Whether you’re a blogger, a writer or an average person making your way through life, sharpening your powers of focus and concentration will be of great benefit to you in whatever you do. Even the simplest of tasks may be completed more quickly if you are focused on the task and not distracted by other thoughts.

People often don’t give a lot of consideration to their minds, thinking it’s something that just is and cannot be changed. But, like any other organ of the body, it can be exercised, toned and made stronger with proper training and practice. But, while there are limits to the growth and development of the body, there are no such limits for the mind.

The current exercise will be on focus. Focus is the ability to mental hold on to a particular thought or idea. This amount of attention to a particular detail may be for a mere fraction of a second, or it may be for a period of several minutes, even hours. Such focus is also referred to as concentration.

For many tasks and for any learning, focus is a definite necessity. So, being able to maintain your focus, your attention, your concentration for longer and longer periods of time will be of great benefit to your personal and professional development. Let us begin, then, with some exercises to increase your mental powers of focus.

Since I don’t have my worksheets ready for distribution just yet, what you’ll need to have is a pen or pencil, a notepad or sheet of paper, and a stopwatch or time piece of some kind. Some of you may want a calculator too.

As anyone well knows, it is much easier to focus on something you enjoy than something you don’t. So, first begin by focusing on something you like, such as sports cars, puppies, football, scrapbooking, gardening or Princess Leia in the slave bikini outfit. Whatever.

Write down your topic and the time when you begin your focus on it, and note the time when your attention lapses. Subject the start time from the end time, and notate the duration. Your object will be to increase the duration of your attention. Repeat the exercise, either using the same or a different topic.

Do this exercise until you have expanded your ability to hold your focus for a satisfactory period of time. What constitutes satisfactory will be up to you and how well you can focus your attention at the start. Some may be able to reach satisfactory results over the period of a few evenings, while others may require weeks (or more) of such mental exercise.

Once you have achieved the result you seek, it is time to move things to the next level. In this next step, you will be choosing a topic to which you are indifferent. You need to choose something for which you have neither interest or passion. It also must be something for which you also have neither dislike or hatred. Practice the same exercise with your new topic(s).

Once you have achieved a satisfactory result here, it is time for the final exercise in this process. The final exercise is the same as the first two, except this time you will be choosing topic(s) which you strongly dislike, abhor or hate. Choose things which are displeasing or unpleasurable for you. Repeat the exercise until you reach your satisfactory result.

You may, in fact, find this last step to be the easiest of all. It is no accident of nature that our brains are wired to pay attention to unpleasurable things. They often require a response and, as such, quickly and nearly comprehensively grab the mind’s attention. You may find that this last exercise requires the least practice to maintain your focus.

All these steps are important, because throughout life, you will be required to pay attention to things that please you, things for which you have no feelings, and things that bring you unpleasantness. Being able to handle all three of these will be beneficial. By following these exercises, you will see that you can train your mind and improve your mental abilities!

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 7:09 pm and is filed under Brain Power. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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