If you regularly exercise – especially in busy gyms – in 3 sets of 12, 15, or 20 exercises, you’ll be familiar with your brain going off course while the body is going through the sequence. Somewhere you suddenly realize that you’ve lost count and are in a quandary about whether you’re on the second or third set! How can you prevent this? How can you concentrate solidly?
Easily! Make an exercise of your counts too.
Reliably learn to count to 20 in 3 foreign languages that you don’t speak. 20 will cover the number of repetitions whether they be 12, 15, or 20. During your next exercise use language 1 for the first set, language 2 for the second set, and language 3 for the third set. You’ll see how sharp your brain will stay on counting! Counting in a foreign language will force the brain to concentrate on the counts. If you count in foreign languages that you speak, counting will be more automatic than counting in languages that you don’t speak.
But regardless of how automatic the counting be, the brain will still be forced to concentrate on the counts. Hence you won’t go off course! And you may even find fun in seeing how quickly you can think of the next count word. And also whether you can master counting the sequence more smoothly the next time you count in this language… After all, it’s an exercise, right?:)
And you can be even more creative.
Learn the counts in 3 more foreign languages that you don’t speak. You’ll now have a stock of counts to 20 in 6 foreign lingos. Always vary the order of the languages. If you have only 3 languages in stock, you’ll be limited to only 3 variations. That will soon get automatic too. If you have 6, you have more choice to play with. Again, it’s an exercise, right?:) And in this case choice is better than no choice.
You can also add counting on your fingers. You don’t have to move the fingers. Just feel the finger of which the turn it is when its turn comes. Counting on the fingers will add grounding and support.
Or if you’re more visual, you can add visual counting. See an image of each number in your mind when you’re counting it in the foreign language. You can even see each number in a different colour if that makes it fun. So it can be an exercise of creativity as well as of the body!
Would you like to exercise your creativity in other aspects of life too? Let’s talk about it.
