Table Of Contents
- 1. How to Concentrate on Studying
- 2. How to Stay Focused on Studying: One-Item-To-Do-List
- 3. Learn How To Concentrate On Studies
- 4. How to Focus - Get Things Done and Be Free
- 5. Steps On How to Focus Better
How to Concentrate on Studying
Concentrating on studying is one of the most difficult task ever, especially if you hate what you are studying. I suppose many will agree with me on this statement.
The art of concentration takes skills and tactics to master. Though it's tough, it's not impossible.
No matter whether you are studying for exams or learning how to swim, the most important element in concentrating to focus on what you are doing and learn the various ways of saying 'NO' to distractions.
It's difficult to convince a non productive person that he/she has the ability to concentrate, but the truth is, human are blessed naturally with this instinct to do so, believe it or not.
It all depends on oneself whether you want to make full use of this capability or choose to ignore this 'gift from god' and start to make excuses for yourself.
Think of the occasions where one happily indulge yourself in something you love doing for hours and hours till you even forget the time.
For example, playing your favorite games, chatting with your friends, shopping, a nice day at the beach etc.
Isn't this considered as concentrating?
This is total concentration.
Thus humans tend to display concentration for what they loved doing and find it difficult when they start to find the tasks tedious. This is human nature.
Here's some common barriers that keep us away from concentrating in our tasks.
Our worries, stress from our daily lives create mental strain in our minds, preventing us to concentrate.
While one will try very hard to take things off their mind and focus, human mind will tend to prioritize 'worries' at the top of the list, leaving the job that needs to be done at the bottom until the problem is resolved.
This is by far one of the toughest barrier ever and is also quite difficult to get rid of unless you belong to the sort of person that can draw a very clear line between emotions and serious work.
Sadly to say, only minority have this ability as it is only pure human nature that we are all driven by our emotions.
Other contributing factors are relatively much easier to solve.
Our minds tend to drift off while trying very hard to concentrate.
Something much interesting out there simply takes our eyes and minds away, for example, favorite movies, food, noise, music etc.
The list continues. Your mind drifted from one thing to another and before you realize, much of the precious time has been wasted away. Sometimes it could be the material or the tasks you are doing is simply of no interest to you or just too boring or too difficult understand.
The rule of the thumb is to cultivate best practices and do everything that is within your limits to keep tasks under your control.
Do not let distractions overpower your mind. One may wish to a keep a strict diary or timetable and stick closely to it.
Give rewards to pamper yourself, for example, your favorite snack or 1 hour for games or favorite TV shows after you have finished your tasks within stimulated time.
The issue of how to concentrating on studying is not as difficult as it seems to be after all.
How to Stay Focused on Studying: One-Item-To-Do-List
Students continuously ask me how to stay focused on studying.
The first step is to expect distractions.
Let's use this article for practice and act now before distractions appear.
Write on a piece of paper, "Finish focus article."
Then write the date.
When you finish reading this article, draw a line through what you wrote and a check mark.
Doing this exercise proves to yourself you can focus on studying.
If you haven't written down "Finish focus article" yet, do it now to get the full benefit of your time with me.
We will return to this One-Item-To-Do-List towards the end of this article.
When we study something new, our focus is on something unfamiliar.
This lack of familiarity makes us feel uncomfortable.
When an area is unfamiliar and uncomfortable, we generally want to avoid that area.
It's at that point we can make anything into a distraction.
Seriously, anything.
For example, I was studying to take a test used for entrance into graduate programs (GMAT).
It was getting late.
I began rubbing my neck and noticed some facial hair. It didn't bother me before.
While studying, it became an annoying distraction.
"How is a man supposed to study with neck facial hair!" I could have shaved but then it would have just grown back.
So I decided to stop studying and pull out the tweezers.
To further prove we can make anything into a distraction, go ahead and pick anything ("anything" referring to a person, place, or thing, that is real or imaginary).
Now make it into a distraction.
If creating a distraction out of thin air was easy for you, don't worry most of us do it all the time to avoid areas that are different, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable like studying new subjects.
Now let's explore areas where people can focus well.
These areas can give us clues on how to improve our focus while studying.
When my brother and I used to play video games, our eyes would turn red from staring at the screen for so long.
When we closed out eyes, they would burn like sand paper.
The trick is: don't blink. Our grandpa would boil water and the pot would whistle, "Woot!" And it would keep whistling.
It was literally 10 feet away from us. Once it whistled so long, it ran out of water.
So this is the extreme focus.
We were so focused distractions didn't matter.
This is the kind of concentration most would like have while studying (with more attention on health and safety than my brother and I).
Ever get into a trance state with where it's like the whole world disappears?
It happens when you are watching good movie or lost in your favorite music. (All you have is that moment.) This is a cool state to be in when you're doing something productive.
Many feel this way when they are doing something they love.
Think back to the last time you were doing something productive and could say, "I could do this forever."
You might have been totally passionate about that activity.
Maybe nothing could faze you. Distractions came and then they went.
They came and then they went and you kept on going.
All new areas begin as different, unfamiliar, and uncomfortable.
With time and practice you may be able to reach a trance-like state in that area.
With the right tools you can get there more quickly and easily.
The tool we used to practice our focus while you read this article is called the "One-Item-To-Do-List." You can pull that out now and draw a line through "Finish focus article."
Congratulations!
If you read (or skimmed) this article online, distractions were just a click away.
You were able to stay focused and finish. You exercised your focus muscles.
Learn How To Concentrate On Studies
Not all people are blessed with the ability to focus for long hours on a single task like studying. Most of us get distracted by trivial things.
If it is important for you to do well in your exams then it is time you learn how to concentrate on studies and we share some tips to help you with this task.
Prepare A Timetable:
Make a study plan about how you are going to tackle your subject. If you just pick a random textbook and start your exam preparation it is never going to work.
Allot time for each subject and chapter. Assign extra hours for those topics that you find difficult to understand or follow.
With a reasonable work plan you will have an idea about how much you have accomplished and how much more is left to do.
Create Passion For Subject
It is not easy to study subjects you have no interest in. To key to "how to concentrate on studies" is to develop passion and interest for a subject.
The more interest in a subject you develop the more concentration you develop for the subject. Start with the topics that are most interesting to you and proceed to the more difficult ones after you get a proper feel for the easier topics in the subject.
Another tip is to study the harder topics when you are alert and easier ones when you are tired.
Pick interesting topics to study after meal times as people find hard to concentrate on a full stomach.
Pick A Suitable External Environment
Pick a comfortable and relatively quiet place to study. If you study at home then ensure that the TV, Internet and music system are switched off.
Put the mobile phone on vibration mode.
Let the people at home know that you should not be disturbed during your study time.
If there are too many distractions at home then head to the library and select a spot away from main traffic area.
In a library you will find students who are keen to study hard and this will be a good motivation for you to concentrate.
Colleges also provide study rooms to help students have a distraction free environment. Make use of these spaces.
Get Rid of Internal Distractions
How to concentrate on studies when you have serious internal distractions?
This is one of the biggest obstacles to learning and focusing.
If you are under some stress or have left tasks undone that is needs your attention then go ahead and deal with those first before you sit down to study or make a time allotment for that task in your schedule and concentrate on the subject at hand.
If you are under stress then try relaxation techniques like meditation and deep breathing for a few minutes before you start your study session.
Clear The Clutter
Cluttered rooms, messy tables and other loose items are distractions that keep you from concentrating. Spend a few minutes clearing up everything on your desk and you will spend a productive hour on studies.
Sleep And Eat Well
It is important to get a good nights rest for concentration on studies.
Get sufficient rest and you will find that you are able a lot of time to your subject without feeling tired or bored.
Eat well as no one concentrate on an empty stomach.
How to Focus - Get Things Done and Be Free
What is Focus?
Focus is what you direct your attention to, what you allow into awareness.
But it's more than that - to say it's just that is like saying that the screen of your computer is your computer.
The screen is just the output of the processes happening in the computer.
Focus is a process.
Way I see it, focus is what you zoom in on and the process of focusing is the process of zooming in on things.
...as though the process of focusing is zooming in with a video camera where the screen of the video camera is your awareness, what comes up in your mind, the output, and the process of zooming in and out on different things is the process of focusing.
Just like with a video camera, you can decide to zoom in and out on anything - you can focus on anything - but that's not the most effective way to use a video camera - to zoom - to focus...
How to Focus
The first thing to do is to stop zooming in and out of different things all the time.
Zoom out completely.
Turn the video camera off. You can turn it on again later.
Thing is that the more different things you try to focus on, the lower the quality of your focus will be. It's like you're spreading the focus out over many things instead of concentrating it on something.
Look around quickly and you'll get a vague idea of what's in the room but you won't remember much detail about anything in particular.
Looking around and getting a general idea about something has it's place, but it's not focus.
Get out of the habit of needing to zoom in and out of things constantly.
Just as a thought experiment even for now until you see for yourself how powerful this is...
Then when you want to focus on something in particular, zoom in completely on that thing, that idea, whatever it is... don't allow your focus to wander to other things, if it does just zoom back on what you're concentrating on.
If you get stuck or panic, especially during an exam or tough situation, zoom out completely. Turn the camera off.
Zoom out even of the idea of zooming. It'll give you perspective.
It's easy to feel like a tiny piece of wall is massive if your eyes are pressed against it - take a step back and you might find you can just walk around the wall instead of having to barrel through it.
It's a lot easier to sprint if you haven't been jogging all day.
Get out of the habit of needing to constantly focus on things and then when you do want to focus, it'll be a lot more intense and have a much higher quality to it.
Finally, when it comes to focusing on specific situations like studying for exams, zooming out of everything else and in on the material sets an atmosphere in your mind that you'll be able to go back to when you're writing the exam, and it won't be cluttered by a whole lot of other thoughts you had while you told yourself you were studying.
Be Free
You're holding the video camera. You are not the video camera.
It's not you; it's something you're holding.
Just like whatever you zoom in on, whatever you focus on and direct your attention to and bring into awareness - that's not you. Your problems, limitations, issues, etc... none of it is you.
Those are just things that we focus on and have made up stories about to give them meaning. Just like the fragment of a brick wall seems massive when your eyes are pressed against it, our limitations and "problems" seem super real when we're immersed in them.
But you don't have to be immersed in them.
Zoom out.
Doesn't mean everything will always be easy but zoom out and you'll gain perspective.
There are no problems, only situations. Zoom out to gain perspective and you'll probably find you aren't as stuck as you feel.
Then zoom out of the idea of zooming out.
Zoom out, let go of the process of focusing altogether as a way of reconnecting to your awareness and your infinite, complete, perfect true nature.
Awareness aware of itself.
Zoom out.
Unleash Reality
Steps On How to Focus Better
Dictionary.com defines the word "focus" as:
"a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity."
It also gives other definitions in relation to physics, optics, geometry, and geology.
The interesting thing about each definition is that they are centered around a few key words:
~Point
~Center
~Position
~Heart
~Core
These words show that the word indicates a defined area. And not just any area: ONE area.
My favorite definition is when it is used in verb form, and it means "to concentrate."
Because it pretty much sums up the overall meaning of the word.
I believe that in order to truly understand what it means to focus on something, you have to understand what the word itself means.
And, in my personal opinion, I feel that the lack of understanding its definition is why so many people fail at their ability to focus.
They go through their lives with a million thoughts in their head, doing a lot of activity but not really accomplishing anything.
Then they wonder why they seem to not be able to get ahead in their life and career.
When you really want something, no matter what it is, it will be difficult for you to manifest it into your life when you're not putting the majority of your attention upon that which you want.
You're giving your attention to this project, that deadline, these two businesses, the five latest affiliate marketing launches, etc.
Each of these things are receiving pieces of your energy because you are thinking about all of them at the same time.
But sooner or later you're going to receive a brain overload and it's going to negatively affect your physical health by way of stress.
This was me recently.
As you may know, I have a burning desire to become full invest in one of my businesses, and I've been thinking of ways to manifest the money needed to do so.
All of a sudden I found myself opting in to ALL of these mailing lists for different opportunities, reviewing various products, launches, and commission plans trying to find multiple ways to bring in enough money.
This only added frustration and confusion upon me, and I found myself almost getting mentally burned out by the various offers.
I had to get a grip on myself because I've done this before, and promised myself that I wouldn't go down the same road again.
So I stopped, used EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) to clear my mind and body of the resistance, and centered my attention back on my primary business, as well as towards what I REALLY love to do: Music.
Once I did that, that's when I had more clarity.
That's when ideas and opportunities related to my real chief aim began showing up in my awareness, by Law of Attraction.
That's when I stopped trying to figure it out and just put it in God's hands, trusting that the Universe will provide the resources at the right moment in time that will put me in a financial position to get all in.
When you take time to stop and look at the million things on which you're focusing, I can guarantee you that the majority of those things are energy drainers that don't make you feel good.
If you want fast results, you need to have that ONE thing that serves as your chief aim.
And the chief aim is something you want that gives you the best feeling.
Something that gets you excited when you think about it.
Something you know, without any doubt, you will get or achieve.
You are obsessed with achieving it. You are willing to risk everything to accomplish it.
And the more focus you place upon it, the faster it will come.
That's how my mother became a Registered Nurse.
Despite having three kids at the time (including me), despite having to quit school after I was born, despite it taking her ten years to make it happen, she didn't lose focus.
Her tunnel vision was at one hundred percent, and she didn't let ANY outside influences stop her from achieving her desire.
She did what she had to do and made the necessary sacrifices to make it happen. She was OBSESSED with becoming a nurse.
It's what she loved to do.
And over twenty years later, she's still doing what she loves to do as an RN.
So what's your chief aim?
What's your obsession?
What's your true goal? Here are 9 steps to help you find it and put all of your attention on how to focus better upon it:
1. Ask yourself, "What do I love to do?"
2. Find an opportunity that is centered around what you love to do. And you'll know it's the right opportunity based on how great it makes you feel.
3. Cut out all physical distractions (radio, TV, useless Internet browsing, anything that distracts you).
4. Study and educate yourself on your chief aim.
5. Go forward and DO IT NOW! Don't waste time trying to figure it out. Just know that, as long as you decide to do it, the "how" will present itself at the right time.
6. Do the "right things" long enough consistently. Don't just do it for a week, then stop and think the results are going to just appear from out of thin air. It doesn't work that way. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:11, "The race is not to the swift."
7. Keep score. Keep a record of your progress.
8. Celebrate when you reach specific milestones related to your chief aim.
9. Choose to feel good throughout the entire process. Enjoy the journey. Success is a journey, not a destination.
So what are you waiting for? GET FOCUSED, MAN!