5 Ways to Improve Your Concentration At Work

​These days your senses are being bombarded with tons of information, sights, and sounds. Consider that while you are at work you will get interrupted, on average, about every 11 minutes. After that it takes you at least 15 minutes to get back on track with what you were initially doing. To top it off, scientists estimate that we receive, on average, around 34 gigabytes of information daily.
It’s no wonder that Attention Deficit Disorder is on the rise.  Our brains are constantly hopping from one thing to another that we’ve gotten to the point that our attention span is only 8 seconds, which is less than that of a goldfish!

Luckily, there are things that can be done do to boost your concentration, focus and even memory skills. Read on to learn five of the most important concentration-boosting tips.


1. Listen to your body for your prime time.
We all have those couple of hours when we feel we’re at our prime. For some, it’s early in the morning, while for others it can be later in the day. So figure out when your prime time is and use it to your advantage. Save those precious hours for your biggest projects. 
Also, make sure you work in 90-minute batches then take a 15-minute break. And no matter how good you think you are at multi-tasking, it’s best to avoid it. Doing many things at once cuts back your concentration levels by 40%. Besides, it leaves you frazzled and stressed out.


2. Eat right and exercise.
Nutritious food, loaded with vitamins and minerals, helps boost blood flow to increase focus levels. Exercise regularly also stimulates your body into secreting endorphins which are ‘feel good’ hormones. They help motivating your creative juices and ability to concentrate for longer periods of time. Even if it’s just a walk outside around a nearby park, you’ll feel much better once you get some fresh air and enjoy being around nature.

Exercise isn’t only for your body - but for your brain as well. There are numerous games that boost concentration, like crossword puzzles, number puzzles as Sudoku and many others. If you receive a newspaper most of these are free. You can also find them on the internet. Another game that helps you concentrate is Scrabble. In most cases you are learning how to concentrate while having fun. 
It’s even better when you have to work hard to complete a goal because your brain secretes dopamine when you are striving to accomplish something.  Dopamine is a ‘feel good’ hormone, but when it becomes too low in your body it can negatively affect your ability to focus and concentrate.


3. Get tech-savvy.
There are many new apps being introduced daily with the aim of organizing our lives and managing our time. And while many prove to be effective, there are those that manage to waste more time than actually save it. So pick and choose wisely the most efficient apps for your lifestyle.
Being technologically smart also means knowing when to turn off your devices. There’s a time to check social media and emails, and there’s a time to wind down and get some work done - with no distractions from your phone.

A time saving way to deal with your media activities is to put times in your calendar when you will go to them rather than they interrupting you. Another quick time saving technique is to color code those activities so that you can see them at a glance.


4. Organize your work area.
Declutter, revamp and even redecorate your work area. Look at your workspace and determine what will help you be comfortable and organized. Do you need shelves? A plant? New lighting? And on your desk, you should have only the papers you need for the project you’re currently working on. Get rid of all the other clutter, they are just a distraction for you.


5. Establish a Routine
If you have ever tried to focus on a task you know it isn’t always easy. We are always distracted by something that leads us astray whether that is at work or when we are carrying out other activities.
One way to avoid this is to establish a routine and stick to it. This means setting time aside to work on your priorities for the day and then make sure you stick with your schedule. If can’t because of unavoidable circumstances then place the task for first thing the next morning.
You could also start your day off with a morning routine. This could look different for everyone, but one routine that fits well with the morning is to set a few minutes aside for meditation and stretching. This allows you to put aside your smartphone for the first hour.
You could also end the day with a solid nightly routine. Spend a few minutes reviewing your day and then plan for the next day so that you know when you wake up you have a plan for what needs to be done.  This will keep you focused on what needs to be accomplished, improves your productivity, and sets the stage for confidence building. 

In Conclusion
Hopefully these 5 tips on how to boost your concentration will help you achieve a more focused, more productive lifestyle. Each of them are not hard to do, you just need to commit to doing them. If you have difficulty trying to accomplish them all put them in your calendar one week at a time. In five short weeks you will have accomplished them all and in the end your will find your concentration and focus improved.

Thank you for reading and as always folks stay safe, be well and continue becoming the best version of yourself.

Richard

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