The ability to concentrate is an important part of a successful person's arsenal. Having learned to concentrate, to concentrate on a particular goal, a certain type of activity, you have a very good chance of achieving success in this.

In this article we:
A) Let's discuss why the ability to concentrate is so important.
B) Let's figure out what factors prevent us from concentrating.
C) Let’s think about how to eliminate factors that interfere with concentration.
D) Finally, let's develop a general strategy that will help us learn to focus.

What is the role of the ability to concentrate?

(Perhaps you will immediately scream to yourself: what is the role?!!! And so it’s clear!!! Let’s get closer to the point!!! Have a little patience: let’s deal with everything in order. We want to learn how to concentrate, right? So, no need to get distracted, you need to read in order. Well, I’m finishing the long introduction.)

Physiological scientists have established that a person’s performance changes during the process of work. The first ten to fifteen minutes is the so-called burn-in period, the next 20-30 minutes are optimal performance, and after some time exhaustion sets in.

What is the situation with performance and work efficiency during these periods?

Activation: increases
Middle phase: highest
Exhaustion: Decreases

Taking this into account, you should work in periods of about an hour so that, firstly, good development occurs, then you work hard and practice a little to fight mild fatigue. Then you need to pause, rest a little and start a new cycle.

I think there is no need to explain that by being distracted, we disrupt the natural course of this cycle. If we are distracted once every 15 minutes, we run the risk of never achieving maximum performance - and therefore not seeing decent results. What kind of effective work is this...

As you can see, a person purely physiologically (that is, if we consider him as a kind of “biorobot” :)))) must work with concentration, without distraction.

What about from a psychological point of view? It's not hard to guess. The business that captivates us, the business that captivates us, occupies all our thoughts (that is, the thing on which you are focused) is done much easier, the process of work itself gives you pleasure - it’s interesting to work!
So, perhaps the first commandment of a person who wants to succeed in one thing or another: productivity requires concentration on one subject!

What prevents us from focusing?

1. External factors that interfere with concentration
- noise, music
— neighbors and colleagues asking questions
- ICQ and phone
- something else that requires your attention, competes for attention with the thing that needs to be done.

2. Internal factors that interfere with concentration (ATTENTION!!!)
- general poor health
- lack of a clear activity plan
- unbalanced emotional state
- disinterest in work

The lists go on. By the way, if you really want to learn how to concentrate properly, I advise you to minimize the browser window, open a piece of Word or Notepad and write a small list under the heading “What prevents me from concentrating.” I emphasize that it doesn’t hinder you in general, but what prevents you from doing a specific thing, focusing on a specific job.

I got this list:
1. I have more interesting things to do (surf the Internet, play with a new toy). I don’t do this, but my thoughts keep coming back to me.
2. Work does not give me satisfaction.
3. I did it yesterday and it just makes me bored - the routine drags on.

However, I understand that it is necessary to do it. Here we are not discussing how to force yourself to do this or that thing (victory over laziness and gaining motivation is a topic for a separate discussion).

So, smoothly, we got to the main thing.

How do you still concentrate?

How can you learn not to get distracted, do your job effectively, focus on important things and not waste time?

Now I’ll try to be brief;))) Everything that is written above can be considered an introduction, here is the essence.

1. We provide ourselves with a good workplace. Ask your family and friends not to disturb you if you are working from home, and gently let your colleagues know that you don’t really like being interrupted. Explain to them that you yourself are distracted every hour and are ready to discuss with them anything they want. You can also casually explain to them why it is so important (for you and for them) to focus on work.

2. We work in periods of an hour, with a break of 10 minutes. This type of work organization best promotes concentration. It may be difficult at first not to be distracted for a whole hour - be patient, developing the ability to concentrate does not come so easily.

3. We provide ourselves with the necessary psychological attitude. You need to remove all internal factors that interfere with concentration. Feel like your work really matters to you. Focus on the results it brings (salary, job growth, position in society).

4. Always have a clear work plan: you must know how much, what and when you have to do. This will help you focus not just on the work, but on the result and you will strive for it, because after achieving the goal for the day (not necessarily for the day) you will receive a reward. You've done the job - feel free to go to ICQ! =)))

5. Start working as early as possible!!! Start your planned tasks in the morning or from the moment you arrive at work. Let there be no distracting activities between starting work and waking up. Don't allow yourself to check your email as soon as you sit down at your computer. Do not open ICQ or reader. The way you start your day will affect the rest of your day. Once you set a working, business-like tone, it will become much easier to concentrate (For me, this point turned out to be the most effective. Perhaps the fact is that it came from experience, and was not deduced logically. Therefore, I advise you not only to read and apply my or someone else’s then some advice, but also try to find your own methods by observing yourself and doing experiments).

6. Another secret from me personally, a continuation of the previous one. You need to focus on important matters not when you sit down at the table, but in bed. Think about your work, try to evoke positive emotions in yourself towards it. Tell yourself that you will do it with interest, with fervor, with passion. That you show creativity and a truly original approach that colleagues and clients will appreciate.

P.S. Please note that in this article we talked about how to learn to concentrate, what prevents you from concentrating on work, etc. - seems to be a narrow topic, a kind of life hack that fits into standard recommendations like “10 ways to unscrew a light bulb” (“10 tips on how to concentrate on work”))))), but in the end it turned out that this “narrow topic” is very closely associated with motivation, a healthy lifestyle (to focus you need to be in good health - see above), planning and time management.

Hence the main conclusion: if you want to be successful in general, and not just be able to screw in light bulbs well, then you need to constantly see such relationships and, while optimizing one area of ​​your life, casually put things in order in the rest. And, of course, don’t rely only on someone else’s advice. Even on mine;))))) Think and experiment! And yes, also comment;)) If you have something to say about concentration and more, welcome to the comments!

May also come in handy.

Good day, dear readers and guests of the blog.

Probably many people, including me, have faced the problem of being unable to concentrate on an important task. As soon as you sit down to do something, everything immediately distracts and interferes with you. You go to VKontakte for a second, or you want to watch one short video on YouTube and it drags on for a long time. And just a couple of hours ago you wanted to sit down quietly and work. And now you don’t want to do anything, another day has passed. You haven’t written a blog article, come up with new competitions, or haven’t written more than one page of the book you planned to write today.

And so we lose time day after day. And as we remember, time is the most valuable resource.
So what to do? How to learn to concentrate on business? How to learn to concentrate on important things? Are these the questions people ask themselves? And there are probably such people among the readers of my blog too. I asked myself such questions and one day I found answers to them in one of the blogs on the endless Internet.

As I understand it, there are many techniques, but I will tell you about two that I personally tried. One of them is called Pomodoro, it is also often called a tomato. And I called the other technique from Azamych (because I took it from books by Azamat Ushanov - “System of personal effectiveness of an Internet entrepreneur”). At their core, these systems are almost the same, but they have minor differences, which I will discuss below.

The Pomodoro technique was introduced by Francesco Cirillo in 1992. This technique was developed by him to improve personal efficiency. The essence of the technique is to learn to concentrate on important points and not be distracted by anything. It’s like we’re playing with ourselves by eating one tomato at a time.

The essence of the technique is to concentrate (focus) on one important thing.

To do this you need to follow the following rules:

  • We set ourselves a task to work on
  • We time ourselves for 25 minutes and work without distractions.
  • Take a 5 minute break (required)
  • We continue to work on the task for the next 25 minutes.
  • At the end of 4 segments, we take a long break of 15-20 minutes.

In general, that's all the technology. You should eat tomatoes carefully and chew them thoroughly without being distracted by anything for 25 minutes, then rest for 5 minutes, even if you haven’t finished. Then we sit down to work on the task. And we eat the next tomato.

If you ate 4 tomatoes, rest for 15-20 minutes, completely take your mind off the task and don’t think about it. Walk around, stretch, read a book or eat something. And if the task is not completed, continue working.

This way you focus on one thing and work on it for 2 hours without distractions.

How to learn to concentrate on important matters using the Azamych method?

This method may have been invented a long time ago and is called something else, but at the moment I called it that way because I learned it from Azamat Ushanov. The method is not much different from pomodoros, except that we work on the task for more time.

The essence of the method is exactly the same concentrate on one thing.

For this method we follow the following rules:

  • Choose an important task to work on
  • We time ourselves for 45 minutes and work without distractions.
  • Rest for 15 minutes (required)
  • We continue to work further, another 45 minutes.
  • We work for no more than 3 periods of time.

In principle, that’s all. That is, you work on a task, usually important, about the main task, concentrated for 3 hours. Moreover, at first you work for 45 minutes, then when the time comes, you rest for 15 minutes. You are completely distracted from what you are doing.

You can do squats, do push-ups, do some exercises for your eyes, go pour yourself some tea, eat something tasty, read a couple of pages of a book, etc. Let your brain rest, and it wouldn’t hurt for you to take a break from the computer (if you work on it). Then we sit down again and work. In three hours you will complete a lot of work.

Which way to choose for concentration?

Everyone must answer this question on their own by trying each of the concentration techniques. Personally, when I had a question about how to learn to concentrate and which technique to choose for this, I tried both techniques. And I use the second technique. Somehow the tomatoes didn’t work out for me. 25 minutes is not enough for me

I am writing this article using this technique. And I do the latest articles and other important actions using this technique, because it is very convenient. You sit and work and no one distracts you. Just don’t forget to close your contacts and mail, as well as turn off all available instant messengers and you can put your phone on silent mode, this is important in the modern world.

By the way, I measured all my breaks and work periods using a regular timer in my iPhone 5s, but already I ordered a regular kitchen timer, and it turned out even better. Moreover, its cost is only 260 rubles (at the time of writing).

It’s very convenient and you don’t forget to take a break from work. What technology do you use to concentrate on important things? Perhaps you have your own secrets? In any case, I look forward to your techniques, advice and suggestions in the comments to this post!

And one more important point, this article is the first article from the new section “”, which will be updated as new techniques and methods appear that are designed to help people improve their working time and the ability to do what is important and necessary.

In this section, I'll also write about Evernote and how to use it to organize all the information you need, as well as describe how I work with the task-setting program Wunderlist. Well, that’s not all, I have examples of using a regular diary for super productive work in the educational process from my cadet years

In general, be sure to subscribe to blog updates at the end of this article and you will definitely not miss anything interesting and important for yourself.

ZY By the way, if you finish work on a task earlier, you can sit down and do what you have been putting off for a long time. And then reward yourself with something

Imagine the average office worker gets distracted every three minutes. According to a study conducted at Carnegie Mellon University, once distracted, we spend an average of 25 minutes just trying to regain lost focus.

It’s very easy to get distracted from work, sometimes we don’t even notice how it’s happening, but it’s very difficult to concentrate and maintain attention at an adequate level. And, despite the fact that almost every person faces the problem of absent-minded attention at work, we do practically nothing to change our environment, mood and block external stimuli.

How the brain chooses what to focus on

Our brain is active at any time of the day or night. He constantly perceives information that continuously arrives from the outside. This means that the brain must constantly choose what to pay attention to and what to filter out and ignore. Neuroscientists call this process "selective attention", and it is divided into two types:

  • Controlled attention is a process when we ourselves control what our attention is focused on. Whether we need to solve a problem, finish a project, or listen carefully to a presentation, we literally force our brains to focus on what we need.
  • Uncontrolled attention is a process when focus is diverted by an unexpected external or internal stimulus, be it a strange thought that has crept into the head, the smell of coffee, or a sharp, unexpected noise. Uncontrolled shifting of focus occurs outside of our control.

What is the problem?

The difficulty with maintaining focus and control over attention is that we cannot control what type of selective attention our brain uses at any given moment. Despite the desire to maintain control, normal brain function simply requires the nervous system to respond to external stimuli. This is all connected with instincts, animal comfort and the correct, timely reaction to danger. If you are cold or hungry, it will be extremely difficult to force yourself to focus on studying for the exam. If you hear an unexpected loud noise, the brain perceives it as a potential danger, and danger is always more important than the quarterly report.

In addition, studies have shown that willpower and attention cannot be endless - the more often we are distracted, the harder it is to regain lost concentration. However, some researchers have concluded that there are several ways to help the brain maintain controlled focus longer and more effectively.

Seven ways to concentrate at work

If you've ever been distracted at work, you know that you risk getting stuck in endless, fruitless attempts to regain your focus. Who among us doesn’t know how difficult it is to ignore social media alerts, not be distracted by calls and conversations from colleagues, and not be distracted by your own thoughts and daydreams? Once again, when external and internal stimuli begin to rob you of your precious will to concentrate with renewed vigor, remember the following useful tips.

Determine your ideal schedule

You've probably noticed that you are more or less focused at different times of the day and night. It depends on brain activity. It’s not for nothing that people are divided into larks and owls, and it’s not always just a matter of developed habits. Some people actually find it easier to concentrate in the afternoon rather than early in the morning. For most people, the peak time for brain activity is late in the morning, and the greatest tendency to lose attention is during the lunch break.

If you're a night owl, you find it easier to concentrate after lunch, which is when you should do more complex tasks that require maximum attention. If you are a morning person, on the contrary, start the day with the most difficult tasks, and do routine activities in the afternoon.

Control common distractions

Our brains learn by doing. The more we practice small momentary distractions, such as checking email or Twitter a hundred times a day, the more habitual the behavior becomes and the harder it is to break.

Instead of being distracted every 10 minutes, train your brain to stay focused by stopping yourself every time your hand reaches for your phone and your eyes for the new message icon.

Take quality breaks

Most of our waking time passes at the pace of receiving the maximum amount of information in the minimum amount of time. We have 15 tabs open at once, we spend the day at work in an endless stream of emails, phone calls, messages from colleagues. Maximum operating speed does not make this work more efficient. In fact, just the opposite.

To strengthen your ability to stay focused on your work, take a break. Find a place where you won't have constant stimuli demanding your attention. Spend some time in a park or cafe where there is no Internet, while leaving your phone at work, the apocalypse will not come in half an hour, and your brain will have a long-awaited chance to recharge.

Forget about multitasking

Multitasking is nothing more than a myth. In the entire history of mankind, there have only been a dozen people who have been able to effectively and simultaneously perform multiple tasks that require concentration.

Our brains are unable to focus on more than one thing at a time; in fact, “multitasking” simply means quickly switching attention from one problem to another. And the more often we switch, the more energy we spend. And the more energy we expend, the faster we get tired.

Make a list of tasks in order of importance and stick to it as closely as possible. The fewer tasks you try to complete at once, the more effective your overall work will be.

Choose tasks that suit your energy level

If the task at hand is not important enough to warrant your undivided attention, the brain quickly moves on to another object. If you are about to take on a very important presentation, but your mind keeps getting distracted by extraneous thoughts, maybe you should put off the important task for a period of the workday when your energy is not at its minimum level?

Don't get stressed

Tension and stress have a very bad effect on concentration, and not only on it. Typically, work stress is highest when the cool-headed ability to put aside the unnecessary and fully concentrate on what is important is needed most.

The breaks and meditation mentioned above can help you avoid stress. Try to take five minutes for yourself and focus only on what you feel: focus on your heartbeat, smell, breathing and tactile sensations. This practice will help you quickly calm down and come to your senses in a stressful situation.

Have snacks or chew gum

This method seems a little strange, but research shows that chewing gum increases oxygen flow to the parts of the brain responsible for attention. Chewing also improves long-term memory and releases small amounts of insulin into the blood, which increases brain activity. In addition, the process of chewing helps the nervous system relax and calm down - it's all about instincts - if we chew, it means we are eating, and if we eat, it means we are safe.

If you're not a fan of chewing gum, snack on nuts, fruits and dried fruits, and to give your brain a little extra energy, eat something sweet. However, it is best to indulge in sweets at the end of the working day, because after a rapid influx of energy there is an equally rapid drop, and then goodbye to both concentration and focus.

Single-tasking

The first rule: concentrate on only one thing. We are all often distracted because modern society places unrealistic expectations on us. They want us to consume oceans of information non-stop. We must be constantly available to her. Many people respond to this alarming increase in demands by dividing their attention into several tasks at once. And this approach does not bring us any good.

We suffer from a fundamentally incorrect stereotype: they say that doing several things at the same time is necessary in order to cope with the burden of modern problems. But multitasking tactics usually lead to dead ends.

We find it difficult to concentrate. Our attention is scattered. We become impolite. Our productivity decreases. We lose control over the surrounding reality. We pretend that we have time to do a lot. Why do we pretend? Because our brain is not capable of fully working on more than one task at a time. Any neurophysiologist will confirm this.

Senseless worries about events that have already happened or groundless worries about the future are the main and tireless plunderers of our time. Thoughts about what others will say also hinder us.

The first step towards overcoming all these hindrances is to achieve full awareness. Notice to yourself what your thoughts revolve around. Is this some specific “thorn” from the past? Or have you developed a habit of worrying about the twists and turns that may await you in the future?

Remind yourself that such thoughts are not only unhelpful, but also counterproductive: they prevent us from being present in the here and now. We cannot change the past, predict the future, or exert control over other people. At this particular moment, we can only focus on solving a specific problem that will make a positive contribution to our life, our work and the reality that is seething around us.

To-do lists

When we try to remember all the things we have to do in the foreseeable future, it often turns into an additional stress load. But if we transfer the list of tasks to paper, we relieve ourselves of the burden of fears that we might forget something.

A person is able to simultaneously retain 7–9 things in memory. Making a list frees up your mental resources to focus on one specific task and not be distracted by anxious thoughts about other responsibilities.

By using lists, we can sort and structure the seemingly overwhelming mountain of tasks, focus on the most pressing ones, and achieve maximum efficiency.

The nastiest frog

Mark Twain once said that if you eat a frog in the morning, the rest of your day will be wonderful because the worst of the day is over. Your “frog” is your biggest and most important job, the one you most often put off. However, it is she who will now positively influence your achievements, and most importantly, your life.

The first rule of eating frogs: of the two proposed, you need to start with the most disgusting one.

In other words, if you have two important jobs to do, start with the larger, more complex, and most important one. Train yourself to take on a task without delay, bring it to the end and only then move on to the next.

25 minute rule

To reduce the temptation to put off a task, each active phase of a project should take no more than 25 minutes.

This technique involves breaking a task into 25-minute periods, the end of which is tracked using a timer. Each such period is accompanied by a short break. Four periods of work are followed by a longer break.

The technique is especially effective when you need to do something that you don’t want to do at all. When we know that we will work on a task for 25 minutes, and as soon as the timer rings, we can distract ourselves, it becomes psychologically easier to complete the work.

Distractions

You must create a positive work environment for yourself that is conducive to productivity. Eliminate all possible interference. If you're having a hard time working on a project or task, distractions will become just excuses for you to stop.

The Internet, colleagues always ready to chat with you, phone calls, pop-up email notifications - all this contributes to your procrastination. Eliminate all distractions for at least 25 minutes and get down to business.

How to talk to colleagues

In most work environments, it is impossible not to get distracted. It's hard to get back on track if the conversation you were interrupted by is spiraling out of control and you don't know when it will end. Therefore, you must set a time frame right away. The best way to do this is to announce what you are currently doing to the person heading towards you, and then ask targeted questions. Here are some examples:

“I'm just trying to clear out my mail. Are you coming to see me for a little while or should we make an appointment for another time?”

“I need to make some phone calls. Is there anything specific you want to discuss or can we talk later?”

“I'm going to a meeting in about five minutes. Can you briefly tell me your problem in half a minute or would it be better if I call you after the meeting?”

The magic word "no"

Why do we agree to lunch with a friend even though we are busy with an important project? Taking on additional responsibilities at the request of the boss, despite the fact that we were going to devote more time to our family? Do we come to the aid of our neighbor, even if it interferes with our plans? It's simple: we are afraid of letting people down or ruining relationships.

But we forget that we have the right to choose. You shouldn’t turn your own life into chaos by endlessly solving other people’s problems. Say “no” and people will begin to value your time. And you won’t have to regret your compliance every time.

From today, try to say no to all minor and “problematic” requests, and use the freed up time to complete a more important task. Refuse clearly, but politely. “I’m flattered that you thought of me, but I’m afraid the workload isn’t allowing it,” or “I’d really like to, but I’m terribly busy.” Such forms of refusal will allow you to maintain a warm relationship with your interlocutor and get rid of unnecessary small tasks that “clutter” your day.

Diversity

Doing the same thing day after day can get incredibly boring. Tired of monotony, we begin to get distracted at every opportunity. To avoid this, develop different routines for different days of the week.

This is exactly what Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter, does. Each day has a specific theme. Monday is reserved for meetings and company management. Tuesday is reserved for product development. Wednesday is dedicated to marketing, communications and development, and Thursday is dedicated to communication with developers and partners. Friday is the day of the company and its culture.

This routine helps you maintain calm in the midst of chaos. Every day, Dorsey focuses all his efforts on one topic, rather than scattering them across several tasks. His work week always follows these rules, so it’s easy for his colleagues and partners to adapt to him.

Checking mail

Create a schedule for what time you will open your email each day. For most people, the best option, the least disruptive to their workflow, is to check incoming correspondence four times a day and allocate no more than 15 minutes for each “session”.

1. First thing in the morning. Most people start their workday by checking their email to make sure they haven't missed anything urgent.

2. Before lunch break. Lunch time is a completely natural pause in your business activity; To make this time more productive, you can check your email.

3. Mid-afternoon. This is another natural pause when you need to take a break or are about to leave for a business meeting.

4. End of the working day. If you clear out your inbox as much as possible before you leave your desk, you'll be able to jump right into new messages the next morning.

Concentration is necessary in order to learn to work with the power of your consciousness, manage your life, and live 100%. Learn more about concentration, why it is useful and how to develop it.

The power of concentration can be compared to the effect of a magnifying glass. If we take a piece of paper and shine a ray of sun on it through a magnifying glass, the force of this impact may be such that the paper will catch fire.

Imagine, for the first time in your life you heard about the effect of a magnifying glass, you came to your home, took a magnifying glass and paper, began to direct a ray of sun through the magnifying glass, but forgot that you need to stubbornly hold the glass in one place. You start moving it in all directions, and nothing works. And this is the reason why people fail to achieve any effect or result. They are unable to concentrate their thoughts on one thing; their thoughts wander. They want something, they hope for something, they are here and there, and there is no structure, no organization in their thoughts.

When mastering the power of consciousness, it is necessary to somehow structure your thought process. Because a person's thoughts are constantly moving, they are here and there, and in order to make them purposeful, structure is needed.

One of the techniques for mastering the power of your consciousness is contemplation, concentration of attention, thoughts. The technique of contemplation comes down to the fact that we must choose one concept, one idea, one thought, one law, object, and think only about it.

Think about only one thing at a time. In this way, discipline of the mind is cultivated, because naturally, consciousness tends to rush from one corner to another and disperse. Naturally, consciousness is able to focus on some subject for a very short time, and after that, it strives to jump to something else.

Our consciousness is like a spoiled child. It wants to do what and when it is convenient for it. Consciousness thinks it has the right to think about whatever it wants, and it is very lazy. I want to remind you once again that you are not your consciousness. And each of you should not identify yourself with your consciousness. Consciousness must be disciplined, consciousness must be trained, and of course it must be controlled.

It is not at all necessary that your consciousness will like your efforts.

Suddenly, out of the blue, you begin to control him. And rest assured that the consciousness is quite cunning, and it will constantly strive to escape, to evade the exercises that you will impose on it. Consciousness is very inventive; it simply does not want to strain. And when we talk about programming consciousness, we will return to this issue.

We must strive to ensure that once we have established any program for consciousness, set a goal, we strive to bring it to the end, regardless of how our consciousness reacts to it.

Right from this moment, we must speak, tell our consciousness what it should think about. I suggest you do an exercise.

The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate and illustrate the power of your consciousness. And the power of concentration.

Concentration - practice, exercise

Now, for three minutes, we will reflect, we will contemplate one idea, one law. It is proposed to start with thought, with the first law of consciousness: Thoughts have real power.

This is the very law according to which every thought has power. When you contemplate this law, try to focus only on the topic itself, on the subject of this law. Those. we allow into our consciousness only those thoughts that are associated with this law. But, if we suddenly get distracted and think about something else, then this no longer has anything to do with our law, and such thoughts must be driven away. And as soon as we notice that consciousness is slipping away, jumping to another object, we very gently pull it back and force it to contemplate this law.

In the process, we must ask questions related to the topic we are thinking about. For example: “What does it mean that a thought has real power? How does this show up in my life? We can approach this idea from different angles, we can ask additional questions. But the most important thing is not to deviate from the central theme of our reflection. To begin with, it is suggested to start with, for example, three minutes.

Go... although, a couple more parting words:

Thoughts have real power. You can start by repeating, thought has real power... thought has real power... Then you can ask yourself, what is meant by this power? Electricity is also a force, maybe it is similar to electricity. After all, what is force? Force is something that performs an action, sets it in motion. What can my thoughts set in motion? And maybe here you will remember some examples from your life, any situations that are related to the operation of this law. Or maybe some example from your life will come to mind in which you could use your thought as power, as a source of strength.

And you can move in many different directions, but the most important thing is not to deviate from this main, fundamental theme. Those. do not allow your consciousness to stray too far from the main theme of contemplation.

You can close your eyes or keep them open, whatever suits you.

And so, now, within 3 minutes, you contemplate the first law that we talked about, according to which thought has real power.

You can start...

After you have finished, admit honestly to yourself who found it difficult to keep your mind on one topic during these 3 minutes. We can assume that most of you have had problems with thinking about one thing all the time. I can assume that your consciousness persistently contemplated this thought for several seconds, and then began to jump off and switch to something else. And you probably might have said to yourself, “There’s no way 3 minutes could have lasted that long.” Or suddenly, you could be distracted by some sound.

Consciousness is very lazy, and the first step in mastering the power of consciousness is to convince it that it is necessary to train. Nobody does anything for free, including your consciousness. Your consciousness needs to be interested in something, motivated by something, and you can motivate it only with one thing, force. You must tell your consciousness, if it trains hard, it will gain much greater power.

This is no exaggeration. You really have to convince and cajole your own consciousness. For example, if we don't feel physically well, we know it because it's easy to tell, we usually have something hurting or bothering us. This is all quite obvious. But we don’t even realize how out of order our own consciousness is. And it’s understandable why we don’t know anything about this; many have never trained their own consciousness.

But remember, when was the last time you did some special exercise to discipline your own consciousness? Most people are completely undisciplined and unorganized, thinking about random things. If you feel bad or unwell physically, or are in poor physical shape, you decide to do some exercise, start going to the gym, and train on special machines. And naturally, in the first days, your results are quite unimportant.

You try to do pull-ups, push-ups, and after ten times, you are no longer able to do anything else, you sit on an exercise bike, and after 3 minutes, you can no longer move your leg. But if you exercise every day, or at least every other day, then very quickly your results will improve. You will be able to do push-ups 30-40 times, and spend about 20 minutes on an exercise bike, and not 3 minutes as at the beginning. And this is absolutely understandable.

But the same thing happens with consciousness. And probably, those results with contemplation that you have demonstrated for yourself are not the best that you are capable of, but this is your worst possible result. Now your indicators were the worst. This is how contemplation goes if it is not preceded by training. But with training, your mind will become more disciplined and capable of much better performance. Just like what happens to the physical body after playing sports.

The best side and aspect of mastering the power of consciousness is not a theory, and it is not a philosophy., — this is practice.

Any area of ​​life in which you train and practice allows you to get results. But of course, while you cannot fully understand all this, for you now it is just information. But if you learn to exercise in accordance with the individual program that you create for yourself, you will quickly notice significant results.

Exercises to develop concentration.

Below are exercises to develop concentration. The key to success for each of them is the psychological attitude “nowhere to rush, everything happening around is not of decisive importance at the moment.”

"Heart of a Rose"«

Excerpt from the book “The Millionaire's Secret” by Mark Fisher. Every self-respecting future millionaire should definitely read the entire book:

“Take some time each day to concentrate on the heart of the rose. If you don't have a rose at hand, concentrate on any flower, a black dot or a shiny object. Calmly repeat my teacher’s formula: “Be calm and know that I am the Lord.” Look at a rose or a black dot without looking up, longer and longer. When you can watch without stopping for twenty minutes, your concentration will reach an excellent level. When your heart becomes like this rose, your whole life will be transformed.”

After reading the book, I didn't give this exercise the attention it really deserves. But the exercise came to me again, now in Robin S. Sharma's book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari:

“There is one way of controlling consciousness that is superior to all others. This is a favorite technique of the sages of Sivana, who taught it to me, placing great trust in me. Just twenty-one days after using it, I began to feel more alert, inspired and energetic than before. This technique is more than four thousand years old. It's called Heart of a Rose. All you need for this exercise is a freshly cut rose and a quiet place. This is best done surrounded by nature, but a quiet room will do just fine. Direct your gaze to the center of the rose, to its heart. Yogi Raman told me that a rose is very like life: on the path of life you will meet thorns, but if faith is with you and you believe in your dreams, you will eventually overcome the thorns and achieve the beauty of the flower. Look closely at the rose. Pay attention to its color, structure and shape. Enjoy its fragrance and think only about this beautiful creature in front of you. First other thoughts will come to you, distracting you from the heart of the rose. This is a sign of an untrained mind. But don't worry, improvement will come soon. Simply return your attention to the object of concentration. Soon your consciousness will become stronger and more manageable. You need to perform this ritual daily - otherwise it will not work. The first few days it will be difficult for you to devote even five minutes to him. Most of us live at such a frantic pace that real silence and stillness sometimes become something alien and uncomfortable. Most people, hearing my words, will say that they do not have time to sit and look at a flower. They will tell you that they don’t have time to just enjoy the laughter of their children or run barefoot in the rain. They will say they are too busy for such things. They don’t even have friends, because friends also take time.”

"Vipassana«

The word “Vipassana”, translated from the ancient Indian language Pali, means “to see reality as it is.” Vipassana is one of the most ancient meditation techniques. It originated in India more than 2500 years ago as a universal remedy for all misfortunes, as an art of living.

In his book “The Path to the Fool. Philosophy of Laughter." Grigory Kurlov offers somewhat simplified instructions for the technique:

“Sit down comfortably. Try to release any tension in your body. Just sit and breathe for a while. Breathing is completely free and natural, without delays - a smooth inhalation turns into an equally smooth exhalation.

Now bring all your attention to the tip of your nose. It is proposed to “put” all of yourself, all of your consciousness, into it. This is necessary so that not a single nuance of the breathing process escapes you.

So, your consciousness is at the tip of your nose - you monitor every inhalation, you accompany every exhalation. You are completely occupied with this process, all your attention is absorbed in it and is not distracted by anything else.

Keep your attention on only one point. Monitor the sensations accompanying your breathing, they will become more and more subtle.

If the consciousness is distracted, switching to sensations in the body, gently return it to the same point. A thought flashed through, you noticed it - return your consciousness to the starting point.”

Exercise "Clock"

Choose a time in the evening when your room begins to get dark.
Place a mechanical watch with a second hand on the table.
Sit comfortably. Relax.
Watch the second hand of the clock make its revolution, concentrating on its tip.
You don’t need to think about anything - just look at the arrow, or, as a last resort, just think about the tip of the arrow.
Achieve such a result that during the turn of the second hand not a single extraneous thought will interrupt your concentration. Never compromise: if you are distracted, the exercise does not count; but even in this case, finish it to the end.

Only such practice will allow you to get results and consolidate them as a lasting skill.

Concentration on a candle flame

A dark room is required.
Remove all sound sources.
Take a thin wax candle and make a mark on it. Place it vertically and light it.
Sit comfortably. Relax.
Concentrate on the candle flame and don't be distracted by anything else.
Your task is to wait until the candle burns down to the mark you made, concentrating on its flame without being distracted by anything else. Whenever you have extraneous thoughts that distract you from contemplating the flame, bend your finger. Ten, as a rule, is still not enough to count how many times you were distracted. Therefore, the first mark should not be made lower than one centimeter from the top edge - first, learn not to be distracted in a short area. Next, increase the distance until you learn to concentrate while burning at least half of the thinnest church candle.

6 x 6 x 6

Walking the streets of the city or taking a walk in the park can also train your concentration. As you inhale, focus your attention on counting your steps. Count to six and hold your breath for another 6 steps, and then exhale while counting another 6 steps. Even 10-15 minutes of such walks a day will bring a positive effect on your concentration.

To conclude the article, here is another quote from “The Millionaire’s Secret”:

“With concentration exercises, your mind will become strong and confident, and you will realize that life's problems no longer have power over you. Then you will understand what I am about to say now. Don't let this seem obvious and trivial to you. A problem is only a problem if you think it is a problem.

What does this mean? Any event, if you do not consider it serious and truly significant, will be neither serious nor truly significant in your eyes. Problems seem huge and insurmountable only as weak as your mind. The stronger it is, the more insignificant your problems will seem. This is the secret of eternal peace. So concentrate. Concentration is one of the most important components of success.

In fact, our whole life is a long exercise in concentration. The soul is immortal. As the mind travels from one life to another, it gradually develops and reveals itself. This is a long journey of apprenticeship. Only those who have achieved a high level of concentration are able to achieve their goals. Of course, not all of them purposefully engaged in special exercises, but during their previous lives on earth these people have achieved the required level of concentration, which now allows them to achieve success more easily than most people. When your mind reaches its highest level of concentration, you will enter a world where dreams and reality literally coincide.”

And yet, knowledge is only potential power. Only through practice can you realize and feel the full power of each of these exercises.

Some more useful BONUSES:

A set of exercises for your consciousness

Logic exercise

Any situation first requires a calm understanding of it.

In this case, the first step is to realize how rational your own mental state is at the moment, to eliminate inadequate nervous tension. Then, in the process of logical comprehension of the situation and eliminating the negative emotions associated with it, you can use several techniques. It is often possible to relieve nervous tension by simple self-persuasion. Mental protection is based on the fact that difficult situations develop the ability to derive some benefit even from failure.
Imagery exercise

For those who have a penchant for artistic thinking, a technique based on play helps well. For example, when doing some hard and intense work, you can imagine yourself in the image of a literary or movie hero. The ability to vividly recreate a role model in one’s thoughts and “get into the role” helps one to acquire one’s own style of behavior over time.
An exercise in imagination

The ability to tune in or relieve nervous tension is helped by the use of imagination. Every person has in his memory situations in which he experienced peace, tranquility, relaxation. For some it’s the beach, the pleasant feeling of relaxing on the warm sand after swimming, for others it’s mountains, clean fresh air, blue skies, snowy peaks. From such situations, it is necessary to choose the most significant one, one that is truly capable of causing the necessary emotional experiences.
Distraction exercise

There may be conditions when it is difficult to resort to active methods. This is often associated with severe fatigue. In such cases, you can relieve the burden of mental stress using the disconnection method. The medium can be a book that you re-read many times without losing interest, your favorite music, a movie.
Muscle tone control

Muscle tone is a significant indicator of the general emotional state. As a rule, mental stress is combined with muscle tension, and this, through impulses from the muscles entering the brain, further increases the nervous load. Therefore, the ability to control muscle tone is of great importance. Once you frown, it becomes really sad. Conversely, a smile can do a miracle. The ability to smile even in a difficult situation, to remove unnecessary stiffness and tension, increases a person’s ability to better realize their potential.
Conscious Breathing

Breathing is important for the regulation of mental processes.

The ability to breathe correctly is a necessary basis for success in mastering self-control methods. Below, individual methods of breathing exercises are described in more detail.

But first, I would like to note that even the simplest breathing techniques can give a very noticeable positive result when you need to quickly calm down or, conversely, increase your overall tone.

The rhythm of breathing is of great importance. The calming rhythm is as follows: each exhalation is twice as long as the inhalation.

You can also use a technique such as holding your breath. To do this, take a deep breath and hold your breath for 20-30 seconds. Subsequent exhalation and deep compensatory inhalation have a stabilizing effect on the nervous system.