How to Focus – part 1

10 WAYS YOU CAN INCREASE MENTAL FOCUS

Being able to focus on what you are studying is one of the most important study skills. However a lot of us don’t know how to focus and get distracted when we sit down to study whether we are reviewing notes for a test or reading a manual for new software at work. How well you focus also influences how much you remember so increasing your mental focus will also help you remember the information.

Here are 10 tips on how to focus:

1. Take up meditation: People who meditate regularly find it easier to focus. This is not surprising as meditation is a good way to train the mind. Even meditating for 20 minutes each day can help you be more peaceful and focused. If clearing your mind is too difficult, there are guided meditations  that you can listen to.

2. Eliminate (or ignore) distractions: The ideal is to eliminate distractions through having a quiet place to study and shutting down distracting websites such as facebook. However if you can’t eliminate distractions, your best course of action is to ignore them. Recent research has shown our brains consider things we regularly ignore as being less important so diligently ignoring your distractions should reduce them.

3. Figure out your best time of day: Some people work best first thing in the morning while others are night owls happy to be awake in the early hours of the morning. As much as possible you should schedule study for your best time of day. Trying to study at low energy times will make it harder for you to grasp the information and make you more frustrated.

4. Know your why: Knowing why you are studying can help increase your mental focus. If you are clear on your long term goal for studying (whether it is to learn a new skill or get a good job), you will make more of an effort to get through short term pain. Make sure the end result of studying is something you really want to achieve.

5. Think negative: No that is not a typo! Heidi Grant Halvorson in her book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals outlines that people who think of their goals in terms of prevention are less likely to procrastinate. Rather than focusing on the good things studying will bring you, think about the pain you will prevent by studying. Thinking about the embarrassment of failure, the financial cost of having to repeat a course or missing out on your dream job as you don’t have the right skills might be enough to spur you into action.

You can use these five tips on how to focus immediately and with regular practice you will find that you increase your mental focus and make it much easier to study.