Brain Hacks: 6 Secrets to Learn Faster & Unlock The Full Power Of Your Mind

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Most of your brain's performance is within your control

  Brain coach Jim Kwik, once called 'the boy with the broken brain' after hitting his head on a classroom radiator, says about a third of brain performance, such as memory, is set by genetics and biology. The other two-thirds is in your hands. In 32 years of coaching, he says, age, education, IQ and history haven't stopped anyone from improving.

• 02

  Use SUAVE to remember names

  Say the name immediately (you hear it twice, and any mistake gets corrected early, so you don't spend 20 minutes talking to Ted and say goodbye to 'Ed'). Use it three or four times. Ask about it: spelling, origin, who they were named after. Visualise it, since the visual cortex takes up more of the brain: Mary carrying two lambs, David with a slingshot, Mike singing on a table. End by saying goodbye with their name.

• 03

  Point your brain toward the positive at both ends of the day

  Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen, whose Amen Clinics have done nearly 200,000 brain scans across 111 countries (including Mel's and Chris's), starts each day with 'today is going to be a great day' and asks his family at breakfast why it will be. At night he prays, then goes on a 'treasure hunt' for what went well, starting from the moment he woke. He has done it for seven or eight years, including the night his father died. 'The brain is lazy; it does what you nudge it to do.'

• 04

  Amen's five brain foods

  Wild salmon for omega-3s, organic berries (he calls blueberries 'brain berries' and says blueberry extract has been shown to improve memory), nuts and seeds (linked to lower rates of depression and dementia), leafy greens for fiber and magnesium, and raw cacao. His rule: only eat things you love that love you back. He says beer, for instance, shrinks your brain.

• 05

  Heavy drinking damages memory and can shrink the brain

  Dr. Sarah Wakeman, senior medical director for substance use disorder at Mass General Brigham and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, explains that alcohol affects regions involved in laying down memories. Long-term heavy use can cause dementia, and a rare alcohol-related amnesia leaves people unable to form new memories. Scans of long-term heavy drinkers in their 50s often show volume loss resembling a much older brain.

• 06

  Cutting back brings quick benefits

  Wakeman lists better, more restorative sleep, possible weight loss from fewer liquid calories, more energy to exercise without hangovers, less irritability and more presence with loved ones, and over time better skin, hydration and hormone regulation, with less acne. Seeing these early, she says, can reinforce longer-term decisions.

• 07

  Procrastination is learned, so it can be unlearned

  DePaul psychologist Professor Ferrari says about 20% of adults are chronic procrastinators, with no significant gender difference, which he says is more common than depression or panic attacks. Everyone procrastinates sometimes; procrastinators do it across life, from RSVPs to bills. He says culture reinforces it by punishing lateness without rewarding earliness, and fear drives it, because people would rather be judged as lacking effort than lacking ability.

• 08

  Procrastinators see the forest and miss the trees

  Ferrari's fix is to cut down one tree. If that's too much, three branches; if that's too much, a handful of leaves. A body in motion stays in motion. Mel adds examples: do arm exercises today instead of fixating on losing 30 pounds; ask your boss what it would take to grow; research one city you'd like to live in.

• 09

  Get curious about your self-talk rather than arguing with it

  Psychiatrist Dr. Paul Conti, trained at Stanford and Harvard and credited by Lady Gaga with changing her life, says inner talk either 'paints with a broad brush' ('you're a loser') or targets what you want most ('you'll never find anyone'). Imagine someone whispering that in your ear all day. Recognise it, ask what you say when you drop something or face something new, and get it out of your head by journaling or telling a trusted person or therapist.

• 10

  Expect months, not days

  Conti tells patients that real change in self-talk usually takes about four to six months, with some improvement possibly within a couple of weeks. Expecting a quick fix from a pill or a few sessions sets people up to quit.