Self taught methods on how to concentrate on studying

By Jill Magso

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Concentrating on studying is one of the most difficult tasks ever, especially if you hate what you are studying. I suppose many will agree with me on this statement. The art of concentration takes skills and tactics to master. Though it's tough, it's not impossible. No matter whether you are studying for exams or learning how to swim, the most important element in concentrating to focus on what you are doing and learn the various ways of saying 'NO' to distractions.

It's difficult to convince a non productive person that he/she has the ability to concentrate, but the truth is, human are blessed naturally with this instinct to do so, believe it or not. It all depends on oneself whether you want to make full use of this capability or choose to ignore this 'gift from god' and start to make excuses for yourself. Think of the occasions where one happily indulge yourself in something you love doing for hours and hours till you even forget the time. For example, playing your favorite games, chatting with your friends, shopping, a nice day at the beach etc. Isn't this considered as concentrating? This is total concentration. Thus humans tend to display concentration for what they loved doing and find it difficult when they start to find the tasks tedious. This is human nature.

Here are some common barriers that keep us away from concentrating in our tasks. Our worries, stresses from our daily lives create mental strain in our minds, preventing us to concentrate. While one will try very hard to take things off their mind and focus, human mind will tend to priorities 'worries' at the top of the list, leaving the job that needs to be done at the bottom until the problem is resolved. This is by far one of the toughest barriers ever and is also quite difficult to get rid of unless you belong to the sort of person that can draw a very clear line between emotions and serious work. Sadly to say, only minority have this ability as it is only pure human nature that we are all driven by our emotions.

Other contributing factors are relatively much easier to solve. Our minds tend to drift off while trying very hard to concentrate. Something much interesting out there simply takes our eyes and minds away, for example, favorite movies, food, noise, music etc. The list continues. Your mind drifted from one thing to another and before you realize, much of the precious time has been wasted away. Sometimes it could be the material or the tasks you are doing is simply of no interest to you or just too boring or too difficult understand. The rule of the thumb is to cultivate best practices and do everything that is within your limits to keep tasks under your control. Do not let distractions overpower your mind. One may wish to a keep a strict diary or timetable and stick closely to it. Give rewards to pamper yourself, for example, your favorite snack or 1 hour for games or favorite TV shows after you have finished your tasks within stimulated time. The issue of how to concentrating on studying is not as difficult as it seems to be after all.