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Do you have have problems concentrating? Believe it or not, you are not alone! The first thing we need to do – before we can discuss how to concentrate – is to define the term “concentration”. According to Princeton University’s WordNet, concentration means:
“great and constant diligence and attention”
This is interesting… If concentration is related to attention then that means that we should be able to improve our concentration by simply becoming more attentive, right? Now, here are a few suggestions on how to do just that:
Apply The 5 More Rule
Instead of just quitting the task all together, you tell yourself to do only 5 more things before you quit. When these have been accomplished you promise yourself again to only do 5 more things (such as writing only 5 more pages, solving only 5 more math problems etc). The keyword here is the word ‘only’; by decreasing the size of the task cognitively you feel less hesitant to abandon it altogether. There’s an Arabic proverb that says:
“If you Can’t finish it altogether – Then Don’t leave it altogether”
Treat Yourself Like A Child
What do you do when your little child has accomplished a task? Well, you praise the little fellow and give him/her a reward. Treat yourself in the same manner by offering yourself incentives when ever you’ve completed a task. This will improve your motivation which in turn improves your concentration. For more information on increasing your motivation, please refer to this post on our blog entitled; improve your study motivation.
Why wait? Do it Now! resources
Procrastination is without doubt one of the biggest enemies you will face as a student. The temptation to delay your studies will always be strong, to counter this your will to succeed must be stronger. Why procrastinate and do something tomorrow if the same task can be done today?
Remove All Possible Distractions
The sad thing is that we don’t always notice when we are being distracted! There are really two kinds of distractions:
Those that are visible, such as someone who is having a lengthy (and boring) discussion with you during your ‘offical study time’. Each and every “cell in your body” tells you that this is very disturbing.
The kind of distractions that are not picked up by ‘our radar’. This type is actually worse than the previous one. You can always tell your annoying friend that you’re busy but how on earth will you rid yourself from something that you’re not even aware of in the first place?
Examples of such distractions are (in no particular order); talking with someone on a topic that interests you, watching a movie while studying/working, listening to music and so forth. All of these things are distracting you from your studies even though you’re not thinking about it. The best way to avoid these types of distractions is by avoiding them from the start.
If you continue to have trouble concentrating once all distractions have been eliminated, you may be working yourself too hard. Exercise or take a walk to get rid of nervous energy. A lack of concentration is also a symptom of eye strain, so visit your eye doctor if you consistently have blurred vision or itchy, watery eyes. If a simple adjustment is in order, you can get contact lenses and be back to your old self in no time.
Make A Task List
I wrote about this in an article entitled how to do a to do list. A to do list is basically a task list that makes it easier to concentrate on your subject. It does this by making you think only about one issue at a time. Task lists are in some ways the opposite of mind mapping, since the latter involves scattering ones thoughts instead of collecting them. Although that’s a good way to initiate a project, it’s not very useful when it comes to actually doing the task in question.
About the author
Webmaster of www.study-habits.com & author of The Study Guide PRO, Abderisak Adam shares study tips, techniques and guides to the student community. As a student of civil engineering at Chalmers University of Technology he focuses on matters relating to engineering, mathematics and physics.
His chef d'oeuvre, The Study Guide PRO, can be purchased as a digital copy.
Hi. I am currently taking my School Certificate and I have trouble concentrating. I can easily concentrate on the things i am interested, but i have no easy time studying for thing such as GEOGRAPHY and HISTORY. please help me
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Hey, i am a class 12 student but i am loosing concentration like anything.Truely i am a very average syudent but i want to bring really good %tage.i am always thinking about cricket and music and movies and after trying also i cant leave them so please advice me what to do. after making a routine also i cant follow it so please please help me! please….
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harish Reply:
June 17th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Priyanka this is irony of fate this country is being eaten up by tow devils, cricket and cenema.However it is up to u which way u want to go.If u really want to be good in studis just put these two hobbies in trash and see u r what u want to be.
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Ashok. K Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 3:07 am
Hi good after noon priyanka first one thing ur any work any time in ur mind on that thing okye and surely ur got my point ur studing 12+ i no but ur don’t disappointing first okye another u will rockz ok do best work best and all the best c u beb.
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vinit agrawal Reply:
October 10th, 2011 at 8:30 am
i too have same problem…i m neither interested in movies nor in sports..though i cant concentrate on my studies..somebody help me out too plz plz…my exams r goin though i do not have any tensions for dat…
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not bad
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Ashok. K Reply:
June 20th, 2011 at 3:09 am
Hi swetha good afternoon beb wts ur problem please mention okeyeeeeeee
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hi sir thanks for these advices .
but i want to ask one thing that like i live in rajasthan and i wanna prepair for govt. job so for that i have to study the history of it and current affairs and all the things about it so it is not easy to concentrate on them . It is so boring how can i make it easy or a little bit intreasing .
plz advice
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thanku soo much..i really needed ds suggestion…
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hi, i am a graduate nursing student and i am about to take NLE this december, i just read this article and i find it very true. i will try to use the 5 more rule and i will post it on my wall so that i can see my progress everday. i hope that it will be effective. i will try to eliminate distructing things and people..i’ll get an update on this..thanks!
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Abderisak Adam Reply:
June 26th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
I’ll be looking forward to that!
Abderisak Adam
Webmaster of Study Habits
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kundan Reply:
September 24th, 2011 at 5:33 pm
thanxx
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i am the student of polytecniq 1st year. i can not concentrate well in sum subject like physics.what to do?
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I am addicted to facebook and i want to get rid of it. In addition to that I listen to music alot while studying. Please help as i need to concentrate for my LLB.
Thanks in advance.
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hi
for me its really hard to concertrate while studying because my mind always think other stuffs rather than the course of contents. literally, i can only concertrate for 5 mins and after that I feel dull and cannot concerntrate
please help me out i am fed up with the same thing each and every day I wanna be someone in this everyone’s world….
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I can’t seem to concentrate .. is there any other more intresting way of studying history ?!?!
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i dont have interest. i think that is why i cant concentrate while studying.
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Hi,I can’t concentrate on my studies. Playing and being popular, movies, singers, quarrels in school these things distract me while studying what Am I supposed to do to get rid of all these distractions and concentrate on my studies?
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i am dng my graduation… i do have 5 accounts subject which with i can cope up nicely but it comes to read theory i.e economics…. i loose my concentration.. i want some sugggestions to concentrate on theory…
pls reply as soon as possible..
thanking you!
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hey…my name is sheetal.i live in australia. yr.8
i cant concentrate on my work n i wanna be a doctor. i also luv science.but i cant concentrate even if i put a lot of effort into it. please help me.
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i am in 8th grade.
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Hello …
I read your useful article, and I will apply the advices that you gave. But I dont think they will solve my main problem (my distraction by any little thing). When I talk to my friends sometimes I forget what they asked me to do, and the same thing happens when I try to study, I cant concentrate because I’m very busy remembering what are the other things I need to do or remember…
I’m a senior and I really need solution for my problem…
Thanks
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i m b.tech student//civil branch//till i m not able to gain concentration to my studies…….daily i m thinking bt its fail,,,plzz help
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