We have to move our body every day.

This typically means the gym. Going to a room where we simulate the hard things we had to do just to survive:

  • Lift heavy things
  • Run a long way

This is normalized.

If we don’t do this, or something like this, our bodies don’t work right.

What about our minds?

What do we need to do or simulate doing to ensure our minds “work right”?

Here’s what gpt4o thinks:

  • Reading: Like cardio for the brain—keeps it sharp, expands vocabulary, and builds imagination.
  • Writing or Journaling: Helps process thoughts, reflect, and organize ideas. It’s like lifting weights for clarity and emotional regulation.
  • Puzzles, Games, and Critical Thinking: Crossword puzzles, chess, Sudoku, strategy games—these challenge logic, memory, and pattern recognition.
  • Learning New Things: Picking up a language, an instrument, or a new skill keeps your brain adapting and forming new connections.
  • Mindfulness & Meditation: Like stretching for the brain—helps with focus, stress reduction, and emotional balance.
  • Conversations with Others: Engaging talks challenge your thinking, broaden your perspectives, and keep your social intelligence strong.

Fair enough.

Bland stuff, but I generally agree.

Do we need to simulate survival challenges for our mind like we do for our bodies?

I think so.

I think we do this already with our projects. We pretend that projects are more important than they really are, that our survival depends on their successful outcome. We over-inflate their importance.

Again, from gpt4o:

Humans evolved in complex, uncertain environments. Mentally, we were constantly:

  • Tracking animals and reading nature → memory, pattern recognition, prediction
  • Planning hunts or migrations → strategizing, problem-solving
  • Interacting in tight-knit groups → empathy, reading emotions, negotiating
  • Telling stories and passing on knowledge → imagination, language, meaning-making
  • Facing threats and staying calm under pressure → emotional regulation, decision-making

We must be doing hard things with our minds daily. We must spend time in the mind gym. Make our brain sweat.

Mental sharpness = survival.

I think sports, specifically team sports does it all. The physical and mental.

It’s often said that team sports, like football, are simulated tribal war.

Maybe video games or multiplayer/team video games are an appropriate simulation for the mind.

What else can we do?

More ideas from our bro gpt4o:

  • Complex problem-solving → Coding, puzzles, escape rooms, building stuff
  • Storytelling and creativity → Writing, roleplaying, music, improv
  • Group collaboration under pressure → Team sports, project-based work, debates
  • Learning and adapting → Picking up new skills, languages, philosophies
  • Emotional resilience → Meditation, facing fears, having hard conversations

Some agreement there. Team sports.

Also some circling back to prior ideas like meditation, learning, writing, etc.

It’s fascinating that we are generally told to have hobbies like the above because “they are good for us”, without the “Mental sharpness = survival” framing.

Perhaps its more of an evolutionary/anthropological framing on “hobbies”. Perhaps evolutionary psychology.

Hobbies aren’t just leisure — they’re how we simulate ancestral challenges in safe, modern ways. That’s why a well-chosen hobby can feel addictive, meaningful, and energizing.

Exactly.

Hobbies = Mental Gym.

Okay, glad I worked through that.