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.
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 tasklist 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.
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this site helped me in very good means. this is a really good article. thanks
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admin Reply:
December 4th, 2009 at 7:07 am
No problem man. Thanks for coming by
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thanks a lot…this is
a really good advices!
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admin Reply:
December 17th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Glad I could help
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A heartful thanks for all ur advices. They are really helpful and easy to apply.
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admin Reply:
December 19th, 2009 at 6:54 am
No problem, glad I could help
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I m thankful for this article. but my problem seems more severe. I cant concentrate : sometimes becoz others disturb me, sometimes coz my mind just get distracted. I m a 4th years student at a renowned University of Bangladesh and my exam is in nnext month but … what to do? I cant even feel good to write. How to prepare for the exam? How to keep stuffs in memory? Is there any remedy of this problem?
Thanks once again!
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admin Reply:
December 21st, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Salamu alaykum
It always seems more complicated than it really is, if you don’t have a plan for your studies, you are in trouble. There’s an old saying that goes; “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. Here’s what I would recommend you to do:
Take a piece of paper and list down ALL the topics that are covered in your upcoming exam and then order them into a list where you put the most difficult subjects in the top, followed by the next most difficult thing etc. It always helps to prioritize your problem in this fashion, as you do this you will notice that the task isn’t that big once you’ve broken it into smaller tasks.
Then what you need to do is form a schedule, one you must stick by in all times (except obviously when more important things comes along, e.g family matters, namaz etc) and pick (for example) one, two or three topics each day and try to fully understand these concepts and then the next day three more and so forth. This way, you will make sure you’ve gone through all the necessary parts before the exam comes. The final week before the exam, you review all the material in order to get a good grasp of its entirety.
As for your problem to concentrate, this stems from simple forgetfulness that can happen to all of us. Just remind yourself why you started studying in the first place, how much time you’ve already put in your studies (4 years!) and how much work you had to put in order to get into the university in the first place. Also make sure you have a specific goal with your studies, exactly where are you headed? If you don’t know where you’re headed, you’ll never get there! I hope that helps a little and I wish you the best with your exams.
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Heloo..
I am a 3rd year engineering student . My exams are going to start within a week . My problem is i am not being able to concentrate on my studies well . I feel sleepy all the time. This is the first time such things are happening to me . Not being able to get a remedy . Can you help me out somehow ?
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admin Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 5:59 am
Hello there Pratik!
Well it depends. Where you study, at home or somewhere else? Do you ever get tired while doing other things or is it only studying that makes you feel fatigued?
In my opinion, the most common mistake that people do is that they try to study at home. I’m not kidding, studying at home is by far one of the most distracting places you can study. Countless number of things can distract you, TV, computer, the phone, the doorbell, grabbing snacks etc. If you truly want to be able to focus on your studies you have to make sure to find a place where you can sit in peace. There are usually places where you can sit on campus without being bothered. You shouldn’t be put off to go there during the holiday to study, the place is pretty much empty and you’ll have it for yourself.
You mentioned that this is the first time such a thing has occurred in your life? I’m guessing it’s because you’ve drifted away from your original purpose. Why did you pick engineering to start with (engineering is also my field btw
)? You have to have an incentive to be able to study, make sure you remind yourself what that incentive is.
That’s about it, now go back in there and study until it hurts. No pain, no gain!
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hello
Thanks for the all information you provided above.
but my problem is bit different, I’m also a student of engineering and this is exam time of 3rd year.
I’m trying a lot to study but every time thoughts are coming in my mind ,i avoided everything my mobile, pc even i don’t wanna use them but the only problem is the thoughts coming in my mind.
what happens with me is : book is in my hand and i started studying after reading 1 or 2 topics i started thinking and that goes on and on and on …. and when i see that I’m distracted its already half an hour or 40-45 minutes are gone.
that is sometimes very depressing. a full day is gone and what i did is very less !!
what to do ?
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admin Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 4:51 am
What you need to ask yourself is; why am I being distracted? Be sure to list all the things that distract you during a study session and then remove them (even if it’s unpleasant to turn of your phone) on by one.
You may be interested to read this post on time management skills.
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I m student of symbiosis law school pune india….this site really help me alot in my studies..A special thanks those who made “a wonderful site”..love u
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thank tou very much…………….
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ilove this site……….
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admin Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 2:42 am
Thanks!
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Hello,
I have some problems in concentrating.Sometimes I can concentrate very well that I can finish many lessons together but sometimes I cant concentrate properly it feels very much boring and distracting to me and the main problem is thatI cant remember this things permanently.Could u plz help me in understanding my problems.
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admin Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 2:42 am
If you want to remember something permanently you should focus on reiterating that thing over and over again in your mind. How come you never forget your best friends name but you can forget a name of someone you just met? Obviously, it’s because you talk to your friend a lot and you’ve mentioned this persons name a lot and hence it sticks in your long term memory and even if you don’t meet that person in years you’ll still won’t forget the name.
Make sure the topic that you’re studying is important to you in the same matter. If it is, then you would want to revise it a lot and try to grasp it firmly.
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thanks to this site it helped me lot to study thankssssssssssss
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admin Reply:
January 30th, 2010 at 2:38 am
I’m glad you found it helpful!
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its very good advise but i cant resist myself from dreaming nature
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Hi This article helped me a lot to concentrate on study and to improve my results. Thanks a lot
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Hi,
I am in a really big trouble i have a really important exam on Monday the 8th ,after this test I have a difficult one in Math in February the 14 th.
And now i am preparing for Math because I haven’t learnt it at all during the year.But I try it hard to focus it has past a all day and i have only read 10 pages.I can not concentrate so in the end of the day I haven’t learn math neither economy.I depressed what can I do? I am hopeless ,aren’t I?please help
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admin Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 12:53 am
Hello!
The first thing you need to do is calm down and do not panic. The second thing you need to do is – starting right now – construct a plan for how you’re going to tackle these coming exams.
Create a schedule for your studies; write down how much you need to study per day to reach your goal and then follow that schedule stringently.
There are tons of math resources out there, we’ve linked out to several in our math section (I personally learned a lot of math by watching math videos online):
http://www.study-habits.com/subjects/math-help/
Please send me a message if your particular topic isn’t covered yet and we’ll work on getting it up.
If these exams are as important as you say, you need to focus a lot on the coming days and that means, cut down on your usual time wasting entertainment (if applicable) what ever it might be. You’ll feel bad afterward if you failed your exam because something that wasn’t nearly as important.
Finally, what ever you do, do not wait until the last moment to study. You still have enough time to pass these exams as long as you study every day.
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thaaaaaanks a loooooooooot I am beginning to hope now.I will do all my best, I’ll follow your advices.I will write you back with the scores of my test I promise.Once again thank you.:D
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dis month v hav examz n i cant concentrate on my study b cos sum things r in my mind when i was do my study a lods of thoughts cuming n that time i was totally confused can yu help me abt dis situation
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Hope your advice is going to help me
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I like your posts..very helpful and your words touched my hearts..hope i can improve my self..thank you
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Your advice helped me so much!! Scored my o level! Thank you so much!!!! =D
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admin Reply:
February 8th, 2010 at 6:46 am
Glad I could help!
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