Have you ever seen the film Limitless? In it, the main character ‘Eddie Mora’ takes a pill that boosts his brain power in every possible dimension. He becomes more driven, creative, and far wittier and innovative.

The result is that he makes powerful friends, finishes writing a book, gets rich from day trading, and then becomes a powerful politician.

Does such a thing exist? While there are actual ‘nootropics’ (brain pills) out there, the answer is, unfortunately, a resounding no. But that’s not to say there aren’t other ways to get a similar boost.

And the best way? Train your working memory with dual n-back training!

What is Working Memory?

There are plenty of dual n-back games out there that you can play online or on your smartphone, and all of them should have the same benefits for your working memory. I’m not going to talk in-depth about what it is here then. All that matters is your working memory and why this is so important for your success.

The best way to think about working memory then is as RAM. This is the memory you use in the short term to store information that you are currently working with. While your long-term memory stores autobiographical memory, your working memory is instead used for remembering phone numbers while you grab a pen or carry numbers over in your mind as you are doing long multiplication.

Why Working Memory is Crucial

But working memory goes much further than this. You see, working memory is just your ‘mental bandwidth.’ Any information that needs to be stored so you can work with it will be kept in working memory, and that means:

• The subject of a conversation you are engaging in
• A map of your physical surroundings
• Your priorities at any given time

If you can maintain and build your working memory, then you will become wittier because you’ll have more information available to work with when responding to someone. You will improve at sports and navigation because your cognitive map will be more up-to-date and easily accessible. You will be better at math, and you will be more motivated.

So work on your working memory one way or another and prepare to become Limitless!