Techniques To Boost Your Concentration

Do you need to get the most out of your study time? Do you need strategies to learn better? Focusing yourself on studying is the first step. Study skills are worthless if you can’t concentrate.

Boosting your concentration when it comes to studying is important if you combine work and/or family with a study or if you go back to school after many years. It takes a lot of willpower and discipline.

The techniques we analyze in this article will help improve your motivation to study and focus on achieving your goals.

Filter the information you receive

We live in a world that is full of information. From political and economic news, cultural events, film premieres, gossip and rumors to developments in our immediate environment and natural social networks and other forms of mass media. We are overwhelmed by all the information that surrounds us and our concentration can suffer.

If you want to focus on studying, you need to take steps to filter the information you receive and clear your mind. You need to isolate yourself from receiving outside information of the same magnitude as you need to concentrate. This means avoiding social media, watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading magazines or newspapers, as it will only create a distraction.

Don’t expect to feel like studying

If you have to study, you have to study whether you feel like it or not. We often think that we should only do things that give us pleasure or that we enjoy. That is not true. As annoying as it may sound, get on with it and don’t think about it.

Don’t give in to the limiting ideology that everything in life should be fun and you should always be motivated to work. If that’s the case, you’ll just give in to the many distractions you can find around you.

Focus on your goals

Remind yourself every morning that you have a good reason to study: your goals. You study with a purpose and you only achieve that goal if you study. Every time you study, you get one step closer to your goal.

Every morning think: how can I get closer to my goal today? Forget what you want to do in that moment and think about what you can enjoy when you reach your goal.

Study first, then relax

To store information, you need more than just studying. The information is absorbed into your head and it becomes a part of you when you relax. So resting is essential after studying. You have to rest to save the information. If you only sleep a few hours a night, that is not effective.

You should include moments of relaxation in between studying. Take a few minutes every half hour to move and take a twenty minute break every hour and a half to rest and relax so that the information can be stored in your head. Close your eyes and absorb what you have learned.

Study before going to bed

Research suggests that  sleeping after studying improves your ability to remember what you’ve studied  and helps consolidate what you’ve learned. This has to do with what we explained in the previous section. Reading before bed can also work wonders for improving long-term memory.

But this doesn’t mean you should subtract time from your sleep.  Denying yourself sleep to study will only make you remember less of what you learn.

Eat healthy and exercise

Studying doesn’t mean forgetting to keep your body healthy. Eat healthy and avoid excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption so that you can continue to perform well while studying. Foods rich in fatty acids are good for the brain and seem to help boost memory and recall.

Exercise is also good for the brain,  because a little extra supply of blood and oxygen is good for the functioning of the brain.