Cultivating the mind

The most lasting inheritance is a well-furnished mind: books you have loved, music you understand, places you have seen and at least one thing you can do really well. None of it needs money, only attention and time.

Reading for pleasure

• A University of Cambridge, Warwick and Fudan study of 10,243 young people in the US found that those who started reading for pleasure early scored better on cognitive tests and school achievement, with better mental wellbeing and fewer signs of stress and depression.
• The same study found early readers tended to have less screen time and longer sleep as adolescents. The findings are links between reading and these outcomes, not proof that reading caused them.
• About 12 hours a week of reading for pleasure was linked with the best results; beyond that there was no extra benefit, possibly because other activities such as sport were being squeezed out.
• In the National Literacy Trust's 2025 survey, just 32.7 per cent of 8 to 18-year-olds said they enjoyed reading in their free time, the lowest level in 20 years, and fewer than 1 in 5 read something daily. Reading is becoming quietly distinctive.
• Read widely: a classic, a modern novel, poetry, history, a biography, something translated from Arabic, something translated into it. Let one book lead to the next.

Keeping a commonplace book

• A commonplace book is a notebook for collecting quotations and ideas from your reading. The Public Domain Review describes it as popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, a personal encyclopaedia of quotations.
• Jonathan Swift called it a "supplemental memory". The philosopher John Locke devised an indexing method for his, published in French in 1685 and in English in 1706.
• A modern version: a paper notebook or a single notes file with headings such as Courage, Friendship, Faith, Work, Nature. Copy passages that strike you, with the author and page.
• Add a line on why it mattered to you. Years later, it becomes a record of who you were becoming.
• This is different from study notes (see Study Skills ss-04): it is for wisdom and beauty, not exams.

Museums, galleries and music

• Free entry to the permanent collections of Britain's national museums began in 2001 (from 1 December 2001 in England), according to the Museums Association. They include the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Natural History Museum, the V&A and Tate.
• In September 2026 the UK government ruled out entry charges for overseas visitors to England's national museums, so the permanent collections remain free for visitors from the Gulf too.
• In the UAE, some museums have offered free entry on International Museum Day (18 May). In 2025 The National reported free entry at Louvre Abu Dhabi for visitors with a valid Emirates ID and at Sharjah Museums Authority museums, including the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation.
• Visit slowly. Choose five works or objects, read the labels, and sit with one for ten minutes. Note it in your commonplace book.
• Learn the story behind music you love, then branch out: classical Arabic music, an orchestra, a choir, jazz, the music of your grandparents' generation. Listen to one complete album or piece without your phone.

Learning one skill deeply

• Depth brings a quiet confidence that no purchase can. Calligraphy, an instrument, a language, chess, carpentry, cooking, coding or a sport all qualify.
• Deliberate practice, the approach studied by Anders Ericsson, means practice with a clear goal and immediate, informative feedback, not just repetition.
• The British Psychological Society notes the popular "10,000 hours" rule distorts Ericsson's work. A 2016 review by Macnamara and colleagues found practice explained 19 per cent of performance differences in sub-elite athletes and less than 1 per cent at elite level.
• The lesson: practice matters, but so do coaching, rest, enjoyment and individual differences. Practise well, find a teacher, and do it for love rather than to beat others.
• Commit to one skill for at least a year and record your progress monthly.