Why
so much importance on it?
Concentration, being a
good ability enables one to focus the mind on anything at will, without
being distracted by thoughts, noises or anything else. This ability is
required in the fullest when one is reading, studying, meditating, working
or doing almost anything else seriously.
It helps
control vague and unwanted thoughts, improves memory and ability to study,
conserves energies enabling efficient work, strengthens intuition… and much
more.
Here are
3 steps to improve your study helping you create a strong, focused
repository of study done:
1) Visualize your goal. If
you’re feeling unsure about your ability to prepare for an exam- be it CPT,
IPCC or the Finals…., visualize the goal first! See yourself standing at the
notice board staring at your name amongst the successful candidates.
Visualize this scene over and over again. Visualization serves as a powerful
motivator helping you master anything – including better time management!
2) Empty your mind. A head full
of scattered thoughts is not good to fill in with academic inputs. If you’ve
got a million things going on in your head and you’re trying to remember
section and cases in Law, or Tax rules and computation…. You’ll keep
forgetting things anyway. Emptying your mind can do wonders for scattered
thoughts! Before you do this exercise, first make a list of everything you
can think of that you need to ‘empty’. This will help you feel more
comfortable about releasing your scattered thoughts.
Then, sit
down in a comfortable place and begin to let all the extra thoughts flow
out- this exercise is called “empty your mind.”. It may not be possible to
completely empty your mind of all thoughts- thoughts will keep on flowing
through your mind the whole time. However, you can detach and simply let
them pass by. You become an observer of sorts, watching your thoughts flow
by. You’re aware that you’re having thoughts, but you don’t latch on to them
and start actively “thinking” about them. You simply sit in a space of peace
and being while your thoughts flow calmly past. This experience is hard to
describe, but once you master it you’ll have discovered how receptive your
mind now is to new things – namely your study inputs.
3) Strengthen concentration.
This is hard to do at the beginning because your mind is probably untrained.
Random thoughts and pictures may keep popping in and you’ll have to keep
pulling your attention back to the object again. Don’t let this stop you!
Remember, the only reason you struggle with this is because you don’t have a
strong ability to focus yet. As you keep working at it daily, you’ll notice
that you find it easier and easier to concentrate. The stronger your ability
to
concentrate during your focus sessions, the more you’ll notice you’re not
having trouble concentrating at other times either. This could be a first
major step in how to improve concentration.
How
to improve Concentration?
Many
students, time and again ask " HOW do we improve our concentration….ability
to focus and maintain attention…no matter what!"
I always tell the there is no point studying for a difficult exam like that
of Chartered Accountancy… through frustration and irritation. We need to
be attentive and get it right early. Continuing to ‘try and concentrate’
when the brain is tired and study will yield negative results. In place of
stretching the attention span it is better to learn how to build mental
endurance.
