Brain Exercises

Here is the article I read last year and referred to yesterday. Simple ways to make yourself far cleverer. It’s based on research at the BBC. Here are the steps involved in training your brain to be cleverer in seven days.

Saturday

Brush your teeth with your ‘wrong’ hand and take a shower with your eyes closed.

Sunday

Do the crossword or Sudoku puzzle in your Sunday paper and take a brisk walk.

Monday

Have oily fish for dinner, and either cycle, walk or take the bus into work.

Tuesday

Select unfamiliar words from the dictionary and work them into conversations.

Wednesday

Go to yoga, Pilates or a meditation class, and talk to someone you don’t know.

Thursday

Take a different route to work; watch Countdown or Brainteaser.

Friday

Avoid caffeine or alcohol; memorize your shopping list.

As you can see, Wednesday is the day you are suppose to talk to a stranger. I actually try to do as many of these as I can each day. Some of them aren’t possible (like the second half of Monday).

If you want to improve your character, read Ben Franklin’s – The Art of Virtue. Franklin had a daily checklist he used to keep track of thirteen different virtues with a focus on one specific virtue each week. Each day he reflected on his success.

Now you can use the Do It Yourself Planner to create your own check sheet.