Online Class: How to Improve Your Concentration

Whether you are reading a book, studying for a class, or simply doing your job, concentration plays a major role in how we accomplish those tasks. In the same manner, our concentration allows us to clearly focus on the task at hand. Concentration is simply the mental process of focusing your mind on a single thought or task. In some ways, our brains are very much like computers. We receive data, process the data, somehow compute thoughts, and verbalize the information. Sometimes our concentration doesn't perform the way we expect; we may have a slower-than-normal response and we become frustrated. A person's intelligence level is tied to their ability to concentrate. There is research that suggests the level of intelligence a person has can be traced to heredity -- meaning that you may inherit the smarts of your parents. In theory, if any one person has a high level of concentration, their intelligence level would also likely be high.

The process of concentration is a very important part of what we do on a daily basis. Without the ability to concentrate, thoughts could be lost and memories wasted. Some consider concentration a way of branding our brains to recall things and assist our memory. For example, when studying for an exam, you study by concentrating; you read, focus on the key words, and to the phrases and exercises that will assist you with remembering the details. Famous intellects, such as Einstein, must have mastered this ability quite well. It is easy to assume that highly intelligent people were born with a bigger brain, or larger capacity for learning. However, it is also fair to assume that enhancing the way we think and focus can ultimately produce better concentrating skills. In essence, concentration is an ability we are able to maintain and enhance to better ourselves.

Let's discuss where this function takes place, as it obviously originates in our brain. The brain is made up of billions of nerve cells, commonly called neurons. Neurons basically gather and transmit electrochemical signals that evoke our thoughts and motor functions. The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that is associated with our memory, thought, attention, awareness, and consciousness. This is also, where concentration comes into play. With everything we do, there is a certain amount of concentration that takes place. If you are eating ice cream, you are most likely thinking or focusing on the taste and texture -- and possibly the fact that you will have more when you are finished. When you are reading the newspaper or your favorite magazine, you are concentrating on the words and details that bring the articles to life, and finish up with a nice crossword puzzle. Just as you read the text for this class, you are stimulating your brain and putting forth an effort to concentrate.

It is interesting in an office setting how different people adapt to the surroundings of their environment in order to do their job. Some people find it very easy to concentrate with background noise, while others find it quite distracting. There are also those who prefer to be locked away silently in order to properly focus. Imagine working in an office consisting of cubicles. There is virtually no privacy, no way to drown out the noise of the day-to-day, such as co-workers' phone calls, or the busy sounds of printers, faxes, and staplers. Yet over and over we hear that people in these settings simply adapt; their minds allow them to drown out things they do not need to hear. It is as if all irrelevant background noises disappear. Haven't you ever been so deep in thought, so deep in concentration that someone speaks to you and you simply do not hear them? So, the second time they ask, you respond with a half-hearted, "Huh? I didn't even hear you." And they are just astounded that you were nearly deaf for that moment. Thousands of thoughts literally cross our minds daily, and with so much activity taking place, it is hard to imagine solidly focusing on one simple task or one thought. For many, it is difficult to concentrate on one task, let alone multitasking. Even as we are performing a physical function, the instruction to do the task is, of course, coming from the brain. If we were puppets, our brains would surely act as the puppeteer of our every move, and in reality, it pretty much seems to work that way.

Attention, focus, thought, and concentration are interrelated. Without one, it would be difficult to utilize the others. In order to concentrate, if you cannot focus, you simply would not be able to pay attention. Concentration, attention, and focus all involve thought, and therefore assist one another in the thought process.

To be able to enhance the way you concentrate means to be able to find the answers to what may be restricting your ability to do so, and what other factors are involved. You may be having a hard time sitting in one place for too long. Or perhaps you just want to brush up on your focus. No matter what your goal, this course will cover what you want and need to know to improve your concentration and enhance your ability to focus.