Strategies for improved concentration -
Problem Solving. Decision Making. Environment Your personal work environment plays a large role in your ability to concentrate. Here are some ideas for improving your physical environment: Make sure you're comfortable — Start by ensuring that your chair and desk are at the right height for you to work comfortably.
If your chair is too high or your desk is too low, you'll be uncomfortable, and you'll be tempted to use this as an excuse to get up and walk away. Put up pictures — Viewing a natural scene or watching wildlife can help improve concentration.
If you're able to put up pictures in your workspace, then choose landscapes or natural images that you enjoy. This can help your concentration, especially if you can see the pictures from your desk.
Drown out the noise — Listening to music can help, especially if it's instrumental music. Some people even use "white noise" apps — these produce a calming sound like ocean waves or falling rain. This steady background noise can drown out other noise, helping you focus better and ignore distractions.
Shut out distractions — if you work from home, it can be particularly difficult to get "into the flow. Where possible, try to establish a defined workspace, ideally with a door to shut out those household distractions. Nutrition Follow some simple nutritional tips: Drink water — Many of us don't think about drinking water while we're working, yet dehydration can make us feel tired, irritable, slow, or even sick.
When our brains don't have enough fluid, they can't operate at peak performance. Staying hydrated is an easy way to help improve your concentration during the day. Eat breakfast — Start your day with a healthy breakfast.
It's much harder to concentrate when you're hungry, so eat a well-rounded meal before you start work. You can also help your concentration throughout the day by keeping healthy snacks at your desk. Almonds, wholegrain crackers, fresh fruit, and vegetables are good choices.
Get up and move around — If you're like many people, you probably don't move around enough. And if you work from home, it can be even easier to forget to stretch your legs!
Research has shown that regular walking can help increase your focus during the day. Mindset Constant distractions, and the low productivity that's associated with these distractions, have become so commonplace in today's workplace that doctors have even given it a name: Attention Deficit Trait, or ADT.
Follow some of these guidelines to help focus your mind: Set aside time to deal with worries — Many of us have trouble concentrating during the day because we're constantly worrying about other things.
It could be a looming deadline for a project, a new colleague who's causing problems, or just the amount of work on your plate. If you find yourself distracted by worries, note them down so that you don't need to hold them in your mind. Then schedule time to deal with these issues.
Focus on one task at a time — It can be much harder to focus if you take minibreaks 15—30 seconds to answer emails, send text messages, or take quick phone calls. Some researchers believe that it can take up to 15 minutes for us to regain complete focus after a distraction.
Close your email inbox and chat program — Let your inbox do its job. If possible, set your online status to "Do Not Disturb" and let your colleagues know that you need to focus. If your organization operates an open-door policy in the office then try working from home to avoid workplace distractions.
Switch between high- and low-attention tasks — This can give your brain a rest after heavy concentration. For instance, if you spend two hours working on your department's budget, you'll probably feel tired afterward.
You can recharge your energy by working on a low-attention task, like filing, for 15 minutes before going back to your budget.
Prioritize — Having too much to do can be distracting, and this can sometimes cause procrastination. Or, you may quickly jump from task to task, creating the illusion of work — but in reality, you're not accomplishing much. If you're not sure which tasks to start or which are most important, take 10 or 15 minutes to prioritize your To-Do List.
Our article Overcoming Procrastination can also help. More Tips for Improving Your Concentration Take short breaks — We can be masters at focusing, but eventually we're going to need a break. Our minds can struggle to concentrate intensely on tasks for eight hours a day.
This is where it can be better to divide your work into one-hour segments, with a 5—10 minute break between tasks. This short break will allow your mind to rest before focusing again. Do your hardest tasks when you're most alert — This will help you maximize your concentration.
Do you want to learn how to schedule your tasks around your energy levels? Read our article Is This a Morning Task? Use a phone headset — If you have a headset for your phone, consider using it for a few hours each day. If your colleagues think you're on the phone, they're less likely to interrupt you.
Promise yourself a reward — For instance, make a rule that if you focus intensively for 45 minutes on one task, you can take a break to get a cup of coffee when you're done. Little "self-rewards" can often be great motivators.
Schedule email downloads — It can be tremendously distracting to have emails pinging into your inbox every few minutes — you're tempted to stop what you're doing, and answer them right away. If you can, schedule your email to download only a few times each day, and set aside time to deal with them in one go.
Infographic There are more tips for defeating distractions in our infographic: Improve Your Concentration. Key Points Sitting down to focus on one task can be difficult, especially when you're constantly interrupted.
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She has worked as an editor, fact checker, and copywriter for various digital and print publications. Her most recent position was in academic publishing as a publicity and marketing assistant for the University of Wisconsin Press.
Tuning out distractions and really getting yourself to focus is often easier said than done—but it is doable. There are effective, actionable, and caffeine-free steps you can take to boost your focus.
Looking to limit distractions, increase motivation, center your mind, and improve concentration? Difficulty concentrating can stem from a number of internal issues, the most common of which is stress. But certain medications, eating habits, lack of sleep, procrastination struggles, and physical and mental health conditions like depression can also impact your ability to focus.
Of course, it can also be a byproduct of external interruptions and attention-stealers too: tempting internet tabs, message pings, phone calls, noisy neighbors, and simply too many to-dos and the expectation to multitask. And many times, we struggle to focus due to a complex combination of both.
Other signs of being unable to concentrate are problems with performing daily tasks like driving or doing dishes, feelings of restlessness, forgetfulness, difficulty making decisions , remembering recent events , lack of energy , and making mistakes.
Focus matters in all aspects of life: work, relationships, day-to-day tasks and responsibilities. Here are some strategies from experts to help you improve your focus and establish a successful cycle of motivation, concentration, and productivity.
While doing the same thing over and over might sound counterintuitive, it can actually help you develop focus and improve your concentration. Kara says. Counterintuitively, some thrive with a little ambient noise and activity, so a local coffee shop may be their perfect spot for some quality focus time.
Others need complete silence and lack of stimulation, so a designated room at home—door closed and headphones on—is ideal. Your brain will also become accustomed to switching over into focus mode when you enter that space. Kara explains that there are a variety of time management techniques, or focus methods, that can help you learn how to limit distractions and stay on-task for stretches at a time.
Every four cycles, take a longer to minute mental break where you can stretch your legs, check your phone, get a snack or take a quick walk. The Pomodoro Technique helps train you to focus on completing one specific thing for very reasonable chunks of time, just 25 minutes or start with less time at first , and rewards you with a break that you must take in order to come back to another minute focus stretch refreshed.
It may sound obvious, but a planner or even a handy organizational phone app or calendar can be key to helping you stay focused, especially if you have a lot on your plate or to-do list. Fuel your brain and body with bites and sips that support balanced energy and mental clarity.
As often as you can, choose unrefined, healthy carbohydrates whole grains, oats, legumes, potatoes, bananas , lots of protein , and fiber-packed fruits and veggies. This combo of nutrients will help give you sustained energy, reduce blood sugar spikes and subsequent crashes that make you foggy, fatigued, and unfocused , and feed and fortify your gut microbiome.
Steep yourself a cup of green or black tea, which not only has caffeine for a perk-up, but also contains L-theanine, an amino acid that's been shown to help boost concentration and attention. Although energy from a bit of sugar is important for optimal brain function , too much sugar—often consumed via processed foods and drinks with added sugars and sweeteners—can actually wreak havoc on your focus.
The single most important thing you can do for better focus and concentration, Dr. While multitasking can ultimately help you get things done, Dr. Keller AS, Leikauf JE, Holt-Gosselin B, Staveland BR, Williams LM. Paying attention to attention in depression.
Transl Psychiatry. Mancini E, Beglinger C, Drewe J, Zanchi D, Lang UE, Borgwardt S. Green tea effects on cognition, mood and human brain function: a systematic review. Kahathuduwa CN, Dassanayake TL, Amarakoon AMT, Weerasinghe VS.
Acute effects of theanine, caffeine and theanine-caffeine combination on attention. Nutr Neurosci. Mergenthaler P, Lindauer U, Dienel GA, Meisel A. Sugar for the brain: the role of glucose in physiological and pathological brain function.
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