(ThyBlackMan.com) If you’re looking for a simple yet powerful way to improve your concentration, the key is to start with your body; specifically, the senses that allow you to connect with and interpret the outside world.
1. Start with your sense of smell
Using a certain scent while you study is long-standing advice to help students ace exams. The reason is that our memories are strongly connected to our sense of smell. You can harness this for concentration by using a certain scent every time you need to do focused work.
The best aroma diffuser will distribute the scent of your chosen essential oil evenly and thoroughly, engulfing you in the aroma you’ve selected to represent concentration time. Though options like citrus and mint are known to be energizing, you can select whichever aroma takes your fancy. The trick is to have this be your ritual for times when you need to concentrate. That way, the scent will trigger your mind to slip into the ideal state.
2. Eliminate distractions
You ask a lot of your body when you concentrate. For millennia, our senses have been helping humans maintain the situational awareness needed to alert us to threats and opportunities. However, when you concentrate on a book or computer screen, you’re asking them to shut down to the outside world and develop tunneled focus. To reduce the bandwidth it takes to do this, eliminate as many distractions as possible. Ensure your workspace is clutter-free, consider noise-canceling headphones, and try to avoid eating while you work.
3. Tweak your workouts
Exercise can improve concentration in a number of ways. However, tweaking the way in which you exercise can boost its beneficial effects even more. Aim to exercise mindfully for most of your sessions. This means no music, no podcasts – just you and your workout, feeling every movement and being present in the moment. By enjoying music and podcasts as a workout booster here and there, you’ll also increase the enjoyment you get from them.
4. Try music
While music with lyrics can be extremely distracting, instrumental and electronic music can actually help you concentrate. Scientists will tell you that Baroque music is the ideal choice. However, you may find that you’re more inspired to focus by Beethoven than Bach. Indeed, you may even discover that minimal techno or progressive psytrance put you in the mood to tackle your workload. This being said, everyone works differently, so if K-pop is more your style, you might want to take a look at albums for all KPop bands and artists until you find one that gets your creative juices flowing. You can experiment with music of all genres through platforms like YouTube and Soundcloud. Just be careful not to allow your music selection sessions to take up too much of your work or study time.
5. Involve every sense in your breaks
To truly relieve the pressure of concentration, it’s important to give yourself a complete change of scenery during breaks. Instead of scrolling social media, rest your eyes by allowing them to go unfocused for a while. Next, look at things in the distance, and look at the world from different angles rather than just straight ahead.
Treat your tastebuds to a healthy snack, stretch your body, and if you can, spend some time with nature (whether that be your backyard or a local park). Doing so will allow you to take a complete sensorial break from concentration, allowing you to reset and go back into work feeling genuinely refreshed.
Harness the power of your senses while both concentrating and taking breaks, and you should see your ability to focus improve greatly over time.
Staff Writer; Doug Barker
