Many people face difficulties when they need to concentrate especially when they are required to complete a certain task. Let us see what we mean by the term “concentration”. According to me, concentration means: Great and complete attention. That is to say that one may be doing any activity or for that matter simply looking at a mountain, a picture or anything else with total attention and applying total efforts. What I mean by this is bringing all your mental energies for completing a task at hand without wandering in stray thoughts and ideas.

Thought, thoughts and thoughts: one thing at a time 

Many times it happens that when you want to complete a certain chapter, a very important chapter and you are even nearing its completion and suddenly you get up and start something else, may be you want a cup of coffee or just want to watch a favorite program. Then, only God knows when you will complete that unfinished chapter. Here, you have allowed wandering thoughts to conquer over you, this is lack of focus. Instead of just quitting the job at hand all together, you tell yourself to do only few more things before you quit. Do one thing at a time with all your soul. When these have been accomplished you promise yourself again to only do some more things. So by decreasing the size of the task, you feel less hesitant to leave it altogether. When you complete a task feel proud and happy. This will help in improving your motivation and enthusiasm. So next time you will observe that your concentration has also enhanced.

I have all the time in the world, really?

One of the biggest hindrances one will face before starting a task is Procrastination as a student. The strong urge to delay your work (a new project, an interview or studies) will always be there; to be on the job right away you must have positive attitude and never to be afraid of the results. People waste their times in fear of “The Task” and fear of “failure.” Think in this way: if you start early there are chances of completing early and that too in a better way thereby increasing your chances of success. You will get that extra time for revision also. Time wasted is time spent without results. Don’t be afraid just start. If you start, you will reach there sooner or later.

 Please, don’t disturb!!!

There are people who start with great enthusiasm and force but leave the task unfinished. This is because of the power of distractions. Our sensory organs like eyes, ears and even thoughts play a major role in getting disturbed by distractions. For example when you are studying your younger brother is watching TV, your mother and father is discussing and they are always doing that and you can not dare to say “stop.” The best way to avoid these types of distractions is by avoiding their possibility from the beginning it self or just move away. Do not worry, next time be well prepared for such kind of distractions. Find suitable ways to avoid and do not loose your temper, be patient. You will get all the time you want provided you are ready for such eventualities. Find a suitable and conducive environment or quite surroundings for you to work without being susceptible to various kinds of distractions I mentioned earlier. Solitude is the best answer.

Healthy mind in a healthy body:

If you do not get much time, do simple stretching exercises. It will take not more than ten minutes. Also, walking is good as it gives exercise to almost all the parts of a body. All this will improve your metabolism, circulation, digestion, and spirit and body strength. These simple exercises will slowly improve your stamina which in turn will increase your ability to work for long hours. Slowly and slowly you will be bubbling with that extra energy required for better concentration. Many a times minor ailments like cough, running nose or cold and headaches play havocs with your best intentions of concentration. Do not allow them to do so, just do something about it. Visit a doctor, if necessary. You will be surprised to see that most of the successful people have a sound health too. Join their club. 

Make a Priority List:

This is very important as it will guide you to direct all your efforts at one single task. Your energies will not be dissipated. And better concentration will be achieved on your task at hand. It does this by making you think only about one issue at a time. Many successful people work that way, brilliant executives, high profile politicians, successful professionals and so on. But this needs a lot of mental discipline, a lot of planning and habit forming. Make your daily schedule; this will help you to focus well. Great achievers love their jobs. If you love what you are doing or are having immense interest in the activity you have taken up there is nothing which can disturb your concentration. Will to achieve your goal, love of the job, and total attention are three most important prerequisites for finest concentration.

Relax, when you’re bored:

It is not necessary to be keyed-up and tense all the time when you are determined to complete a particular task. This will harm your quality of concentration and well, might diminish your interests. Even God has created the nights just for relaxation and rejuvenation of all our energies both physical and mental. So we can work well the next day with all the barrels loaded. When you feel that your concentration is failing please, look out for the tell tale signs. It is time for baby’s day out. Anything which appeals and interest you can help in relaxation, for ex. Music, seeing a movie, walking, gossiping, and a phone call to a friend can do the trick. You might know that stagnant water becomes dirty and impure, so is with the mind. Same work, same thoughts will drain freshness out of your mind. Let new thoughts and refreshing activities come in between regular intervals of work otherwise the task will become mundane, monotonous and less interesting to you, eventually you are more likely to leave it unfinished due to fatigue. Therefore, combat fatigue by periods of relaxation and improve your concentration. During intense work you may use simple deep breathing- in and slow breathing-out technique for a bit of rest and rejuvenation.

Mental aspects:

Avoid  Confusion, fear, worry, mental drifting and day-dreaming  at all cost to improve your power of concentration. Your peace of mind will be disturbed by all these negative energies. No matter how intelligent, energetic and interested you are soon you will get exhausted. Free your mind of such frivolous activities. Great people never indulge in such matters of no importance. Your personality and mental toughness must be enhanced in order to achieve better concentration. Jealousy, ego, stubbornness, greed, feelings of revenge and anger must have some limit. Be a nice person, develop and grow mentally otherwise you will fail achieving powerful concentration. You know, all these things are related and intertwined. You can not expect to have deep concentration while you are filled with the thoughts of jealousy, anger and engrossed in worry over petty things. Moreover, when the mind is not in control (i.e. it is a slave of human desires), has no knowledge and has no idea about its goals in life surely it will take the person to the valley of destruction. It is the only organ which can train itself and help itself. It can go inside itself to the inner depths of sub-consciousness and still further deep and analyze and improve. It can also become slave and master of itself that is why most of the people are confused about its behavior. It is like catching your right hand with the right hand. All thought processes are going on continuously day and night even during the deepest sleep. Incidents happened years ago haunt him/her in the night and torment them. Mind is a wonderful entity. Energies must be saved for it to work properly. At the same time it is a storage house of garbage in the form of useless thoughts and feeling. It is also a land where the first seeds of great ideas germinate and take the shape of great human endeavors. Therefore, it is necessary to build a strong character devoid of mental handicaps and vices. Beware of “bad company,” before you know things would have become sour. Partying, boozing (drinking alcohol), excessive eating and irregular habits will ruin your life. And these in turn result into frustration, mental depression and general attitude of negativism toward life and soon your dreams of achieving success would evaporate. Here, my friends, I am not preaching you to become a sage but I am telling you to find that balance in life, that poised mind, a mental calmness which is so important for you to succeed in life. And for god’s sake don’t expect miracles overnight. Therefore I will not prescribe you with few tablets to correct your disease. It is not easy. This requires a lot of mental regime, discipline and will to overcome adversities. Do not be afraid of failures, they are part of a life. Show me one man who has not failed in his entire life.