Replying to @sara.shawa06 Intellectual podcasts Mental math over ca...

Okay, here's everything I do that keeps my brain from rotting and all the things that I do that keep me super smart and focused and sharp and a comedic genius and just brilliant, really. First thing is podcasts over music and the car. I listen to podcasts most of the time when I'm in the car. A lot of science podcasts, a lot of finance, a lot of business, a lot of psychology, just because that's what I like. Huberman Lab, Diary of a CEO, Reinventing Yourself with Tara Swartbeber, but whatever you're interested in, look it up. There is a podcast about it. If you don't know where to start, think of the first thing that pops into your head because I swear, people will make entire podcasts about like ducks or gardening. I mean, random, random stuff. And at least it's teaching you something, something that you don't know a whole lot about. Just listen to a podcast about it and you never know where that will take you and it's a much better use of your time and you can learn things. And hearing people talk, hearing different perspectives is really important for keeping your brain, keeping you open-minded and keeping the mind sharp, I think. The next thing is doing things that support your neuroplasticity, which is gonna be like, if you get in the car and you immediately go to your maps, force yourself to get there without your maps. Learn the roadways of your city. Don't let your brain go on autopilot and shut down because you have something to be your brain for you. Force yourself to use your brain. Mental math, if there arises an opportunity and your default is to reach for your calculator, force yourself to try and do it in your head. Even if you know you're not gonna get it, even if it's something that is so grandiose that you know you're not gonna be able to actually get the right answer, it's not about that. It's just about working those muscles. Listen to things in a different language. Read books in a different language. Watch Get Ready With Me's or Hall's or Day in the Life in Spanish or French or German or Chinese, whatever. Watch all those things on YouTube. Watch children's movies in a different language. It's not about becoming fluent. It's about working those muscles and introducing your mind to something that's never seen before. That will force your neural pathways to change and grow and shift, and that is so important and so cool. Also, doing things with your non-dominant hand. Write your signature with your left hand if you're right-handed, or brush your teeth with the opposite hand that you normally brush your teeth with. If you always put your right shoe on first, put your left shoe on first. Doing things to switch it up that's gonna force your brain out of its routine, that's really, really good, too. Take 20%, 30%, 50%, whatever, of your allocated scrolling or reality TV time, like whenever you have downtime, watch a documentary instead, even if it's a 20-minute documentary, even if it's not, you know, you don't have to change your whole life around, and if you wanna watch your reality TV and do those things, you absolutely should, but just take a fraction of that time, take a fraction of your scrolling time, and look up best YouTube documentaries about science, best YouTube documentaries about war history or even, like, cosmetics or, you know, whatever it is that you're interested in, there's probably more behind it than you're giving it credit for. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, if you're super interested, you love to shop, you love clothes, look up how shit's made. Like, look up the history of fashion designers and brands and how those things came to be and the marketing strategy behind them. Like, that's really fascinating stuff, and you're gonna learn a lot. You will learn a lot if you are being intentional about it. Do you know what I'm saying? Also something that I've, this is kind of natural for me, because I'm that good, but I've always been a very intellectually curious person, and if there's something that I don't know, I have to research it immediately. I cannot sit with the feeling of not knowing something. I love not knowing things purely because they present an opportunity for me to learn something that I don't know, and to me, that is just the best feeling in the world. Like, it's kind of like solving a problem or achieving a challenge. There's something about it. If I hear a word I don't know, if someone's talking about something that I don't know, I love saying, I don't know anything about that, because I know I'm gonna go research it later, and I think letting yourself be excited about that instead of, like, seeing it as a negative thing, because it's a really positive thing, and the smartest people are the ones that can admit that they don't really know anything. So I think just being intentional about that. If there's a conversation that goes on that you feel, makes you feel kind of ignorant or feel kind of stupid, turn that into excitement and go research it later. Don't just blow it off and be like, I don't know anything about that. Never heard about that before. And then at the end of the day, you go home and keep scrolling. Like, you could really learn something there. And it's not about doing it for anyone else, but it's about knowing that you are turning your brain on, and you're noticing and being intentional about the things in your life that you don't know anything about. I mean, even driving down the street. I noticed the other day, I don't know a single plant. I can't identify a single tree or kind of grass, just because I'm, you know, not from, that's just not how I was raised. I don't know how to identify those kinds of things. And so that's something that I wanna learn more about, is like, what is this flower? What is this kind of grass? Just because it's interesting and just because it's good for you to know, and it's a better use of my time than watching Love Island. Not that Love Island is not super entertaining, and I think you should do that, because that's not what I'm saying. But, do you know what I mean? Also reading. You have to read. Everyone needs to read. It's so weird to me when people don't read. It is so beneficial. There is nothing sexier, cooler in the world than someone asking you, what are you reading right now? What's your favorite classical novel? And you've got a badass answer. I mean, that's not the reason why you should do it, but there's something about that where it's like, you're actively, especially now in this day and age when everyone's on social media, if you are someone who takes the time to read instead, just because you wanna do better for yourself and you want to use your brain, that is so cool. So read. It doesn't have to be something particularly academically severe. If you wanna read something whimsical and fantastical and fictional at first, do it. You will learn something, even if it's one new vocabulary word, there's more value in that, I think. So read. If you can only read a page a night, only read a page a night, but force yourself to focus on something for as long as you have the capacity to do so. The last thing I'll say is deep work and doing everything you can to get your brain in a flow state. Reading, I think, is one of the best ways to do that. And studying, get on Google Scholar and read dense nonfiction articles. Maybe they're challenging. Maybe it's not the most fun thing in the world, but if you really wanna push yourself and feel proud of yourself and be like, wow, I am really working on my attention span and keeping my brain sharp, read dense nonfiction articles about whatever. Look up scholarly articles about, I mean, it could be anything, anti-aging, if that's something that you're interested in, or whatever. And if you can't think of things, get on ChatGVT and look up most interesting topics to start researching if I wanna intellectually stimulate myself. And here's a list of things that I was really interested in in school, or here are my hobbies. And it'll curate a list for you. And just keep note of things that you don't know and always be excited about the thing that you're gonna learn next. You're welcome.