beginner's mind") - Active : get involved, take notes, ponder, ask questions - State : get in a mood to learn, active, energized, positive, link feelings to data

MOM to remember better (names and other) Motivation Observation Mechanics

Emotion + Information = Long term memory Engage, put motivation and energy into something = memorize better

Morning Routine For Better Brain Performance 1. Remember your dreams 2. Make your bed 3. Brush teeth with opposite hand 4. Hydrate (first thing) 5. Take a cold shower, it resets nervous system 6. Have a tea, enhances it with brain nutrients

Average reading speed : 200 words / min Books on Amazon's median size : 64 K words = 320' to read a "median" book = 45' / day ... to read a "median" book / week.

There has never been a statue erected to a great critic.

Link method of memory : associate item with next through a ridiculous picture. Works well for lists in specific order (imposed or chosen). Tips for pictures : involving you, striking / strong, ridiculous, screw proportions, avoid logic (not striking enough) Car shoe screwdriver fish bed pineapple telephone cigarette

To create a new habit / replace an habit 10 to 21 days, uninterrupted.

Mirror neurons : imagining an activity activates same brain areas/functions than performing it.

‘Belief without talent can get you further than talent without belief’

Feelings will ALWAYS overcome logic. They are more powerful and shortcut facts. To change things, you must change the related feelings and emotions.

Humility and modesty are social constructions/ adaptations. Children brag/ show off/ dare/ demand attention naturally, because they are not affected yet.

Practical exercice Write out what you link pain to, for example: I might not succeed. I could fail. I might look stupid. I could be rejected. Turn that into pleasure: I will succeed, I can’t fail, I can only learn more about me and get another step closer to my goals. No one can reject me unless I allow them to.

People must hold specific beliefs to reject you. You must believe the same to allow that rejection. You don’t need to return or trade insults if you don’t accept them in the first place.

"If you are going through hell, keep going.”  Winston Churchill The ability to stick it out when the going gets hard matters a lot.

6 tips for more mental toughness 1. Eat the elephant, one bite at a time 2. Vizualize success, vividly and in détail 3. Emotional control, 4by4for4 4. Non reactivity, examine your reactions 5. Small victories, see smaller and focus on little nice things 6. Find your tribe, your interest, your necessity

Research estimates that the human brain produces approximately 50,000 thoughts a day.

By essence, the future is completely neutral. How it looks depends purely on what you're carrying from today and yesterday. And what you are not.

You don’t need your parents love or approval; you might want it but you absolutely don't need it. The most important words to hear come from yourself.

“The cessation of thought is the awakening of intelligence.”

Those that train at 70% of capacity attain 70% of their capacity. To commit requires a man step up and handle 102% of capacity—consistently and repeatedly.

Rewrite your models of reality. Extraordinary minds have models of reality that empower them to feel good about themselves and powerful in shifting the world to match the visions in their minds.

Question the Brules (bullshit rules) : - is it based on trust and hope in humanity ? - does it violate the golden rule ? - did I take it from culture or religion ? - is it based on rational choice or social contagion ? - does it serve my happiness ?

Four horsemen of modern age : Digital deluge Digital distraction Digital dementia Digital déduction

"Gut feeling" may come from connections between ENS (enteric nervous system) and CNS (central nervous system).

"The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else". - Eric Ries

Forgetting curve. Mathematical formula that describes the rate at which information is forgotten after it is initially learned. 50 percent within an hour. 70 percent within 24 hours.

Research suggests that our natural ability to concentrate wanes between 10 to 40 minutes. More time = diminishing returns on our investment of time because our attention starts to wander. Pomodoro technique (Francesco Cirillo) = 25 minutes task. 5-minute break.

Primacy effect Tendancy to remember more the "first occurrences / parts" (Class, learning lesson, reading session, strangers you meet)

Recency effect Tendancy to remember last thing learned.

How to reprogram limiting beliefs ? 1. Name them. Pay attention every time you tell yourself that you’re incapable. Every time you use “I can’t,” “I’m not,” or “I don’t”, talk back. “Not being good in the past doesn’t mean that I can’t be great at it now."

Reimagine your inner critic. Change the attributes of this voice in your head so you begin to give it less credence.

7 lies of learning 1. Intelligence is fixed 2. We use 10% of our brains 3. Mistakes are failure 4. Knowledge is power 5. Learning new things is very difficult 6. Criticism of other people matters 7. Genius is born

Lie1 : intelligence is fixed “A belief in inborn gifts and limits is much gentler on the psyche: Thinking of talent as innate makes our world more manageable, more comfortable. It relieves a person of the burden of expectation.”

Lie2 : we use only 10% of our brains Evolutionary nonsense, long proven wrong by recent studies

Lie3 : mistakes are failure Mistakes have been deprived of their original goal by school and society. Too many mistakes, you fail the test. Yet they are essential. Anything from learning to walk to send rockets in space comes from a long trial and error process.

Lie4 : knowledge is power Thomas Hobbes, secretary of Sir Francis Bacon, said : “The end of knowledge is power; and the use of theorems is for the construction of problems; and, lastly, the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action, or thing to be done."

Lie5 : learning new things is very difficult It requires work, consistency, motivation

Lie6 : criticism of other people matter Most of us fear the opinions of other people when we simply think about trying something new. But public imagination is woefully underwhelming, and people have a hard time reconciling what they believe is possible with what is actually happening.

Lie7 : genius is born “greatness isn’t born, it’s grown.” From personal, and a confluence of external experiences.

Keep your radar up for any “conventional wisdom” putting constraints on your potential. In most cases, you’re going to find that such constraints don’t apply to anyone willing to push beyond them.

"Culture is nourished by human motivation, a limitless ressource which is sometimes underestimated" Lynne Doughtie

The 4 Gs to Genius The first key to genius is Growth. The second key to genius is Giving. The third key to genius is Gratitude. The fourth key to genius is Grit.

The first key to genius is Growth. Growth mindset, not fixed mindset. Look for constant improvement.It’s not about perfection but progress because practice makes progress. In what ways are you committed to yoir growth ?

The second key to genius is Giving. The road to excellence isn’t about “me.” It’s about “we.” Everything in nature gives or is eliminated – which means you grow so you have more to give.

The third key to genius is Gratitude. Some people create vision boards to help them achieve their goals. Why not create a gratitude board? How can you appreciate the things you’ll eventually have if you don’t appreciate what you have now?

The fourth key to genius is Grit. Grit is perseverance, persistence, and your ability to overcome difficulties. You build it with practice. Grit is a muscle, and challenge leads to change.When you have a big goal, you’re going to face challenges.

Bruce Lee once said, “If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there. You must go beyond them.”

Magic questions when learning : How can I use this? Why must I use this? When will I use this?

A goal is the point one wishes to achieve. A purpose is the reason one aims at to achieve a goal.

Setting SMART goals Specific: Your goal should be well defined. Don’t say you want to be rich; say you want to make a certain amount of money. Measurable: you can’t manage what you can't measure. Getting fit isn’t measurable—running a six-minute mile is.

"A goal is a dream with a deadline."

Goals should fit with your heart Healthy: they should contribute to your mental, physical, and emotional health. Enduring: they hould inspire and sustain you during the difficult times. Alluring: You shouldn’t always have to push yourself to work. They should be exciting, enticing, and engaging

Finding your passion is not about choosing the right path or finding the perfect professional destiny. It’s about experimenting to see what ignites your joy.

They say the two most powerful words in the English language are the shortest: “I am.” Whatever you put after those two words determines your destiny. Identify with the habit or goal you want to create or achieve, or consciously un-identify with a habit you no longer want.

Purpose, goals, habits must be in accordance with our (core) values. Otherwise they create dissonance and incomfort.

Hierarchy in values. Means values serve an end. End values usually are our core ones.

"Reasons reap rewards" Reasons that are tied to your purpose, identity, and values will sufficiently motivate you to act, even in the face of all of the daily obstacles that life puts in your way. Feeling good is not necessary to act

Be crystal clear when you say no or yes to any proposal, event, distraction. Be crystal clear about where you want to spend your time and motivation. Turn the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) into JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)

You don’t have motivation. You DO motivation. Ultimately, motivation is a set of habits and routines, guided by your values and your identity, that you carry out every day.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it, so it follows that if you don’t know why you do what you do, how will anyone else?” Simon Sinek - Start with Why

THE TOP 10 BRAIN FOODS (use body memory palace to remember) Avocados Blueberrie Broccoli Dark chocolate (darker the better) Eggs

“There is evidence that chronic (persistent) stress may actually rewire your brain"

On a regular bssis, spend some time identifying your ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts). What limitations are you placing on yourself? Give yourself a few minutes with this. What are you telling yourself you can’t do? Write this down.

On a regular basis, think about how you’d like to expand your learning. Update your learning list. What have you always wanted to master that you haven’t found the time to master? Is it a different language? Computer coding? A new sales or marketing technique ?

Zeigarnik effect : uncompleted tasks created a level of tension that keeps that task at the front of our minds until it is completed.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

Trust the process do the work, and commit to daily learning, self-care, positive thoughts and behaviors. Results are coming.

Only three things can change a person’s behavior long term. 1. An epiphany, which very few people can summon on demand. 2. Change of environment, which is possible for nearly everyone, but not necessarily feasible at any given time. 3. Take "baby steps.” Dr BJ Fogg, Stanford

Avantages of simple small steps / baby steps 1. They present you with something achievable—a win on the way to reaching the championship of getting this job done. 2. The other is that they all put you in a situation where you’re likely to get even more accomplished.

40 to 50% of what we do is the product of habit, or automaticity. Hence the importance of making your habits, which in turn will make you.

“The habits you repeat (or don’t repeat) every day largely determine your health, wealth, and happiness. Knowing how to change your habits means knowing how to confidently own and manage your days, focus on the behaviors that have the highest impact, and reverse-engineer the life you want.” James Clear, Atomic Habits

All habits serve you in some ways. “It’s the solution to a recurring problem that you face throughout life, one that you’ve employed so many times that you can do it without thinking. If the solution doesn’t work anymore, then your brain will update it.”

3 elements to build a habit 1. Desire : since it is exceedingly difficult to make habitual anything you really don’t want to do. 2. Skills : since it’s nearly impossible to make a habit out of anything you don’t have the capacity to accomplish. 3. The cue : something to get the habit loop started.

“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.

Tips to help remember dreams : DREAMS Decide: conscious decision to recall your dreams, before bed. Priming improves chances Record: pen+paper, recording app on bedside, record every remembrance. Eyes: Keep eyes closed, reflect

Process for assessing your habits (periodically) 1. 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?

5 tips to help enter flow 1. Eliminate distractions : recovering from interruption can take AMA 20 min 2. Give yourself time : enter flow take 15 min, peak perf 45 min. Plan 90/120min 3. Do something you love : put aside the annoying for a while

Ennemies of flow 1. Multitasking (you're bad at it, really) 2. Stress (AMAP, sort out any emergency before it sneaks up into your flow) 3. Fear of failure (challenge implies imperfections at 1st shot) 4. Lack of conviction (don't doubt your ability to succeed.

“Concentration is at the crux of all human success and endeavor. If you can’t concentrate, you can’t manifest.” Dandapani

“Multiple stimuli present in the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout the visual cortex, providing a neural correlate for the limited processing capacity of the visual system.” Princeton University study

Studies compared the brains of heavy media multitaskers with those of light media multitaskers and found that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is involved in focus, was smaller among the former group. University College London

“We found about 82 percent of all interrupted work is resumed on the same day. But here’s the bad news—it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.” Gloria Mark, University of California

"Instant Tools" to help with distraction / restore focus 1. Breathe 4-7-8 2. Do now something causing you stress 3. Schedule time for distraction (I'll do that later --> I'll do that at 11:15)

4 levels of competence/learning Inconscious incompetence (complete ignorance, of the existence of the topic itself) Conscious incompetence (topic exists but you know nothing) Conscious competence (consciously use of skills) Inconscious competence (inconscious use of skills, second nature)

7 tips to improve memory 1. Active recall : view material, recall, measure level of recalling, review...4x 2. Employ spaced repetition : more and more distant 3. Manage your state : and your posture, get in a mood 4. Music for the mind : alpha waves, 50 to 80 beats/min, and put your material in music

HEAR method to listen with whole brain Halt: consciously do everything you can to tune every distraction out and to be completely present with whomever you’re listening to: vocal inflection, body language, facial expressions. Empathy: imagine how the speaker BG and situation adds substance to the discourse

While you’re taking notes, use a method “capture and create.” On the left side of the paper, you’re capturing, you’re taking notes. On the right side, you’re creating, you’re making notes. You’re writing your impression of what you’re capturing. How can I use this? Why must I use this? When will I use this?

1. Memorization is discipline for the mind, trains focus and industriousness. 2. You can’t always “Google it.” You must be able to think, speak, write spontaneously. And know what to look for/remember.

'The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends on our interest to it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds." Tyron Edwards

Help active memory in focus and retention Make images : we think in images, not words. So consciously translate. Associate : this is how our brain works, and you can force the trait by making conscious links.

Loci method 1. Identify pegs in a familiar location : street Points, items in a room (clockwise), rooms in a house... it must be systemic and procedural 2. Attach what you want to remember to the pegs. 3. Travel (again, in a procedural/systemic way) through the location, unravelling each item you want to eecall

Use substition to learn new words/ languages (seems bizarre but works) Nitrogen can be a knight Monroe can be a man rowing Washington can be a washing machine Armstrong can be a man with a single strong arm

"The man who does not read good books has no avantage over the man who cannot read them." MarkTwain