Hello! Seiiti Arata. You may not understand why you can’t achieve focus in your study. Even the most popular tips on concentration do not seem to work for you.
For example, you’ve tried turning off the mobile phone, telling people not to interrupt you, you have even installed some applications to block access to web sites that are distracting you. But even so, you are still unable to stay in front of the book long enough; you lose focus quickly. You may have even contemplated the possibility of that you have Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but you took the tests, and the doctors said that is not the case. They say you are perfectly normal—it’s just lack of concentration, lack of focus. What is the explanation for so much trouble in school?
1. Learn about the enemies of FOCUS.
If you have already been following the work of Arata Academy for quite some time, it’s likely that you already know what I’ll say. Can you guess?
To achieve anything, we must first become aware and come to understand the difficulties we face in achieving the goal. It is always necessary to understand the WHY of things. And it varies from person to person, so we need to have at least a minimum of reflection and self-knowledge.
So I ask you now to take a break and answer in the comments: what is the difficulty that you have in focusing on your studies? Does your environment make it difficult to concentrate? Are people around you interfering with your ability to focus on your study? What kinds of distractions end up drawing your attention? What are the websites or applications on your smartphone or computer that make you lose focus?
Perfect. Before you continue watching the video, read your colleagues’ comments and notice how your problems focusing on study are very similar.
In other words, you are not the only one who is struggling with this issue. And the reasons are clear. When we understand the reasons, it is easier to find solutions. I’ll pass the link of our FOCUS course, http://arata.se/focuscourse, and I emphasize the reason: in our introductory FOCUS course, in the first lesson, we list in detail the enemies of FOCUS and what to do about them.
2. To improve your concentration, use deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is essential to be able to learn anything. See our previous video here in this link: http://arata.se/hello37.
To activate your concentration, you need to practice deliberately. In other words, you will define clearly what aspect of your study you want to improve. Your goal can be neither too easy nor so difficult as to be impossible. You are seeking a level of difficulty that stimulates you to improve a bit, and you need some kind of metric, an indicator that will be able to show clearly whether you are progressing or not. You will use your intention to understand what results you are reaping. Given these things, you will always try to improve.
3. Why is eliminating distractions not enough?
Let us think together. It would be very easy for me to give tips in this video that covered obvious things (that probably have not worked for you so far). For example: switch your mobile phone off. Close Facebook. Close the door. In other words, this is the basic tip to eliminate distractions to increase focus.
But none of it has worked, right? Do you know why you are still having difficulty focusing on the study? Take note in your notebook: the reason is ANXIETY.
Anxiety is when an inner voice is judging you, saying that you are not doing things right, you’ll never amount to anything. You, in turn, criticize yourself— Ack! This activity is so easy! Why do I keep screwing up? Anxiety and judgment are comparing who you are today with what you SHOULD be and still are not.
4. Anxiety takes you out of the present moment.
Anxiety will lead you to think about other things, and so your study time is ineffective.
What you want is to stay focused on the process, to develop deliberate practice.
Anxiety keeps your focus on the end result, the test results—the joy you will feel if you pass and the humiliation and disgrace if you fail. You see?
Anxiety is basically saying that NOW is unwanted. You do not want to be where you are. You do not want that book open in front of you. What you want is the happy ending; you want to be already enjoying the positive results.
Not accepting the present moment is a childlike attitude. You want something for nothing. You do not want to practice, do not want to study. Anxiety kills your willingness to develop deliberate practice. Anxiety is suffering. Do you remember what suffering is? [Http://arata.se/hello43]
Suffering is the gap between expectation and reality. It does not accept the present moment. And it will make inappropriate and unwanted thoughts begin to appear in your head. This prevents you staying focused on what you are doing.
Review these recommendations today:
1) Understand the nature of deliberate practice by going to the link http://arata.se/hello37.
2) Review the http://arata.se/hello43 video, which will help you gain control of expectation and reality.3) Enroll in the FOCUS course, which is an intensive one-day training course that will help you finally learn to focus and achieve your optimal performance. http://arata.se/focuscourse