By: Megan Jones

January is a great time to refresh, refocus, and a new opportunity to work on yourself! The past two weeks we have focused on New Year Resolutions and Building Your Billion Dollar Morning Routine (consider checking out these articles if you haven’t already!). Today, is another self-help opportunity to help regain focus and improve concentration. In today’s world there are a million things that vie for your attention, and it can be difficult to gain and maintain focus on what you want to prioritize. If you too, have this struggle, here are 5 exercises to improve focus and concentration.

The Importance of Focus and Concentration

It is most likely that your best work is produced when you have the opportunity to concentrate and maintain focus on the task at hand. However, maintaining focus, is much easier said than done. We live in a world with constant distraction. Every notification from our mediated devices are consistently going off, creating an easy avenue to get distracted and lose focus for the task at hand. Foreseeable and unforeseeable events and information can come in at anytime and cloud our concentration or demand that we shift focus. Moreover, there are some days that the I wake up with brain fog that not even my morning cup of coffee can cure. All in all, having focus and maintaining it is even more difficult. Therefore, it is important to have different strategies and exercises to help us improve our focus and concentration.

5 Exercises to Help Focus and Concentration

Write it Down

If you have a thought, write it down. There is an incessant amount information coming in and out of my mind every day and if I don’t write it down, I am more likely to forget it. Don’t leave it up to your mind to remember. Write it down. You can pick the best avenue for you, whether it is a paper and pen or keeping it in your phone. Additionally, once you have it written down, remember to refer back to your journal, or phone to check what is on the list. Moreover, organize your list based on the content. I have a few separate lists I keep: a work list, a to do list, and a calls/text list. This way I keep organized with everything going on and can check each section for exactly what needs to be done. This is a great way to keep all your tasks organized and when you need to do a task you can focus on it.

Meditate

Meditation has proven to help many with mental clarity and acuity. Meditation doesn’t have to be long to be effective. You can listen to a quick guided meditation or practice different breathing techniques to relax your heartrate and calm your mind. I find this to be most effective when I am overwhelmed with information. In the heat of it, I close my eyes and do a quick 2-3 minute meditation and then I am able refocus and prioritize what needs to go first.

Exercise

Exercise, like meditation is a great way to gain clarity while focusing on the body. Of course, if you are in a meeting or in the middle of the workday it can be difficult to get up and move around. However, consider taking a five-minute walk when you notice yourself having difficulty to focus. Exercise, boosts endorphins and give you a boost of energy that can help you regain your focus. Allot time to take a break to get some movement.

Active Listen

Active listening is a difficult skill and even more difficult to do when your mind is wandering. It can be easy to be in a conversation and not provide your full attention. However, you save yourself future conversations or meetings if you actively listen and get all the information you need. Before a meeting or conversation, take a deep breath and focus in on the conversation at hand to get the most information out of it.

Memorize Patterns

Memorizing patterns can help improve your memory retention and focus. Consider downloading Memory Game for Adults to help improve your memory. It is a great and fun way to improve. Additionally, it makes your progress into a great game and a fun way to pass the time!

Maintaining your focus is a difficult thing to do, but it is essential to creating and providing quality work. Moreover, the more you practice it, the easier it gets to maintain and keep. Consider trying out these techniques and let us know if they help you improve your focus!