Challenging a brain provides the necessary impetus to help activate its inherent ability to work smarter, faster and with greater accuracy. The intention to excel builds mental muscles and keeps the brain in shape. This principle of neuroplasticity and neurogenesis is summed up by Camilla Cavendish, British journalist and director of policy for former Prime Minister David Cameron, who said:

“Until recently, we thought that the brain cells we were born with were a lifetime quota and that brains became fixed in adulthood. But in the past decade, with the help of MRI scans and experiments on mice and monkeys, neuroscientists have demonstrated comprehensively that the human brain remains plastic throughout life. Like Victorian cartographers, they have mapped the landscape of the brain to show that old dogs can learn new tricks—and in fact they must, to keep in shape.”