Jim Kwik

If you are reading this, thank you for connecting with me here.

If you're reading this, I hope you have amazing things happen for you this week!

Move exactly 1 match to fix the equation. (There’s at least 3 solutions not including the ≠ ones.)

All the best self-improvement books, classes and courses won’t work until you do. There is no self-improvement without self-implementation.

Most individuals are addicted to information and allergic to implementation. Absorb then Apply. Education x Execution = Empowerment.

That viral claim about complaining shrinking your brain? The Stanford study behind it doesn’t exist. Someone traced the citation chain in 2016. It leads nowhere. But the real science is more useful than the myth. Repetitive negative thinking, the kind where you loop through the same worry without resolving it, does change your brain structure over time. Your memory center shrinks. Your fear center grows. open.substack.com/pub/kwikbrain/… The good news: four things reverse it, and all four show up in brain imaging studies. We break down what works and what’s just internet noise in this week’s newsletter. @KwikLearning

What movie have you rewatched the most?

Documentaries

AI won't replace your brain. But AI + your brain? Limitless. Great session with @kamilbanc leveling up my AI workflow. If you want to learn how AI can upgrade yours → aiadopters.club

To be fair, don’t forget to overthink the best case scenario also.

When reading, the goal is not just getting through a book, it’s getting the book through you. Other than the mental exercise, someone who reads nonfiction without applying it is no better off than someone who couldn’t read it to begin with. Knowledge x Action = Power

Heard this quote, not sure who originally said it. Thoughts?: “I have never been disliked by anyone I wanted to trade places with.”

Rewatching Lord of the Rings. Such a great scene. Sam:
I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. Frodo:
What are we holding on to Sam? Sam:
That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

Multitasking is just productivity cosplay.

Excuses are useless. We can’t be upset by the results we didn’t get from the work we didn’t do. Don’t say, show. Don’t promise, prove. Accept responsibility for your thoughts & actions. Be accountable to commitments. Own and learn from mistakes. Results will speak for themselves.

What would you call this chapter of your life? And remind yourself the next one is still unwritten.

Stop taking directions from people who have never been to the places you want to go. Seek counsel from those whose footsteps echo and carry the dust of the journey you desire.

Be so clear in your vision and so aligned with your actions that the outcome is inevitable.

What passions or projects are you excited for in 2026? (Maybe someone here can help!) Limitless Together 🙌

@craigclemens Sage advice 🔥

3 Weird Things I Learned in 2025: 1. How to break an addiction or bad habit
 I’ve struggled with nearly every addiction or bad habit you can imagine. The latest is embarrassing - a few years ago I began getting dandruff spots on my head. I'd scratch the f out of them then they would scab then I’d scratch again - rinse repeat the next day, and because of this manic scratching they would never heal. 2 years would pass and I’d still have the same sores on my head! So I’m in an ayahausca ceremony and I go to scratch one. A phrase comes to me… “What happens if I don’t?” I realized that nothing would happen. Nothing bad, nothing great either. But certainly nothing disastrous - I wouldn’t bleed to death and the spot didn’t actually need a scratch. I realized i had a weird fear that if i didn’t do the action, I’d be missing out on the. oddly satisfying scratching sensation - but also... that the scratch sensation really did nothing for me. So, I didn’t scratch, and sure enough I soon forget about it. Later I get the urge to scratch again, so I ask myself the same, “What happens if I don’t?” “Nothing.” And again I don’t scratch. That was in early 2025 and all the spots on my head are now healed. The next implication was even bigger. Later that same night the ceremony ends, we get our phones back. And now I am so ready to do what all ayahuasca bros long for after being phone-less for 4 hours: I must check the price of bitcoin. But this time I ask, “What happens if I don’t?” Again, nothing would happen. I’d simply find out the price at a later time. What happens if I do check it now? Well if the price is down, it’s not like I’m gonna panic sell @ 3am. And if the price is up, same - maybe I get a little dopamine hit seeing my monies up, but I’m not selling. So again, nothing is going to happen if I check the price. So I don’t. And I sleep much better that night. The next week - I’m on X and going down a rage bait rabbit hole. 2 big influencers who I never liked anyways are in a fight. And one of them has just dropped 15 min vid blasting the other, that the whole timeline says is fire. So I gotta watch it, right? I click, then catch myself… “What happens if I don’t?” Nothing. I don’t miss anything relevant to my life. I don’t actually care about the influencers, let alone their beef. I move on and save myself 15 minutes. This little phrase has now helped me quit excessive snacking, feed scrolling, overly-checking email and texts - the applications are endless. Before you mindlessly take any action, try to stop and ask yourself, “What happens if I don’t? 2. You only get 80% of what you want My wealthiest friend is looking for a new pad in NY. He’s complaining that some are too old, or not great view, or great view but shitty entry, etc. I say, “Bro you are rich af - why not just pay up and buy one that has everything you want?” He says, “You don’t get it - when buying a house, you only get 80% of what you want. This is true no matter what you spend, and at all income levels. The only way it’s not true is if you buy a lot and build your home from scratch, but then you have to wait 4 years and that is never what you want. So you need to pick your 80%." I’ve begun applying this 80% model everywhere, and I’m amazed at how often it fits. Choosing a partner, a city to live in, a place to vacation, a school for your kid - turns out, it's extremely rare in life to get more than 80% of what you want. So your job when making a decision is now simple: Figure out which 80% is a must for you, and focus on getting the best of that. 3. You only get 3 billion prompts There is a house I wish we would have bought in 2019. It was perfect, but we couldn't afford it until our other house sold. Which took too long, so someone else bought the dream house. Now every time I drive by, I find myself going into fantasy land… “Would we have liked the neighborhood? I wonder if the streets are nice for walking. Would we have redone the back yard? What would the kids have done with that big tree?” I have probably driven by this house 20x over the last 6 years and every time I would do this mind larp of “What if we had bought that house?” Then I read somewhere that your brain is like an LLM, and based on time alive for an average human, you only get 3 billion “prompts” of your own brain. You can use them to ponder the future, further enjoy the present, or “what if” about the past. But once they are gone, that is it, and you do not get more. So now, when I find myself bemoaning about a house I didn’t buy, a 100x investment that I failed to make, a 4x investment I failed to take profits on and now it’s worth zero, etc etc - I remind myself that I only get 3 billion prompts, and that I should either use them to focus on the present, or improve my future. I hope these 3 learnings help you prompt your own brain for a better 2026.