Yes, 8 seconds! This is even one second less than the attention span of a goldfish. Naturally, if something catches our attention, we are perfectly able to focus much longer. But we don’t always have a task that we’re excited about in front of us. Our minds then tend to wander off to other matters and the ability to focus decreases.

So, what can you do to prevent it from happening? Think about your concentration as it is another muscle in your body. If you exercise this muscle regularly, it will get in shape and the performance will get better. Try out the following tricks – in case you managed to focus long enough to read up here!

Meditate

Meditation is a remarkable tool which helps you calm your mind. Not everybody has the time to dedicate an hour each day to it but even a short meditation at your workplace counts! Once you realize that your thoughts wandered off again, close your eyes and take a deep breath. Focus on your breathing, on its rhythm and on the air filling your lungs. Such a simple activity will help you stable your thoughts.

Listen to music

Listening to music has a positive effect on your concentration but only if you truly listen. Most people only listen to music as a background noise while they do other activities but you should try another approach. Focus on individual instruments and how they interfere together or focus on only one and follow it throughout the whole song. Listening to music can be considered as a form of meditation which will nicely clear your thoughts.

Divide your goal into smaller targets

The vision of what you want to achieve can easily frustrate and demotivate you as it seems so abstract and far away at first. Don’t focus on the ultimate goal but divide it into smaller and easier targets. The presence of an achievable target will help you focus on the work at hand as you will see the results faster.

Exercise

Scientists discovered that physical activities can help increase your concentration. If you exercise in the morning, you will get more oxygen in your brain, which means you will focus better and do more work. I suggest you give this morning ritual a go. If nothing else, regular exercise will boost your mood and improve your health.

Read more

Thanks to social media, you probably got used to read only headlines of the news. If you read an article, you probably focus on a few paragraphs only. Sounds familiar? Many of do it but such behavior only supports our lack of focus. Instead, try to read interesting articles and books until the end and truly focus on what you read.

As you can see, these recommendations are quite easy and achievable. With a bit of practice, you will soon be the master of concentration!

Source:
www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-can-i-improve-my-focus