Concentration

CONCENTRATION?

Concentration may be defined as a state of mind when it’s whole attention, with all available energy and talent, is applied upon the one thing that is currently being done.

It means to give the self completely to the thought or action of the moment- whether working with muscle, brain or mind, or expressing through thought, words or action.
Concentration implies focusing on one thing at a time, and to do that one thing with all the talent and power we possess. It means to turn on the full current of mental and personal energy- not only the full current of what we may feel on the surface of thought, but also all that we can arouse in deeper consciousness, and bring forth from the greater self within.

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.

How to improve your study plan?

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.