I was very quiet when I was in fifth grade. Because I was mentally slow, I couldn't keep up with everyone else. I didn't have any friends that year. My teacher called me a "space cadet." My brain power and intellect became an insecurity of mine.
That's probably why I like books so much. They gave me a second chance.
I was in fifth grade and I actually flunked. I was like stupid, and I called myself stupid, and I hated it. And then I had to share the same grade with my little brother.
People would ask, "Oh, are you guys twins?" I was like, "No." And that's where I felt like I had to admit the shame that I have—that I share a grade with my little brother.
In the video, I share the story of flunking fifth grade and having to repeat it alongside my younger brother. It's a moment that shaped how I thought about myself for years.
Books became my way out. When I couldn't keep up in class, when I felt like my brain wasn't working the way everyone else's did, books met me where I was. They didn't judge. They didn't call me a space cadet. They just taught me.
And here's the thing—I'm now the guy who flunked fifth grade, and I'm teaching people how to read fast and retain more. That kid who called himself stupid? He figured out how to help CEOs and founders get through books faster than they ever thought possible.
The shame I carried about sharing a grade with my little brother stuck with me for a long time. But looking back, that struggle is exactly what pushed me toward understanding how reading actually works. If I had breezed through school, I probably never would have questioned the process. I never would have asked why some people read faster, or why some people retain more.
My insecurity about my brain power became the thing that made me obsessed with improving it. And that obsession turned into how I became a speed-reading and memory coach.
What I learned is that struggling early doesn't mean you're stuck forever. Books gave me tools that school never did. They gave me patience with myself and a way to learn at my own pace.
If you're someone who felt slow, who got called names, who thought your brain just didn't work right—you're not broken. You might just need a different approach.
Thank you to Jarred and Katelyn Curcio for having me on and letting me share this story.
