How to Improve Mind Power
Learn new skills., Cultivate curiosity., Read., Do brain games and puzzles., Focus and review., Write things down--longhand., Involve your senses.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Learn new skills.
By learning new skills, you keep your brain engaged and challenged, which can build new neural connections and improve your cognitive function.
Learning a new language is an excellent way to expand your mind.
It will force your brain to work in ways it isn’t accustomed to and can help you see the world around you from a new linguistic perspective.
Trying new activities or hobbies can also help keep your brain tuned up.
Look for opportunities to learn how to do new things, like taking ballroom dance, a martial art, a sewing class, or a writing workshop.
Play games.
Playing new games with friends or family, particularly more intensive games like chess or cribbage, can help you add to and enhance your cognitive abilities. -
Step 2: Cultivate curiosity.
Don’t accept things as they are.
Instead, learn to constantly question things--even things that seem obvious or basic.Deliberately seek out things that are new and different.
While it may be tempting to avoid rather than pursue things that are strange or different--new foods or dining styles, new religious ceremonies, new neighborhoods, etc.--your brain builds new and more diverse connections each time it encounters something unfamiliar or difficult to understand.
Embrace challenges to your ideas, beliefs, and experiences. , Reading engages your brain as well as your imagination and is an excellent way to learn new things and to learn to see people, places, things, and ideas in new and different ways.
Seek out reading that’s at least moderately challenging in terms of its vocabulary, content, or ideas.
Look for readings that can not only grant you access to new knowledge, but allow you to explore new and different ideas, perspectives, and beliefs as well. , There are all kinds of games available designed to keep your brain limber and fit.
Look around, experiment, and find what works for you.The old standbys of crossword puzzles and logic games have been around for some time, and they persist today because they work--they’re excellent ways to challenge and expand your thinking skills.
Newer alternatives for challenging your brain are available online and as smartphone apps.
Many sites offer games designed to keep your mind active and engaged, so rather than spend your downtime browsing cat pictures, consider trying a virtual brain-game. , Commit to focusing closely on learning and improving your thinking.
When you come across a new idea or fact, focus on learning about it and committing it to memory.
Then, periodically go back over the new ideas and facts you’ve learned and rehearse them to yourself.
Revisiting new information this way--particularly soon after learning it--is key to incorporating it in a meaningful and lasting way into your memory.
It may seem trivial, but it turns out that just making up your mind to focus and commit to a new idea will help you retain it. , Research has shown that writing down new information longhand helps you integrate it more thoroughly and recall it more easily.For example, while listening to new information in a meeting, conference, or class, write out the most important information.
Be sure to write legibly and to review what you’ve written down afterwards to help it stay fixed in your mind. , Try to relate new information to your five senses to help you absorb and retain it.
Relate the idea or fact to a taste, tactile feeling, smell, or image.
The more multi-sensory you can make it, the more powerfully it will stay with you.Most people already relate the smell of their favorite food to it's taste and to the experiences they've had consuming it.
Another thing to try is counting the number of people in a room.
This will help you quickly develop a sharper mind when it comes to remembering, especially if the people are milling around in a hallway or something like that.
For example, if you want to remember that you left your keys on the counter next to the sugar bowl, make an effort to associate the thought of your keys with the taste of sugar and the whiteness (or whatever color) or the countertop. -
Step 3: Do brain games and puzzles.
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Step 4: Focus and review.
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Step 5: Write things down--longhand.
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Step 6: Involve your senses.
Detailed Guide
By learning new skills, you keep your brain engaged and challenged, which can build new neural connections and improve your cognitive function.
Learning a new language is an excellent way to expand your mind.
It will force your brain to work in ways it isn’t accustomed to and can help you see the world around you from a new linguistic perspective.
Trying new activities or hobbies can also help keep your brain tuned up.
Look for opportunities to learn how to do new things, like taking ballroom dance, a martial art, a sewing class, or a writing workshop.
Play games.
Playing new games with friends or family, particularly more intensive games like chess or cribbage, can help you add to and enhance your cognitive abilities.
Don’t accept things as they are.
Instead, learn to constantly question things--even things that seem obvious or basic.Deliberately seek out things that are new and different.
While it may be tempting to avoid rather than pursue things that are strange or different--new foods or dining styles, new religious ceremonies, new neighborhoods, etc.--your brain builds new and more diverse connections each time it encounters something unfamiliar or difficult to understand.
Embrace challenges to your ideas, beliefs, and experiences. , Reading engages your brain as well as your imagination and is an excellent way to learn new things and to learn to see people, places, things, and ideas in new and different ways.
Seek out reading that’s at least moderately challenging in terms of its vocabulary, content, or ideas.
Look for readings that can not only grant you access to new knowledge, but allow you to explore new and different ideas, perspectives, and beliefs as well. , There are all kinds of games available designed to keep your brain limber and fit.
Look around, experiment, and find what works for you.The old standbys of crossword puzzles and logic games have been around for some time, and they persist today because they work--they’re excellent ways to challenge and expand your thinking skills.
Newer alternatives for challenging your brain are available online and as smartphone apps.
Many sites offer games designed to keep your mind active and engaged, so rather than spend your downtime browsing cat pictures, consider trying a virtual brain-game. , Commit to focusing closely on learning and improving your thinking.
When you come across a new idea or fact, focus on learning about it and committing it to memory.
Then, periodically go back over the new ideas and facts you’ve learned and rehearse them to yourself.
Revisiting new information this way--particularly soon after learning it--is key to incorporating it in a meaningful and lasting way into your memory.
It may seem trivial, but it turns out that just making up your mind to focus and commit to a new idea will help you retain it. , Research has shown that writing down new information longhand helps you integrate it more thoroughly and recall it more easily.For example, while listening to new information in a meeting, conference, or class, write out the most important information.
Be sure to write legibly and to review what you’ve written down afterwards to help it stay fixed in your mind. , Try to relate new information to your five senses to help you absorb and retain it.
Relate the idea or fact to a taste, tactile feeling, smell, or image.
The more multi-sensory you can make it, the more powerfully it will stay with you.Most people already relate the smell of their favorite food to it's taste and to the experiences they've had consuming it.
Another thing to try is counting the number of people in a room.
This will help you quickly develop a sharper mind when it comes to remembering, especially if the people are milling around in a hallway or something like that.
For example, if you want to remember that you left your keys on the counter next to the sugar bowl, make an effort to associate the thought of your keys with the taste of sugar and the whiteness (or whatever color) or the countertop.
About the Author
Lauren Clark
Brings years of experience writing about lifestyle and related subjects.
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