What is the concentration of attention? Tips for improving focus.
Concentration is one of the properties of attention that allows you to keep focus on one subject or task for some time.
Being able to focus on a project in order to complete the work on time and with high quality is a valuable skill.
And not all adults own it. Often we catch ourselves becoming more absent-minded, constantly distracted by insignificant trifles. As a result, we spend a lot more time on business than we planned.
(1) - "Just as you may not run as fast or jump as high as you did as a teenager, your brain's cognitive power—that is, your ability to learn, remember, and solve problems—slows down with age. You may find it harder to summon once familiar facts or divide your attention among two or more activities or sources of information. These changes affect your ability to focus, so you may find yourself getting more easily distracted than you were when you were younger."
However, this does not mean that the problem is not solvable. Effective ways have been developed to teach the brain to concentrate attention.
Concentration of attention can be learned
Training methods that are suitable specifically for adults and at the same time do not take much time.
What destroys a skill?
If you want exercises to develop concentration and attention stability to give the necessary results in adults, then first of all you should take care of reducing the influence of negative factors.
Every day we are faced with something that relaxes the brain and reduces personal effectiveness.
Social networks and messengers
Today it is the main place of time loss and the strongest distraction factor. The continuous flow of often unnecessary and distracting information, but it seems necessary and urgent to us, simply does not allow us to focus on the work being done.
Smartphone
It affects the brain, as well as the computer. Yes, these are necessary tools for work, entertainment and just a cure for boredom.
But also the main opponents of concentration. Pay attention to how often you look at the screen while working, check the status of applications. Yes, just turn the smartphone in your hands.
We often use the gadget at times when we are busy with other things: eating, communicating with a person. In such cases, electronics contribute to the distraction of attention. Smartphone distracts from work.
Multitasking
Performing two or more jobs at the same time is considered an advantage. However, the fashion for developing this skill has brought harm rather than benefit.
For others, special training sessions may help you think about two things at the same time. But at the same time it significantly worsens the result in each of them.
Conduct an experiment: limit the time for yourself to use your smartphone and view social networks for 1-2 hours a day. Try to concentrate only on one thing at a certain period of time. And after a couple of weeks, you will notice that it has become easier to work, and productivity has increased.
What will change with increased concentration
The quality of work is improving. The results get better in the same time. We get less tired, there is an opportunity to overcome difficulties without breaking.
The quality of recreation is improving. Strength is restored faster, health and activity are preserved longer.
Time is released. As efficiency increases in general, there are free resources that can be spent on professional development or on communication with loved ones and a favorite hobby.
Exercises to increase concentration
Each person is individual not only externally, this also applies to his cognitive functions. And the peculiarities of growing up and becoming a personality, the training of these abilities makes us even more different. This is the main principle of brain pumping.
If we want to be in good physical shape, then we go to the gym and train.
The brain can also be trained to develop skills that have either been lost or have never been your strong point.
Second hand
Take a mechanical watch and focus on the second hand for 3-4 minutes. Think only about her, don't look away. As soon as you catch yourself on extraneous thoughts or that your eyes have been taken away, put a minus and start over. This exercise can be performed with other household things, for example, washing dishes. Or just sitting in a relaxed position.
Where is the attention directed
Periodically during the working day, stop for 10-30 seconds to analyze what you are doing. Determine where your attention is directed, whether you are using your time productively, what exactly is distracting you.
This exercise will help to analyze the distribution of time and identify the most disturbing factors.
Reflexive reading
Choose a fascinating book, a work of fiction or special literature. Read one chapter carefully, immersing yourself in the text, taking notes as you go.
Note the details, not just the basic information. Pay attention to the style of the text, the way the author expresses his thoughts.
Countdown
Choose a large number (from hundreds to thousands) and start counting backwards. The goal is to reach one. Getting lost, make a note and start over.
The ability to focus on a specific task is not given to everyone, but we learn how to focus attention correctly. Thanks to classes, we achieve success. This is one of the wonders of the human brain, an organ about which many facts are known.
Useful tips
To increase the concentration of attention in a particular situation and throughout the day, regular training may not be enough. You need to learn how to organize your life properly.
Ergonomic workspace, absence of additional irritants and habits harmful to mindfulness. This is a condition for maintaining the existing level and improving the skill in the future.
In order for the techniques of developing concentrated attention to give the expected result, follow a few tips.
Decide on secondary tasks
Often we spend a lot of time on additional insignificant work, for example, constant mail checks. Before you start the main task, make a schedule of distractions for such minor matters. This way you will stop thinking about them all the time.
Watch for hydration
Water is needed to maintain mindfulness
In addition to the needs of the body, the lack of fluid makes us distracted during the work process.
Drink clean water at the first sign of thirst and always keep a supply next to you.
Then you will not have to interrupt additionally to go to another room for her.
Additional motivation
Being interested in the case is extremely important. Before you get to work, focus on what you will get from doing it.
Find a serious reason for yourself to cope with the task quickly and without any reason to complain about quality.
Listen carefully
Give up the everyday habit of distracting your attention by doing several things at the same time or working with different sources of information.
Pay full attention to the specific task. Listen carefully and watch the running video or conversations of the child.
By deliberately scattering attention in non-important moments, you acquire it as a fixed habit. Later you will not be able to listen carefully to the interlocutor.
Take breaks
It is impossible to keep concentration on a certain task for a long time, at the same level. To achieve the best result, it is worth taking periodic short breaks at regular intervals.
Thinking about how to develop concentration and attentiveness, learn to focus at work and improve concentration. Do not forget that a comfortable and at the same time non-distracting environment is also extremely important.
It happens that the deterioration of the ability to concentrate appears as a sign of pathological processes in the body.
For example, there are not enough vitamins, or chronic stress affects a person.
To find such causes and eliminate them, a consultation with a doctor will help.
When thinking about how to develop concentration and attentiveness, learn to focus at work and improve concentration, do not forget that a comfortable and at the same time not giving reasons for distraction is also extremely important.