A personal trainer can help you get jacked, but who do you call for brain gains?
That’s where Jim Kwik comes in. The brain coach has worked with Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Alex Rodriguez, Novak Djokovic and Elon Musk’s team at SpaceX, helping them improve focus, memory and mental performance.
Kwik, who has spent more than 25 years studying the brain and meta-learning — the science of how we learn — says there’s reason to be optimistic about our ability to improve our memory at any age.
“Our brains maintain neuroplasticity — the ability to physically adapt, change, and forge brand new neural pathways — for our whole lives,” he told The Post. Here are his five steps for building a better memory.
Make information vivid
Your brain evolved to remember stories — especially those tied to danger, reward or deep emotion.
When you need to remember something, whether it’s a name, a key talking point or a fact, exaggerate it in your mind.
Make the image bigger, stranger and more vibrant, and pair it with a real feeling. That combination can turn something you just heard into something you actually remember.
Protect your brain’s ability to remember
Memory doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Your brain needs the right conditions to learn and retain information.
That means eating a nutrient-rich diet, staying hydrated and, perhaps most importantly, getting enough sleep. During sleep, the brain helps consolidate information from short-term into long-term memory.
Kwik also recommends moving your body every day. Exercise increases blood flow to the brain and triggers production of BDNF, a protein involved in learning and neuroplasticity.
“Your muscles are only half the equation here; your mind is getting a massive workout right along with them,” he explained.
Build a memory palace
The Greeks used this technique thousands of years ago to deliver long speeches by heart.
Pick a place you know well, like your home, and mentally place the information you want to remember at specific locations. Then take a mental tour of the space.
Because your brain is particularly good at spatial memory, retracing that route can help bring the information back.
Learn like you’re going to teach it
Read or listen to information with the intention of explaining the concept to a friend in an hour. Your brain stops passively skimming and starts organizing the material.
You may catch yourself asking, “Wait, how would I actually explain this?” That simple shift does way more for your retention than repeatedly rereading the same information ever will.
Kwik also recommends active retrieval: Before Googling an answer or asking AI, give yourself 10 seconds to pull it from your own memory.
“Every single time you successfully recall something, you burn those neural pathways deeper,” he said.
Give your brain something new — and your attention a break
Novelty forces the brain to adapt, so Kwik recommends regularly learning something new, whether that’s Swahili, photography, cooking or chess.
Activities that combine mental focus and movement, such as pickleball, tennis and ping pong, can be especially useful because they require tracking, timing, balance and making split-second decisions.
But brain training also means protecting your attention.
Kwik advises creating before consuming: Write a paragraph before checking Instagram or spend five minutes defining your priorities before scrolling.
“Mornings provide you with a rare window in a day where your focus actually belongs to you, before the rest of the world starts firing demands at you,” he said. “Your attention hasn’t been hijacked yet. You still hold the steering wheel, and you get to decide what gets the very first conversation with your mind.”
Kwik recently published his second book, “Limitless Daily: 366 Keys to Train Your Brain, Master Your Mind & Win Every Day,” which is designed to make this kind of practice a daily habit. Each page takes about five minutes and nicludes a story, the underlying science, an action step and an affirmation.
“Think of it like brushing your teeth,” he said.
“You don’t brush for three straight hours once a month, right? You spend two minutes every morning because consistency beats intensity every single time.”
