from litemind [http://litemind.com/boost-brain-power/]

• Solve puzzles and brainteasers.
• Cultivate ambidexterity. Use your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth, comb your hair or use the mouse. Write with both hands simultaneously. Switch hands for knife and fork.
• Embrace ambiguity. Learn to enjoy things like paradoxes and optical illusions.
• Learn mind mapping.
• Block one or more senses. Eat blindfolded, wear earplugs, shower with your eyes closed.
• Develop comparative tasting. Learn to properly taste wine, chocolate, beer, cheese or anything else.
• Find intersections between seemingly unrelated topics.
• Learn to use different keyboard layouts. Try Colemak or Dvorak for a full mind twist!
• Find novel uses for common objects. How many different uses can you find for a nail? 10? 100?
• Reverse your assumptions.
• Learn creativity techniques.
• Go beyond the first, ‘right’ answer.
• Transpose reality. Ask “What if?” questions.
• SCAMPER!
• Turn pictures or the desktop wallpaper upside down.
• Become a critical thinker. Learn to spot common fallacies.
• Learn logic. Solve logic puzzles.
• Get familiar with the scientific method.
• Draw. Doodle. You don’t need to be an artist.
• Think positive.
• Engage in arts — sculpt, paint, play music — or any other artistic endeavor.
• Learn to juggle.
• Eat ‘brain foods’.
• Be slightly hungry.
• Exercise!
• Sit up straight.
• Drink lots of water.
• Deep-breathe.
• Laugh! [i laugh at everything]
• Vary activities. Get a hobby.
• Sleep well.
• Power nap.
• Listen to music.
• Conquer procrastination.
• Go technology-less.
• Look for brain resources in the web.
• Change clothes. Go barefoot.
• Master self-talk.
• Simplify!
• Play chess or other board games. Play via Internet (particularly interesting is to play an ongoing game by e-mail).
• Play ‘brain’ games. Sudoku, crossword puzzles or countless others.
• Be childish!
• Play video games.
• Be humorous! Write or create a joke.
• Create a List of 100.
• Have an Idea Quota.
• Capture every idea. Keep an idea bank.
• Incubate ideas. Let ideas percolate. Return to them at regular intervals.
• Engage in ‘theme observation’. Try to spot the color red as many times as possible in a day. Find cars of a particular make. Invent a theme and focus on it.
• Keep a journal.
• Learn a foreign language.
• Eat at different restaurants - ethnic restaurants specially.
• Learn how to program a computer.
• Spell long words backwards. !gnignellahC
• Change your environment. Change the placement of objects or furniture — or go somewhere else.
• Write! Write a story, poetry, start a blog.
• Learn sign language.
• Learn a musical instrument.
• Visit a museum.
• Study how the brain works.
• Learn to speed-read.
• Find out your learning style.
• Dump the calendar!
• Try to mentally estimate the passage of time.
• “Guesstimate”. Are there more leaves in the Amazon rainforest or neuron connections in your brain? (answer).
• Make friends with math. Fight ‘innumeracy’.
• Build a Memory Palace.
• Learn a peg system for memory.
• Memorize people’s names.
• Meditate. Cultivate mindfulness and an empty mind.
• Watch movies from different genres.
• Turn off the TV.
• Improve your concentration.
• Get in touch with nature.
• Do mental math.
• Have a half-speed day.
• Change the speed of certain activities. Go either super-slow or super-fast deliberately.
• Do one thing at a time.
• Be aware of cognitive biases.
• Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. How would different people think or solve your problems? How would a fool tackle it?
• Adopt an attitude of contemplation.
• Take time for solitude and relaxation.
• Commit yourself to lifelong learning.
• Travel abroad. Learn about different lifestyles.
• Adopt a genius. (Leonardo is excellent company!)
• Have a network of supportive friends.
• Get competitive.
• Don’t stick with only like-minded people. Have people around that disagree with you.
• Brainstorm!
• Change your perspective. Short/long-term, individual/collective.
• Go to the root of the problems.
• Collect quotes.
• Change the media you’re working on. Use paper instead of the computer; voice recording instead of writing.
• Read the classics.
• Develop your reading skill. Reading effectively is a skill. Master it.
• Summarize books.
• Develop self-awareness.
• Say your problems out loud.
• Describe one experience in painstaking detail.
• Learn Braille. You can start learning the floor numbers while going up or down the elevator.
• Buy a piece of art that disturbs you. Stimulate your senses in thought-provoking ways.
• Try different perfumes and scents.
• Mix your senses. How much does the color pink weigh? * How does lavender scent sound?
• Debate! Defend an argument. Try taking the opposite side, too.
• Use time boxing.
• Allocate time for brain development.
• Have your own mental sanctuary.
• Be curious!
• Challenge yourself.
• Develop your visualization skills. Use it at least 5 minutes a day.
• Take notes of your dreams. Keep a notebook by your bedside and record your dreams first thing in the morning or as you wake up from them.
• Learn to lucid dream.
• Keep a lexicon of interesting words. Invent your own words.
• Find metaphors. Connect abstract and specific concepts.
• Manage stress.
• Get random input. Write about a random word in a magazine. Read random sites using StumbleUpon or Wikipedia.
• Take different routes each day. Change the streets you follow to work, jog or go back home.
• Install a different operating system on your computer.
• Improve your vocabulary.
• Deliver more than what’s expected.