Improve your concentration

Concentration is the ability to direct one's attention towards a particular task for a given time, with the aim of meeting a defined objective. Therefore, being concentrated means being able to take total control of your attention by mobilizing your physical and mental faculties.

When we are in full concentration, the goal is to prevent external elements (noises, telephone, television) or internal elements (thoughts, daydreams, etc.) from disturbing us and distracting us from our task.

When we see people around us focused on the task at hand, we sometimes feel like they have a natural gift for concentration. In reality, it's not something you have or don't have at birth. Concentration needs to be worked on.

Concentration is not an automatic process. Indeed, to concentrate you must decide to pay particular attention to a task or something. If we do not want to consciously focus our attention on it and keep this attention for a certain time, it will not be possible to concentrate.

To encourage the desire to concentrate, you must first be able to prepare as best as possible. To do this, you need to have an environment that is favorable to concentration. If we often say "a healthy mind in a healthy body", we could also say "a healthy mind in a healthy environment". Indeed, being able to feel comfortable in our workplace is important. First, find a quiet place. It can be at home, in a small corner of your living room, in a specific room… On the other hand, do not work on your bed for example, or in places that are intended for another use. Indeed, the bed is made for sleeping, or for a moment of pleasure. If you work there, it will end up being assimilated by your brain as a work environment and you will sleep less well there. And conversely, when you work there, your brain thinks it's time to rest and your concentration will be more difficult in that place. If you can't find a suitable place in your home for this, you can rely on the municipal library or coworking spaces dedicated to this purpose.

When you prepare your workplace, do a deep clean. Have a clean and tidy desk. Have everything you need available: sheets, pencils, documents... which are organized in an orderly manner.

Finally, create a work ritual. Before you sit down at your desk. You can, for example, prepare yourself a small tea, a bottle of fruit juice, a small bag of almonds, put on suitable music (calm and without words), turn off your phone, remove notifications from your computer, light a candle that has a pleasant smell, etc. This will allow you to create a mental process that prepares your brain for concentration. Little by little, he gets into the right mood for the attention he will have to give to his work. We create the concentration environment.

There is no single cause that causes lack of concentration on a task or more generally. If you lack concentration, try to understand the cause, this will allow you to act on it directly or in the longer term.

Distractors

The first cause that promotes lack of concentration are external and internal distractors.

External distractors are all elements that are outside us, but which hold our attention in a fleeting or prolonged manner. We are constantly caught up in everything that is happening around us, especially these days where phones, computers, tablets etc. are everywhere. send us constant notifications and sometimes expect urgent responses. We live in immediacy, which does not promote intense concentration. Your attention is attracted by this pop-up that appears in the corner of your computer. Your gaze shifts to the phone screen as it lights up to show a text message. Colleagues who call on you to ask you questions. All of this prevents you from fully immersing yourself in the task you are doing.

Internal distractors are all of your thoughts, all of the ideas, all of the little daydreams that run through your mind as you desperately try to focus on the task at hand. These thoughts can be intrusive, frightening. You will therefore try to manage what your thoughts ask of you, and this takes you away from your initial objective.

Lack of sleep

Not getting enough sleep significantly affects lack of concentration and alertness. Indeed, sleeping allows our brain to regenerate the cells which allow us to store important information from the day and eliminate those that are less important. This therefore allows you to efficiently sort items that do not overload mentally in an unnecessary way. It is therefore our selective attention which will be impacted. It is this attention that allows our brain to tune out the distractors around us and allows us to fully concentrate on a task.

Lack of physical activity

Doing sport regularly promotes everyone's concentration, thanks to the constant stimulation of our brain, and the creation of new blood vessels. The body, exerting itself physically, prevents lack of concentration. Concentration remains longer after practicing a sporting activity. Indeed, sport promotes stimulation of the nervous system, which improves our cognitive functions.

Choosing an inappropriate environment

If you are in a noisy environment, with poor lighting (too much light or not enough), where there is a lack of sunlight, where there is a lot of movement around, an environment with little (or no) ventilation, too hot or even dirty, it will be very difficult to concentrate. Indeed, it is important to be in an environment that will meet your needs for well-being and calm to promote work and efficiency.

Lack of interest

If you do not find an interesting objective in carrying out this task, if you do not perceive any pleasure in it, it will be more difficult to pay particular and sustained attention to it. Finding pleasure in work (whatever it may be, the pleasure of achievement, the pleasure of learning, the pleasure of understanding, the pleasure of creating, etc.) is the key to successful concentration. Our brain needs to be stimulated by elements that motivate and animate it. This is why it is important to find something that can bring us joy in work.

Consumption of cigarettes or other psychoactive substances

If smoking a cigarette may seem beneficial to you because it seems to reduce your anxiety, and therefore refocus you on your task, this effect only lasts a very short time, and the stimulating effect is immediate, but rarely lasts more than a few seconds, and reduces our concentration an hour after consuming your cigarette. Beyond that, our body will ask us for nicotine again, and once again reduce our attention and our vigilance, since its only objective is to remind us that we want nicotine. For larger consumers, the concentration time is shorter.

Other psychoactive substances, such as alcohol or drugs, reduce alertness, reflexes and attention. Our perception will also often be changed. In addition, they modify the senses by attenuating them: visual acuity, hearing, taste or even smell which we need to pay attention.

Stress and anxiety

School phobia

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Ergophobia

The Burn Out

Other pathological disorders

When you are under stress, our selective attention is affected. You are therefore no longer able to differentiate between what is important, necessary, and what is of no particular interest. Your brain is lost, and retains random or anxiety-provoking information. This stress therefore causes difficulties with attention, problem solving, planning and concentration. Your brain now only focuses its attention on what it perceives as a threat (for example: a deadline, an argument, family or financial worries, etc.) and no longer focuses its attention on the task in question.

Cognitive disorders

Certain cognitive disorders can impair attention and concentration. Indeed, a child may have learning difficulties and will make it more difficult to concentrate given the obstacles continually encountered.

Certain neurodegenerative pathologies (for example Parkinson's or Alzheimer's) will also have an impact on the ability to focus attention on a specific task.

It is also possible that the consumption of certain substances (drugs or alcohol) leads to a situation of delirium which causes memory loss and difficulty paying attention. In addition, certain psychiatric pathologies also accentuate these attention disorders.

Psychological disorders

The importance of well-being and psychology in memory should not be overlooked. Indeed, if we do not feel well, if we go through difficulties or anxious situations, it is very possible that you will have more difficulty concentrating. You've probably already noticed that when you have a little bit of the blues, you feel less efficient when you're in front of your desk because your thoughts multiply and overwhelm you. It is important not to ignore any symptoms and to take care of yourself. You can consult a psychologist who will help you understand what you are going through.

Some of these psychological disorders can be highlighted in attention and concentration difficulties:

• depression: Emotions, thoughts, behaviors, sleep etc. so many elements of your daily life can be affected in depression. When you have low self-esteem, when you are tired, when you feel vulnerable in the face of life, it is difficult to concentrate on a task. Depression therefore has a negative impact on sustained attention, memory as well as the speed of analysis of information. If you feel that your concentration problems may be due to depression, consult a healthcare professional quickly.
• Dysthymia or mood disorder: Like depression, emotional regulation is difficult. This therefore affects our mood, and consequently, our ability to concentrate.
• Anxiety: As mentioned previously, anxiety prevents you from acting normally in your activities and in your environment. You are constantly looking for a clue that suggests danger. It is then impossible for our brain to be on all fronts. He cannot focus on everything at the same time. Your selective attention being already mobilized, it becomes difficult for you to concentrate on a task.

Trauma: Following an event that traumatized you relating to death or physical or moral violence, it is possible that you have developed post-traumatic stress disorder. Much like anxiety, you may be hypervigilant, and your attention is focused on all the potential dangers in this environment rather than the work you need to do.

Medication disorders

Many medications will have side effects which can be harmful to your health in the more or less short term. Taking too much medication can make it more difficult to concentrate and remember because they act directly in our body and on our brain. Additionally, many medications will make you tired. Fatigue reduces our ability to concentrate on a task.

Biological disorders

Your difficulty concentrating may be due to other biological disorders. To do this, only your doctor will be able to guide you and help you possibly find the health professional who suits you or prescribe a drug treatment.

• ADHD or attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity makes the person agitated with a certain form of impulsivity, which makes it very difficult to concentrate on a task for a long time. The slightest surrounding stimuli will become a parasite for the person. For example, a child loses concentration when he sees a sheet of paper on his teacher's desk. At work, seeing a pen or colleagues touching a pencil will also be distracting.
• Brain damage due to head trauma can cause certain difficulties such as the loss (partial or total) of memory and an increase in difficulty concentrating.

Nearly 90% of people who have suffered a Cardiovascular Accident (CVA) subsequently develop concentration problems. In fact, it is not uncommon to see them having complications following a conversation, a television series or even staying for a certain amount of time on a specific task. They are particularly quickly distracted.

You have an assignment or a file to hand in, but it's impossible to concentrate. However, you have no choice, and a deadline that is approaching. Then try to implement these few techniques which can help you focus more of your attention on what you need to do to move forward as effectively as possible.

Give yourself a concrete goal

Before embarking on your task, it is important that you give yourself a concrete objective of what you need to achieve. If it is a file or a long job, be clear about the different steps to be carried out and know where you want to go. It is sometimes good to take your time to think and note down, like an (individual) brainstrom, all the ideas that come to your mind. You will then be able to clarify them more easily, and you will more easily see in which direction you are moving. When our brain doesn't know where it's going, it will get distracted more easily since we haven't given it a specific goal.

Be realistic in your goal

Once you have written down your big ideas, try to estimate how much time it will take you to complete this task. Once you have estimated this, set a specific objective based on the time you allow yourself. For example, it's 10 a.m. and you work until lunchtime to make progress on your project. You have a 5-part plan, and you think it will take you about 2 hours to complete one. You give yourself until the 12:30 lunch break to try to finish the first part.

Plan your tasks

Getting organized over time does not mean restricting yourself to freedoms and becoming more anxious about it. Planning your tasks allows you to free up time, and to be able to have visibility on the progress of your work. This schedule is not set in stone. If changes are necessary because they are ultimately unrealistic or because you have misjudged the time needed, you can start again. On the other hand, this allows you to keep the deadline in mind while distributing the work as best as possible to avoid it being done in one go. You will do it more calmly and stress will not prevent you from concentrating.

Let's take the example of this same file in 5 parts but you must return it in 10 days. Make a schedule starting from the due date. Leave the day before or 2 days before the end free, so that you can have room to maneuver. So you know you have 8 days left. So you could try doing one game on the first day, one on the second, take a day off, one game on the fourth, one on the fifth, another day off and another on the sixth. You will therefore still have time to rest and reread. And you will always have time for possible modifications.

Consider your ability to concentrate in the moment

It's important to listen to yourself sometimes. You won't be able to force your body to focus in the same way every day. You may be a little tired, unmotivated, sad, stressed today and you are not in the best conditions to focus your full attention on a task. Accept it, and deal with it, but do it anyway. So adapt your request for concentration to your current state. Give yourself more breaks, distribute your work better throughout the day, do a task that is necessary but that energizes you more... Don't feel guilty about taking a 10-minute break every half-hour of work. It is better to spend 30 minutes fully concentrated with 10 minutes of break each time, than to spend two hours in front of your screen and not move forward. Give yourself these breaks, but be fully focused on the time you have to complete your task.

Get to know yourself

Whenever possible, try to work when you are most efficient. Look at when you work best, and analyze that. If you feel more efficient in the morning, after eating, or in the evening, put your tasks that require the most concentration at that time.

Breaks are necessary

Concentrating completely for several hours without stopping is almost impossible. So take breaks. You can set break times for yourself (every hour, a quarter-hour break for example), or take them when you feel that your concentration is diminishing. Give yourself a fixed time. Beyond 20 minutes, it remains more difficult for you to refocus on the main task.

Be careful, during your breaks, do not use the screens. Avoid being on your phone or computer. Make a real cut. Go drink, read, talk with other people, get some fresh air... Putting yourself back into a screen situation will never really make you stop working, and your brain won't feel like it's stopped. The pause is, in these cases, not effective.

Make the activity as fun as possible

The brain concentrates better if the activity it is doing is pleasure. So, even if sometimes you do things that are not obligatory, and at first you don't find pleasure in it, try to create one. You can imagine it in games or objectives with rewards. You also have the ability to see the outcome of your task. Imagine what you will do when you are finished (eg: you have an evening planned when it is finished, you already imagine yourself having only 5 pages left to write at the end of the day...) or even imagine what you will feel when you are finished. Anticipate the joy or relief this will be for you.

Minimize your external requests

So that you can concentrate as much as possible, it is important to not get distracted by all external demands. Currently, the world we live in makes us move from one topic to another, and our attention is more easily dispersed. Between the emails that appear on your screen, your phone that rings because you have received a message or a call, the advertisements that appear everywhere on your page... It is therefore important to create a place that will completely limit these distractions. So put your phone on silent or move it away from you. Delete email notifications, and tell those around you that you do not want to be disturbed.

Avoid multitasking

Doing one thing at a time is the key to greater focus. If you spread yourself over several tasks, you no longer give your full attention to what you are doing. You think about the next task while you're working on this one, you remember that you need to add something to the previous project, and so you end up not being efficient. In your schedule, prepare yourself to only do one task in the given time.

Like all learning, you need to be able to practice regularly to acquire quality and easy concentration. Like an athlete, to reach a high level, he must train regularly, and be able to be accompanied by a coach, who will be, for you, the health professional.

So you can implement some regular exercises that will help you concentrate when you need it. Try creating a routine with a few of these exercises.

Mindfulness

Take an object in your hand, a small object, not too heavy that can fit easily in the palm of your hand. It can be a small stone, a shell, a piece of jewelry or any other small object you want. Sit comfortably on a chair and close your eyes. Concentrate fully on the object in your hand. Turn there, feel the materials, the changes in texture, the heat it can give off. pay full and conscious attention to this object that you imagine using your touch.

Sleep

Mindfulness meditation

Think about yourself, take care of yourself and what's happening in your body at the present moment. To get to know yourself well and to know when you are most effective, you need to be able to listen to yourself and understand. Mindfulness meditation aims to pay particular attention to what is happening inside you, in the present moment.
In the short and medium term you will feel positive effects in reducing your anxiety and stress.
Start slowly. Take 5 minutes to practice mindfulness first, and you can increase the time as the sessions progress. Go to a quiet place, where you can feel calm and safe. Avoid busy areas, and make sure that you will not be disturbed during this time. Make yourself comfortable, sit in a position that you can maintain comfortably, and be sure to wear comfortable clothes. Close your eyes and become aware of everything you can feel physically and inside you. Remember to educate yourself and understand what mindfulness meditation is.

Schultz autogenic training

Priority list

By creating a list of priorities, you will really be able to organize. Establishing what is important and priority allows you to better visualize the different tasks that you have to do, and the order in which you must do them. You will see what is important in the short term, medium and long term. You will avoid overwork, and having them written down allows you to no longer think about them when you are carrying out one of your tasks.

The workspace

Create a workspace specially dedicated to this, especially if you work remotely. Do not sit on your bed for example, the brain has assimilated the bed to sleep, so you risk not being concentrated and reducing the quality of your sleep with difficulty falling asleep. The same goes for the dining room, if you work on the dining table, you risk no longer equating the meal with a moment of pleasure, but with a need to work. Organize yourself a little corner where you will feel good and able to work and concentrate fully.

Breathing

As best as possible

Knowing how to concentrate whatever the field, professional, personal or even relational allows you to be able to thrive, to create yourself and build yourself and discover yourself every day. On the other hand, having difficulty concentrating can confront us with certain difficulties. If you do not know how to focus your attention on a particular task, you risk putting yourself in situations of failure which will put you in a vicious circle. You will no longer have motivation, you will feel incapable. Consequently, you risk having a drop in self-esteem and could impact your professional or personal development (you limit your sporting, theatrical or social performances for example).

You will feel like you are in a constant struggle, and this can be tiring or even exhausting. Gradually, and by having all these sensations and feelings, you can go as far as depression.

Don't be afraid to get help by discussing it with a health professional who will listen to you and without judgment. Find someone you trust (psychologist, doctor, naturopath, nutritionist, etc.) and explain to them what you feel and what you are experiencing. He will be able to advise you, guide you and give you certain tools that are adapted to your difficulties. You can say anything without fear of judgment. It's not always easy to pay attention, and it will help you understand the principle and yourself. Everyone can encounter these difficulties at one time or another, this does not make you lazy, sick or a problem person. Many therapeutic techniques exist to help you work in this direction (relaxation techniques, virtual reality, cognitive training, hypnosis…)

If you really feel you need medication help, ask your doctor for advice on dietary supplements to help with concentration. These dietary supplements will allow you to have certain nutrients that you may be lacking and that are limiting you to full concentration.

Also take the time to understand how this lack of concentration affects your daily life. Once you understand this, try (in your head or on paper) to write down what is really important to you, your priorities. With what you know about yourself, try to understand how you can put these fundamental elements for you into your daily life with your current feelings.