Release year: 2020

Publisher: Hay House

Book Review: Limitless by Jim Kwik

What an interesting read! This book was recommended to me by my friend Ghaith. Had it not been for his suggestion, I probably would have missed it entirely—it was completely off my radar.

I’m very glad I picked it up. Limitless is deeply relevant to my interests. The author, Jim Kwik (his real name), struggled throughout his childhood with reading and learning. After a serious head injury from a fall, he was labeled “the boy with the broken brain.” In this book, he shows that the only limitations we can’t overcome are the ones we accept as true. He once believed he would never be able to read a book—and yet here he is, writing one of the world’s best-selling books on how to elevate your brain’s capacity for learning and improvement.

Many of the ideas and themes in Limitless echo what I explored in my own book, Overcoming Learning Anxiety. It was incredibly interesting to read Jim Kwik’s perspective on rekindling his ability to learn and improve, and how it changed his life. I recognized a lot of my own journey in his. Just like me, he’s an advocate for avid reading and emphasizes the importance of having the right mindset. This is great stuff.

The book is full of ideas I had never tried before. For example, Kwik recommends listening to baroque music while studying. I’m doing it now as I write this review, and I’ve also started using it during my study sessions. I’ve always listened to music while working, but this is the first time I’ve tried baroque. I must say, the vibes are spot on!

Another insight I really liked is the practice of asking three questions to turn knowledge into power:

How can I use this?
Why must I use this?
When will I use this?

In the case of what I learned from Limitless, I realized that I’m not alone in writing about how to help people use their brains more effectively and become “limitless.” I intend to use this insight to motivate myself to get my own book published by an editor, no matter how many roadblocks I encounter.

Why must I use this? Because Limitless is a best-seller, and clearly there is an audience thirsty for this kind of content. When will I use this? I’ll use it when talking with potential editors. I’ll tell them about Limitless and explain that my book—written in both English and French—addresses similar challenges, but in a way that is both more concise and more detailed.

I can see how answering these three questions is a powerful exercise. In fact, I’ve added them to my book review template going forward.

One argument that stood out to me is how crucial memory is to the learning process:

Memory is arguably the most important part of the learning process. If you could not remember, then you could not learn anything. There is no knowledge without memory. Often what appears to be genius can actually be learned. If you’re going to unlimit your brain and therefore unlimit yourself, you need to unlimit your memory.

(p. 213, 214, 218)

I really like this quote—it validates what I advocate in my own book. By learning to take effective notes from the books we read, we essentially unlimit our memory and unlock our brain’s potential.

Another memorable insight was Kwik’s mention of the method of loci for presentations:

Take a space you know well (a room). Assign each of your talking points to an object in that room. Mentally walk clockwise in the room and retrieve your talking points orderly.

I’m eager to try this out next time I deliver a keynote!

One quote in particular really resonated with me:

“We tend to remember that which we create.”

(p. 232)

This aligns completely with what I believe. In my own book, I encourage readers to bend the book and shape it to their will—to make it their own. I suggest taking personal notes, selecting their own “star quotes,” writing their own review, and even choosing whom they will pass the book on to. All of this is creation. And it’s through creation that we remember and grow.

This is also why I’m writing this review—and why I don’t plan on ever stopping. Reviewing books isn’t just about evaluation; it’s a way to cement what I’ve learned and connect it with my own experience.

Overall, this book is a terrific resource filled with ideas on how to free your brain from whatever’s keeping it from reaching its potential. I’d say it’s the best of its kind I’ve read so far… if I hadn’t written a book I consider even better for the problem at hand. Of course, I’m biased. But if I could nitpick a bit, I’d say Limitless might be intimidating for someone trying to get back into reading. It’s dense, goes in many directions, and doesn’t always offer clear strategies for remembering its content.

For instance, Kwik shares a story about having to read a full 300-page book in just a few hours before giving a last-minute presentation. He mentions taking copious notes—but how? What did his note-taking process look like? How did he use those notes effectively? These are questions I wish the book answered more concretely.

That said, Limitless goes into great detail in many other areas: different types of intelligence, the concept of flow, the science of motivation, and more. It’s safe to say that our books complement each other. If there’s a public for his book, there’s surely one for mine.

So yeah—I liked Limitless. I learned a few new things, but most importantly, it confirmed that the book I recently published is something special. I’m more convinced than ever to keep pushing to get it into stores. Thanks, Jim Kwik!

Félix rating:
👍

📚 Vocabulary

unlimiting: the process of removing self-imposed mental limitations by challenging negative beliefs, expanding mindset, and unlocking one’s full learning and cognitive potential.
(p. 41) “thinking your way out of a paper bag”: escaping from a paper bag is considered an extremely easy task. Therefore, if someone “couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag,” it implies they lack the mental capacity to overcome a very simple obstacle.
(p. 195) “to be a quick study”: to be able to learn new things rapidly and efficiently

💡 New ideas

Mindset + alignment = achievement
Labels create limitations.
Memory is emotion-dependent.
To be our true self, one must stop searching for ways to be liked.
Genius is focus.

⭐ Star Quotes

Foreword

(p. xvii) Purpose supersedes discomfort
(p. xviii) Learning how to learn is the ultimate superpower, the one that makes every other skill and ability possible.

Introduction

Part I: Free Your Mind

Chapter 1: Becoming Limitless

(p. 6) ⭐ Often when you put a label on someone or something, you create a limit—the label becomes the limitation. Adults have to be very careful with their external words because these quickly become a child’s internal words.

Chapter 2: Why This Matters Now

(p. 22) ⭐ We’re privileged to live in a world with so much unfettered access to information. In this age of connectivity, ignorance is a choice.
(p. 31) Like any tool, technology itself isn’t good or bad, but we must consciously control how it’s used. If we don’t, then who becomes the tool?

Chapter 3: Your Limitless Brain

(p. 37) In learning, when you fail to remember something, view it as a failure to make a connection between what you’ve learned and what you already know, and with how you will use it in life.
(p. 40) When you feed your gut with subpar food, you’re also feeding your brain with subpar fuel.
(p. 41) ⭐ Give a person an idea, and you enrich their day. Teach a person how to learn, and they can enrich their entire life.
(p. 45) The faster you can learn, the faster you can earn.

Chapter 4: How to Read and Remember This (and Any) Book

(p. 50) Your mind is like a parachute. It only works when it’s open.
(p. 53) If you want to cut your learning curve dramatically, learn with the intention of teaching the information to someone else.
(p. 53) When you teach something, you get to learn it twice: once on your own, and then again through educating another person.
(p. 58) “The one real object of education is to leave a person in the condition of continually asking questions.” —Bishop Mandell Creighton
(p. 60) Someone who is constantly asking themselves how to get people to like them can never truly be their true self because they will always be molding themselves to the preferences of the people around them, even if they’re not aware of it.
(p. 63) Three dominant questions that will help you to take action on what you learn and turn knowledge into power:
- How can I use this?
- Why must I use this?
- When will I use this?
(p. 64) “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

Part II: Limitless Mindset — The What

Chapter 5: The Spell of Belief Systems

Chapter 6: ???

Chapter 7: The 7 Lies of Learning

(p. 90) If we believe that it’s not possible to improve, then in reality it won’t be possible to improve.
(p. 92) 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 lives. It relieves a person of the burden of expectation.
(p. 96) “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” —Albert Einstein
(p. 96) ⭐ Instead of looking at mistakes as proof of failure, take them as proof that you are trying.
(p. 98) Knowledge is not power. It only has the potential to be power. It is “the performing of some action” that is required to make knowledge powerful.
(p. 101) Part of being limitless is learning to let go of the fear of criticism from other people.
(p. 102) Don’t take criticism from someone you wouldn’t take advice from. People will doubt you and criticize you no matter what you do.

Part III: Limitless Motivation — The Why

(p. 112) Find your Why. Reasons reap results.

Chapter 7: Purpose

(p. 115) “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?
(p. 118) Finding your passion is like finding true love, in that you have to go out on many dates to get to the perfect match It takes effort to build a relationship.
(p. 118) Passion is what lights you up inside. Purpose is about how you relate to other people. It’s what you’re here to share with the world. It’s how you use your passion.
(p. 118) ⭐ When you get down to it, we all have the same purpose: to help other people through our passion. The greatest task we have in life is to share the knowledge and skills we accumulate.
(p. 119) If you define yourself by one very specific passion and your life changes in a way that doesn’t allow you to pursue that passion any longer, you might feel lost.
(p. 119) ✅ ⭐ The two most powerful words in the English language are the shortest: “I am.” Whatever you put after those two words determines your destiny.

Chapter 8: Energy

Chapter 9: Small Simple Steps

(p. 151) The only three things that can change a person’s behavior long term:
- an epiphany, which very few people can summon on demand
- your environment, which is possible to change for nearly everyone, but not necessarily feasible at any given time
- taking baby steps

Chapter 10: Flow

(p. 175-177) The enemies of Flow:
- Multitasking
- Stress
- Fear of failure
- Lack of conviction

Part IV: Limitless Methods — The How

Chapter 11: Focus

(p. 187) ⭐ You might think that being stressed is a good thing, because it means that you’re busy, and by being busy, you’re making a meaningful contribution to the world. While this might be true, it is in spite of this anxiety rather than because of it.
(p. 188) The 4-7-8 breathing method:
1. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
2. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of 4.
3. Hold your breath for a count of 7.
4. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of 8.

Chapter 12: Study

Chapter 13: Memory

(p. 232) ⭐ We tend to remember that which we create.
(p. 236) “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” —Mark Twain

Chapter 14: Speed Reading

(p. 239) Yes, you can learn something from watching videos, listening to podcasts, or going to the movies. Even the silliest network sitcom is likely to teach you something. But it is nearly impossible to make learning a dynamic and renewable part of your life without a dedicated approach to reading.
(p. 252) Make reading a habit. Those who have reached a high degree of success in life are almost always avid readers.

Chapter 15: Thinking

Afterword

(p. 279) ⭐ The life you live are the lessons you teach.

(Read 114) Limitless

Book Review: Limitless by Jim Kwik

Félix rating:👍

📚 Vocabulary

💡 New ideas

⭐ Star Quotes

Félix rating:
👍