If you find it challenging to finish a project, get through work tasks, study for exams, or concentrate on something, you may be looking for ways to improve focus.
You’re in a moment when you sit at your desk with an urgent deadline and cannot focus on the task at hand. Despite your efforts, you fail to progress. But you know you need to focus and motivate yourself because your job depends on this. Nevertheless, you just can’t concentrate.
In the digital era, it’s easy to get distracted. Interesting content is everywhere, and you deal with an increasing amount of information delivered in various ways. The inability to focus is one of the maladies of our generation, and everyone wants to find out the secret to better focus. So, the tricks for improving concentration are worth addressing.
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What is concentration?
In the book Will Power & Discipline, Remez Sasson defined concentration as one’s ability to direct attention to their will. Concentration is control of attention, an ability to focus your mind on one thought, object, or subject while excluding other sensations, feelings, ideas, or thoughts from your mind.
The last part is most likely quite tricky if you’re reading this article. To focus implies not paying attention or excluding unrelated sensations, feelings, ideas, or thoughts. To ignore your phone, emails, beeps, or colleague who is eating ice cream at their desk.
Your daily routine is dominated by switching in and out of digital devices. You get a constant flux of emails, messages, and notifications from apps critical to your job. You are constantly searching for information to solve daily issues or complete tasks.
But all these distractions affect your concentration and productivity, and it takes you longer than it should to complete a task. You don’t listen to what other people have to say, don’t comprehend things, and misunderstand or misinterpret information. Your lack of concentration also affects your memory, and you often forget things or fail to recall information.
Factors affecting your concentration
Some days you feel like your focus is under attack from all sides. External and internal factors affect your concentration, and you need to identify them in order to improve your focus.
Here are the main factors that stop you from zooming in on the task in front of you.
Distractions. Enormous amounts of information daily bombard you while you work. Researchers found out that the human brain is so primed for distractions that only hearing the phone's beep impairs your ability to focus. You need to constantly decide if the information you receive is useful, meaningless, or sufficient. The constant flow of information muddles your assessment of whether you need it to decide or complete a task.
Insufficient sleep. Science suggests that lack of sleep can lower your alertness, reduce concentration, and slow thought processes. When you’re sleep-deprived, you feel confused and find it more challenging to focus. Therefore, your ability to meet deadlines is seriously affected. Insomnia can affect your concentration and memory.
Eating habits. What you eat impacts how you feel and how sharp your mind is. If you don’t fuel your brain with the proper nutrients, you can experience fatigue, memory loss, and lack of focus. A restrictive or low-fat diet negatively affects concentration because it triggers cravings and hunger and leaves you feeling unwell.
Environment. Depending on your activities, the environment can impact your concentration; a loud noise level can prove problematic because you may need quietness to focus. It’s not only the overall noise level but also the kind of noise that affects your focus. While co-workers chatting may derail your focus, a favourite song can keep your mind focused.
Steps to take to improve concentration
Vary your diet
What you eat affects your cognitive functions, such as memory and concentration. Stay away from processed foods and take supplements like trace minerals to boost concentration. Staying hydrated also positively impacts your focus because even mild dehydration can make it challenging to remember information.
Improve sleep
When you’re tired, your reflex slows down and affects your daily tasks. Therefore, it’s essential to get as close to the recommended amount of sleep nightly. Experts state that adults should aim for 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night.
How can you improve your sleep?
- Put all screens aways an hour before bed
- Lower the temperature in the bedroom
- Have a warm bath
- Go to bed and wake up around the same time
Exercise
Regular exercise increases concentration because physical activity benefits everyone. Research suggests that adults who engage in moderate physical activity can stop or reverse memory loss associated with brain atrophy.
Final words
Experts still debate what tricks function best in improving concentration. We hope that now you can identify the factors that impact your focus and strategies that can help you enhance your engagement.
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