One of the first steps is to recognize the impact that being distracted is having on your life. If you are struggling to accomplish your goals and find yourself getting sidetracked by unimportant details, it is time to start placing a higher value on your time. By building your mental focus, you will find that you are able to accomplish more and concentrate on the things in life that truly bring you success, joy, and satisfaction.

Mental focus refers to your ability to concentrate on relevant information in your environment. This ability allows you to attend to things that require attention, complete tasks that you need to accomplish, and acquire new information.

In order to focus, the brain needs to filter out irrelevant information to concentrate on what really matters. Different types of attention can affect your ability to focus. Selective attention , for example, acts like a spotlight to highlight specific stimuli in your environment. Sustained attention, on the other hand, allows you to stay mentally focused on something for an extended period of time.

Levy D, Wobbrock J, Kaszniak A, Ostergren M. The effects of mindfulness meditation training on multitasking in a high-stress information environment.

Proceedings - Graphics Interface. Brief and rare mental breaks keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements.

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End-of-Summer Blues Synchronizing Your Body Back to School Stress Mental Focus Morning Routine Reviving Habits. By Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book.

Kendra Cherry, MSEd. Learn about our editorial process. Learn more. Medical Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates.

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Evaluate How Mentally Focused You Are. Your Focus Is Good If You find it easy to stay alert You set goals and break tasks up into smaller parts You take short breaks, then get back to work.

Your Focus Needs Work If You daydream regularly You can't tune out distractions You lose track of your progress. The Brain Processes Behind Attention and Distraction. Eliminate Distractions. Limit Your Focus. Attentional resources are limited so it is important to budget them wisely.

Single-Tasking for Productivity and Stress Management. Live in the Moment. How to Forget a Bad Memory. Practice Mindfulness.

Quick Tip to Regain Focus Start by taking several deep breaths while really focusing on each and every breath. Take a Short Break. Keep Practicing. Frequently Asked Questions What does mental focus mean?

How do you stay mentally focused? While every person differs, the following strategies can help you stay mentally focused: Get enough sleep each night Reduce the distractions in your environment Focus on one task at a time Try to be more present in the moment Practice mindfulness Give yourself short breaks to clear your mind Limit your social media use Utilize effective time management strategies, such as the Pomodoro technique.

How does mental focus work? How can I sharpen my mental focus? Strategies that can help you boost your concentration and focus over time include: Brain training and brain games Regular exercise Spending time in nature Eating a balanced diet Taking supplements to boost brain health Improving your sleep.

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Make a tally of every time your mind wanders on a 3x5 card. Divide the card up into three sections: morning, afternoon, and night. Every time you catch your mind wandering, make a little checkmark in the appropriate box. After only a little while, you'll find that your mind won't wander as often, simply by keeping a tally!

Being aware of the issue is the first step, and this method helps you stay very aware of each time you lose your concentration. Your awareness of what you're doing will eventually help you improve your concentration, without any added effort. With this method, you'll eventually be able to pinpoint your most vulnerable times.

Say you find a lot of tallies during the morning, when you're still tired and your mind is likely to drift. That's a sign that you should be improving your concentration by getting more sleep, or eating a healthy breakfast.

Set aside specific times during the day in order to let your mind wander or your concentration drift. If you have a set time during the day — say your "drift off" time is at every day, when you get back from school or work — you may be less likely to sanction drifting off during 11 a.

If you catch yourself drifting off during any of the unsanctioned times, tell yourself that you have a designated drift off time and try to keep your brain concentrated on whatever task is at hand.

Help improve the flow of oxygen to the brain. Blood is the main vehicle of oxygen in our bodies. But blood gets pooled in the lower half of our bodies as a result of gravity, and doesn't push as much oxygen to the brain, where it helps improve concentration.

In order to help oxygenate the brain, get up and take a walk every so often to get the blood pumping. of Health and Human Services Go to source If you're stuck at work and you can't really carve out the time for exercise, try doing exercises at work.

These can include any number of things, including isometric or aerobic exercises. Remember to give your brain a quick break at least every hour, at most every 30 minutes.

If your brain has to concentrate consistently for hours at a time, it loses processing power and your concentration levels slip. Practice doing one thing at a time and do it to completion. If you jump all over the place and start a new project before you've finished the last one, you're telling your brain that it's okay to switch from one subject to another.

If you really want to improve your concentration, you'll start trying to convince your brain to finish one task before you move onto the next one. You may think that finishing one book before starting the other has nothing to do with finishing work on one car before starting work on another, but they're surprisingly alike if you think about it.

Even the smallest tasks have reverberations in other parts of your life. Be aware of the spider technique. What happens when you hold a vibrating tuning fork next to a web with a spider in it? The spider comes to investigate where the noise is coming from because it pays to be curious.

But what happens if you repeatedly hold a vibrating tuning fork next to the spider's lair? After a while, the spider won't stop to investigate the tuning fork anymore. It knows what to expect, so it ignores it.

The spider technique is behaving just like the spider. Expect for distractions to come and try to throw you off your concentration.

A door slams. A bird whistles. A flash mob erupts. Whatever the distraction is, continue focusing on your task at hand. Be like the spider and turn a blind eye to distractions that you know can throw you off your concentration. Do work at a desk, not your bed. Your bed is where you sleep; your desk is where you work and concentrate.

Your mind makes these sorts of associations subconsciously, which means that you're sending a "sleep" signal to your mind if you're trying to work on your bed. Instead, ask your brain to either concentrate or sleep by choosing your workstation carefully.

Try the five-more rule. The five-more rule is simple. Whenever you feel like quitting or losing concentration, tell yourself to do five more of whatever you were doing.

If it's math problems, do five more problems. If it's reading, do five more pages. If it's concentrating, do five more minutes. Find the energy deep within to do five more of whatever you were you doing.

Method 2. Try the Keywords Technique. In this simple technique, the only thing you have to do is to find the right keyword on what you are studying or doing and whenever you lose concentration or feel distracted or your mind wanders to something else, start saying that keyword repeatedly in your mind until you come back to the topic at hand.

The keyword in this technique is not a single, fixed word but keeps changing according to your study or work. There are no rules to select the keyword and whichever word the person feels that it will bring back his concentration can be used as a keyword.

Here the keyword guitar can be used. Start reading each sentence slowly and while reading, whenever you feel distracted or not able to understand or concentrate, start saying the keyword guitar, guitar, guitar, guitar, guitar until your mind comes back to the article and then you can continue your reading.

And make a habit to do meditation for at least 10 minutes which improves your concentration levels. But you see that you only concentrate on meditation first for better improvement or result. Method 3. Take rest. The biggest factor affecting concentration is rest and this has been approved by research.

Concentration requires your mind to be calm. But your mind will be scattered if you are not well-rested. Make sure that you get the right amount of sleep at the right time. Also, have regular sleep time, and this can be the key step for concentrating. Oversleeping disrupts your natural rhythm and can make you lazy.

Avoid this by having an alarm clock to wake you up in time. Make a Plan. Always have a plan for whatever you are up to. When you sit down to work without a plan, you may easily get caught up in activities like checking emails, Instant messaging chatting , and browsing the web.

Without a purpose, you are wasting your time. To avoid this, make a clear plan that meets your needs beforehand. Take a 5 or 10 minute break in between, and use this time to check your email, and then close your inbox and move on to your most important task.

When making a plan be sure to allocate enough time for entertainment, studies, and sleep. The practice of meditation will definitely improve our powers of concentration. Actually, when we try to meditate, it is the concentration that is the first thing we need to master.

A daily period of meditation gives us the chance to work specifically on concentration techniques. Choose a place of your choice for concentration. Obviously, some places are better than others. School libraries, study lounges, and private rooms are the best.

Above all, the place that you choose should not be distracting. Try to stay away from other people if you want to concentrate on your work. If you want to master the arts of concentration, develop a controlled and balanced diet.

Overeating creates a huge load of digestion and can make you feel uncomfortable and sleepy. Eating light and healthy meals can help you maximize your ability to concentrate. of Health and Human Services Go to source. Exercise frequently. The ability to concentrate depends a lot upon our physical well-being.

Of course, concentration is still possible, but it is just more difficult. However, we have to try to make life easy for ourselves; we need to give a high priority to our physical health: [12] X Trustworthy Source MedlinePlus Collection of medical information sourced from the US National Library of Medicine Go to source Getting sufficient sleep Staying physically fit Maintaining healthy weight Getting regular exercise.

Take breaks and mix up your environment. Continuous work in the same place can drive anyone crazy. Taking constant breaks can solve the problem. This will make you active and more interested in your topic. Know that practice makes perfect.

Concentration is an activity like any other. Clearly, the more we practice, the better our concentration will become.

Similarly, concentration is like a muscle, the more we exercise the stronger it becomes. Foods to Boost Concentration. Snacks to Eat When Studying. Anne Dunev, PhD, NP, ACN. The herbal supplement Bacopa is very good for brain health—it helps improve focus. Rhodiola is another herbal medicine that helps maintain focus and stamina over a long period of time.

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Whenever you lose confidence, think about your past achievements. Thanks Helpful 33 Not Helpful 4. Commit time to what you should be concentrating on. Do not allow yourself to be distracted by problems or worries.

Set up an award system for yourself. Promise yourself rewards for maintaining concentration. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 0.

Thanks Helpful 22 Not Helpful 4. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Do not work in a crowded place as you will lose your focus.