How to Improve Concentration With a Few Simple Exercises
It's very easy for most people's minds wander around in the middle of work, class, or when they perform certain tasks. Improving your concentration can help you in many ways, especially during work or things that require you to stay focused. A few simple exercises can improve your ability to concentrate.
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Instructions
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Put an alarm clock in front of you. Wait until the second hand hits 12. Now completely focus on the movement of the second hand and try not to think of anything; just pay close attention to the second hand and follow its movement. If any thoughts pop up in your mind during the middle of this exercise, redo this by waiting for the second hand to hit 12 again. Try to only focus on the second hand and not let any thought interrupt you.
At first, you can do this for just 10 or 20 seconds, then you can extend the time to a minute or two or more. This exercise helps you to stay focused on something you are looking at directly or observing.
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Close your eyes, sit still, and breathe deeply. In your mind, think of a word or a sound that feels pleasant or significant to you. Repeat the word or sound in your mind with each breath. Try to focus on doing this for a few minutes or more, and not think of anything else. If any thoughts come up and interfere, try to stop the interruption and go back to this exercise again, in a gentle way.
This exercise not only helps you to concentrate, it also helps you to relax a bit.
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Take a book, open it up to a page and count the words in a paragraph. Do not use your finger or anything else to point to the words when counting, look at the words with your eyes and do the counting in your head. After you are done the first time, repeat the process to see if you counted correctly by matching the first count with the second count.
When counting a paragraph is no longer challenging to you, try to count the whole page. This exercise can be a bit difficult if your concentration level is low or if you have trouble staying focused, but with practice, you can improve your concentration in a relatively short period of time with exercises like this.
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Visualize something.
Be in a comfortable position, close your eyes and think of something that is very familiar to you, this object should be somewhat "clear" in your head although it doesn't have to be in all detail, but the more detailed the better.
Try to stay completely focused on this object in your mind for at least a few minutes and not think of other things. This exercise can be difficult at first, but with more practice, you can improve your concentration quite a bit by doing visualization exercises.
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