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Boosting Your Concentration

When it comes to using your head, most people feel their two main problem areas are memory and concentration.

Memory, we have already dealt with in "Boosting Your Memory," so in this article, we will focus on Concentration and help to get you into tip-top form.

Have you ever found yourself lost for words, unintentionally day dreaming, or while reading or listening to lectures or in meetings, suddenly thinking: "Oh no, I haven't taken in a thing that's been going on for the last 15 minutes?"

If so, don't worry, the solution is at hand.

First, stop worrying about losing concentration. You haven't lost it. For example, in that lecture or meeting, what actually happens is that you concentrate on the first things said, after which you concentrate on a bird flying by the window, after which you concentrate on the fidgeting of the person opposite you, after which you concentrate on a daydream. Throughout the entire time you have been concentrating!

The problem is not, therefore, your concentration or your alertness, it is your focus and direction.

Concentration can be seen as a wild stallion, with you as the rider. What you need to do is to learn habits and techniques to enable you to maintain control and there are many ways to do this.

  1. While improving your memory and happiness, by using your creative imagination, you will automatically improve your brain's alertness.

  2. By developing your intuition through the expanded use of your senses, your seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching will all become more finely tuned and sharp.

  3. By developing your emotional and  IQ intelligence, your thinking skills will become more rapier-like, your emotional responses will become more positive and more immediately rewarding.

  4. Try to develop your speed of reaction. This you can do by quickly scanning scenes in front of you when you are traveling and seeing how much you can 'take in' in a few seconds; and by playing mental games such as speeding through the memories of your previous day/week/month.

  5. Become aerobically fit. Aerobic fitness refers to the ability of your heart to pump blood through your body. Your heart beats on average 36 million times each year, pumping 600,000 gallons of blood through 60,000 miles of arteries, veins and capillaries. If you train your heart to be more healthy by doing aerobic exercise (swimming, running, skiing, rowing, cycling etc.) your body and your senses become stronger and more alert.

  6. Finally, constantly bear in mind that when you are mentally healthy and alert, you are more sexy. A recent survey of top-selling romance writers all said that sexiness is equated to mental alertness, humour, intelligence and brightness.

Love makes not only the world go round, it can also make you more mentally alert - and vice-versa. What better motivation do you need to improve your concentration?

Tony Buzan

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