You want to increase your concentration and counteract or prevent a possible lack of concentration? Then you've come to the right place! People with a high level of concentration find it easy to focus completely on a single activity. Unfortunately, factors such as under-demanding work, stress or lack of exercise and sleep impair this ability - and thus also our success in our professional and private tasks and challenges. Fortunately, there are ways and means to strengthen our own concentration in a targeted manner.
In this article, I would like to give you the best tips for this. Learn what you can do yourself to increase focus and concentration in everyday life and at work. Let's go!
Here you will find an overview of all tips in advance:
- Provide a suitable environment
- Eat light and drink plenty
- Take a break regularly
- Eliminate distractions and confounding factors
- Train your concentration skills
- Make sure you get enough sleep
- Treat yourself to exercise and balance
- Do unpopular tasks first
- Match the requirement to your skills
- Write down your thoughts and plans
Why increase concentration at all?
Why all the effort for the mental state of ideal concentration at all? What exactly do you get out of being able to focus on your tasks and objectives? Here I would like to briefly list some of the most essential advantages in advance:
- Make fewer mistakes
- Improve job opportunities
- Absorb more knowledge
- Fulfill personal dreams
- Reduce stress at work and in everyday life
- Achieve better results
- Avoid embarrassing situations
- …
10 Tips - How can I increase my concentration?
The list of benefits could basically go on and on. Let's jump straight to the tips that will help you become more focused and concentrated. In line with the respective tips, you will also learn about the typical causes of poor concentration.
1. care for a suitable environment
Noise, stuffy air, heated rooms, lights - all these things rob us of our attention for the thing we actually want to do. The ideal room for maximum concentration is quiet, tidy, not too cold and also not too hot, has enough daylight and fresh air. The most important thing is that your eyes are relaxed and your brain is supplied with enough oxygen.
You can also help yourself with quiet Concentration melodies in the background - and also by working on a ergonomic desk (standing) work.
Tip: How you basically save your eyes on the screenyou can read in the linked article.
2. eat light and drink a lot
Your brain needs nutrients as a source of energy! But you shouldn't "overeat" either, so that your body doesn't put all its energy into the digestion process. Even if sugar increases your concentration in the short term, you should avoid sweets, because your focus will decrease just as quickly. Light snacks such as fruit, nuts and seeds are much more purposeful and allow you a longer concentration phase with better output.
In addition, it is important that you drink a lot of water. In fact, insufficient fluid intake is a common cause of concentration problems.
3. take a break regularly
Experts advise taking a break every 90 minutes to ensure a high level of concentration over a longer period of time.₁ Be sure to use these breaks to get some exercise - take the stairs, for example, or make a Walk and short stretching exercisesto get your circulation going again (especially during otherwise sedentary activities) and to stimulate blood flow.
Tip: If you regularly sit in the office, then you should also work standing up for a change.
4. eliminate distractions and interfering factors
Probably the most typical cause of concentration difficulties are things in the environment that distract us from an activity we are currently performing. Our brain is also totally keen on variety and new stimuli. But by eliminating disruptive factors, you can target your concentration.
Away with the ringing and flashing smartphone - not in the trash, of course, but at least out of reach. Especially the social media and the FOMO ("Fear of missing out") are the things that tend to pull us out of our concentration phase. Refrain from multitasking and focus entirely on your task. Think of distracting things as a reward for the work you've done.
5. train your concentration
A high level of concentration is not innateIt can be trained and improved. For example, by solving crossword puzzles, you improve general knowledge and concentration in step. Sudoku puzzles, painting and meditation, as well as autogenic training and progressive muscle relaxation, also help to maintain focus and improve your ability to concentrate.
6. make sure you get enough sleep
If you sleep too little or poorly, you have a much harder time concentrating. So make sure you get at least seven hours of sleep - and that you simply sleep better. That way, you'll be ready for the challenges of the next day. This works, for example, by not go to bed with a full stomach and get rid of disturbing light sources in your bedroom.
7. treat yourself to exercise and balance
Especially the movement (e.g. playing basketball or jogging after work in nature) is what stimulates your brain activity and increases your ability to concentrate. At the same time, it provides a pleasant balance after long periods of concentration and increases your resistance to stress.
Tip: By the way, in the linked article you will learn why you should basically Spend as much time as possible outside in nature should!
8. do unpopular tasks first
Experience has shown that we don't like to do things that are too much or too little for us or that simply annoy us. But as a rule, they have to be done. So that the thoughts of it do not burden you the whole day long and disturb your concentrationYou should therefore do them right at the beginning of the day. Afterwards, you will have more mental capacity to focus on other things.
9. adjust the requirement to your skills
So the activity itself that you want to focus on also plays an important role in how well you can actually focus. If you are over- or underchallenged and therefore demotivatedyou won't be able to call on your full concentration capacity and will be more open to distractions. Therefore, make sure you take on tasks and challenges that match your abilities - and that you can accurately classify between under- and overload.
10. write down your thoughts and plans
You can increase your concentration by writing down important things. This relieves your mind and creates space for more focus. For example, write down your last thoughts, when your concentration phase is interrupted by a colleague. to be able to pick up directly where you left off.
Also, you should get a Check list with your tasks and ideas to check off do. This way you can focus on individual tasks and work through them one after the other. Planning is everything!
Tip: The things you want to focus on should have priority in the respective concentration phase. Only if something absolutely unpostponable comes in between, you should let yourself be diverted from it.
Increase concentration made easy!
How concentrated we are ultimately also depends on our form on the day. However, most of the decisive factors can be positively influenced by ourselves.
I hope that the tips mentioned here will help you to fully focus on the moment for a certain period of time and block out all other things. Use the knowledge and advice to make a real difference and achieve all your goals with maximum concentration.
Do you have any questions or more tips to help you concentrate better and get rid of concentration problems? Then feel free to write me a comment under this post.
Stay focused,
PS: In the next few articles, you will now find out how you can basically Work more productively and stress-free or your Train your memory can. Good luck with the implementation!
References:
₁ Andreas Weck: Why you should take a break every 90 minutes (as of 08.12.2016), available at https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/webwelt/article160093745/Warum-man-alle-90-Minuten-eine-Pause-machen-sollte.html. [30.05.2022].
