If you don’t use some disciplines regularly and systematically when you are working with AI you will lose your ability to think independently and critically. Most people’s ability to do simple arithmetic calculations almost disappeared when the calculator became available. That was a disadvantage but we lived with it. What we did not immediately realise is that we were abandoning mental exercise. Many people lost the ability to calculate in situations other than simply adding up the change they were due. AI is already making some people’s minds lazy.
You do your daily exercise if you want your body to remain fit. That wasn’t so necessary when we did a lot of walking and heavy lifting. Now we drive and hydraulics lift for us. So we do exercises, go to the gym, play tiring games. It is essential that we now do the mental equivalent. Physical exercise is “doing” things. Mental exercise – “thinking” – is a more difficult discipline. Our minds are lazy unless we drill them. Mentally demanding games such as chess are useful. But we need our minds to think more than what our opponent is going to do with his bishop.
All human progress has been the result of mental exercise. Since we reward progress with money, a fairly small number of people have become very rich. I don’t envy them that. Wealth is a mixed blessing we’d all like to have to worry about. But it can destroy our enjoyment of life quite easily. That’s because much of life’s enjoyment is connected with thinking more than shopping. Too many possessions become liabilities, not assets. Thoughts are yours forever.
Here are some delightful ways to exercise your mind. If you want them to work you will have to persevere. A couple of tepid tries won’t help. Do whichever of these tickles your fancy for a month. If you do, you will probably exercise your mind for the rest of your life. You will be very glad of that. You will also remain stimulating and interesting. That will make you attractive.
Treat AI as a challenge, a competitor. Whatever AI produces for you, try to make it better and more interesting. Imagine the very best writing or drawing will win you a prize, because it will. The prize of self-confidence. Nothing is more worthwhile than being comfortable with yourself. That is what self-confidence gives you.
[1] Write about an event in your life that you truly enjoyed. It might be a holiday, a cruise, a tournament, a show, a relationship, a meal, a wedding. Write about it in great detail. In fact, try to write about every moment of it. If there are bits you can’t remember, make them up – you’re not writing the Bible. Squeeze your story for the juice in it. Taste the words, love the feelings. When done, edit it several times. Make it a Gourmet Ganache Goodness.
[2] Read about a new discovery, maybe not in an area you know well but in one you are interested in. Medicine, food, travel, drinks, communications, technology, spirituality, creativity, love, money. Read at a pace that allows you to understand what is written. Re-read when you need to. Apply your brain to create questions about it. AI will answer them but check what it says. Question it more. Interesting, isn’t it? Go further. Make yourself an interrogator.
[3] Study a map as you listen to the news or read an international news column. Look at the places where things are happening. Check their cultures, find a promo about them and see what they say about themselves. Armchair tourism isn’t as good as going there yourself but it is a lot better than not knowing about the other people in the world you must live with. Ask one of the country’s Ambassadors if s/he can recommend a WhatsApp friend so you can learn more about the place. Become your own version of an Ambassador for your country. Bring peace.
There are a hundred more ways to exercise your mind usefully. If you explore them you will become someone of interest. Interesting people are confident and successful.
More importantly you will keep your marbles and burnish them to shine brighter.
Bright marbles are happy marbles.
Will you polish up?
Good morning
John Bittleston
And here are some other people’s thoughts about thinking.
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words without thoughts never to heaven go
William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)
Language is becoming a code of
formulae to relieve us from thinking
John Bittleston, Mentor-Coach
Writing is thinking on paper
William Zinsser, writer and editor
Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking
ANON
Wise people plan because they know
that thinking on your bottom produces
better decisions than thinking on your feet
ANON
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen,
but thinking what nobody has thought
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence
Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry
Please send your thoughts to [email protected]
28 September 2025
