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FINDING PROFESSOR X’S SCHOOL

There’s a serendipitous coda to this story. As I mentioned, I regularly offer brain coaching to CEOs and their teams. A few years ago, Jim Gianopulos, then CEO and Chairman of 20th Century Fox, invited me to do a coaching session with his executive team. I went onto the film lot on a Friday morning and spent several hours with top staff members. They were particularly open to my message, and they instantly connected with the techniques.
When the session was over, Jim came up to me and said, “That was incredible. It was one of the very best training sessions we’ve ever held.” I was delighted to hear this, of course. Who doesn’t love positive feedback? Later, during a tour of the lot, my eye landed on a poster for the Wolverine movie, which was scheduled to come out later that year. I pointed to the poster and said, “I can’t wait to see that film. I’m a huge fan.”
“Oh, you like superheroes?” Jim said.
“Love ’em. The X-Men have played a major role in my life.” I went on to tell him about my childhood brain injury, how comic books helped me learn to read, and my search for Professor X’s school.
He smiled at me. “You know, we have another 30 days of shooting on the next X-Men movie in Montreal. Why don’t you come along and spend a week on the set? The actors would love to work with you.”
There was no way I was going to turn this down. I’d never been on a movie set before, and this wasn’t just any movie set—it was an X-Men movie set.
The next morning, we got on the plane they called the X-Jet. The other passengers included most of the mutant cast, and I found myself sitting between Jennifer Lawrence and Halle Berry. This was turning out to be the best day ever.
On the plane and the next week on set, I got to share some of my brain tips for speed-reading scripts and for remembering lines with some of the extraordinary cast and crew. And guess what? The very first scene I got to see them shoot took place in Professor X’s school—the very place I’d spent endless days imagining and searching for when I was a kid. It was such a surreal moment for me. What’s one of your dreams? One that is ever present, like a splinter in your brain? Imagine it in vivid detail. Visualize it. Feel it. Believe it. And work daily for it.
Amazingly, that’s not the best part of this story. When I got back from the trip, I came home to find a package waiting for me. It was huge, about the size of a large flat-screen TV. I opened the package and pulled out an enormous framed photograph of me with the entire X-Men cast. The photo had a note from the chairman, which read:

Jim, thank you so much for sharing your superpowers with all of us. I know you’ve been looking for your superhero school ever since you were a child. Here’s your class photo.

See the actual full-color superhero photo at LimitlessBook.com/classphoto.