Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life

Authored by a guy who as a child was labeled as "the kid with the broken brain" caused by a head injury at a young age. His passion is learning and his life's purpose is to teach others, from actors to CEOs to tv hosts, how to learn. There are many facets to the book, but all point back to teaching you how to unlock the brain’s potential to learn by addressing three main areas where we tend to limit ourselves: our mindset, our motivation, and/or our methods. The positive message throughout the book is that, contrary to what is often believed, our (self-inflicted) barriers are not set in stone. There is no magic pill, but processes that can help us "learn to learn" more deeply and effectively (I was skeptical at first, but by using techniques in chapter 13 for example, I still remember in vivid detail a list of 10 random words given by the author, even a week later.) Don’t get me wrong- unlocking our potential takes intentionality and focus, but is certainly possible, and the book lays out the “how” to attack the objective from all sides. 

Kwik does a great job of summarizing at the beginning and end of the book to recap his points, but here are some of my additional takeaways:

1. "Un-limiting" defined: The act or process of casting aside inaccurate and restrictive perceptions of one’s potential and embracing the reality that, with the right mindset, motivations, and methods, there are no limitations. 
2. Purpose supersedes discomfort
3. There are certain “limitations” we need to unlearn. Most people limit and shrink their dreams to fit their current reality. The key to making yourself limitless is by unlearning false assumptions (until Roger Bannister did it everyone said the human body was incapable of breaking a 4-minute mile. Two months after he did it someone else beat his record.)
4. Neuroplasticity- We used to think we reached our neurological peak in late adolescence, after which our brains never changed- accept to deteriorate. But actually your brain is always changing and molding itself to your surroundings and to the demands you place on it. 
5. One of the best ways to learn something new is to LEARN WITH THE INTENT TO TEACH.
6. Knowledge is not power, it’s only POTENTIAL power. You have to act on what you learn. 
7. Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid- Albert Einstein
8. There is some combination of genius inside of you that is either waiting to express itself or waiting to express itself MORE. The key is letting it free.
9. 4 main types of genius: DYNAMO- expressed through creativity and ideas (William Shakespeare); BLAZE - Expressed through interaction with others (Oprah Winfrey); TEMPO- Expressed through seeing the big picture and staying the course (Mother Theresa); STEEL- Expressed through gathering an enormous amount of information, seeing the details, and doing something with them that others couldn’t see or envision.
10. Mindset Defined: The deeply held attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions we create about who we are, how the world works, what we’re capable of and deserve, and what is possible. 
11. Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? A thermometer has only one function- to react to its environment. The other gauges the environment and makes the environment react to it. 
12. You must come face to face with your inner critic (the bully from Living With the Monks?). It’s not harmless. It inhibits you, limits you, and stops you from pursuing the life you truly want to live. It robs you of peace of mind and well-being. As long as you believe that your inner critic is the voice of the true you, the wisest you, its always going to guide you. Many of us even use phrases like, “I know myself, and...” before announcing a limiting belief. 
13. Every time you find yourself using phrases like I can’t, I’m not, or I don’t, you’re sending messages to yourself that are affecting how you think about your life in general, even if what you’re beating yourself up over is something specific and seemingly not important to how you define yourself. 
14. Negative thoughts and emotions drive us to narrow the range of what we are capable of doing. An example he gives is a tiger. When you see one in the forest, you run. The rest of the world doesn’t matter. You are focused entirely on the tiger, the fear it creates, and how you can get away from it. A POSITIVE mindset leads to precisely the opposite result. 
15. There is one grand lie: that we are limited. The only limits we have are the limits we believe- Wayne Dyer
16. 7 Lies of Learning (followed by the corresponding truths): 1) Intelligence is fixed- Everyone has the potential for genius, or at the very least, greatness. But the reason we prefer to believe that we’re either a genius or we’re not, or that we’re either talented or not, is because it relieves us from the responsibility of taking control of our own life. Intelligence is fluid; 2) We only use 10% of our brain- Not true. 3) Mistakes are failures- Too many of us don’t come close to our capacities because we are too afraid of making a mistake. Instead of looking at mistakes as proof of failure, look at them as proof that you are trying. (Saw an interview where Jeff Bezos of Amazon said he’s made BILLIONS of dollars worth of mistakes. His home runs are what fund the mistakes. Nobody bats 1000); 4) Knowledge is Power (It’s only POTENTIAL power. You must ACT on what you learn); 5) Learning new things is too difficult; 6) The criticism of other people matters- The biggest travesty in the world is people preventing and limiting themselves from expressing who they really are because they’re afraid of what other people think. Most of us fear the opinions of other people when we simply THINK about trying something new; 7) Genius is born, not made- “Genius” leaves clues. There is always a method behind what looks like magic. 
17. There is a gift in most challenges. 
18. The greatest task we have in life is to share the knowledge and skills we accumulate. It doesn’t have to be more complex than that. 
19. The two most powerful words in the English language are the shortest: “I am.” Whatever you put after those two words determines your destiny. Positive or negative. The highest drive we have is to act consistently with how we perceive ourselves. WHO DO YOU SAY YOU ARE?
20. Top 10 Brain Foods: Avocados, Blueberries, Broccoli, Dark Chocolate, Eggs, Green leafy vegetables, Salmon/ Sardines/ Caviar, Turmeric, Walnuts, Water
21. Who you spend time with is who you become. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. 
22. All habits serve you in some way. They’re either the best of servants or the worst of masters. 
23. When you introduce novelty to your thinking, you keep your brain tuned for learning (brushing your teeth with your opposite hand, taking a cold shower first thing in the morning, etc). It trains your brain to do difficult things, it stimulates a different part of the brain, and it forces you to be present (familiar to one of the lessons learned from the monks in “Living with the Monks”)
24. There’s no such thing as a good memory or a bad memory; there is only a trained memory and an untrained memory. 
25. It’s not accurate that your memory works like a container, cup, or hard drive in that once its full of data no more can fit. It’s more like a muscle in that the more you train it, the stronger it gets and the more you can store. 
26. “Flow” is the telephone booth where Clark Kent changes clothes, the place from where Superman emerges (the book defines WHAT the flow is, and HOW to achieve it).
27. It is nearly impossible to make learning a dynamic and renewable part of your life without a dedicated approach to reading. The brain is a muscle that gets stronger the more you challenge it. 
28. Regarding techniques on how to speed read- A bored mind doesn’t concentrate well. Your mind can handle vast amounts of information, and yet most people as they read feed it one...word...at...a...time. This is starving the brain. 
29. All perspectives should be challenged on a regular basis to confirm that they are still viable. 

A well-rounded approach to improving the way you learn, with some great online resources. Til next time, keep an open mind and keep exploring.

-Brad