3 Fun Things To Do To Challenge Yourself & Train Your Brain *

-*This post is in collaboration-

It’s a myth that we use only 10% of our brains, but it’s a fact that we can all get more from our minds. Like your arms and legs, the more you exercise your brain the stronger it becomes. 

There are loads of ways to put your mind on the treadmill, but I’ve picked three fun examples that are (almost) guaranteed to make you smarter. So read, absorb, apply, and let your mind fly! 

Play card games 

Card games are a fun way to unwind, meet new people, and win some money – sometimes! But their benefit goes beyond simple pleasures and financial reward – you can use card games to exercise your brain, improving your memory and developing your capacity for logical thinking. 

There are so many card games you can choose to put your brain on the treadmill:  Poker Solitaire Baccarat 

Learning a new game is a challenge in itself, so I’ll keep it simple and hone in on one of the easier games to learn – blackjack. It’s a game where players compete against a dealer, with the object being to get the closest they can to a score of 21 from the cards they’re dealt (all pretty straightforward). 

The basic nature of the blackjack challenges your brain to think logically (you need to make decisions on how to act), however, if you count cards then you can boost your memory. The principle of counting cards is that you remember the cards that have been played, so know how to act and can bet in a way that improves your chances of winning. So read through a card counting guide to see how blackjack can help win you some money, whilst also improving your memory and ability to think logically.

Learn a language

Learning a new language opens up new possibilities for you – it makes it easier for you to work in a new land, helps you to get more out of your travelling, and looks seriously impressive (who isn’t impressed by someone who’s multi-lingual?). However, these aren’t the only benefits to learning a new language – it’s also a great way to challenge yourself and train your brain. 

Both the challenge and the training associated with learning a new language take little brainpower to grasp – it’s bloody difficult learning a new language. For starters, it’s a bunch of new words, a different way of constructing sentences, and (potentially) a change in how you speak – if your native tongue is a Latin-based language then you’ll find Chinese a whole new ball game. 

While many people have their reasons for quitting learning a new language, it really is in your favour to keep going. This is because it improves your concentration levels and attention span (regardless of the age you decide to learn it), which allows you to both retain more information and get more value from it. 

Read your book in three different ways

Reading makes you smarter, it’s a fact – it adds new information to your mind, broadening your knowledge base and enhancing your ability to think critically. But you can get even more brain juice if you read in more than one way. Not sure how this works, let me explain it for you. 

There are three ways that you can read a book:  In your head Aloud  Listening 

While listening to a book and reading it in your head should be a breeze, you may find it challenging to read one aloud – many people don’t enjoy the sound of their own voice, myself included. However, if you can get past this challenge, and read in all three ways, you’ll light up and train three distinct areas of your brain. 

Challenging yourself and training your brain can help you in both your personal and professional life – it can make you smarter, happier, and more focused. While I’ve covered three great examples in this article, there are plenty of other ways you can do both these things. 

So, learn a new card game, try reading in all three ways, and begin teaching yourself a new language today. Then once you’ve mastered those three things, try something fresh to keep your mind active!

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