Ever feel like you need a quick ‘pick me up’? Ever feel like you’re losing concentration?
Chances are, most of us have been there before. Here are 9 time-tested and effective ways to improve concentration and get your focus back!
- Recognize that it is OK to lose concentration and focus. Instead of beating yourself up over losing focus – learn to accept that it is perfectly fine to lose focus, interest and concentration from time to time! We are only human. Once you stop blaming and start accepting that humans (all humans) lose focus, you can then truly start to try and reclaim some concentration.
- Watch what you eat. It is important to keep your body healthy if you want to feel alert and full of energy. If you feel tired or lethargic all day – that is a sure fire concentration killer. It is common sense, yes, but do you carefully look after what food you ingest everyday?
- By that same token, you should watch what your mind eats. This means keeping out the junk or mental negativity that we all subject ourselves to everyday. Less mindless browsing, less TV surfing can do your concentration (and productivity) a whole lot of good!
- Avoid overwhelming your senses. Multi tasking has been scientifically proven to be a focus-killer. So try to cut down on doing multiple things and learn to focus on one task at east moment. Also try to avoid having multiple sensory inputs – Phones ringing, music blaring, TV in the background etc.
- Take breaks. This is very important. If you’re not giving your body and mind enough rest and relaxation – it will soon turn against you. Learn to incorporate breaks especially if you know that you’ll be going through a long period of work or study.
- Meditation helps. Again, there is some scientific evidence that shows how meditation helps in reducing stress and improving concentration. Little wonder since the whole point of meditation is to focus and be aware!
- Sleep and nap! Sleeping repairs your body and also helps consolidate and process information. If you’re working at the expense of sleep, think about how you could work around this. Taking naps (even if you don’t actually fall asleep) works wonders for feeling fresh and maintaining concentration as well.
- Set visual reminders. I find the most effective (and cheapest) way is to have post-it notes near where I can’t miss them. So places like the bathroom mirror, my laptop, my wardrobe are excellent locations for pasting a post-it note. Set this visual reminders to ‘ping’ yourself so that you know you have a task to complete.
- Breathe. We take something like breathing for granted. Why not just take 3 seconds to take in deep delicious breaths? Not only will you be taking a break, practicing concentration, you’ll also be improving the air and oxygen intake to your brain!
