10 Ways to Improve Your Focus and Concentration

Being able to focus and concentrate is important if you want to maximize your productivity, achieve goals, and advance in your career. However, there are lots of distractions in our modern day work environments. Therefore, you need to learn to direct your attention amongst the endless chatter in your life which is crucial to success. 

It is difficult to stay on task, especially when you are surrounded by many distractions. In the present time, these distractions are often just a click away in our computers and phones. And it’s not just at work because even when you’re trying to have a simple quiet time, it’s likely that you often find yourself checking your Facebook profile or other social media accounts instead. 

The ability to focus and concentrate on something in your environment and direct mental effort toward it is important for you to be able to learn new things, perform well, and achieve your goals in different situations. It is important whether you are finishing a report at school or work, or competing in sports activities. Your focus and concentration can mean the difference between your success and failure. 

If you’re one of the people who find it challenging to focus and concentrate on important tasks, then you’re in the right place. Today, we are going to give you 10 ways on how you can improve your focus and concentration.

1. Prepare Your Brain

Before doing or starting on a task, it’s important to prepare and calm your brain first. You can do this by taking a minute or two to sit in a comfortable position and breathe deeply in your stomach. Before you approach your work, it’s great to let your body calm down first. You will find this technique really helpful when it comes to concentration.

2. Remove Distractions

This is actually an obvious tip for this topic but a lot of people usually underestimate just how many distractions prevent them from concentrating and focusing on the task they are working on. Some of these distractions may come in the form of a loud radio or an obnoxious co-worker who constantly go to you to chat. 

However, removing distractions is sometimes easier said than done. Well, you can easily turn off loud music and sounds if that is the source of your distraction. But it’s kind of challenging to deal with an interrupting co-worker, child, roommate, or other people. If this is the case, you can simply set aside a specific time and place and request to be alone for a period of time. Aside from that, you can also find a calm location or spot where you know you can work in peace.  You can try working in a private room in your house, in a library, or in a coffee shop. 

3. Focus and Concentrate on One Task at a Time

Maybe you’ve heard it a lot of times that multitasking is a great way to get many things done quickly. However, many people are bad at multitasking and sometimes, it only makes their productivity decrease. To be able to improve your focus and concentration, think of them like a spotlight. If you shine them to a particular area, you will be able to see things clearly. Therefore, if you want to get things done fast, it’s better to do one task at a time and stop multitasking. 

4. Focus on the “Now”

Another thing that makes focusing and concentrating difficult is when you are thinking about the past, worrying about the future, or you’re simply tuned out of the present moment for other reasons. But you need to believe in the importance of being present. You need to put away all the distractions, whether physical or psychological and be engaged fully in the current moment or situation. When you focus on the “now”, you will be able to recapture your mental focus as well. It will keep your attention sharp and your mental resources honed in on the important details at a specific point in time. 

5. Take Short Breaks

Focusing on one thing for a long period of time is difficult. You will eventually find your focus start to break down which will make it more difficult for you to devote your mental resources to the task. Aside from that, your performance may suffer as well. To avoid this, it’s important to take short breaks, especially when you are working on a prolonged task. Give yourself a short break and shift your attention to something that is not related to the task you are doing. These short breaks might mean that you are able to keep your mental focus sharp and your performance high when you truly need it.
a woman trying to concentrate

6. Try to Work in Full-Screen Mode

When you’re doing a task on your computer, try to work on it in full screen mode. For example, if you are reading an article, writing notes, editing photos, and other things, work on them in full-screen and see to it that your task is the only thing you can see on your computer. You can also set your computer where the menu bar disappears automatically. This way, while you work, you won’t be able to see the time, the icons of other apps, and other things on the screen that might distract you. 

7. Manage Your Energy

If the task you’re working on requires your full attention, then it’s better to schedule it for a time of day when you have the energy needed to focus. For example, if you notice that you have the highest energy in the morning, then you can schedule important tasks in the morning. Time management is indeed important to be able to focus and concentrate on tasks, but you also need to consider the energy you need to be able to finish the tasks you’re working on. 

8. Listen to Music

It’s true that too much background noise can distract you from what you’re working on. But based on some studies, having some music playing can help you focus on your own thoughts. The important thing to remember is that you need to like the song that you’re listening to for this technique to work.

9. Declutter Your Workspace

If your workspace has a lot of things, then your focus is bound to be distracted by the number of things piling up in your office. It’s because work habits are reflected by the environments we work in. Therefore, having a clean and organized workspace will help you focus and concentrate on your task more and will help you become productive as well. You don’t really need to remove all the things on your desk. You just need to arrange and organize them in a way that will not distract you from your tasks. 

10. Keep Working on Strengthening Your Focus and Concentration

Improving your focus and concentration is not something that will happen overnight. You need time and effort to be able to strengthen your focus and concentration skills. First, you need to recognize the impact of being distracted on your life. If you realize that you are struggling to accomplish your goals and you’re often disturbed by unimportant things, maybe it’s time for you to place a higher value on your time. Once you’re able to build your mental focus, you will see that you can accomplish more and concentrate on the things that truly matter. 

These are the best ways to improve your focus and concentration that we can recommend. By following these tips, you might just find yourself to be calmer, more productive, and highly focused on the coming weeks of work. If you’re looking for more tips on self-improvement, you can visit here to see more information.