How to improve your concentration and attention and why is it important?
Paying attention to what you are doing is one of the most important keys to success. If you are not able to hold your attention on one thing for some time, how can you accomplish anything?
Successful people are able to focus their mind on their goals day and night, until they accomplish them, be it money, fame, power, self-improvement or meditation. How can you improve your ability to focus your mind on your goals, when there are so many things that distract your attention?
Napoleon Hill said the following words about attention:
“Controlled attention is the act of coordinating all the faculties of the mind and directing their combined power to a given end. It is an act, which can be achieved only by the strictest sort of self-discipline.”
“Learn to fix your attention on a given subject, at will, for whatever length of time you choose. You will have learned the secret to power and plenty! This is concentration.”
“Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you don’t want!”
This is good advice for anyone one wishes to learn how to improve the concentration and attention.
I have written several articles on this important subject. Here are a few of them:
The Power of Concentration
Concentration Exercises
Tips to improve concentration and attention:
1. Never tell yourself you cannot concentrate. Telling yourself that you cannot concentrate only makes it more difficult. By doing so, you program your mind to lack concentration and attention.
2. Whenever you need to focus your mind, tell yourself over and over again that you can concentrate. Tell yourself that you can develop this ability.
3. Remember that in order to improve your concentration you need to train it, like any other skill. If now you cannot fix your mind on one subject for more than a few seconds, in time, if you persevere, you will be able to fix the mind on anything for a longer time.
4. Make deals with your mind. If there is something that is distracting your attention, such as emotional problems or unresolved business problems, tell your mind that all these problems can wait for a little while, and that you will attend to them after you finish what you are doing. If this does not help you, then write down on a piece of paper what problems you have to think about or solve. This will, to some extent, temporarily remove the problems from your mind.
5. Do one thing at a time. Jumping from one thing to another will only teach your mind to be inattentive and lose attention quickly, besides that this kind of mental restlessness can be tiring in the long run.
6. When you focus your attention on anything, be alert, and when you find yourself thinking on something else, try to stay patient, and bring your mind to the subject again and again.
7. Often, when you remember, try to fix your attention on whatever you happen to be doing at the moment.
The American business author and former management professor at the University of New Orleans, Michael Leboeuf, said: “When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.”
“I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.”
Diane Sawyer
“Where attention goes, energy flows and results show.”
T. Harv Eker
“Excellence is in the details. Give attention to the details and excellence will come.”
Perry Paxton
Peace of Mind in Daily Life is a book with exercises and advice on how to improve your concentration and attain mental mastery and inner peace. The more inner peace you have, the stronger your ability to focus your attention on what you are doing.
Related Articles
Entries (RSS)
August 5th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Very nice blog with a good layout! Good article on an important topic! The tips are good reminders. Concentration is a major factor in achieving what you want and not achieving it for sure.