Five Ways To Improve Your Focus
1) Listening to Music
One way of improving your focus is constantly listening to music. When I talk about listening, I mean really getting to comprehend the words in the music.
It helps in clearing your mind by making you focus on only one thing and hence helps in cooling your mind off.
This helps in freshening your mind and removing blogs in your mind which limit your concentration and focus.
2) Meditation
Meditation also helps one in improving his or her focus and also concentration. It is highly advisable that you spend at least one hour of your day meditating.
One way of improving your meditation is through breathing.
When one focuses on the air he or she is breathing, the way it touches your nostrils and how it enters your throat and leaves helps in calming your nerves down.
It helps you achieve a sense of peace and some satisfaction. This helps in improving your focus.
3) Make sure your goals are small, achievable and realistic
Setting very huge and unrealistic goals can really frustrate someone making him or her lose focus.
One way of improving focus is setting goals which are smart (simple, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound).
This helps in reducing pressure and a lot of frustrations when the goals seem to be underachieved.
Accumulation of a lot of pressure in someone makes him or her lose concentration.
Therefore it is of vital importance if one set goals which can be achieved in maybe a week or a month instead of very long term goals.
4) Frequent exercise of the body and mind
Studies have shown that regular exercise makes one calm his or her mind and thus improve his or her focus.
Exercises such as swimming, going to the gym etc. helps one to lay off burdens which he or she may be carrying in the head and mind.
Exercises aids one in relaxing his or her mind and thus improving concentration and focus.
Also one can improve focus by frequently exercising the mind by for example filling crossword puzzles, engaging in sentence conclusion texts etc. this helps in making sure your mind is not idle.
5) Wear light clothes when you can
Wearing light and loose clothes also help in improving your focus.
This is because there is sufficient ventilation in your body and free air can easily flow in and out. This helps in keeping your mind fresh and constantly on focus.
3 Tricks for Staying Focused – What You Need to Know
Most of us have so much on our plates that we tend to lose focus.
It is tough to stay focused with the constant stream of clients, employees, phone calls and emails calling out and demanding our attention but did you know that just by understanding the limitations of the brain and working around it can improve one’s focus and increase one’s productivity?
Our brains have long been attuned with distraction but the digital environment today makes it even harder to focus.
Distractions are considered as an alert for the brain saying, “Orient your attention here! It could be dangerous.”
It is an automatic and also virtually unstoppable reaction of the brain.
Although one can take pride on his multitasking skill, it can have a downside as well.
It can literally drop one’s IQ because mistakes are more likely as subtle cues are missed, accidentally flying off handles and spelling things wrong.
In order to sustain a healthy brain, try these 3 tricks for staying focused.
1. Prioritize creative work.
Usually we do the work that uses less brain exertion and then build it up to the tough tasks. Doing this lowers your focus and drains your energy.
Every decision that one makes is a consumption of the brain’s energy making it tired even after mindless work.
Reverse the order so you’d focus effectively. Tasks that require your brain or concentration should be checked off first and done in the morning.
Move on to the easier ones as you go through the day like scheduling meetings or deleting emails.
2. Allocate time deliberately.
According to recent studies, one can truly focus for only an average of six hours a week. That means in those hours, you’d have to be really diligent.
Some people work best at night or in the morning and there is a study that says people think better when they are outside the office.
Keep an eye on yourself on where and when you can focus best and use those time for the toughest tasks you have to accomplish.
3. Train the mind like a muscle.
The brain is quick to adapt if multitasking is really a norm.
If distractions have become a habit, you’ll lose the ability to focus faster than those who have trained their brain to focus more often.
Practice concentration gradually at least once a day by turning off a distraction when doing a single task.
Five minutes a day is enough and just work on building it up as soon as you go on with it. It is like getting fit. You build the muscle to shape it in your favor.
Why You Should Replace Multitasking with Mindfulness
Multitasking means that a person is doing more than one task at a time. Because so many people are incredibly busy, multitasking has become a way of life.
On any given day at the same time, you’ll see people who are simultaneously walking, updating their Facebook, texting, and talking to people.
Because all of these tasks are going on at the same time, the brain is forced to react quickly, moving back and forth, constantly changing focus.
Studies have shown that not only do those who multitask not get more accomplished, but they’re more apt to face burnout, higher levels of stress and a poorer quality of life.
Your brain was not meant to deal with an overload of material in so little time.
When you multitask, just like you’re splitting your attention between things on your to-do list, you’re also splitting yourself figuratively.
You might be checking things off that list but no one thing has your full focus and neither do those you love.
When you’re in a relationship and your partner is speaking and you’re on your cell phone sending a text message, you’re not really listening to them.
Multitasking has helped to cause people to feel less empathetic toward others because people don’t really hear and aren’t really aware of the full scope of the situations they’re seeing or hearing about.
There’s another downside to multitasking. When you’re not fully present with what you’re doing or who you’re spending time with, you miss things.
You’ll discover that you have a tendency to spend a lot of time and energy on things that don’t really matter.
Multitasking keeps you perpetually distracted. The cure for multitasking is mindfulness. This means that you’re focused on the present.
You’re giving whatever task you’re doing 100% of yourself.
It means that whoever you’re interacting with is not having to compete for your attention because you’re 100% present with them.
Being fully present can help to deepen relationships with those you love.
It can also make you better at your job, more understanding of your coworkers and happier in all aspects of your life. When you’re being mindful, you’re focused.
You’ve got your mind and your emotions fully engaged.
By being focused, you’re aware of the task. Getting it done will be easier and you won’t be nearly as stressed.
When you focus on a person, you’ll be able to have a deeper connection without multitasking.
You’ll be fully engaged in your own life and in the lives of the people you interact with. Mindfulness can teach you how to keep your focus on the moment.
It can show you how to enjoy the day to day tasks and situations even if they’re mundane.
Plus when you practice being mindful, it’ll help you to recognize when you’re not.
You’ll gain the intuition to know when something doesn’t really have your full attention.