I recently red several books as well as watching many videos about the importance of concentration.
I have spent the last four/five months training in this using several different techniques. As a result, I have recently noticed a strong improvement in my overall concentration and a strong awareness without getting distracted!
But let's start by asking ourselves this - what is concentration?
Concentration is simply the power to put your attention, your awareness onto a single object, subject or individual for a certain amount of time.
Did someone teach to us how to concentrate?
No, we have heard in school or from our parents the importance of concentration, but no one has taught to us how.
Can we learn concentration?
Absolutely yes, as much as we have learnt distraction...
How do we learn concentration?
One of the leaders in this topic as well as the one who influential globally is the Indian monk DANDAPANI. You can easily find YouTube video and books from him.
I took a lot of advice from him and I readapted his practices on my everyday life.
I began noticing great results after only 4/5 months of practice, so I am still in the process to discover more on the topic.
In the meantime I will write down 6 Tips I adapted to and found them really helpful in training concentration and avoid distraction.
- Turn off phone notifications.
As difficult as this can be for most people, its also vital as the notifications are a key distraction!
How many times are you talking to someone and looking at your phone?
How many times are you engaged in a conversation and then you receive a message that interrupts the conversation?
How many times are you doing something and you get distracted by social media?
After just one day, turning off your notifications will give you an immediate feeling of relaxation and a much better focus overall.
You will then decide when to look at it and when to give your full attention to your phone. You will then be in control of it rather than you being controlled by it! Proactive rather than reactive.
2.Give to the people the gift of your full attention.
Giving to the person you are talking to your full attention is a fantastic way of training concentration.
The person you are talking to will feel it and they will really enjoy your presence.
Be present with them in every way without having your mind elsewhere, and if that's happening, no worries, be aware of it and get back on track!
I experimented it with my girlfriend and closest friends lately and I have noticed a shift even from them by me practicing this.
3.Do one thing at the time.
Do one thing at a time and give your full focus to it.
I have always thought that multitasking would have actually improved my productivity. However, I soon realised that giving my full attention to one single topic or action made me much more productive and less confused over what I was doing.
On top of that, it gives a better clarity over the action itself so you don't start questioning things like "have I done this well?" or "Should I look at it again?"..Overall you feel more relaxed rather than feeling anxious.
4.Just read!
I am not saying something new, reading is obviously a great way to train concentration, but how you read is the key point!
Take yourself away from any distractions(Phone/TV etc..)and indulge yourself inside the book.
Give yourself rules, so you won't be allowed to leave the activity unless you finish a chapter, reach a certain point or have red a number of pages of your choice.
- Train concentration to meditate, not the way round!
Meditation is obviously all about concentration, true!
But I noticed and improvement in my meditation while I was training concentration outside of it.
I used to think that the longer I was meditating for, the longer my concentration would have last; I was instead losing it and eventually regain it with awareness.
While my concentration practises were going on over the day, I Instead experienced a longer period of focus over my morning and evening meditation.
This is more a concept I wanted to share and obviously making others aware.
6.Start something and finish it!
Commit yourself in finishing something you have started, without allowing any other duties to come across.
A lot of time, I have started something which I then left it half a way...but finishing what you have started will force your awareness and concentration; at his end, it will give you a great sense of accomplishment too.
Overall Concentration is the basement of our productivity and the secret weapon of every successful human being.
The giants over every fields of life have common the skill of concentration.
If you are capable to keep your brain focus on a single aspect for a long period of time ; your nervous system will wire a substance called Myelin, which is meant to be secret of highly effective people as well as genius in ancient and modern history.
The above are just a few tips, which significantly helped me in a quite short period of time to improve my concentration and productivity.
We live in a very "Distractive" and caotic environment, which lead us to train distraction rather than concentration.
At the end of our day, a foggy mind is the most common aspect of everyone life.
We simply need to train concentration rather than distraction.
I hope I have given to you some tools to start your concentration training journey!
...with Love!