Australian students are under a tremendous amount of pressure, especially if they are university students. They could be in a position where they’re working a full-time job, going to school, and having to do lots of homework each night.
With all this pressure and stress, their minds could be completely overwhelmed and fried. This means they’ll have trouble concentrating on any one thing at a time.
Worst of all, their social life will suffer for it, and they won’t get to spend much time with their friends and family.
So, what are the options for such a person? They can’t very well quit their schooling because that is important for their future.
The only thing they can do is find an alternative way of dealing with all this mental stress. The best alternative is to perform mental exercises which will naturally help them improve their level of concentration and focus.
That way, all the stress they were feeling won’t be so intense or distracting in their minds.
Below are a series of 5 concentration exercises which will help your mind focus more on one objective at a time. Meanwhile, you won’t feel overwhelmed enough to be stressed out.
Use Meditation
Meditation is one of the oldest mental exercises in the world. The ancient Buddhists and Hindus were the first to teach meditation as a way of obtaining mental clarity and finding a place of enlightenment for their spirit.
Although Buddhists and Hindus still exist, you don’t have to be one to enjoy the benefits of meditation.
All you need is a quiet environment and a comfortable place to sit down.
Close your eyes and just put all your focus on your breathing. Nothing else should be in your mind except each breath that you take.
Do this for 20 minutes per day, and your concentration will improve in no time.
Learn to Count Backwards
You may think counting is easy, but have you ever tried counting backward from 100? It can actually be quite a challenge, and it requires a lot of concentration.
This mental exercise is great to perform in virtually any location while you’re on the go.
Of course, you will need to be able to completely focus on the counting and not be in a place where you’ll be distracted. You don’t have to spend a lot of time doing this.
Just make one successful count from 100 to 0, and then repeated again throughout the day at different times. Much like the effectiveness of hypnotherapy, these forms of mmentalgymnastics help focus the mind and enable behavioural change to take place – especially as it concerns daily stress and habitual, though unhelpful, patterns of thought.
Do it Once, Do it Right
Multitasking seems laudable, but there is a good reason to believe that it is counterproductive to good mental health, concentration and productivity.
The key to enhancing your concentration is being able to focus only on one thing at a time.
So, if you have dozens of tasks or errands that you need to do, just pick one of them to focus on and forget about the rest.
Let your mind be consumed with one particular task and then let every action you take work toward accomplishing that task.
Once you have completed it, pick a new task and then devote yourself toward accomplishing that.
Go Digital Free for 24 Hours
A big reason why so many people have trouble concentrating these days is that they’re surrounded by electronic gadgets and computers which preoccupy their minds.
How many times have you texted on your phone in class or at work? You need to choose at least one day out of the week where you will not surround yourself with anything electronic.
This means putting away your phone, television, computer, MP3 players, and any other devices which normally distract you. For these 24 hours, spend it reading a book or walking outside.
You’ll be amazed how much better your mind will feel after these 24 hours are up.
Lean on the Positive
We can spend a lot of time in our minds being negative on ourselves. If there is a difficult task that we must face, we’ll likely want to convince ourselves that we’re not good enough to try it.
People love to look for an excuse to quit anything that is hard to do. The problem is they’ll spend all their time thinking about what they can’t do, which ends up distracting them from what they can do.
To prevent this from happening, make a list of all the positive traits and qualities that you possess.
Once you’re done with the list, keep it at your work desk or someplace where you’ll see it on a regular basis.
Then, if you’re ever feeling self-hate, let this list eliminate those feelings and replace them with self-confidence and self-esteem.
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