by Carrie Bobb
Limitless is the manual for learning how to learn. The more I gobbled it up, the hungrier I got.
My favorite part of the book was on flow. Flow is “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it at even great cost, for sheer sake of doing it.”[1]
It is how we create the life we love. It’s what gets us up in the morning. My sister and I often talk about finding flow and how cruicial it is to check our motives and keep intentions pure. Kwik lists the following ways to find flow: eliminate distractions, give yourself enough time, do something you love, have clear goals, challenge yourself…a little.
This book is juicy and there is a lot here. A few of my other favorite
takeaways, tips and techniques for overcoming learning challenges are listed
below.
MAKE SPACE
Kwik suggests carving out 30 minutes of down time in our week this week to simply sit and ponder. Let our minds wander and simply think.
Instead of relaxing in downtimes like waiting in line at the DMV,
the doctor’s office or at a red light, we are quick to jump on our phones. All
of that trains our brain to become more distracted. By letting our minds
wander, it helps strengthen problem solving, decision making, creativity and
increase memory.
THE POMODORO METHOD
I am a huge fan of this and was so happy Kwik included it as helping our learning and maximizing our brains. It is based on the idea that the ultimate time for a task is 25 minutes.
You perform a task for 25 minutes and then take a 5 minute break.
It helps break up larger projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. (I use
the Focus Keeper app to help me track the focus rounds and tasks.)
BEGIN CREATING
We learn best by experiences. Watching someone accomplish something is not the same learning curve as trying to accomplish it ourselves.
“Knowledge isn’t power. It only has the potential to be power…[it]
won’t work until you put your knowledge into action.”
SCHEDULE PERSONAL GROWTH
We put the most important priorities in our calendar. If personal growth and development is not in our calendar the likelihood we actually do it diminishes. Put reading, personal growth, mediation, exercise, all of it into the calendar.
SHARE WHAT YOU LEARN
One of the tips to learning and retaining information is if you know you are going to have to teach it to others. That certainly made a difference to me in how I read the book because I knew I would be writing about the book. I paid closer attention to detail and that simple distinction has certainly caused me to implement these tools into my daily life. Create a post with your favorite takeaways from the book you are currently reading.
LET GO OF LIMITING BELIEFS
The inner voice that speaks to us telling us if we are capable of accomplishing something or not should be challenged and not taken at face value. “The key to making yourself limitless is unlearning false assumptions. So often, we don’t accomplish something because we have convinced ourselves that we can’t do it.”
PURPOSE IS THE DRIVER
A clear purpose creates energy and motivation. Kwik writes how motivation is sustainable – it is not like a warm bath that cools off, but something rather that can be maintained.
The purpose must be clear. We can then invest time, energy, resources
into it with small simple steps to keep the motivation level high. Purpose is
also the key element into entering flow.
The magic of flow happens when purpose meets passion. When someone
knows their purpose, and they know who they truly are, it is easier to live a
life true to their core values.
Passion is when you find “what lights you up inside”. It is your
spark – what gives you joy. And you can have more than one passion.
Purpose is what you are meant to bring to the world. And it often
means sharing your passions with others. Because we change our passions change
too. The secret is to find the underlying meaning in your passions to find new
meaningful ways to express your purpose.
LEAN INTO YOUR DREAMS
Dreams have been a significant part of some of my biggest business and life decisions, so I am a big believer when Kwik writes that there is a gold mine in our dreams. Many geniuses throughout history have made some of their greatest discoveries from their dreams.
Before going to bed, affirm you are going to recall your dreams in
the morning. Keep a pen and notebook by your bed. When you wake up in the
morning, fight the urge to let your brain start running. Hold onto that dream
state and write down all you can remember. The more you write down your dreams,
the more you dream.
THE MORE YOU READ, THE MORE YOU KNOW
Reading is important for brain health for many reasons including that it exercises your brain, improves memory, improves focus, improves vocabulary, improves imagination and improves understanding.
If you want to learn more, the best thing you could do is read the book!
Carrie is the Founder & CEO of Carrie Bobb & Co, CEO of HelloJenny, and Co-Founder of the Carrie Bobb Foundation. She is a consumer behavior analytics nerd and an expert at driving revenue for retail properties through digital and brick and mortar leasing strategies.
[1] Flow:
The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi