Latest / King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights / Train Your Brain Like a Guinness World Record Holder with Dave Farrow

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Train Your Brain Like a Guinness World Record Holder with Dave Farrow · King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights

0:00
What do I do? Well, I have these chunks that I
0:02
have to do it it it what you want to do is get rid of the
0:05
friction of having to make decisions and just have it all
0:09
laid out in front of you know exactly what you have to do.
0:11
You don't have to to think and plan and everything too many
0:15
times. We spend so much effort every
0:17
morning as entrepreneurs because there's so much overwhelm.
0:20
If you can map all that stuff out ahead of time and then just
0:23
follow the plan, it helps your executive brain functions.
0:26
Just relax a little bit. You don't have to have to be on
0:28
the ball all the time. You just have to focus on what
0:30
you're doing at the time and that way you can get more done.
0:33
Before we dive back into today's conversation, I want to share
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something important. This episode includes a paid
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1:52
Welcome to the King Dems Podcast, where we share the
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stories of extraordinary people and dissect hot, relevant topics
1:58
that shape our world. From visionary leaders to
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trailblazing creatives, we uncover the mindset, strategy,
2:04
and grit behind greatness. Whether it's business, culture,
2:08
or personal growth, we ask the real questions.
2:11
This isn't just conversation, it's transformation.
2:14
The Kingdom's podcast, Your next breakthrough starts here.
2:18
Music licencing reimagined. Ladies and gentlemen, you once
2:24
again welcome to the King James broadcast.
2:27
And today I've got one V Whiten out of the United States of
2:32
America, Big Walker, Dave Farrow.
2:37
Well I'm also Canadian if that helps.
2:38
I don't know if that wow. Canadian American, A lot of
2:42
people are jealous of you brother, you know.
2:45
Jealous. I'm your host.
2:46
A lot of people are jealous of you, you know.
2:49
I'm your host at the Mallardo Day.
2:50
And of course, today's guest is not just impressive, he is
2:55
scientifically proven. Dave Farrow is a two time
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Guinness World Record holder for Greatest Memory, earning that
3:02
title by memorising the exact order of 59 decks of shuffled
3:08
main cards using what is now known globally as the Pharaoh
3:12
Memory Method. He overcame ADHD, write his own
3:16
brain, then use a methodology that has been validated through
3:20
neuroscience research included a double-blind study at McGill
3:24
University. He has appeared across major
3:27
media including Doctor Oz, Discovery Channel and the Today
3:32
Show. He now leads Fire
3:33
Communications, helping brands build unforgettable messaging
3:38
using brain based strategies. This conversation is about more
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than memory. It's about identity, discipline,
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neuroplaster system focus and what becomes possible when the
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brain is trained deliberately. Ladies and gentlemen, once again
3:56
welcome Dave to The Kingdom's podcast.
4:00
Well, thank you very much for having me.
4:02
This is great. I love, I love the work that you
4:04
do and people are following your podcasts on a regular basis.
4:07
They see you ask some really good questions, some tough
4:09
questions sometimes, but I'm all for it.
4:11
You said some tough questions. I don't mean like, I don't mean
4:15
like you're, you're trying to challenge people.
4:16
I just mean like, you know, yes, you go outside the box.
4:19
You want to ask things I've had a lot of?
4:20
Yeah, the curiosity. Yeah, you try to ask things that
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other people aren't asking. It's not the usual, you know,
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it's not some some AI slop generating something.
4:28
You, you got a you got a brain in there.
4:30
Yeah, some good questions. So I've been looking forward to
4:32
this interview. Thank you very much, brother.
4:34
You know, we'll put in the research, put in the research
4:37
into this thing. You know, let's start with
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talking about your high density turning point.
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You went from struggling with ADHD.
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And by the way, I am also an individual with ADHD, right?
4:48
So. Unite, brother.
4:52
Well, yes, let's organise. Wait, what was that?
4:54
I got distracted. D brother, you know, to become a
5:00
Guinness World Record holder, like what was that exact moment
5:04
you realised your brain wasn't broken but it was just
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untrained? That is the best question, yes,
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because most of the time they asked me like when did you know
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you were born with a great memory?
5:15
And it's like it's right there in my bio.
5:17
I was not born with a great listen.
5:19
I, I have a memory course. If I was born with an amazing
5:21
memory, that course would be very short.
5:23
It would be be me can't help you, you know, but but no, but I
5:29
struggled in school. I, I was and, and actually, if
5:32
you want to know about motivation, I know you talk a
5:34
lot about motivation. My big motivation was somebody
5:36
who didn't believe in me, who told me that I was, you know, I,
5:39
I ADHD, dyslexia and a couple of other learning challenges and
5:44
basically said that, you know, there's no way I'm going to be
5:46
able to take higher education, run a business.
5:49
There's no way I'm going to be able to do anything other than
5:51
maybe a manual labour job and I should give up now.
5:54
And I was 14 when he told me that.
5:57
So what kind of person tells a 14 year old stop setting goals?
6:01
You know, like you're done, right?
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So I was so pissed. I just mean.
6:05
Yeah, he was a teacher, actually.
6:06
And I was so pissed. I decided to just learn
6:09
everything I could about my brain.
6:10
I was like, I was, I was really into martial arts, right.
6:13
And you know, you know, from like, like most guys get this
6:16
that really. I'm also into martial arts.
6:20
Also into martial arts and very big on the UFC brother.
6:22
Yeah, yeah, no, but it's all, it's also like a, it's like a
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metaphor too, because most guys get this that, you know, you go
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to the gym, you work out, your muscle gets bigger, right?
6:30
You go, you go practise martial arts, you practise A technique
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over and over. You get better at the technique.
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So I thought, why couldn't they matter?
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My brain the the the belief that the teachers had or the people
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that I was talking to was that you're just born smarter, You're
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born dumb. And I'm like, well, I wasn't
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born muscular. I had to work out for that.
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I wasn't born a good, you know, good unsure.
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I wasn't born, you know, whatever the skill you have.
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So what if learning and memory could be a skill rather than a
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talent? And that was the big shift.
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And as it turns out, the points is on my side.
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I didn't know that at the time, but memory and learning is a
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skill. The people who really, really
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succeed, they have strategies and there's thousands of
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different strategies, not just my own.
7:08
Absolutely saying that the people who really succeed in
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life, they, they, they can take charge of their brain and
7:14
everybody has a certain talent. There are going to be some
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people who test differently. You know, naturally your memory
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can be better or worse than other people without any
7:22
training. But with training you could
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excel tremendously. That doesn't mean you're ever
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going to be perfect. You know, you're never going to
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like, like you'll be absent minded once in a while, but the
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more you train it, the stronger it gets.
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And we also know that it cuts your risk for, for dementia and
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memory loss as you're older by 50%.
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At least you know more than more than any drug known.
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Like if there was a drug that cut memory loss by 10%, it would
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be more popular than Viagra. It would be everywhere, right?
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But we have something that you can do 10 minutes a day and it
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cuts your risk by 1/2. It basically makes it like
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impossible for you to, for you to get memory loss when you get
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older. And that's, that's a good
8:01
quarter of your life, right? When people start to get and
8:04
everything, they don't realise that like, you know, if you're
8:07
going to live to let's say like 85 or something like that,
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right? So between when you retire in
8:13
your sixties, 85, that's a, that's a good quarter, almost a
8:16
third of your adult life at least, right?
8:18
So the quality of that will depend on what you do, what you
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do now, and you can build up that cognitive reserve.
8:25
Absolutely, and you know, speaking as somebody who's even
8:29
with ADHD and like having a similar background, I remember
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growing up, I grew up in Nigeria, I'm Nigerian or you
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know, migrated to the United Kingdom.
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And it's crazy how the teachers in Africa actually treat
8:44
students or who peels. It's I don't like it because if
8:49
you are not good at setting subjects, the frame you or label
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you as, you know, a norm school an idiot, you know, and I was
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quite poor at math only to, but I was very excellent at the
9:04
other subjects only to struggle all the way through finishing
9:07
secondary school. And guess what, I failed math
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twice. But I come from a background
9:15
that is faith oriented and at the age of 16, I read the whole
9:20
of the Bible, went to Bible school but the favourite Bible
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verse was Feel against 413. I can do all things through
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crisis strengthens me and that gave me a lot of motivation.
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I just believed that if I put my mind to it, I can achieve it.
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And then I got into the university, the habit of Nigeria
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to study economics only for me to discover that economics was
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full of mathematics. And there's this girl who taught
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me, I think a week or two before the exams.
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And I, I made AC. Then the next semester I made AD
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from, you know, more intense study.
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Then in the second year, I made an A in mathematics for
10:01
economists and in statistics, I was the highest scoring student
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in the whole of the faculty. And then done to me.
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You can do it. You can put your mind to it,
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right? You just have to believe in
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yourself. But for you, what was that
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driving factor that made you believe in your stuff?
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You know, And at what point you did discover that you can change
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your performance if you change your belief system.
10:29
Yeah. You know, a mindset is, is all
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of it. I mean like so.
10:34
So there are, there are techniques, there are
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strategies, we can get into some of the techniques today, but
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those techniques are useless if you're if you're negative, you
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think it's not going to work. Absolutely.
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And it's, it's such a, such a tough things.
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I have some people in my life that are naturally negative and,
10:51
and they won't give simple things a try because they just
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think it's not going to work. It's a self fulfilling prophecy.
10:57
It's not going to work because you don't give it a try, right?
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And so I, I went through a lot, some lot of trials and
11:03
tribulations recently, like since COVID, I actually had a, a
11:06
huge hit to my memory after COVID, when I got COVID, I got,
11:10
I got like a long COVID and it affected my, my natural memory.
11:13
And I found that my training was much more difficult.
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And it was very humbling at this stage in my life for me to feel
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forgetful, like on that level was, was horrible.
11:23
But I went into like a training regimen and, and trained to get
11:27
my brain back. But it's, it's, it's, it's one
11:30
of those things that if you just take what you're dealt, I, I
11:33
don't know where it came in from me, but I just, I could not
11:38
fathom giving up. I just couldn't.
11:40
I just couldn't imagine a world where I gave up, that it made
11:44
all the the difference. There's no quitter in me.
11:47
No, but it's. Not the quitter is not even in
11:49
the dictionary. I give it, I give an example
11:51
like so I always wanted to run my own business and going back
11:54
to high school again, since we're, since we were talking
11:56
about that, I was talking to a guidance counsellor way back
11:58
then. I remember the conversation.
12:00
I put it in my book, actually. And the conversation went
12:05
something like this. I want to run my own business.
12:08
And the guidance counsellor was like, oh man, that has a really
12:10
low level of success. You may maybe like, you know,
12:12
10% of businesses actually succeed.
12:15
And I was like, really? That's awesome.
12:17
And the guidance counsellor was like, wait, wait, what do you
12:21
mean awesome? I just said you only have a 10%
12:23
chance to 90% fail rate. And I said, yeah, but I only
12:25
have to try 10 times and I'm guaranteed to have my own
12:27
business. That's awesome.
12:29
I've, I've failed a lot more than that at things I don't like
12:32
to do. Anyway.
12:34
I wasn't, I wasn't messing with her.
12:35
I wasn't playing around. That was literally just like I
12:38
was like, oh, I just, yeah, I can fail a few times.
12:40
And like the way they were looking at it, like, no, a
12:42
failure is this horrible thing. I'm like, no, it doesn't.
12:45
You tried something that didn't work out, Wake up the next day
12:48
and try, try again. It's not, it's not like the end
12:51
of the world because something didn't work, you know, And I
12:55
think it's so definitely the positive mindset also has to
12:58
have a real internal resistance to the negativity in the world
13:03
and the fear of mistakes and, and failing.
13:07
Can't have that fear of failing. And you know, like, I hate it
13:12
the way people in the world try to put people in boxes.
13:16
Now they use limited labels like oh, you're ADHD, you're near
13:21
neuro divergent, you have poor memory, you lack focus.
13:24
But how did you transform that limitation into a disciplined
13:29
system? Well, the first step was to
13:35
understand that how you think is something you are in control of.
13:38
You're not in control of a lot of things.
13:40
There's, there's a lot of really great historical moments where,
13:44
you know, people were being tortured or there were, you
13:47
know, wars and battles being fought or people were trapped in
13:50
horrible health conditions and, and they went back to that
13:53
truism. I think it's a Stoic principle
13:55
that, you know, I, I can't control everything, but I can
13:58
control my thoughts. I can decide to think something
14:00
or not something, right. And I, so I started with that.
14:04
I guess that's first principles. And I thought, well, what if I
14:06
think about information differently?
14:08
What if I play with it in my head differently, right.
14:11
And I learned how the brain triggers memory.
14:14
So memory is, I want to call it a conscious choice, obviously
14:17
not conscious because you're not in charge, but it's a
14:19
subconscious choice that your brain makes.
14:21
We even know where that choice happens.
14:24
Well, we believe, we know there's, there's a lot we don't
14:26
know about the brain even to this day, but we believe it
14:29
happens somewhere in the hippocampus and a mechanism
14:32
called the reticular activating philtre or our reticular
14:35
activating system. So essentially, when you
14:38
encounter different information, your brain makes a decision to
14:42
store this information. Now, I, I fight neuroscientists
14:46
on this because that's not the way they would phrase it, right?
14:48
But that's the way I phrase it is that, you know, we have this
14:51
evolutionary pressure to to protect ourselves, right?
14:55
So the the analogy I have is tiger in the jungle.
14:58
So imagine that you are a hunter gatherer 100,000 years ago and
15:02
you are looking at a beautiful jungle scene.
15:06
And over to your your side here you have a Cliff with some
15:08
vines. And then you've got a rock over
15:10
there. And then you've got then you got
15:12
another big rock, but there's a turtle on it or something, you
15:14
know. And then you've got a nice tree
15:16
and you see the path, see another tree.
15:18
You see a tiger high hidden beside the tree staring at you.
15:21
And you look a little further and then you see like you know
15:24
some some prints from an animal. And then you see a Bush.
15:27
And then the tiger eats you because you didn't pay attention
15:30
to the tiger. The point is, we have evolved to
15:35
pay attention to the tiger, to pay attention to the one thing
15:38
that can that help us survive, to stand out from the the crowd.
15:41
Because there's so much information flooding our senses,
15:44
our brain ignores most of it. Because it's not most of the
15:47
information is useless, right? Like, you know, your, your ear
15:51
can technically slightly hear the blood flowing through your
15:55
eardrum, right? If you, if you're like sleeping
15:58
or you press it against you can kind of, you know what I mean?
15:59
You can, you can feel your heartbeat if you really try,
16:02
right? But that information is useless
16:04
right now when you're trying to pass an exam or something like
16:06
that, right? So we, we ignore so much, we
16:09
ignore body language. We, we ignore half of what
16:11
people say. Let's be honest, right?
16:13
So our brain philtres, that's why it's called reticular
16:15
activating Philtre philtres out everything and holds on to what
16:18
it thinks is important. But the difference is what your
16:21
brain thinks is important is very different from what you
16:24
think is important. That is the other big lesson.
16:27
There is a reason why some songs get caught in your head and you
16:30
can't get them out of your head. There's a reason why that one
16:33
viral video. Leaving around free.
16:34
Yeah, living red free in your mind.
16:36
Yeah, the one viral video sticks in your mind or that guy you
16:39
really freaking hate and everything.
16:40
He's just like sticking in there in your head.
16:43
So there is a reason why that exists throughout all of this.
16:47
There's a reason why they stick and facts and figures or
16:51
people's names or something doesn't stick, right.
16:54
So we have to get to a point where where we can know what
16:58
that mechanism is and how it sticks, how it connects.
17:02
So that's where I, I went on a quest to discover that.
17:05
And so, so a lot of it is visualising information
17:08
differently, making associations, connections.
17:11
So like, for example, you know, my name is Dave, that would
17:13
probably go in one ear and out the other, right?
17:15
But if I got you to visualise like a wave knocking me over or
17:19
a wave coming out of my ear or something like that, then all of
17:22
a sudden that Dave turns into a visual that I can imagine,
17:25
right. And we do this with, with names
17:28
all the time. If you're memorising foreign
17:30
language vocabulary or you're memorising scientific terms, you
17:33
know, you just look at the words, your brain kind of kind
17:36
of zones out. But if you can visualise it in
17:39
terms of a story, if you can trick your brain into linking it
17:42
up and. Pass associations.
17:44
Yeah, I'm paying attention, just like you pay attention to the
17:46
tiger. Then you remember all of it.
17:47
And then with training and with a little organisation, you can
17:50
remember hundreds of words, vocabulary, a thousands of
17:54
definitions and. And then you're called a genius,
17:57
right? And and it's all one principle.
18:00
1 The concept that you really understood about your brain and
18:04
practise. You know, for me, I think 1
18:10
technique I used was like creating memory, like a building
18:14
block. So there's that base, you need a
18:17
latch base. And, you know, I start
18:20
associating new knowledge with existing, you know, body of
18:23
knowledge and also using mnemonics, right, to like
18:27
memorise different concepts. Yeah.
18:31
Also I like to understand what a concept is about, right?
18:35
So understanding the principle helps me to be able to replicate
18:40
the principle. And for mathematics, I just
18:43
discovered there's a method to the madness, right?
18:45
So every mathematical equation has a principle for solving it,
18:50
right? And of course, what is on the
18:52
left side is equal to what is on the right side.
18:54
So if you have that understanding and know the
18:56
principles of crossing over on. You know, it turns it into a
19:00
game. The equal time, it just turns
19:02
into a game. And that changed the whole game
19:04
for me in terms of mathematics. So it's, it's really interesting
19:10
having a person who's had like a similar journey, right?
19:13
Born in different continents, but we're able to figure things
19:17
out. And for me as a teenager, I did
19:21
an IQ test and I scored one test or something.
19:23
I discovered one pet is something is gifted your weight
19:27
above the average individual and it made me to see myself
19:31
differently. But in terms of your own
19:33
journey, like how has your journey revealed or what has it
19:37
revealed about human potential that schools and, you know,
19:41
workplaces are currently ignoring?
19:47
I think that we're focusing a lot on classification and
19:52
categorising instead of understanding development.
19:57
So yeah, this happens in the workplace too.
19:59
I mean just it's, it's more of a philosophy.
20:01
But if you have a number of employees then but you classify,
20:04
OK, this employee is your low level employee.
20:07
This employee has management potential and things like that,
20:10
but you don't realise all of them may aspire to go someplace
20:13
else. It was Napoleon who and
20:15
Alexander the Great who were some of the greatest leaders.
20:19
Yeah, that's right. But they, they had the smallest
20:21
armies, but they were able to accomplish and fight much bigger
20:24
armies. But in both of their cases, the
20:26
leader knew everything that all of their followers wanted.
20:30
They knew what was called the fire that lights the soul.
20:32
What it what wall of the month. So, so it wasn't just
20:34
positioning them at what they're good at, also positioning them
20:37
so they see a place to go where they want to go.
20:40
So if you help enough other people get where they want to
20:43
go, then they'll help you get where you want to go.
20:47
Wow, that's quite interesting. And let's delve into your
20:52
method, the fire memory method. So in simple terms, how does
21:00
that method work? What are the core principles and
21:04
how does it work in terms of neuroscience and not just about
21:08
motivation? Sure.
21:10
So to start off with, we have an assessment called memory modes.
21:14
This is something that I've invented and and it was tested
21:17
in the double-blind study that you mentioned at the beginning
21:20
of this interview. And what that does is it
21:22
categorises you or, or figures out what your brain most
21:26
responds to. So there's five different ways
21:29
that the brain responds to information when it's trying to
21:32
memorise it. So for example, some people
21:35
personalization is one of the categories.
21:37
So that means that if you were to make a mental link and those
21:41
objects were something that you don't own, that you have no
21:44
connection to and they're in some far off land, it won't
21:47
stick for you. But if you imagine it happening
21:49
on your front lawn and these are like, you know, that's a car and
21:53
a bus or something, but it's your car or something like that.
21:55
If it's something where you're involved or you're in the image,
21:59
then you'll have three times the the recall.
22:01
Others are action oriented where it doesn't matter where it's
22:04
happening, doesn't matter if it's associated to me, as long
22:07
as it's like fast movement, like crashing explosions.
22:10
And these are the people who like action movies and stuff,
22:13
right? So, so there's also
22:16
juxtaposition. This is where you replace one
22:19
thing with something else. So I was saying, like if I made
22:21
an association between arrow and bicycle, if I imagine the spokes
22:25
replaced with arrows, it would stick in my mind.
22:28
These people are more likely to become scientists and they more
22:31
likely to like mystery books and, and, and things like that,
22:35
science fiction. So it, it's a bit of a
22:37
personality test when you figure out what your brain is triggered
22:40
by, then you learn the memory techniques for, for words, for
22:43
lists, for numbers, for names, for languages, for definition
22:47
speeches, texts. And you learn how to develop
22:50
that body of knowledge, how to organise it so you can go
22:52
through all your studies and memorise all of the definitions
22:55
so you can walk into the exam as if you bring the textbook in
22:57
your head. That's one of the things that
22:59
our students talk about. And it become, it becomes like
23:02
all the memory stuff in terms of that content is just basically
23:05
taken care of. You have a strategy for it and
23:07
then you can focus your energy on passing the test and doing
23:10
better. Now my programme actually goes
23:12
beyond that where I have a focus method that it's similar to
23:17
Pomodoro, although when I developed it, I developed it in
23:20
the 90s and I didn't know about Pomodoro at the time, but
23:24
basically it treats focus like a fight or flight response.
23:27
And we use a timer, but we have very short chunks of time.
23:30
So we're talking about 5 minutes to 7 minutes and there's certain
23:34
rules. So you want to do your studying
23:37
really intensely for a short period of time, not passive for
23:41
a long period of time. You want to go really intense
23:43
for a short period of time, then take a short break to clear your
23:46
head and then do it again. It's almost like it's a lot more
23:49
like boxing intervals, like 3 minute rounds and then you take
23:52
a one minute break in three minute rounds.
23:54
You got to go really intense and what happens is.
23:56
You end up. Studying, well, no, I'm
24:00
comparing boxing to studying. You don't try, don't try to
24:02
study while you're actually boxing.
24:03
That doesn't work. That's that'd be very difficult.
24:06
Maybe like. But for professional boxes, you
24:10
know it's part of the study. You're fun.
24:15
So, so anyway, so, so we do, we do the timing technique and
24:18
everything and that that increases your productivity.
24:21
So most people find their productivity double S they're
24:23
able to retain more and do more in a short period of time and
24:27
get it done. And then when you put it all
24:29
together, we have some other organisational principles and we
24:32
have, I have a, a bunch of people who said they wouldn't
24:34
become when to become doctors or lawyers if it wasn't for my
24:37
programme. Nice, nice.
24:39
So, so yeah. So we pretty much cracked the
24:42
code on how to retain large amounts of information very
24:45
quickly. Wow.
24:47
So for somebody listening to yours today, what is 1 simple
24:52
technique, you know, they can start with today to improve the
24:56
memory. They want to start today, they
24:58
don't want to improve the memory.
24:59
That's yeah. Today, absolutely.
25:02
Today. OK, I will say a couple of
25:04
things. First off, next time you set
25:06
something down like like you got like a knife or a or, you know,
25:10
keys, maybe something like that, right?
25:13
Put it down and in your mind, imagine it explodes and then
25:18
when you go back to look for it, that explosion will pop into
25:21
your head and you'll always remember where you put it.
25:23
It's it's a really cool trick and try doing that every day.
25:26
Another great one is if you're trying to recall something from
25:29
the distant past, it's a, it's a technique I invented called
25:32
shadow memories. If you're trying to remember
25:34
something from the distant past, then write it down in a notebook
25:37
what you're trying to remember. And then go to sleep and in the
25:40
morning, write down everything you can answer.
25:43
And sometimes it takes a few days.
25:44
But I actually had my grand uncle Mike.
25:46
I was a veteran of World War 2 and he remembered some of the
25:49
people he served with using this method.
25:51
So it was, it was a beautiful thing.
25:53
So you can, you can retain, you can remember information from a
25:56
like your memory is a lot more powerful than you think.
25:58
The other thing is for names and faces.
26:00
The first step for names and faces is get curious about the
26:04
name just goes in one ear and out the other.
26:06
We just, we just lose it. So what I tell my students to do
26:09
is walking around throughout your whole day, get into a habit
26:13
of, of doing this one thing. When you see somebody, it could
26:15
be somebody walking down the street or somebody you work with
26:17
in the back of your mind say, I wonder what their name is.
26:20
I wonder what their name is right.
26:21
And do this for about a week just to everybody you see.
26:24
Just keep on asking that question.
26:25
And then the next time you hear someone's name, your brains
26:28
going to jump on it. And it's because of the power of
26:32
questions. By asking yourself questions, it
26:34
helps trigger that that mental response.
26:37
So after you've built up this curiosity for names, then the
26:41
next step after that is to do what I call the costume party
26:46
technique. So.
26:47
What happens at a costume party? Yeah.
26:49
So imagine you go to a costume party and you meet a bunch of
26:52
people. You see all their costumes,
26:53
right? And then imagine you go the
26:54
following year, maybe it's a work party or something like
26:56
that, right? And you see the same people's
26:58
faces. You don't know people's names,
27:00
but how likely is it that you're going to remember the costumes
27:03
that they were last year? In fact, it's incredibly likely.
27:06
You know, you're going to walk around going, oh, yeah.
27:08
So and so he dressed up as this last year and that person
27:11
dressed up as that last year. And.
27:12
And things like, it's the same mechanism when you see an actor
27:15
you really like and you think of another movie that they were in
27:17
or something like that, right? So our brains love to draw those
27:20
connections, but it has to be has to be physical.
27:22
I won't say visual because not everybody's visual, but it has
27:25
to be a physical thing. It can't be an abstract thing,
27:27
like a name doesn't have anything that you can you can
27:30
grasp onto. Does that make sense?
27:32
So absolutely. What we do is we turn the name
27:35
into a costume, like. So.
27:37
Yeah. So like my last name, Pharaoh.
27:39
Imagine me dressed up like an Egyptian pharaoh.
27:40
And I'm like the Pharaoh of memory, you know, something like
27:43
that. And somebody's name, Bob, you
27:45
think of a Bobby pin. And maybe a Bobby pin is like
27:48
piercing his eye or something weird to make it memorable and.
27:51
Bob the Builder. Do this in your head a few times
27:55
and you'll remember everybody that you encounter.
27:59
I I love that technique because. That's just a quick technique
28:02
and it does take practise. You know you're going to learn a
28:06
few details. Exactly.
28:09
And you know, but then that technique gets me into trouble
28:12
sometimes because I love to give people nicknames.
28:15
So if I'm you, you're Bob, I could say Bob the Builder or
28:19
Pharaoh the Pharaoh. And, you know, sometimes you get
28:24
some funny names and you give them some funny associations and
28:27
the person is frowning and like, what the hell you doing here?
28:30
But it's just a memory technique basically, you know, Speaking of
28:36
the education system and. Sometimes you can get people
28:39
confused. Like, I'll be honest with you.
28:41
When I was a single guy, I, I memorised a girl named Mona and
28:45
a girl named Lisa in the same time.
28:48
And I used the Mona Lisa painting for each one of them.
28:51
And I, I, I swapped the names and neither one of them called
28:54
me back. Yeah.
28:57
So you can, you can screw up the technique.
28:59
You do have to practise it. There is a there is a right way
29:02
and a wrong way to do it. Yeah, I called Mona Lisa Mona.
29:09
Yeah, anytime I have two people bury the same name I I weed in
29:12
numbers and like one that is A1 and.
29:14
One that is a 2 a kid. Is going to get you to trouble
29:20
because the person with the number 2 is going to get upset
29:22
like why am I #2? Well, no.
29:25
If it's the exact same name, you don't have to do anything.
29:28
You can. You can memorise several Dave's
29:30
with the same substitute word, same image, but if you if you
29:34
have a name that's slightly different, like I just a lot
29:36
with with Kathy's. So there's Kathleen, Catherine,
29:41
Kathleen right. So I'll use a cat, but for the
29:45
Catherine, I'll use a cat wearing rings for Kathleen.
29:48
I'll think of like a really skinny, like starving cat
29:51
Kathleen. It's all you can modify it
29:54
slightly and you start to come up with your own little games as
29:56
you do this technique more. I'm cracking you up.
29:59
This is great, but it really does work but that.
30:01
But it's supposed to be funny though It's supposed.
30:03
To be Gino. I've laughed Gino.
30:06
I've laughed because I know a lean right, Lean Mary.
30:10
But lean is not lean. She's quite, you know, on the
30:13
bigger side. I'm like.
30:15
Yeah. How do I reconcile these?
30:18
I'm like, OK, the fat lean. Oh, the big.
30:22
OK, Eileen. Yeah.
30:25
Whoa, You know, it's quite interesting.
30:27
That's actually, I won't, I won't repeat that, but that's
30:30
actually one of the things that makes it a funnier or stronger
30:33
picture. So don't try to, don't try to
30:35
come up with an image that matches how they look.
30:37
That's where you're getting into trouble.
30:39
We remember how people look, right?
30:41
We recognise faces quite easily actually.
30:43
There's a, there's a bunch of studies on this.
30:45
If I showed you like, you know, 5 people's photo, right?
30:48
And I show you like 100 photos and mix those into it, you'll
30:51
recognise the person's face. But it's attaching the name.
30:54
That's the tough part. So if, yeah, if you, if you have
30:57
Eileen attached to a larger person, then that that's going
31:01
to stick even more because it, it's different.
31:04
It's the tiger in the jungle again.
31:07
Like I did encounter that one time.
31:09
Whereas like someone's name, someone was named Conan.
31:12
And he was, he was a nice guy, but he was really skinny and he
31:16
was like, how can I be Conan if I'm like super skinny and
31:18
scrawny and stuff? Well, like, that's what makes it
31:20
funny. Actually, that's what makes it,
31:22
you know, imagining you as Conan, that sticks in my mind
31:24
even more. You know, if you were a
31:26
bodybuilder, he'd be like, I'd have to make it funny somehow.
31:29
Like it's too obvious. OK, if you were to redesign the
31:36
school system around how the brain actually works, what would
31:39
you change? I would focus on skills rather
31:44
than effort. They focus too much on the
31:47
amount of time something takes rather than on measuring the
31:50
skill. Reading is a skill, math is a
31:52
skill, writing is a skill. All the different things.
31:55
Even memory, like even history is a skill.
31:57
When you think of it's like, what?
31:59
What do you remember of history? What do you understand of
32:00
history? Understanding concepts.
32:02
It's not just memory and recalling facts.
32:05
It's also like understanding because, well, you can test if
32:08
somebody understands concepts, do that.
32:11
So, so I would focus on where are you at with the skill level?
32:16
Like what you know, what level are you reading at?
32:18
And how can we get you reading at the next level?
32:20
Not just do these exercises of interpreting the, you know, the
32:26
words in a different way, but improving the skill.
32:28
How can you get better each, each and every day?
32:30
And if you focus on, on consistent improvement, then you
32:34
scale up really quick. So my son Lex, he's 11 right
32:38
now, going on 15. I think he's like very mature in
32:43
a lot of ways. But I started homeschooling him
32:46
a year ago. So he was in grade 4.
32:50
He was well behind. He was, he was about to fail
32:53
grade 4, right? But because I was homeschooling
32:56
him, the teachers decided to keep him.
32:58
Now he had already failed a grade previous hadn't failed a
33:01
grade, but he missed an entire year because of COVID and, and
33:05
some problems and everything at home, which I, I, I, I took care
33:09
of by leaving that home. No, I'm kidding.
33:11
I, but I take care of him now. I have, I have him 24/7.
33:15
I've got, I've got the custody and all that.
33:17
And as a result, what I'm doing is I'm doing homeschooling with
33:21
him and it really wasn't necessary to do the home
33:23
schooling because with his ADD and everything, he was so
33:25
severe, he just wasn't getting his work done in school at all.
33:28
So I have very little time because I run a business.
33:31
But even that it took me more time to work with him on his
33:34
homework because he wasn't getting anything done in school.
33:35
So pulled him out of school, did the, the home schooling for, for
33:39
grade 4. And really it was grade three
33:41
and four. He was well behind.
33:43
He was in grade 3 level when he was in grade 4.
33:46
So with training and practise, we got him to, to ace into grade
33:51
4. And now this year we're doing 5
33:53
and 6 together. He's already at the grade 6
33:56
level. So we're going to skip a year
33:57
this year. And the things that I'm doing
33:59
differently, there's less exercises, less homework, less
34:02
work, more, more skills. So so we slow down when he
34:08
doesn't understand something. We don't try to rush through it
34:11
with do more exercises, right? It's this concept let's go over.
34:14
And kids have to go over concepts multiple times,
34:17
especially math concepts. Like how can you teach algebra
34:20
is a weird thing, right? Like this letter represents
34:23
something else, like to a kid, you know, I mean, to a kids
34:26
brain, it's so weird, right? You can't just explain it once
34:30
and expect them to know you got to go over it.
34:32
Yeah. And so it's less repetition,
34:36
less exercise, less, less of that and more focusing on the
34:39
skill, what we get to the next level.
34:42
And all great mathematicians, if you want to go into math, they
34:45
talk about how somebody gave them a love for math and it was
34:48
usually like one problem at a time.
34:50
Like here's a problem, go away and solve.
34:52
If you haven't have a problem, come back, you ask a question.
34:56
And like, that's how you build up your problem solving skills.
34:58
Not here's 20 problems that you already know how to solve and
35:02
just do it over and over until you hate math, right?
35:07
So the other thing also is make sure that people are doing
35:10
material that is above the level where they're at.
35:13
So it challenges them. Kids really love to be
35:15
challenged. They do not like to do what they
35:17
already know multiple times. We're doing too much repetition
35:20
of the basics. Now, that being said, if you
35:23
miss the basics, then you have to go back.
35:25
That's the other thing that people don't do.
35:27
I was very sick as a kid. I, I lost months of time in
35:31
school because I was in the hospital and I only found out
35:34
later that I missed key points. I missed bed mas entirely.
35:38
I missed algebra entirely. And then I was thrown into the
35:42
lesson afterwards and I was lost.
35:44
I was like, why is this not adding up?
35:46
And it and nobody pulled me aside and say, no, you got to do
35:48
the brackets first and then the multiplication and then you know
35:51
what I mean? Nobody did that.
35:52
And then when they did, I was like, why didn't you freaking
35:55
tell you this earlier? Right?
35:57
So learning is emulative. Make sure you fill in the gaps.
36:02
If there's a problem filling the gap, but it's not more exercises
36:05
doesn't solve it. More discipline, more effort.
36:07
It's focused on the skills. And the skills can either be I
36:10
missed a key point early on or I'm not understanding a point
36:14
here. But always try to be focusing on
36:16
the skills. You're going to learn more by
36:18
trying to build something or, you know, make something happen
36:20
than you ever will by going through rote exercises again and
36:23
again. And also memory techniques
36:26
obviously give you give you a body of knowledge.
36:29
Like you said, you have to have a body of knowledge so that you
36:31
can think with it. So memorise first, then think
36:34
with it. Yeah.
36:36
You know, most people learn by doing, right?
36:40
Yeah, practically learn by doing.
36:42
And that's basically what life is about.
36:44
You become a better driver by driving more, right?
36:47
And so many like you come. Well, it has to have a better
36:51
connection to the real world. Well, it has to have something
36:55
to the real world. Like when you try to tell kids
36:58
to do a math problem and they're like, why am I doing this,
37:01
right? What's my motivation?
37:02
It sounds silly like your motivation is to, you know, get
37:05
off my butt and and do your work.
37:07
But the fact is, unless there's some practical connection, a lot
37:10
of people find it difficult to get motivated right now.
37:14
If I'm doing a math formula because I'm building a robot for
37:17
a competition, then all of a sudden I'm going to make sure
37:20
that I learn exactly how to do that math formula and I'm super
37:23
excited the whole time. So that, that's something that I
37:26
think people don't get with ADD as well.
37:28
ADD brains don't have a deficit of attention.
37:31
They are just selective as to where they put their attention.
37:34
They, they, the brain holds back attention from all the boring
37:38
stuff or the stuff that's not practical or stuff that's not
37:40
important and it floods the stuff that it's interested in.
37:44
But that stuff is not necessarily just video games or
37:47
something, right? It can be a story that you're
37:49
really into. It can be a a project that
37:51
you're building and and something you're working on.
37:55
Interested. You know, that's this joke I
37:57
remember from my country in Nigeria.
37:59
They say if you want a Nigerian kid to get a math problem
38:05
properly, just add the currency side to the numbers and then
38:09
they'll get it right. Yes, yes, that's true.
38:13
Yeah, Yeah. Just just make it about money
38:16
and all of a sudden it works. Yeah, I didn't, I remember
38:19
taking accounting in school and I hated it and I quit, right.
38:23
And then now I run a business and I'm like, I've got a no
38:25
accounting. So I I work on, you know,
38:28
getting the accounting going and and I'm fascinated.
38:31
All right, looks like we lost them again.
38:33
So I'm going to hold off on this.
38:34
I don't know if this be edited. Hey, everyone, if you're here,
38:39
how you doing? What can I talk about?
38:44
Yeah, we're talking about learning and, and studying and
38:46
education. Also speed reading.
38:48
Speed reading is a big one. I'll bring this up when he comes
38:50
back, but just in case you need to use this footage.
38:52
We are not taught properly how to read.
38:55
We are taught to sound out things.
38:56
And we're still going through that.
38:58
And it slows down our reading process, making it really
39:01
boring. And today, people who read are
39:03
there's, there's all sorts of stats on this.
39:05
But like, people who read regularly are much more likely
39:08
to make more money, to be promoted, to be happier, to have
39:11
better relationships. I was doing some content while
39:13
you were gone on reading on speed reading, are you?
39:17
You were talking about accounted.
39:19
You were talking about accounted.
39:20
I am a charted accountant. Yeah.
39:22
A CPA, Yeah. What do you guys call a CPA in
39:25
the US? So I'm very.
39:26
Attracted to that story. Well, now I, I run a couple of
39:30
businesses, so I really am learning about accounting and
39:34
I'm like, I'm motivated to learn about accounting because I want
39:36
to save on my taxes. So I didn't bother to learn when
39:39
it was more academic, but once it became practical, I was like,
39:41
no, I want to be mastery of my of my accounting.
39:45
You know, Accountant is actually very annoying and very boring.
39:48
So I can I can very much relate to the pains of people that
39:52
dislike accounting, but less. I don't know if you've seen
39:55
previous episodes of those podcasts wherein I have
39:58
interviewed elite level neuroscientists.
40:01
I've had neuroscientists from Stanford University, you know,
40:05
from different Ivy League schools.
40:08
And it seems like the science and the practicality sometimes
40:13
have a deviation. But I'm going to put you on the
40:15
hotspot when it comes to cognitive decline and longevity.
40:20
So you've actually spoken about memory boosting activities that
40:24
help to prevent Alzheimer's cognitive.
40:28
Decline. But do you think poor memory is
40:31
an inevitable part of ageing, or just the same term of neglect?
40:36
Or exercise? Brain Exercising.
40:41
I think you're leaving out one very important part, which is
40:44
health. Your brain is an organ, so if
40:47
you don't have good diet and exercise, then then you're not
40:51
going to have as a healthy memory.
40:53
What we know now is, so it's a complex answer basically.
40:57
So yes, absolutely. If we learn new things at almost
41:01
any age, our memory gets stronger and can, can bounce
41:04
back. If we start training our brain
41:07
when we're younger, it builds up what's called a cognitive
41:09
reserve, which gives us a resistance to dementia and
41:12
lowers those statistics as well. So all brain training is
41:14
absolutely fascinating and effective, but I think it's half
41:18
the story. The other half, if you're really
41:20
worried about losing your memory, is also a health issue.
41:22
And this doesn't, this doesn't help me.
41:24
I don't, I don't have any books on dieting or anything, but I'm
41:27
telling you that like your brain takes 25 to 30% of all your
41:32
oxygen. It takes almost as much of most
41:35
of your nutrients, minerals, things like that.
41:37
It's made of fat. It's a very selfish organ.
41:40
It takes the first of everything, right.
41:42
If you, if you start, you start to lose blood flow.
41:44
What happens like you're, you feel light headed first, your
41:47
arms don't get weak, right? Your legs that your, your head
41:50
does because it's the it's the most sensitive thing.
41:52
So, so it is true if you're overweight or if you're, if you
41:55
have an unhealthy lifestyle in any way, it affects your brain
41:57
first. I think that's what we're seeing
41:59
a lot in America. There is, there's a lot to,
42:04
there's a lot to unpack, but I am a big believer in the grain
42:07
brain theory by a good friend of mine, Doctor Perlmutter.
42:10
It came out a while ago, but I think this the, the data,
42:13
there's some data that contradicts it a little bit, but
42:15
I think most of it still backs it up.
42:16
And the idea is that if we have a diet that's high in sugar and
42:21
grains, those are very concentrated sources of energy,
42:25
right? And our microbiome eats that
42:28
stuff up too. And that microbiome can mess
42:31
with us. So the, the one good example is
42:35
we know in everybody's microbiome, everyone's gut,
42:38
there are there's microbiomes in there that they convert sugar
42:42
into a hormone that makes you hungry.
42:45
So all the people out there who get like really powerful
42:48
cravings and you think this is genetic or you think this is
42:51
you, it's actually a little bacteria in your stomach that's
42:54
controlling you. Think about that and the more
42:58
sugar you feed it, the stronger it's going to get.
43:00
So a sugar fast is probably one of the best things you can do.
43:04
That means just cut out sugar and and complex carbs.
43:06
That's the bread, anything made with flour, right?
43:09
Do that for about a week. And and if you can't do that for
43:12
for a week, then you've got bigger problems.
43:14
But like you can motivate yourself to do that for a week,
43:16
then it kills all that little microbiome and you're going to
43:18
you're going to lose a lot of that those cravings that you
43:21
thought were were part of you. There's so many people who think
43:25
that they're cravings and they're the way they eat
43:28
everything is a part of their identity and they're so
43:30
surprised when they realise it's actually just a little like
43:33
parasite, this little bacteria that's controlling you.
43:37
So a sugar fast is really important.
43:40
The other thing is that there's a lot of evidence that shows
43:43
that Alzheimer's might be a part of a cascade reaction to a sugar
43:48
in the brain. So sugar goes into the blood.
43:51
We do know that sugar goes past the blood brain barrier.
43:53
We also know now that some small bacteria gets past the blood
43:57
brain barrier. So if it's eating up sugar in
43:59
your brain, it starts to grow. And what happens is this is
44:03
getting really kind of technical, but basically there's
44:06
the the damage that is done with Alzheimer's, the actual wounds
44:10
to the brain are, are basically a beta amyloid, what's called a
44:15
plaque. And it's caused by this, this
44:17
beta amyloid substance in the brain.
44:20
And doctors for, for a long time, scientists trying to
44:23
figure out why is that going in the brain?
44:25
Why is it damaging the brain? And the theory that I think
44:27
holds the most weight is that it is a defence mechanism to, to
44:32
kill this bacteria. It's like dropping napalm in a
44:36
war. So the idea is that you eat a
44:38
bunch of sugar and it doesn't matter if you're fat or not.
44:41
Like you wouldn't, you wouldn't know it to look at somebody.
44:43
It's, it's, it's in the brain. You know what I mean?
44:45
Some people might be more susceptible to this and others,
44:48
there's a lot to unpack to understand.
44:50
But basically, if you, if you get a bunch of sugar, this
44:53
bacteria grows that beta amyloid comes in to destroy it and it
44:57
hurts the brain in the process. It does that over and over and
44:59
over. And you have Alzheimer's and
45:01
Alzheimer's is on the rise in North America.
45:03
It is growing. It might be because of other
45:06
things like toxins and things like that, But in North America
45:09
it is huge and around the world it's not as much.
45:11
But you don't see nearly as much sugar, cornstarch and flour in
45:16
foods around the world. Like that's the one key thing.
45:18
And we do know that people who have better diets are much less
45:22
likely for Alzheimer's. People who train the brain
45:23
regularly, much less likelihood for Alzheimer's and and also
45:27
regular exercise. Regular exercise is so powerful.
45:30
It's, it's on the decline now, but because we know now that
45:34
that exercising regularly really doesn't burn a lot of fat.
45:38
So it doesn't make you look like exercising regularly will make
45:41
you healthier, but it doesn't, it's not like as we found out,
45:46
as you can actually burn quite a few calories just sitting on the
45:48
couch. That's the irony is that your
45:50
body is burning calories all the time.
45:52
So exercise is not burning as much calories as we think, but
45:56
the act of exercising is making your whole body so much
45:59
healthier and so much stronger. You're basically it's a, it's a
46:02
fountain of youth pill. And and you're younger as you
46:05
get older. Absolutely.
46:08
Like I might even surprise you about how old I am.
46:12
Wow. How old?
46:12
How old do you think I am? You guess.
46:16
Yeah. Don't look at my bio.
46:17
Don't look online. OK, I'll say 50. 50 yeah, you're
46:25
right. Well, I'm 51 now, but, but yeah,
46:27
you're right. No, most people judge in the
46:28
40s. So now I, I feel bad.
46:31
I got it. I kind of primed you for that.
46:34
You you knew, you knew I was testing you and everything.
46:36
So you were probably, you know, you're probably set up.
46:39
But, but like I, I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm, you
46:43
know, very energetic and, and, and everything because I, you
46:47
know, take care of myself. So if you take care of your
46:49
body, you take care of your brain, it'll take care of you
46:53
until we. Hey, so let's talk about the
46:58
application to leaders and founders.
47:01
Of course, the audience of this broadcast is predominantly
47:06
composed of entrepreneurs, founders, executives, creatives,
47:11
professionals under constant cognitive workload.
47:16
So if you're coaching ACEO or AC suite executive with intense
47:20
pressure and limited time, what habits you know would you
47:24
prioritise for them first? Well the first thing I think is
47:30
mindfulness to get your head on straight 1st, and this is from
47:33
my experience, start the day with some time to yourself.
47:37
So start the day early. Too many people start and
47:39
they're rushing and they jump right into the problems and if
47:42
their mindset is not right, they can make a lot of mistakes.
47:45
And myself included, I've made mistakes when I try to rush into
47:48
that, usually when I start the day with a little meditation or
47:50
a little time to myself, have a much better day because you, you
47:54
get on the right track. The other thing I would say is
47:58
you want to focus on productivity, actually getting
48:00
things done. There's a lot of busy work that
48:03
it's easy to fall into and it's no different from, you know,
48:06
doom scrolling and flipping through slides and stuff or
48:10
reels and stuff because you're craving stimulation.
48:13
And sometimes stimulation feels like you're getting something
48:15
done. But if you focus on tasks, you
48:19
know, the amount of tasks that you have to do, then, then you
48:23
can chip away at them and get them done.
48:25
One of the things that has made me very productive is that when
48:27
I follow it is when I use the focus burst technique, I also
48:32
map out those techniques. We call it blueprinting.
48:34
So you find out like when I was writing my, my book, for
48:37
example, right? Like this is this is a big book
48:39
for a, for an ADD person to write, right?
48:41
So, but it's made-up of chapters.
48:43
Each of those chapters is made-up of concepts.
48:45
So what I would do is I would do a focus burst on each one of the
48:49
concepts and then do a focus burst on editing and everything.
48:52
So I could map out exactly how many little chunks of five to
48:56
seven minutes I would need. And then it was just a matter
48:59
of, well, what do I do? Well, I have these chunks that I
49:02
have to do. And it what you want to do is
49:05
get rid of the friction of having to make decisions and
49:08
just have it all laid out in front of you know exactly what
49:11
you have to do. You don't have to, to think and
49:14
plan and everything. Too many times we spend so much
49:17
effort every morning as entrepreneurs because there's so
49:19
much overwhelm and, and we're we're trying to decide how our
49:23
day is going to be. If you can map all that stuff
49:26
out ahead of time and then just follow the plan, it helps your
49:29
executive brain functions. Just relax a little bit.
49:31
You don't have to have to be on the ball all the time.
49:34
You just have to focus on what you're doing at the time and
49:36
that way you can get more done. So that would be my suggestion.
49:39
Focus on the little things. Make a plan for your actual
49:42
activity and things you're going to accomplish.
49:45
You try to avoid a lot of the busy work.
49:47
You know, meetings can be shorter, sometimes it can be a
49:49
text, things like that. And yeah.
49:51
And and also starting the day with some mindfulness and to
49:54
clear your head that gives you a better chance to fight the
49:56
fight. I love that sounds like stuff
50:00
that I do. So I I love to say this, that
50:03
activity doesn't necessarily generate productivity.
50:07
And I hope you rest with that. And yeah, let's talk about the.
50:15
I agree with you. I agree with you.
50:18
You know, it takes a lot of discipline that people don't
50:20
see, you know, this discipline behind the results for yourself.
50:25
People see Gina's world record for myself.
50:29
People see global top 2%, right? Being in the top 2% in the world
50:34
at anything at all is is an uphill task.
50:39
But they don't see the training that comes behind it.
50:42
So what does cognitive discipline look like behind the
50:46
scenes? And what does consistency look
50:48
like in real life? Our consistency is tough for
50:52
everybody to get much less than ADD person like me.
50:55
So it's, it's always a goal, not always a destination for sure.
50:59
And I think, you know, don't be so hard on yourself.
51:01
If you're not doing everything perfect, then you're, you're in
51:05
here with the rest of us, most people.
51:07
I, I think that's, that's one of the things there's also, there's
51:10
also a, a philosophy that you can't do everything.
51:13
You can't be good at everything, right?
51:15
Like, you know, you look online with content and there's people
51:18
who are like, you know, they have to start the day with their
51:20
meditation and then their special green smoothie and then
51:24
they have to do a jog and then they do the, their daily
51:27
affirmations. And of course you have to
51:28
journal. And by the time you get all that
51:30
stuff done, have you gotten any work done?
51:34
So, so something has to give. So it, it, it does have to be
51:38
fluid. If you're working on a project
51:39
and you got a deadline, you can't always, you know, go to
51:41
the gym and work out. Sometimes you got to, you got to
51:43
sacrifice some of those things. So don't be so hard on yourself
51:47
and don't hold yourself to an impossible standard where you
51:49
have to do these things always perfectly.
51:51
It's just allow yourself to, you know, have a couple of bad days
51:54
and then get back to it and, and get rid of the guilt.
51:57
I'd say that that would be my biggest, biggest advice that I
51:59
want to give to my younger self. We go with the flow, right?
52:04
With the tide, like a sleeve to the wave, you know?
52:08
Yeah, well. So let's talk about legacy.
52:13
When it's all said and done, where do you want your work, you
52:19
know, to be? And how do you want your body of
52:21
work to be viewed in ten, 20-30 years from now?
52:27
And what do you want to be true? I don't know, I mean, I, I do
52:33
take pride in, in what I've done and, and the people I've helped.
52:36
And I want to, you know, reboot the, the memory business so I
52:39
can help even more people now, now that we've got organised
52:41
and, and gotten some really good content for people, but I don't
52:45
really know how I want it to be viewed.
52:47
I kind of want that to be up to, to others.
52:50
I, I do it because of the passion that I want to do it.
52:53
It's like giving birth to me. I, I want to have it come out
52:56
of, of my mind and, and, and, and exist in the world and be as
52:59
good as I can make it and flaws and all the best I can, I can
53:03
come up with at the time and how other people see it 100 years
53:07
ago, 100 years from now or 10 years from now or something.
53:09
I I think I could care less. Perspective of a perception.
53:16
I'm, I'm just, I'm not doing it for them.
53:17
I'm not doing it for authenticity.
53:19
I'm not doing it for, for ego or something.
53:22
I'm doing it because I, I feel like it has to be.
53:24
Have you ever heard of like, I think it's Dharma, the, the
53:30
Indian principle of Dharma, the, the Hindu, Hindu principle of
53:32
Dharma. It, it's, I'm going to butcher
53:35
this and anybody who's Hindu, please feel free to, to destroy
53:38
me in the comments. But essentially the way I was
53:42
taught it is that your destiny is a mixture of your talent and
53:48
where you happen to be. So if I'm on a boat and
53:51
someone's drowning and I have a life preserver, my destiny is to
53:54
throw that life preserver, right?
53:56
That that doesn't mean that God handed down this, this belief to
54:01
me and oh, it is my time to do that doesn't mean everything.
54:03
Every destiny is like predestined it.
54:06
It's a little bit of where you happen to be and how you can
54:09
best contribute to the world. So I never intended to be a
54:12
memory guy. I actually had a very bad memory
54:14
that I never would have thought I'd be the guy, right?
54:17
Even to this day, I don't know if it feels like me, but I knew
54:20
I could help a lot of people. I knew I could contribute
54:23
something that would have some real value and I could make
54:25
money at it, obviously, and turn it into a business and, and that
54:28
was enough for me. So I feel like I have to follow
54:31
what is that destiny, that Dharma and I, I, when once you
54:36
start getting into a, how will people see it in the future?
54:38
And what's my legacy is, I don't know.
54:40
I, I, I used to think a lot about that.
54:42
And I mean, my legacy might be my son looks like he's going to
54:45
have a good life because of decisions that I've made and I'm
54:47
happy and proud about that. I, I hope my employees and some
54:51
people I work with are going to be well off because of what I've
54:54
done. I hope a few of the things that
54:55
I build we're still going to be around after I'm gone, but I'm
54:59
not sure how if I care. I don't sure if I care so much
55:02
about people's opinions today of my legacy, much less 10/20 a
55:06
hundred years from now. Interesting stuff.
55:10
You know, Speaking of helping people, I know your website
55:12
isdavefaro.com, that is DAVEFA Double ROW, that is DA or what's
55:23
V again? I forgot it.
55:25
I call a victor that fox alpha. What's R?
55:31
We've got to my knee to off of it.
55:32
You're doing. Great.
55:33
You're doing great. I'll call.
55:39
I'll call it Reaver. Reaver also.
55:41
Whiskey. What I would, what I would.
55:44
If people want courses and stuff, I actually suggest they
55:47
get my book Brain Hacker and also go to brainhackers.com,
55:52
Brain Hacker with an s.com and on there's a number of courses.
55:56
You see a banner at the top, you can click that.
55:58
If you want to take my memory immersion course, it's only $50
56:01
and in 30 days it'll transform your memory.
56:04
And also on there, there's a little over 150 of my friends
56:08
who are experts in their own right who have contributed brain
56:12
hacks to that site. It's a, it's a online magazine
56:15
that I am the editor of and it's some really good stuff.
56:19
So go to brainhackers.com and pick up Brain Hacker today and
56:23
take the Brain Hacker Memory Immersion programme.
56:26
And that's probably the best way to to find it.
56:29
And, and if people are interested in having me speak to
56:30
their audience or something like that, then yeah, Dave farrow.com
56:33
is the way to get a hold. Of let's go, let's go so let's
56:38
end this with a bang. 5 quick fire round questions for you.
56:41
Are you ready to rumble? OK, so number one, what is 1
56:49
believe that reshaped your life? That it's not what you're born
56:53
with, it's what you do with it. I love that.
56:56
What is 1 daily brain habits you never skip?
57:01
Well I I hope I never skip it, but there's bad times in my life
57:04
where I did unfortunately and I saw the results.
57:06
It's meditation. If you start the day or end the
57:08
day with clearing your mind, it has huge knock on effects to
57:12
everything else in your life. No matter what you're going
57:14
through, take some time for yourself.
57:16
Meditation is absolutely absolutely amazing.
57:19
What is 1 Food people should stop eating for better cognitive
57:24
or memory? Yeah, I got to say, sugar is is
57:29
the killer. I used to.
57:31
I used to think in moderation was OK, but I did some brain
57:34
hacks to train my brain to not crave sugar as much and it
57:39
transformed my life. I I stopped eating chocolates
57:42
and the sneak the sweets and little things that you sneak in
57:44
here and there. I lost weight, I'm healthier,
57:47
I'm waking up earlier. I'm not as Moody even like
57:50
emotions are more stable. Sugar is just, it's not natural
57:54
for the human body. We, we love it.
57:55
It's tasty, you know, it maybe we, we want to think it's good
57:58
for us like alcohol or something, but it's really not.
58:01
There's no, there's, there's no vitamins in there.
58:03
There's nothing good for it. And so just try cutting it out
58:05
for a little while and see how you feel if, if you're dealing
58:07
with any sort of health problems.
58:09
I think everybody wants to say, Oh, it's like what's in the
58:12
water or it's what's in our medicine or it's this or that,
58:15
any of these complex thing. And what if it's just the most
58:18
common thing that tastes good that we just can't avoid?
58:21
Cut that out and see what happens because it's
58:23
transformational in my experience.
58:26
So what is 1 mistake you would say made you stronger?
58:33
A mistake I had was that when my, when, when my brain started
58:38
like I, I had some memory loss and decline after COVID, I
58:42
didn't notice it and other people tried to tell me and I, I
58:45
was in denial. I think about it.
58:46
And so it took a long time before I, I tried to do the
58:49
exercises to get my brain back. And I wish I wouldn't have wish
58:53
I wouldn't have done that. I wish I would have focused more
58:55
on, on doing, practising what I preach there.
58:59
There was a period of time, I'll be honest with that.
59:01
I, I stopped doing memory techniques for a while because I
59:03
was just stressed and I was working on my business.
59:04
And you know how it is, you just, you just you don't pick up
59:07
the weights for a while. Just let everything go back to
59:09
me, right? And that, yeah, well, it was in
59:13
the middle of a divorce and all that stuff, too.
59:15
So good. Two years where I wasn't
59:18
training my brain. And now I see the results
59:19
afterwards. And now that I'm getting back
59:21
into it, it's like, oh, I wish I would have done this earlier.
59:23
So it starts with the mindset. It starts with that focus.
59:27
You are in charge if it goes through your head, don't let
59:29
anybody tell you otherwise. Certainly things can influence,
59:32
advertisers influence, you know loved one influence.
59:34
But you are ultimately the the guardian of the palace of your
59:37
mind, so choose wisely. Interesting.
59:42
Use it or use it. Mindset, skill sets and tool
59:44
sets. So the final one.
59:46
Oh yeah. And it surprised me how quickly
59:49
you can lose it. Yeah.
59:54
And, and I was always the guy who was always learning
59:56
something. So I took it for granted.
59:58
And and yeah, a good year. Then went into two years where I
1:00:01
wasn't really doing memory techniques, wasn't really
1:00:03
training my brain. And then all of a sudden I'm
1:00:05
sluggish. But it's not all of a sudden.
1:00:07
It was gradual, right? Other people noticed it and I
1:00:09
didn't. But it was, it was, you know,
1:00:11
I'm absent minded and stressed and all that stuff.
1:00:14
And it's amazing how quickly you can lose it.
1:00:16
But you can gain it back even faster.
1:00:18
You just have to decide to. Yeah, you just need to train.
1:00:22
And if you were to describe legacy in one sentence, what
1:00:27
would that sentence be? I would have to say figure out
1:00:31
who you are and do it on purpose.
1:00:33
Don't be an accident. Absolutely.
1:00:37
I can't take credit for that phrase.
1:00:39
That was that was a line from my favourite philosopher in the
1:00:41
world. You're wondering who my
1:00:42
favourite philosopher in the world is.
1:00:44
I want to know because I am a modern day business philosopher.
1:00:50
All right, my favourite philosopher is Dolly Parton.
1:00:53
She has said some of the most wise things.
1:00:56
Just look. At her interviews.
1:00:58
Yeah, she's a brilliant. I will always love you, yeah.
1:01:05
Whoa, I love Dolly Parton. She's brilliant.
1:01:07
And yeah, she said figure out who you are and do it on
1:01:09
purpose. And it was just like, holy crap,
1:01:11
that that sums up life. Don't do it by accident.
1:01:13
Don't do what other people want you to do.
1:01:15
Just figure out who you are and don't listen to anybody else and
1:01:18
just do it. Just be it and and whatever
1:01:20
whatever aligns with that will come along for the ride and
1:01:24
whatever doesn't align then they weren't meant to be with you.
1:01:27
You know, I love to say be yourself because every other
1:01:29
person is taken. Wow.
1:01:32
So it's time to say goodbye, but I need to give you flowers,
1:01:36
Dave. This has been our amazing,
1:01:40
amazing episode and of course, it's been grounded and TP
1:01:44
valuable. So thank you very much for the
1:01:47
work you do and the discipline you represent.
1:01:49
I always love to say something that gratitude is good attitude
1:01:54
and when a person shares the time with you to share the life
1:01:57
with you because the SI unit for measuring life is time.
1:02:00
So Champions, this episode is not for passive listeners.
1:02:05
This is for people ready to train their mind like your
1:02:07
future depends on it because it actually does.
1:02:10
So from me to you, it's love and respect.
1:02:14
And of course, to the audience, always go for something in your
1:02:16
life, conceive, believe, strive to thrive and achieve.
1:02:22
For me, it's goodbye. And of course from Dave it's
1:02:24
goodbye. And do you want to leave a shout
1:02:26
out to anyone before you leave? I want to thank everybody out
1:02:29
there and I just wanted everyone to know that you're all brain
1:02:31
hackers. The minute you decide to take
1:02:34
control of the thoughts in your head, you're hacking your brain
1:02:36
and you're in charge. And that's that's the most
1:02:38
important thing you can do and anybody can do it.
1:02:42
Wow, stay in chat guys, it's goodbye from us.