In the second installment of my conversation with the world-renowned brain coach and best-selling author Jim Quick, we dive deeper into the mindset, heart set, and the skill set that transformed the shy boy once labeled with a broken brain into a global force for learning leadership and limitless potential. Jim believes fiercely that cognitive flexibility, creativity, and the ability to learn how to learn are the true superpowers of the 21st century. And yet, as he notes, these are the very skills that schools rarely teach. And I know as a mom to four boys, schools tell you what to learn and what to remember. And as Jim says, they do not tell you how to think, how to focus, how to remember, how to grow. And this is a huge issue in my mind and especially Jim's. This distinction becomes the foundation of our discussion today and about the future of education, the rising cost of traditional degrees, and whether college is really necessary for our children today. In this deeply candid conversation, Jim opens up about his own non-linear path, one smart by traumatic brain injury, bullying, focus challenges, and the feeling of never being enough. It's a journey that began with a struggle but evolved into a lifelong mission to help people, unlock their potential, and understand the power of the brain they've been given. For Jim purpose is a passion and service, and that purpose has now reached hundreds of millions across the globe. Me, we talk about entrepreneurship as a calling, not a career, about raising children to follow up, lights them up and about the responsibility that comes with leading a team, a movement, and a message. Jim also shares the surprising truth about being an introvert on stages across continents. He is a fire that has fueled more than three decades of impact. If you miss part one, I suggest you look back a few episodes and listen to part one. It was eye opening enlightening. You're gonna love it. Part two reveals a man behind the mission. Entrepreneur, who never received a paycheck, the teacher who never stops being a student and the human, whose mess genuinely became his message. Welcome to part two, the unlikely entrepreneur, a conversation about passion, purpose, and becoming limitless in a world that too often tells us to stay small. Now on with the show. I think it's important to be cognitively flexible and be be nimble, and I think these are absolutely trained skills, but they don't teach you these things in school. So I think school teaches you what to learn, what to remember, what to think, but not how to learn, how to remember, how to think. And I think those are true, true superpowers. Interesting. And I've been having conversations with a lot of leaders as well as entrepreneurs about the idea is college actually necessary for entrepreneurs. What are your thoughts? Because I honestly don't know your training in school. Yeah, I, this, everything I, I don't have a PhD in neuroscience or masters in education. You know, I've been doing this for 34 years, you know, training, you know, millions around the world. We have students in every country and our online academy, you know, our podcasts. Let's cross 100 million downloads. A couple of millions subscribers on YouTube and you know, one of the most is millions of copies sold in 50 different languages. You know, I think what people engage with us is because, you know, for the results that they're getting, you know, I'm somebody that went through struggles. You know, my traumatic brain injury, losing my grandma to the house, homeers, having focus issues, not being able to read for a few years, like the other kids, you know, which really have it on my self-esteem, myself confidence, myself worth, you know, I feel like with struggles comes strength, right? Which challenge comes change? I don't know truly one strong person that had an easy life, you know, so I think people connect with that. Going back to college, it's a business, right? I mean, how amazing is it to have a business where you have, like, countless people paying you money just to apply to be your customer with no guarantee of any kind of, you know, out, you know, the promise of a job or anything like that. Where more and more students are going to fields. And a lot of students go entering the work, you know, like school now, they're at that career won't even exist, you know, by the time they graduate, you know, and I think that, you know, I think for certain fields, medicine, law, right, you know, engineering, like, yes, it's important to be able to co-teap and study. But I also feel like, you know, now with AI, you can learn so much, you know, at, you know, very near zero cost, you know, access to the world's information through podcasts and YouTube and courses and, you know, other opportunities. So, you know, it's a challenge with so many students and families going into massive amounts of debt. So I'm not, I'm not against college, you know, maybe it's, you have socialization, you know, maybe it's a bridge from going from, you know, you know, going from your family's home into the, quote, quote, real world. But I don't think it's a path for everybody. Nordo, I think it's necessary if you're going into areas that don't require you to spend, you know, X amount of years to be a surgeon, you know, or sort of something else and a specialized field. And you don't have to answer this because I, you don't have to talk about your kids, but how would you advise your kids or the younger generation going forward, you know, in terms of school and their path, would you encourage them to be in an entrepreneur? I mean, of course, I would guess you want them to do what they love, but and you can speak on the younger generation or your children, whatever you want to, or you don't have to answer. No, yeah. I, you know, we have a son and daughter and, you know, I certainly want them to be able to find what lights them up. I, a lot of people in our clients complain about exhaustion or mental burnout. I feel like sometimes we're burnt down now because we're doing too much. Sometimes we're burnt out because we're doing too little of the things that light us up and make us come alive. And certainly I want to expose children to lots of different subjects and skills and opportunities, individuals, ideas and see, you know, where their passion goes. You know, for me, I've never gone to paycheck. So I've always been an entrepreneur, you know, since age 11, because I value freedom. And, you know, I won't, I don't want to meet Sally. And then maybe this is just the personality trait or the way I grew up watching my, you know, parents worked extremely hard. I just wanted to be able to, you know, I don't know, something about having a loved one, having to go to another person to ask if they could take a few days off or have a little bit of extra money to do, you know, to pay bills or something is just, it didn't work with me. And so I value freedom. But whether they take that path, I don't care about that. If they want to go into, you know, music, if the person's going to create whatever it happens to be, I'm not going to deter their paths, I want to encourage them. But I just really want them to do things that, that they love, that they love, right? And, you know, or finding love in what they do. And because I just, I mean, we all want our loved ones to have a certain level of fulfillment. Now, I did not realize you've been an entrepreneur your whole entire life since 11. That's so amazing. How have you balanced everything this from age 11, facility? I mean, you have turned your, what you do best, your brain, your creativity into a global movement and made it relevant for so many years. How, how have you done it? And do you have a secret? Because we all want to know. I think a lot of people want to be like you. And it was on a professional level. I mean, I think I'm not suggesting people like if they have a job that's paying their bills, their rents and everything else that they quit. You know, but I feel like for an entrepreneur, you know, the feed your business until feeds you back. And in the beginning, for most people, they're going to be underpaid. But I think if people are consistent and they're always learning, they're looking to make to make an impact that eventually it switches, you know, where you're overpaid for the amount of hours. You know, like while my book is called Limitless, time is limited, right? Attention is limited. But what's limitless is our creativity, our leverage. And so I would say that, you know, being an entrepreneur for me, the three things that I'm all about learning, right? I want to embody my personal growth because it's my identity. The three things that have, besides all the books and people I've met, really have been biggest growths has been my, my intimate relationships, right? Because that person's a mayor, you know, to everything. Being an entrepreneur, everything is right on your shoulders, huge amount of responsibility, especially supporting, you know, your team is there counting on payroll and everything else, big growth there when everything falls on you. And then the third thing most recently is, you know, is fatherhood, you know, which was just growth. That was part of the job you'll ever do. Let me just tell you. Or so that for me, I've been very lucky. But I didn't seem lucky when I was on this path, right? I struggled with learning until I was 18 every single day. So I'd be, I would, and then I was never an issue about working hard, right? My parents instilled that to me as their example. And I think the life we live are the lessons we teach. So they taught me discipline, hard work, kindness. And I would say that because I went through these struggles myself, I feel a moral obligation to do what I do. I could, I have enough connections enough knowledge to, to feed. It was just about making money, to make money different ways, you know, personally, I am very introverted. Maybe I just buy product of just feeling I was like marginalized in school or bullied and just not enough. And, but it's just being on stage, being on camera, I can be on three continents in one week, come in front of a good 300,000 people a year live in audiences, speaking, I do it out of moral obligation. Be ashamed on me if somebody's struggling the way that I did for those years. And I could help them and I didn't. So I feel like, you know, even for limitless, we donated the proceeds, my author proceeds it, build schools in Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, we funded Alzheimer's research for women, his women are twice as like experienced Alzheimer's than men. In memory of my grandmother, who was my, my superior growing up, but it just, you know, he, he took her mess, I took my mess, I turned into my message. I've been doing this for over three decades, I'll be doing it the next three decades, you know, being the boy with the broken brain, as that was like, what everyone called me growing up, you know, I want to build better brighter brains, no brain left behind. But I found my passion, right? Like passion is for me, is what light to up. And you can have lots of things that light you up. The purpose is how it functionally for me is how you use your passion, what lights you up to light somebody else up. So learning is my passion. Teaching people how to learn is my purpose because that lights them up. You know, and so I feel that there's a sequence that you learn to earn, to return, right? I think there's in everything nature has to learn, has to grow, you know, you mentioned there when you're green, you grow, when you're brown, you brought, so everything nature has to, has to grow, or dies. And everything nature also has to get back to the ecosystem. Otherwise, it's eliminated also, also as well. You know, and I use the metaphor of a superhero, mainly because I was, you know, comic geek, you know, I couldn't read growing up because of my injury and I tell myself how to read by reading comic books, but that something about the hero's journey, you know, superhero's not just somebody with superpowers that those make you a superhero. You have to use that power for some purpose. And I think all of us have a superpower, that strength, that trade, you know, some kind of distinction that makes us unique. And when we share that, you know, with others, then we find our more right purpose. I love that, Jim. And that was kind of how I was going to wrap it up. What drives you? Why do you keep doing what you do? And I think you nailed it on the head unless you have more to add to that. But I, you know, yeah, I mean, I hope it's useful. I mean, I, that's, that's my truth. Right. This is, I obsess about how can I serve people in my unique way? And I've just obsessed about that. And, you know, with technology, did scale, you know, we started, and I started teaching in the beginning when I was 18 at colleges. And eventually these kids, you know, their parents start seeing their grades improved dramatically. And these parents work at law firms or accounting firms or real estate companies. And they started to do those, you know, trainings. And, you know, then the internet came around and we're very early in creating courses online. And then which allows us to scale. But I'm always thinking about impact. And then with that, that drives me. I feel like the way it takes care of itself, if that's, if that's the focus. And obviously, I want to be wise and learn, you know, everything when I need to, to be able to, to be able to lead a business in a brand. But, no, technology is, is a, again, a way of scaling that, you know, our services. Yeah. And there's a spark in you. And I almost came up with the title because, you know, being an introvert, self-proclaimed introvert. It's very hard. I imagine to be around so many people and on stages, you really have to push yourself. You get depleted of energy. Just all the things you're doing is hard. I see you as almost like, and starting with the brain injuries, an unlikely entrepreneur. And I don't know why that hits me as the title for the article. But you are like, you are, you are taking it to a new level, obviously. But it is because how you do, do everything you, you have harnessed your energy that brain and you see everything as limitless. And I mean, what do you think of that? Is that a good title or no? I like it. This is easy for me. It is. Okay. No, no, no. A lot of introverts, it's not that. A teaching is easy for me, truly because it's just sharing all even selling, you know, as an entrepreneur or teaching. I'm just sharing things I believe in with people I care about. Right. And so, while my fear is as high and I get the butterflies going on stage and you know, 10,000 people or whatever, you know, but I, if there's one person in that audience, because that was that person, you know, that needed to hear, you know, or that person that, you know, I didn't have a network girl, you know, now, now I know a lot of authors personally, but I didn't know, you know, I know any at the time. So, when I read their books and I learned how to read properly, then they became like friends in my mind, you know. And so, you know, I feel like, yes, look, I think there's a version to the readers or listeners. There's a version of yourself, you know, or your business and your brand or your bank account, whatever. There's a version of yourself that's patiently waiting in the goals we show up every single day until, until we're introduced. Right. But it's not always easy. Right. Life is hard for one of two reasons, either you leave your comfort zone. Right. Starting a business gets you out of your comfort zone. Right. Learning to trade like, or skill like AI takes you out of your comfort zone. So, life is difficult when you're leaving your comfort zone, but life is even more difficult to sustain your comfort zone. Because, you know, while the beauty is in the butterfly, the growth is happening in the cocoon, you know, and that creature's willingness and determination to free itself that it builds a strength, to be able to sort in new heights. Right. Like the truth is, changes scary, right. This is the world that we're in. It's so fast paced. Changes scary. Growth is hard, you know, requires deliberate work consistent, you know. But nothing is as scary and hard as being stuck somewhere that you don't belong. Right. And I feel like a lot of us that that's a core tenant of limitless, right. You feel limited. You feel stuck in your happiness, in your health, in your impact, in your reading speed, you know, in whatever your wellness, your memory, you know, it feels easy. It's limited. But I mean, you know, we've, we've, I have this unshakable conviction because I just, I have the benefit also of meeting people every single day, you know, or even online that they share their stories, you know. And again, I think what it's easy for me to teach it because I live it, where I practice what I post, you know, and I think the life we live are the lessons we teach. And so, you know, I feel like, you know, that's how lives are changed and how do we become limitless in a limited world? We do it together. Then that's the only way to be able to do it. It's not just your neurological networks. It's your social networks. And that's why events are so powerful to go to and be around people. That, you know, are on that same path to, you know, the journey to reveal and realize, you know, their full potential to redraw the about borders and boundaries of what's possible. But so many people out of fear shrink their dreams to fit, you know, their minds when they could on the other side, expand their minds to fit all that's really, really possible. I feel like I owe you a couple thousand dollars for today. I mean, we are so grateful to have had be Jim Quick here on the podcast. I hope you reach out by his book, Limitless, the expanded edition. It is a phenomenal book. And even if you want to meet him in real life, he has become such a great friend of the show and of our mission to build creativity around the world. Check out CreativeCon. That's CRE8TIVE.com. You can meet us live in person. So grateful for Jim. He is really changing the world. He's had a huge impact on me and so many of the people I know, many of my colleagues. Meet us live and meet Jim Quick 5. And I mean when he meets him up close and personal. So thanks Jim. Grateful for this conversation. And in the meantime, don't forget to rate review and follow share this episode with someone that really needs this message today. Until we meet again, grateful from the bottom of our hearts. Hi, this is your brain coach Jim Quick on the author of the best seller Limitless, Upgrade your Brain, Learn Anything Pastry, a lot for your exceptional life. And I'm so excited to speak at CreativeCon this year, February and Chicago. Think about it. In a world that's changing faster than ever. Creativity isn't a luxury. It's a superpower. And so I'd CreativeCon. I'm going to show you how to train the most important technology in the world, which is your brain. To think faster, learn deeper, focus better, unlock your genius. That's already inside of you. So whether you're an artist, you're an entrepreneur, you're a creative innovator, your imagination is one of your greatest currencies. Like it's true wealth. And you'll discover from me, science-based tools to rewire your mind for creativity, productivity, and really Limitless expression. Our session's not going to be just a presentation. It's going to be an activation because when you free your mind, you also free your art, your business, and your future. It does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.
