Improve Your Focus With These 8 Simple Steps

If you are working on an important office project or returning shots to your opponent in the world championship of table tennis, in order to win, you will need to have focus. Not just to win actually, if you are there at that stage, then it means that you have already shown some rare levels of focus. To indulge yourself completely in a work so that either you can learn it effectively or you need to accomplish some task, focus is the key that will lead you through that door. And at times it can become the difference between a loss and victory. So as you can see that it is quite important in almost every field of life.

From childhood to adulthood, we all have been told that “improve your focus”, “you need to improve your focus if you want to score good marks”, “more focus will get you through”, etc. But only a few tell us how to do it. Most people just tell us to remove distractions, some will tell us to meditate, some will ask us to turn off the music, etc. But are these advice really that effective? Today I am going to share with you some simple tips through which you can improve your focus and strengthen it through practice. Have a look:

Improving Focus With These Simple Ways:

Learn to take breaks

You read it right. Breaks are the kind of small period you give your brain to relax and not just to your body. If you are reading something or trying to learn something, don’t go on straight at it for more than an hour. If you don’t have a strong focus and are trying to develop it, you will have to learn to give some time for your brain to absorb all the information.

Try this. Sit and study for one hour and give yourself a break of 10 minutes. Then again, sit for one hour and again a break for 10 minutes. In these 10 minutes, don’t go on pondering over what you have learned for the past 1 hour because that will defeat the purpose of the break. In these 10 minutes, you can play, cuddle or pet your pet, call your spouse and have a bit of a chat, enjoy your coffee, go for a small walk, etc. There are numerous things you can do in that 10 minute break. If I were to summarize this, then I would refer to a famous saying:

“Take a pause for the cause”

Practice Trataka

Also known as focused gazing, Trataka is a form of meditation. It is quite simple to do. Take a black pen and put a dot on a white sheet of paper (preferably in the center of the sheet). Paste that sheet on a wall in such a way, that you can sit in front of it at a distance of 3-feet (approx.). You can also put a white dot on a black paper. It doesn’t matter! You just need a point to focus and colors which don’t hurt your eyes. So now you just have to sit and gaze at the point that you made without blinking. Try to not to think or allow any thought to linger in your mind. Just keep looking at the dot. Start by a couple of minutes of practice and increase it gradually over the days as you find comfortable.

After you are done with the day’s practice, sit there and close your eyes and allow them to relax for 10 to 15 minutes. Washing your eyes with cold water before and after the practice is a good idea to relax your eyes and surrounding muscles.

Learn to live mindfully

Dedicatedly sitting for meditation is something we all have been asked to practice but what about the time when we are working or are busy somewhere else? When we are dedicating our time to meditation we are able to do it more efficiently as we are solely focused on one thing. But when we are trying to accomplish multiple tasks we often lose focus and that decreases our efficiency and we may even start making mistakes leading to a bigger blunder.

So what can one do? Living mindfully is one such way in which you can increase your focus and also remain calm. It can help you to ease tension and read the situation in a better way which can help you to form an optimistic perception. Mindfulness is a very hot topic right now across the globe. It has been practiced by meditation masters for centuries now but it has now come to the attention of the world.

Play video games

Now this may sound quite unconventional but playing video games can actually help you and your children to focus more. Now there are two reasons for that. Have you ever noticed the sound track used in these games? They are especially designed by experts to capture your focus. So if a person who doesn’t like to sit in one place for longer periods of time is more likely to sit for hours while playing video games.

Also in a study it was found that if video games are played daily for no more than 1 hour, it can actually increase the attention span. Not only improved focus, but ability to make decisions and reaction time were also found to be better by 25% in regular gamers. So playing video games isn’t that bad.

You can include many more activities to improve focus like eradicating multitasking, which divides attention. If you are studying or working then it would be a good idea to turn social media off for that particular time as continuous notifications can seriously damage your ability to focus. Exercising and picking up a hobby also helps you to spend more time on one particular thing. So what you just need is a start and then you will be on the journey to be the better version of yourself.

Hope it helps. Do let us know in the comments section below, your experience of applying these tips in your life. We would love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading!

You May Like These Also:

What Are Different Types Of Anxiety Disorders?

One Step at a Time: A Guide to Mindful Walking

How To Spot A Liar Within Seconds?