Ready for some fun experiments on your brain? Don’t worry, you can try these at home. They are perfectly safe, and they will help you demonstrate your brainpower.

Fun Experiments

1. Sing to access your right brain.

It is easier to rhyme when you’re singing, because you are working from the part of your brain that recognizes patterns (usually the right hemisphere).  Try a singing experiment. First try making a rhyming poem about something that happened today. Work on this for just a minute or two. Then try it again, but sing the poem as you make it up.

Most people find that they can easily find rhyming words when singing. You can also make a song up to remember things. Singing may help to activate your right-brain when you are working on a problem involving spatial reasoning. This last suggestion is speculative, but it can be a fun experiment to try, and no harm should come from singing.

2. Consciously control autonomic body functions.

Your pupils get bigger when it is darker, but they also get bigger when you see something you like. In fact, they get larger if you just vividly imagine something you like. Try this experiment right now. Go to the mirror and watch your eyes as you imagine someone you like, a favorite food, or anything you would like to see.

You should see your pupils quickly grow in size. Imagine different scenes to see which work best. With practice, you can train yourself to consciously change your pupil size at will. Looking towards a light in the room will make your pupils smaller again, by the way. There are ways to use this eye-trick, but for our now, it is just a way to demonstrate how you can consciously control what is normally an unconscious body function. (There are also techniques for controlling the heart rate as well.)

3. Try fun experiments to motivate yourself.

Ever feel like you just can’t work, or your brain just won’t wake up? Try a simple experiment on yourself. Simply talk about your plans, or anything you are passionate about. When I’m stuck staring at the keyboard, I might talk about the next mountain I am going to climb here in Colorado, and suddenly I have the mental energy to get back to writing.

Try different topics, because what works for each of us will be different. You can even try this experiment on friends. When they are in a bad mood, have them explain something to you that they are passionate about. The process will change the chemicals in their brains, and so change their state of mind. Experiment to find the topics that work best - for them and yourself - and remember them for future use.

Fun experiments or just useful ones? Either way, there is no harm in trying these and other simple experiments to learn how to better use your brain.

Invent new ideas, exercise your brainpower, and have fun while you’re at it! There are many problem-solving techniques and idea-generating techniques you can use. One of the easiest, however, is to simply find new applications for existing ideas, products, services and systems.

This technique can be used to come up with new ideas in any area of life. Take an existing product, like a raincoat, for example. It takes just a minute or two to come up with new applications. How about a line of raincoats for dogs and cats? Raincoats for cattle? Maybe they lose valuable weight burning calories to stay warm during cold rains.

Evaluating the new ideas you come up with is another process. It is best left for later, if you don’t want to stifle your creativity. You only need one or two good ideas to make the effort worthwhile, and having a hundred ideas to choose from makes finding a few good ones more likely.

I saw an ad for a company that uses a dog to find mold in your house. Dogs can sniff out almost anything, and it reminded me of the news story from a while back, about a dog that could detect if you had cancer. My next thought was, “I wonder what else they could be used to find?” One idea that came to mind was to use dogs to find people’s lost pets. They track lost criminals so well, so why not a service to find lost pets? A sniff of the lost cats favorite rug, and the dog is on the trail.

New Ideas Beyond Inventions and Business

It’s common to concentrate on the invention and business applications. Perhaps these are the easiest areas to come up with new ideas in. However, that doesn’t mean this technique won’t work well in other areas.

Recently I applied Darwin’s theory of natural selection to my clothing selection. No more sorting laundry! The clothes that don’t survive the wash process are tossed and the ones that do are replicated when I buy new clothes. The ones that still fit survive. Survival of the fittest!

I once read about children who were tested for their ability to delay gratification. They were put into a playroom and at some point offered candy, but told they could have one piece now, or wait fifteen minutes and get two pieces. Some waited, and some didn’t. The children who could consistently delay gratification were tracked over the years. They were found to be more successful and happier.

What are some new applications for this idea? Hmm… Test all kids and sell a list of the impulsive ones to big companies who can sell stuff to them all their lives. More seriously, what if more tests like this were done, in order to put together a list of “happiness factors?” Perhaps it would lead to a more systemic and scientific way to raise happy kids.

Do you want some exercises to test this technique on? Think of a new use for paper. Find a new application for the idea of selling by phone. Think of several new uses for socks. Imagine how the idea of positive self talk could be applied to making animals happier. Try this technique, and you’ll see how easy it can be to come up with new ideas.

What is subconscious mind power? It can be something as simple as automatically smiling when you meet a person, and so improving the odds of getting what you want from that person. It can be the way you unconsciously approach a problem and solve it. Essentially, it is the power that comes from good programming of your mind.

How do you program your mind, so you’ll have more subconscious mind power? You do so consciously, one step at a time. First, you learn a new technique or “program,” and then you use it until it becomes automatic - an unconscious habit. A couple examples follow.

Use Subconscious Mind Power To Develop Rapport

Speak to someone at the same speed they speak, and they will feel more at ease with you. Mirror their expressions and body position, and they will also feel more comfortable with you. There are dozens of simple techniques like these that salesmen use to develop rapport with customers. They work in all areas of life, though, not just when selling a product.

Of course, you’ll likely get confused if you try to remember and use ten of these techniques when you meet someone. You may even annoy the person. To make the whole process more smooth, you need to train yourself in a technique or two at a time, until they become automatic. Then start working on the next technique. Soon you will be subconsciously doing what needs to be done to have good rapport with the people you meet. That’s subconscious mind power.

Intuition Power

Einstein relied heavily on intuitive hunches. Gary Kasparov can beat the best chess computer even though the computer can calculate positions many moves further ahead. Experience allows him to combine analysis with a “sense” of which move is best. These are great examples of the power of intuition.

Your skill, knowledge and experience determine the potential effectiveness of your intuition. A weak chess player will never intuitively beat that computer. Having enough good information in your mind is the first important part of intuition, then.

However, to regularly benefit from your intuitive mind power, you have to encourage it. Start by watching for it. Stop during problem solving, and note any feelings or hunches you have. Note when your hunches are good ones and when they seem to be just random feelings. Do this until the whole process becomes a habit, and you’ll begin to have more intuition.

The Key To Subconscious Mind Power

Just from these two examples, you can see how you can benefit from “programming” your mind. Even training yourself to regularly ask a simple question, like “How can I best use my time right now,” can be very useful. The key is to simply find any technique that works when you use it consciously, and then use it daily (carry a reminder if you have to) until it becomes an unconscious habit. This is how you develop your subconscious mind power.

Brainpower algorithms is my own term for the rules that we develop to help us think more efficiently. There are examples from every area of life. Salesmen more effectively sell once they are trained to smile and match the pace of the buyer’s speech. Real estate investors can more easily analyze a property if they have a mental checklist that they run through. Writers think in terms of headlines that “grab” the reader by using words like “top secret.”

Universal Brainpower Algorithms

Some of the most useful rules of life are simple questions that cut through the clutter in our minds and point to the most essential aspects of things. Consider the question “What would (insert hero here) do?” Asking this is a powerful way to quickly resolve ethical issues. A Christian facing an ethical problem, for example, can usually quickly imagine what Jesus would do. This process bypasses the rationalizing that often passes as rationality, and lets our powerful unconscious mind show us the way. Here are some other questions that can be useful.

- What can I learn from this?

- How can I use this to my advantage?

- How can I most quickly and effectively resolve this?

- What is good about this situation?

- What is the key element here?

- How can I look at this differently?

- Do I have all the information I need to make a decision?

More Specific Brainpower Techniques

To develop your brainpower in specific areas, find out what successful people in those fields are thinking. For example, consciously or not, a good comedian is always looking around and asking things like, “How can I take this to the extreme?” “What is the silliest part of this situation?” “Which words in this have double meanings that I can play with?” or “What’s wrong with this picture?” He may also be imagining things reversed, done differently, or from another perspective.

An inventor thinks about how things work, how to apply those principles of function to other things, or how to make them work differently. He challenges assumptions, asking things like, “Do chairs really need legs, or would there be advantages to hanging them from the ceiling?” These idea-creating techniques are just specific brainpower algorithms.

The key to using these brainpower algorithms most effectively isn’t in learning as many as you can. Many of us have learned enough “self improvement” techniques to last a lifetime. It isn’t that knowing more is harmful, but application is the key here, not compiling more unused knowledge. You need to take what you know and use it, and, even more importantly, make it into a habit. A simple and useful principle turned into a good habit is more powerful than a head full of great ideas.

How do you create these brainpower habits? Repetition. How long do you have to repeatedly do something or think something for it to become a habit? The consensus of the experts is about three weeks. Pick the mental “program” you want to install in your brain, and start using it every day for a few weeks. Carry a card with reminders if necessary.

We have mental habits anyhow, but they are not necessarily the best ones, right? Why not consciously train yourself to use the questions, rules, and patterns of behavior that are the most useful for you? This is how you make brain content into brainpower.

Your mind power is not your IQ. It is not the innate potential of your mind, but the actual and habitual use and development of that potential. In other words, it isn’t how smart you are that counts, but how you use it. Here are three things you can do to make your mind more effective.

Brain Exercises

Regular use and “exercising” of the brain has been shown to generate new neuronal growth, and even halt the decline of mental function that often comes with age. Try numerous brain exercises, and when you find the ones that you enjoy, make doing them a habit. A study will someday prove that old people who do their crossword puzzle every Sunday morning maintain their mental function longer. Some other ways to increase that mind power:

- Do mental math while driving.

- Look around at things and redesign them in your mind.

- Sing a song, inventing the lyrics as you go.

- Learn a memory technique and use it daily.

Discipline Yourself

A recent study, reported in the journal Psychological Science, found that while IQ level did correlate with academic performance, there was actually a much stronger correlation with self discipline. Those students with high self-discipline have much better grades than high-IQ students. They also found that there was no correlation between IQ and discipline (they varied independently).

Again, this shows that it isn’t how smart you are, but how you use it. Self discipline doesn’t necessarily mean willpower, by the way. It can be accomplished by starting with simple and easy steps and creating good habits over time. A great mind power practice is to get in the habit of regularly building good habits.

Train Your Body

It has been shown that activities which involve timing and coordination cause dendrite growth in the brain. More dendrites mean more possible connections in your brain. More connections mean your thinking and learning can be more flexible and efficient. Physical exercise, then, of the right type, is also mind power exercise.

The activities most likely to help include any athletic activities that require a lot of coordination and timing, such as basketball, soccer, and tossing around a Frisbee. Other good mind power activities are playing musical instruments, especially when it requires precise timing (piano playing), and painting or drawing, which involve hand-eye coordination.

If you want better brain function, start by asking yourself if you are intelligent. What answer comes to mind? Consider your IQ level, but also ask how well you use your brainpower. Can you solve problems easily and creatively? Can you think clearly?

Whatever you think and feel about these questions, those thoughts and feelings will have an effect on your brain function. Some still argue that basic intelligence is unchangeable after childhood (not true), but we can all agree that some people use that brainpower better than others. Psychology plays a role.

Brain Function And Psychology

I know a man who never graduated high school, yet makes very good money in his business. Is the fact that he spent much of his childhood with wealthy kids and their families a coincidence? No.

His rich friends did not give him money, by the way, nor did they help him in his business. Ultimately, how they helped him is by altering his expectations. He expects to find a way to make a certain amount of money. He feels that a certain level of income is normal, and so his mind will always try to find a way to push him towards that level.

Here is another example of expectation altering brain function for the better. I used to read the occasional book on chess puzzles. Checkmate in four moves, the puzzle might say, and the reader has to find it. Of course, I would look until I found it, because I knew the solution was there.

However, I used to think those elegant solutions were not often possible in real games. Then, after doing enough of these puzzles, I started to look for them. I started to find them more often too. Without the expectation of finding them, I had previously settled for less worthy moves.

How do these examples relate to improving your brain function? Directly: Expect to increase your brain power, and you are far more likely to. Think of yourself as a problem solver, and you’ll find more solutions. Consider yourself a creative person, and you’ll express more creativity.

Changing Your Expectations

Do you think you can improve in these areas? Yes, even if you are not sure, you still can. Yyou can at least leave open the possibility, and look for the evidence. This, in my opinion, is a much better way than standing in front of a mirror repeating positive affirmations. It is also easier.

What we look for, we tend to find. This is the key to changing your expectations. You can prove this to yourself in almost any area. For example, watch for generous people for a few days, and make a mental note to yourself each time you see one. You’ll start to see them all over. Then watch for greedy or selfish people for a few days, and you’ll begin to see them all over. You’ll get the point.

How do you apply this to increasing your brainpower? Find your successes. When you learn something new, write it down even. List problem-solving successes, and you’ll start to have more of them. See how creative you already are, and you’ll soon have even more creativity.

Evidence is more convincing than affirmation. Just start finding examples of progress, however large or small. Then focus on them, and remember them, and watch for more. Start doing this now, and soon you’ll see that your brain function is improving.