In our stressful and busy lives, it can sometimes be hard to concentrate on one task without intrusive thoughts about other things we need to get done or outside distractions pushing us off course. If this is something you struggle with, there are a number of measures you can take that might help you out. Here are three things to try that may help your concentration.
Train Your Brain
Try this neuropsychologist-approved activity to train your brain to refocus: try reading for 30 minutes. Set a timer to go off every five minutes. If you find your mind wandering when the timer goes off, refocus to your reading material. This might help get your brain more accustomed to setting aside intrusive thoughts in favor of the task at hand.
Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation and mindfulness have been shown to improve concentration. Meditating even for ten minutes a day, or even just working on breathing exercises where you try to empty your mind for a little, can help keep intrusive thoughts out and can help you practice keeping your mind on only what’s in front of you.
Don’t Try to Multitask
In recent years, psychologists have more or less conclusively shown that people actually cannot multitask. You may be great at switching from one thing to the next, but you can only really focus on one thing at a time. So rather than trying to do everything at once, try focusing only on one single task from start to finish before you think about the next one.
