- Read
- Playing strategic video games
- Solving logic tasks
- Putting together puzzles
- Playing chess
In our previous articles, we talked about the importance of writing papers for developing analytical thinking. We debated why you should not immediately google “who can write my essay for free” after receiving a college assignment but try to do it yourself. Today, we are going to talk about mind training.
Training your mind is necessary, as it benefits your daily life. Even so, it still seems like a tedious errand. We have the perfect solution for you! Do it through leisure activities. This doesn’t mean you’re going to slack off.
On the contrary, you will encourage analytical thinking through fun tasks and games. That will help you understand the world better, increase your productivity, and boost your self-esteem. Here are the five best options. Check them out.
1. Read
Reading allows your mind to stay active and working. Books, whether literary or informational, provide valuable information. According to Professor Anne E. Cunningham, they will not only make you smarter, they will keep you alert as you age.
Of course, there is one strategy you should put into practice to take advantage of all that knowledge: active reading. You must be proactive about information, such as reading, digesting the content, raising concerns, highlighting data, etc.
2. Play strategic video games
Want to learn how to make better decisions? Get a PlayStation or Xbox and play, for example, one of your survival games. The ones where you can’t afford to miss any detail or forget the wits and resilience strategies you’ve learned.
No, video games won’t waste your time. They have great benefits for leaders. Georgia State University found that gamers are faster, more accurate, and fail less on perception, sensation, and action mapping tasks.
3. Solving logic tasks
Do you know anyone who doesn’t like puzzles? No way. They are fun and beneficial for the mind, not only for children but also for young and old. First, their laughter helps relieve stress and favors the mental health of those who guess them.
Now, there is no doubt that they are a great support to consolidate logical and problem-solving skills. Each riddle is a challenge that can only be solved through analysis. If there are no correct answers, there will be an acquired knowledge.
4. Putting together puzzles
If the goal is to exercise your mind, puzzles are perfect. It is even fun if you do it alone or with company. Whether you face 500 or 5,000 pieces, they will stimulate your cognitive skills and improve your memory and creativity.
In addition, they will put both hemispheres of your brain to work. The left one, when you have to use logic, and the right one controls creativity. Don’t forget that they will also boost your spatial and visual reasoning. Surprising?
5. Play chess
It is one of the leisure activities that will take you more time to learn. Chess deserves to be in the group of survival games. Why? It has different pieces, each with many rules and particular moves on the board. Difficult!
Here, you will develop your ability to plan and react according to your opponent’s decisions. Your answers will have to be calculated in advance, so you will train your concentration, critical thinking, memory, logic, and problem-solving.
Conclusion
We have a riddle to finish: all these leisure activities have something in common: what is it? They can be done in a company. This provides exciting experiences, which will help you socialize and, therefore, better understand your reality and those around you.
As you can see, encouraging analytical thinking is a matter that only requires a few minutes a day. When you include them in your daily routine, you will have such a good time that you will decide to dedicate hours to them. Do you want to give it a try? Let’s get to work.