Brain Mechanics Two-4-Too

Continued from Brain Mechanics One-oh-Won.

WINNER!

In what areas were you a winner today? It’s up to you to decide if you are a winner or not. Even if you have won a tiny bit, acknowledge that. Be honest with yourself, even if you were a loser today. Hopefully, you’ll get another chance to try again tomorrow!

Training to be a Winner

Keep yourself trained as a winner in your chosen field, whether that is sports, creative endeavors, or business. By continually training yourself, you keep your mind honed in performing the steps necessary to keep you a winner.

As mentioned in Brain Mechanics One oh Won, balance your primary field of expertise by perfecting yourself in at least one other area and up to four different areas. Depending on how versed you are in other areas, you can add other areas in which to practice as long as you put in enough time with each area at least several times a week. At the minimum, spend thirty minutes in each area. But of course, the longer you spend practicing in each area, the better. The main idea is to keep your secondary trainings diversified which will force your mind to handle various types of requirements and increase your potential for winning in all areas. Focusing in other areas will definitely add to and affect your primary area of focus.

Mix It Up

If your primary field of study is physical in nature, such as sports, then balance that by training your mind to think in different ways intellectually, such as learning to play chess and reading books. Reading about other people’s experiences in your chosen field can be huge benefit of course, but also read other things to cause your mind to think of things you don’t normally hear about, including fiction and non-fiction. We live in a remarkable age where huge amounts of information are available instantly. There is such thing as information overload, so learn when to stop gathering information, when to switch to something else, and when to simply take a break.

Mix in other types of sports training that are different from your chosen primary area of expertise.

Entertainment

Entertainment is good but be aware as to how much passive entertainment you are experiencing on a daily basis. Interactive entertainment such as computer games will definitely train your mind to think in different ways, but never substitute that type of entertainment for physical activity. Get at least an hour of physical activity in a day, such as bike riding, walking, hiking, swimming, or any sport.

Keeping your imagination active can lead you to new insights and new approaches. Keeping your mind open and remaining rational about new information will increase your ability to sift through what works for you and what doesn’t work. Bending and pushing your imagination and forcing your brain to perform in new ways will add to your arsenal of abilities.

Mind Bending Exercises

Repeat all these steps every few days and then every few weeks to months to keep yourself proficient in doing these exercises.

1) Put something with a paragraph or two of your language of choice on the table in front of you. Read it normally for a few sentences, then rotate what you are looking at 180 degrees so that the text is essentially up-side-down to your point of view. Try reading the text as far as you can. Practice this enough by using text you have not read before and you’ll be able to easily read in this orientation. Also try positioning the text at ninety-degree angles to normal, i.e. text rows of words straight up and down so you are forcing yourself to read at any angle.

2) Hold up printed text in a mirror and attempt to read it. As with exercise 1, rotate the text 180 degrees and read it, then try the text rotated 90 degrees both ways. This will train your mind to recognize and function with reflections.

3) While staring straight ahead at a fixed point in front of you in the distance, use your peripheral vision to notice objects to the sides of your direction of view. How far to the sides can you recognize objects, movements, lights, or colors while staring straight ahead? Extend either arm to the side and experiment by wiggling your fingers and moving them forward and backward in and out of peripheral view.

4) Try anything that you’ve never done before, such as board games and crossword puzzles — anything that will cause your mind and thus your brain to be pushed to their limits. Accuracy games such as darts or archery are even more activities that will bend your mind beyond its limits. Practice skipping stones or throwing rocks at targets and even switch up your throwing arm and get that other less-functional limb honed.

Your Winning Conclusion

You now know what it takes to remain a winner. Extend that winning attitude into every area of your life — including love, business, friendships, and activities. Keep in practice. Letting yourself slip will cause you to lose abilities, so stay trained if you want to keep your skills at those winning levels. Spend the time and your mind will surely do what it takes. Motivate your time and you’ll find a new future that you’ll make.

Written by Maxwell Jennings