Jim Kwik & Jay Shetty ON Why You Feel Burnt Out

Society has well-defined rules that become ingrained in our minds.

Yet we can often break the limits others have set for us. What if you were to achieve something unheard of?Jay Shetty invited Jim Kwik, the author of Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life, to discuss his take on how to exceed boundaries and follow your calling in a world that says t you can't. Kwik is an author, podcaster, and the “world’s number one brain coach.” . In Limitless, he discusses the 3M method and how to achieve anything you set your mind to do.

The Power of The Brain

Society has specific rules that people tend to believe are unmovable. Many of us unconsciously subscribe to those rules and internalize those boundaries as if they were our own. Yet, as Kwik argues, we can always push the boundaries.

Kwik shared with Jay Shetty the example of Robert Bannister, the first person to break the 4-minute mile..

People believed it couldn’t be done, but he set his mind to it and trained his body to attain what had never been achieved. In the years afterwards, other athletes also started to break this limit.

Just as in the case of Robert Bannister, Kwik believes that a mindset change is necessary to achieve extraordinary results. Of course, there is a fine line between dreaming big and being delusional, but unless you can believe you can do something, Kwik says it will be very difficult to actually achieve it. He continued, "I think behind any kind of results in our life, we need to do a behavior, new behavior, or a new set of behaviors. I think to be able to execute that behavior, we need a mindset or a belief that allows that to be possible."

Jay Shetty shared how he managed to keep depression at bay while healing after hernia repair surgery. He was unable to perform many actions, such as sitting for meditations. However, he believed that he was happy, healthy, and healing. This mindset was beneficial in his healing process. Instead of self-pity, he decided to think positively.

Lies

In Limitless, Kwik talks about seven lies we can experience when learning something new. He uses the acronym, L.I.E., which stands for "limited idea entertained." When you begin to see your thoughts through this filter, you may start questioning your beliefs. For example, is it true that you can't do something simply because you are too old or because you believe you’re not smart enough?

Kwik's mission is to prove that limits are made up in our minds. He teaches people how to accelerate the learning process, including reading faster, learning new languages, have better name recall, and improve their memory and focus. Kwik explained to Jay Shetty, "Your brain is this incredible supercomputer, and your self-talk, your thoughts, are the program that will run. So if you tell yourself, 'I'm not good at remembering people's names,' you won't remember the name of the next person you meet because you have programmed your supercomputer not to."

Change Takes Effort

Jay Shetty shared how sometimes, people set easy, attainable goals to avoid the disappointment they might feel if they tried and failed to reach a higher goal. Kwik explained that the human nervous system is set up for growth initially, but it changes when we encounter pain or trauma. At this point, we enter survival mode, where the brain's primary focus switches to just keeping us alive.

As Kwik told Jay Shetty, growth is important, but constant growth is not the goal. When we work to change and grow, we must reserve time to get used to our new circumstances, and recover from the effort we put in to reach our goal. The recipe that Kwik suggests is to stretch, then stabilize.

Inward Reflection

Jay Shetty considers reflection to be a good tool for personal development. It helps us to both remember how we managed a past situation and learn from it, and to apply that learning to a new situation we may face.

However, he continued, it is rare that someone reflects on their own life. Instead, we tend to look at others and what they do. We become so fascinated with other people's lives that we forget to look at our own. Kwik responded that reflection means harnessing the power of your memory. It involves remembering the things that gave you confidence and helped you move forward. "Hindsight can lead to foresight," he told Jay Shetty.

In dealing with mistakes, Kwik suggests using the O.L.D technique::

 
• Own it:. When making a mistake, don't play the victim.Take accountability, repair what you broke, and learn from the situation.
 
• Learn:. In Kwik's view, mistakes are stepping stones to making us better people.
 
• Don’t repeat it: Many people tend to forget their lessons of the moment in the long run. There are countless examples, such as feeling sick after having fast food. Yet, people tend to forget and will still get the same meal sometime later, even though it will make them feel sick again.

Lessons Learned

Just as Jay Shetty’s hernia repair surgery made him more mindful, Jim Kwik’s surgery to repair his sleep apnea disorder did the same for him. Though it was a difficult recovery process, he eventually overcame it.

To Kwik, it is vital to have a mindset that will allow you to learn from any experience you've been subjected to. Through his struggle, he learned to cultivate gratitude for what he has now. He sees the difficulties of the past as a gift meant to improve himself and help others. The things that he struggled with most are the things that have made him well-known, such as teaching and public speaking.

Mindset Is Important

Kwik and Jay Shetty agreed there are usually multiple options to choose from in terms of which path to choose or what decision to make at a particular moment. Because of this, taking the time you need to build up clarity is crucial. Before soaring to new heights, we must first take time to understand ourselves and our sense of direction.

Doing too much can lead to burnout. Similarly, doing too little of what makes you happy can also lead to burnout. Kwik advises we take our time to understand ourselves and our goals before setting sail to new destinations.

Jay Shetty quoted Edison, who said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Jay Shetty has found this mindset important to helping him move forward in life after reaching a dead end to a particular goal.

Kwik agrees with this approach. He believes that "the problem is rarely the problem. The problem is our attitude about the problem."

The Limitless Framework

Kwik’s limitless framework involves three Ms pictured as overlapping circles, like a Venn diagram. The first circle represents mindset. The second stands for motivation, and the third for methods. Where the three overlap is where your identity is found.

‍Mindset

‍Kwik shared with Jay Shetty his definition of mindset as "your attitudes and assumptions about something, your attitudes, assumptions about what's possible, your attitudes and assumptions about what you're capable of."

Many people find themselves stuck in this box because they don't believe they deserve better things. However, if you repeatedly tell yourself the same lies, they will become your reality. For example, if you say to yourself that you are a slow reader, you will act as if you were indeed a slow reader. It is thoughts that shape your reality.

‍Motivation

‍Some people may have a positive mindset and believe everything is attainable. Yet they feel they need more motivation to accomplish something in the direction of their goals.Kwik explained to Jay Shetty that his formula for motivation is P x E x S3. P stands for purpose. E stands for energy. And lastly, S3 stands for small, simple steps. In other words, it takes inner drive, mental and physical energy, and doing something small regularly toward your goal. The key here is consistency. The steps don't need to be big, but they must happen daily.

‍Method

‍Finding a method that will serve you is essential. You need to change old patterns if they seem outdated and won't lead you where you want to be.

‍The Overlap

‍When drawn as intersecting circles, four overlapping areas appear.Where mindset and motivation overlap, you get inspiration. Where mindset and method overlap, you get ideation. Lastly, where motivation and method overlap, you get the implementation.

In the middle, where mindset, motivation, and method overlap, is where the integration occurs. This represents the core of your being.

To understand what holds you back from performing a specific task or starting and working on a project, you need to understand which of the three Ms you are stuck on. Then, address that particular issue and try to solve the problem at that level before moving on.

Mirror Neurons

We all want someone we care about to be there for us in our endeavors. We need them to root for us. Unfortunately, not everyone has these people in their lives. Kwik advised the listeners to be that person for themselves and others.However, the people that we surround ourselves with have a significant influence on our minds. Our environment influences us. An acronym that Kwik explained to Jay Shetty is W.A.T.C.H. It describes how the people we spend the most time with determine our choices. The letters mean the following areas influenced by the people around us:

 
• Words
 
• Actions
 
• Thoughts
 
• Character
 
• Habits

Due to our brain’s so-called mirror neurons, we constantly imitate the behavior of the people around us. It takes effort to become conscious of this behavior and work toward becoming a better version ourselves.

Meet Your Destiny

Kwik told Jay Shetty, "We shouldn't be shrinking our lives and dreams to meet this current situation. Instead, don't downgrade your dreams to meet this current situation. What if we upgraded our mindset? What if we upgraded our motivation? What if we upgraded the methods we're using to be able to meet our destiny."

More From Jay Shetty

Listen to the entire On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast episode on “Why You Feel Burnt Out & How To Break Free From Your Limiting Beliefs” now in the iTunes store or on Spotify. For more inspirational stories and messages like this, check out Jay’s website at jayshetty.me.