How to step by step sharpen attention and improve focus

If you want to do a lot more with less energy, then there is nothing more important than improving your focus and sharpening your attention. In this state, a person becomes extremely effective and at the same time does not feel tension and stress.

Focus is your ability to collect and direct attention. The longer you focus, the more successful you will become. This applies to academic achievement, athletic performance, entrepreneurial success, skill acquisition, and more.

There are a ton of distractions these days. There is even a Microsoft study that shows the average person can hold their attention for eight seconds. This is less than that of a goldfish.

Source

Fortunately, simple guidelines can help you regain your ability to hold sustained attention. Here are few tips.

Improve your focus by doing one thing at a time.
Most people today have trouble concentrating for two reasons:

• As children, we were told to concentrate, but not explained how.
• We do not practice concentration.

So how can we improve focus if no one has ever taught us this? In fact, we practice something every day. We are distracted. And in this we are the masters.

The person accuses modern technology of not knowing how to concentrate. But this is a sign of victim syndrome and with this approach we will not learn anything. Plus, technology makes our lives better. It's just about controlling them, not letting them control us.

The first and best way to learn to focus is to do one thing at a time. Sounds simple, but we know it isn't. But if you practice, then you will definitely succeed. Follow these steps:

• When talking to someone, pay full attention to the conversation.
• When writing a report, write a report.
• When walking down the street, focus on walking down the street.

Prior commitment means that you decide in advance what task you will work on, excluding everything else. This is not a sluggish "Now I sort of have to work and it seems like I have already started", but a conscious "I will work for one hour without any distractions."

This is a very important point. Most people make no decisions or commitments inherently. They seem to be working on a task, but are distracted at the first opportunity because they have not made any promise to themselves.

The beginner's mistake is that he tries to do more than he can pull. All this leads to frustration and the fact that he quits.

When you start working on your focus, start small. If your focus muscles are very loose, set a timer for 5 minutes. After focusing on a task for less than five minutes, take a two minute break. Then another 5 minutes of concentration on one task. Relaxation. The next day - 10 minutes.

Don't rush to an important task without thinking. First, eliminate distractions. If something can distract you, it will definitely distract you.

Then come up with a plan to deal with the distractions. For example:

• Worried about the distraction of your phone? Turn it off.
• Worried about other people being distracted? Warn them or find a quiet corner.
• Internet addicted? Leave the computer off and work on the task with a piece of paper and a pen.
• Is the noise distracting? Put on your headphones.
• Find a way to avoid all irritants. It will pay off many times over.

A well-known study proves that those who meditate are much better at concentrating than those who are not.

Life experience also suggests that the more often you focus on the present moment (which is what meditation does), the better you focus.

Say no to anything that matters less to you than what you are currently doing. Don't make excuses that you deserve the rest, because it's often just procrastination.

Source

A monkey mind is thoughts that wiggle in your head and do not lead to any decisions. These are distractions that weaken your focus. They do not come from outside, but are born inside.

You may be working on an important project with a voice in your head interrupting you with thoughts such as:

"What if I don't get a promotion?"
"What if they don't call me back?"
“I thought the boss was a little angry today. How did I make him angry? I haven't done anything. Or did you? "
Sounds familiar? To tame the monkey mind, you need to take the following steps:

• Practice mindfulness
• Start keeping a journal (this way all thoughts can be put there and left there)
• Pay attention to your breathing when obsessive thoughts enter your head.

After a while, our cognitive control system begins to fail. If we switch our attention with the help of rest, then we can return to it after a while without loss of quality.

Remember, the break should ideally be combined with activity or exercise.

I wish you good luck!

---