Limitless - Jim Kwik Page 0,42

energy. When he popped the pill that made him suddenly take action, his life drastically changed for the better because he was able to make things happen.

Let’s unlimit a few LIEs commonly held around motivation. Contrary to popular belief, like your mindset, motivation is not fixed. No one has a set level of motivation. And when people say they are unmotivated, it’s not completely true. They could have a high level of motivation to stay in bed and watch television.

Motivation also doesn’t mean you must enjoy something that you need to do. My friend, entrepreneur Tom Bilyeu, hates working out, but he has a clear and compelling reason to do so, so he does it every morning. I really don’t like taking cold showers, but I do it daily (I’ll explain why in Chapter 8).

Finally, motivation is not something you wake up with or not. We put ourselves in a trance when we say, “I don’t have any motivation.” Motivation is not something you have; it’s something you do. And it’s entirely sustainable. Unlike a warm bath, it’s not something that you experience for a moment and then lose unless you heat it up again. Motivation isn’t derived from a seminar that temporarily pumps you up. It’s a process. And since it’s a strategy, you have control over it and can create it consistently by following the right recipe.

Here’s the formula: Motivation = Purpose × Energy × S3

When you combine purpose, energy, and small simple steps (S3), you get sustainable motivation. And the ultimate form of motivation is the state of flow. Think about it as energy management. Creating it, investing it, and not wasting it. A clear purpose or reason gives you energy. Practices you employ will cultivate energy for your brain and the rest of your body, and small simple steps require little energy.

In this section, we’ll talk about how to cultivate powerful sustainable motivation around learning and life that lasts. We’ll achieve this by getting clear on your purpose, fostering the mental and physical energy that will sustain you, and establishing small simple steps. And tapping flow states.

Purpose drives us to act, and our purpose must be clear enough that we know why we’re acting and what we’re hoping to gain. Generating sufficient energy is vital—if you’re tired or sleepy, or if your brain is foggy, then you won’t have the fuel to take action. Small simple steps take minimal effort and keep you from being paralyzed with overwhelm. And finally, finding flow is the ultimate boon to motivation.

7

PURPOSE

How do certain defining phrases determine who you are?

How do your values define you?

What does your sense of purpose say about who you are?

For the longest time, my kryptonite was lack of sleep. Sleep has never been easy for me. As a kid for years I was pulling regular all-nighters, studying long hours trying to compensate for my learning challenges. I developed bad sleeping problems. I was always tired at school, but I would plow through the fatigue anyway because I had a strong desire to work hard and make my family proud. My purpose and reasons were super-clear, so I was plenty motivated. Even after I learned accelerated learning skills at age 18 and I no longer had to put in crazy hours, my sleeplessness continued into adulthood and has grown steadily worse—two to four hours total of very interrupted sleep for about 20 years.

The longer you go without sleep, the harder it becomes to maintain a sense of reality—or motivation, for that matter. Lack of sleep compromises all of your cognitive skills, your focus, your memory, and your overall brain health. A common contributing factor for depression and many mood disorders is lack of sleep. I can attest to the dark places I’ve found myself in as a result of lack of sleep. My intense speaking and global travel schedule certainly did not help; one year I was on the road for 235 days. Time zones, jet lag, unfamiliar stale hotel rooms, you get the picture. And my brain was feeling it; just imagine a memory expert forgetting what city he is waking up in.

This puzzled me, because as a long-time meditation student, my mind was not ruminating or racing at night; it was as calm as could be. It was only a handful of years ago, when I ended up hospitalized from multiple nights without rest, that I participated in an overnight sleep study and was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea, a physical disorder where