The Importance of Improving Your Concentration
Do you ever find yourself going on the computer ready to start work or ready to write your essay, you have everything in front of you ready to go but you can’t seem to get going. Always thinking other than the task at hand can be quite frustrating.
Being laser focused and concentrated on whatever you decide to put your energy into can be difficult from the endless distractions present in our life ranging from social media to binge-watching popular TV-shows. In addition, the continuous consumption of short-form content affecting our attention span. Not being able to be tunnel-visioned and have your undivided attention to whatever you put your mind to, can be disruptive to achieving your aspirations and goals.
“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start” — Charles Bukowski
Concentration is crucial in elements of your life such as reading a book without being attentive can affect your comprehension and retention of that information. You could read 30 books in 6 months yet not learn anything.
In addition, the time you spend on an activity without full concentration and not giving it your all, can cause you to not fulfil your full potential, become disappointed and regretful for your decisions, affect your learning opportunities for personal development and make you feel as someone who is not credible. The lack of concentration can cause procrastination and delay your work ultimately causing you to occupy more of your precious time on a task.
Concentration is an important part of life whether that be:
- at work: when preparing for a project or thinking about strategy plans to increase sales. Concentration can contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the task to be completed in a short amount of time.
- Reading: Research and informing yourself with information requires concentration to think critically and analyze pieces of information.
- Learning & studying: allows focusing on understanding information and analysing pieces of information.
Concentration is defined by Oxford Dictionary as:
The continued focusing of one’s attention on something; the ability to sustain such focus
Essentially, concentration collects your energy, thoughts, ideas and vision to whatever you put your attention to and considers everything else as a background or irrelevant.
How to Increase Concentration
Just like any skill, concentration can be developed through practice, patience and consistency.
Count the number of words in a paragraph in a book and recount them to see if you got the correct number. As concentration is important for not missing out on information. If you got the hang of it, then increase the number of paragraphs to 2. You might start off using your finger to count but move over just by counting with your eyes.
Another way is through meditation: One type is focused attention meditation involves focusing on a particular object or process such as your breathing or a candle. A few scientific studies have shown the benefits of mindfulness training improving working memory and reduce mind wandering,
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