Concentration

[Elsa]

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve your concentration. Ive got coursework to do at the moment but can't seem to focus for anymore than five minutes so im really struggling.

[parnassus]

1.) Work at a blank desk and facing a blank wall. Make sure that your seat is comfortable and also that you have everything you need to hand, so you don't have to go wandering off.

2.) Adjust the lighting. Natural daylight is best, but an angled desk lamp will also do nicely. What you need to avoid are overhead lights that flicker.

3.) Draw up a timetable with clear objectives before you start work. For example: "I will answer questions 1-5 in my French textbook, read the chapter on Hindenburg for history, and finish the equations I began earlier." Break these instructions down into smaller, more detailed steps if you need to. A clear routine makes it much easier to focus, as it prevents you from panicking or from drifting from one assignment to the next without really accomplishing much.

4.) Have a (silent) clock on the desk in front of you and make yourself sit through fifteen minutes of study at a time, before taking a few minutes' break. As your concentration improved gradually increase the length of time you spend at work.

[Thirteen-thirty-seven]

Something else that helps is having something to squeeze, like a stress ball or a lump of plasticine.

[Elsa]

Thank you for your advice, I have almost finished my project now and I found that breaking it down into little bits and having a break every 15 minutes really helped and stopped me panicking which was my main problem. I talked to the people on my course about it today and everyone is finding it hard not just me.

Something else that helps is having something to squeeze, like a stress ball or a lump of plasticine.

This has been my favourite calming thing to do since time began. I am fiddling with a large lump of blue tack as I type, (not an easy thing to do I assure you).

[Katielauren2001]

I don't really know because my concentration is good.

[Steph]

My concentration is very poor-in many ways, I am on the borderline between dyspraxia and ADD. I would recommend not taking on more than you know you are capable of and try to cut down on caffeinated drinks such as cola or coffee and also junk food. Also reward yourself after you have done a piece of work as that will be an incentive for you to carry on concentrating.

[C]

Concentration is a funny one for me. At times, like today I can be so completely absorbed in what I'm doing that I fail to notice practically anything else around me (hyperfocus). This usually occurs when I'm doing something that interests me and occassionally happens when I'm doing interesting Uni work that I know has to be done soon, like assignments. I can just sit at the computer typing it up for literally hours at a time with few breaks. I wouldn't reccomend that though, it's very tiring and gives me a headache!

At the other extreme, I can find it extremely hard to stay concentrating. Recently I've been trying to do revision. I find it hard to set myself a timelimit, say half an hour because I'll spend the first twenty minutes daydreaming!

As for tips, everybody says don't do too much at once but I seem to work in intense bursts of concentratino that last a few hours sometimes and then fade away as quickly as they come. I take advantage of that. Like today, I've actually been quite focused However I do agree with taking regular breaks and if you just can't concentrate it's better just to stop than to spend ten minutes reading the same sentance. It's helpful to get other people to test you sometimes - they can help you stay focused.

[eastlondonluke]

I could never concentrate at school there where just to many fit girls i fancyed