Talk with people about things you or they know about. Talking about politics, religion, and other challenging topics (having real discussions, not just arguments), can be a great basic brain workout. You might even consider joining a group like Toastmasters since they cover a wide range of interests. Join a group or club for people with the same interests as you. This can be a hobby club, a political group, a discussion group, or anything like that. Talking with people with similar interests will get you using your brain and your skills. Phones can be a distraction when you are having a conversation with someone, so get into the habit of putting it away when you are socializing. Try putting your phone in another room, or shutting it off when you are socializing with friends. This will force you to focus on the conversation and work on improving your face-to-face communication skills. Doing volunteer work will not only improve your social connections, it will also provide you with opportunities to build new neurological pathways. Try volunteering at your local food bank, animal shelter, hospital, or nursing home.

Summary: Talk with people. Join an interest group. Put away your phone when talking with people. Volunteer.

Maybe you are at home, school, or work and plan to eavesdrop on a family member, schoolmate, or coworker. Maybe you're even in the same room (or the next cubicle). Your main goal should be to look extremely absorbed in whatever you are doing so that the person you want to eavesdrop on won't be suspicious. They might even forget you are even there! If you are at work, look intently at your computer screen while frantically typing. You might be typing gibberish, but the person in the next cubicle will just think you are concentrating on your work (and not his or her conversation). At home or school, put on your headphones and grab a book or magazine. Look completely disinterested in what is going on in the room; be surprised that other people are even there. The look on your face, if approached or "interrupted" from your magazine and music, should say: "Wow, I didn't even realize you were in here having this private conversation!" If you have a prop, people will be less likely to think you are paying attention to them. Grab a book, your phone, or your MP3 player. You should look like you are doing something other than listening in on people's conversations, so pretend to read, scroll through your phone, or listen to music. Be sure your prop is one that helps you blend in, not stand out! In shared, public spaces, the busier the place, the better. Sit down on a bench or in the middle of park where people are hanging out or walking by. Alternately, walk around and listen closely for a good conversation. If you hear a snippet of a conversation that interests you, sit down close (but not too close) to the people you want to eavesdrop on. Pretend to be interested in your book, phone, or music. If you enjoy eavesdropping as a leisure activity, taking public transport, eating out alone, browsing a store, and hanging out at a coffee shop will put you in a good position to overhear some interesting conversations. Instead of driving yourself to work or around town for your weekend errands, take the bus or the subway. You may have better luck on weekends or evenings when people are headed out on the town, since people who commute to work are usually solo travelers and aren't generally engaged in conversations. When eating out alone, try to sit near a large partythe more boisterous, the better. If the hostess sits you at a table away from other groups, ask politely if you could have a different tableperhaps a high top near the restaurant's bar, if a lot of people are hanging out there. While shopping, don't just make a bee-line for the items on your list. Instead, wander the aisles of the supermarket, convenience store, or neighborhood market. Pick up items and look at them; walk slowly and listen for conversations on the aisles close to you. Grab something to drink on the weekend at a coffee shop and stick around for a while. You could do this during the week, too, but weekends are better because people are out and about with friends (rather than scrambling to get work done on their lunch break during the week).

Summary: Feign absorption. Bring a prop. Find a good position. Get out and about.

Be sure to do this to avoid short-circuiting the electrical system during the installation, which could lead to fire or physical harm for you. For instructions on disconnecting the battery, see How to Disconnect a Car Battery. Be careful to remove all screws before trying to pry off the trim or you may break it. For some cars, you may need to remove several pieces of plastic trim, usually working from the bottom up. If you need to remove trim that includes any knobs or drawers, remove them before trying to pry off the trim. Use your hands or a pry tool to pry off each piece of trim. Pry tools are specifically for this purpose and will not damage the trim pieces. If you need to remove any components before being able to access the stereo, do so. Disconnect components that are wired to the car. Take a picture of how each is wired for later reference. Different cars may have varying elements securing the stereo in place. If the stereo is held in place by screws or nuts, loosen them with the appropriate tool (screwdriver or nutdriver, respectively). If the stereo isn't held in place by screws or nuts, you'll need to use a radio-removal key. This tool is commonly necessary in Ford vehicles. Radio-removal keys (sometimes also referred to as radio-removal tools) will typically either be in an elongated horseshoe shape or will have a circular shape at one end and a notched shaft at the other. They're available at most auto-parts stores. Insert the keys into the two small slots in the face of the stereo. You will release a mechanism holding the stereo in place. Slide the radio-removal keys into each slot again until you feel the stereo loosen from in its housing. You should then be able to pull out the stereo relatively easily. You may want to use needle-nose pliers to grip the edge of the stereo and help you pull it out. Pull it gently, and if the stereo doesn't come out easily, double check that you haven't missed any components that may be holding it in place. This is an important step because the photo will serve as a reference later when you're wiring in the new stereo. You'll see a series of wires connected to the back of the stereo, and you'll need to disconnect each of them. First unplug the antenna wire, which will typically be a thicker wire plugged in separately from the rest. Once it's unplugged, you should be able to move the stereo around more freely. Next unplug the each of the wire harness connectors. There will typically be several of these and you can recognize them because a series of wires will feed into each one. The plastic piece into which the wires are fed should have either a tab or a button you can push, which will release the harness.
Summary: Set the parking brake and disconnect the negative cable from your car battery. Unscrew any screws that are securing the trim in place. Remove the trim. Pull out any necessary components. Loosen the stereo. Pull the stereo out of the panel. Take a picture of how the stereo is wired. Unplug the stereo connections.