How to Stretch Your Attention Span and Improve Your Concentration
You can learn how to improve your concentration using mental self-regulation. These
strategies require practice. They usually begin to work in a few days, but their maximum
benefits will be seen in about four to six weeks if you practice daily. Try the following three
techniques:
1. “Focus now .” Practice saying this to yourself every time you notice your attention
wandering while you are in class listening to a lecture, reading, or studying for your
classes. At first, you will have to say this to yourself quite frequently, maybe even several
times per minute. Gradually, this will occur less often. Every day you will see more
improvement if you are consistent with correcting yourself using the “focus now”
statements. This technique trains your brain to focus.
2. Acquire “tunnel focus .” Using this technique, you work on giving your attention only
to the task you need to concentrate on at the time (lecture, reading, studying, etc.). You
ignore other things in the environment that could take your attention away. For instance,
during lecture look only at the professor and/or the information presented visually by the
professor. If other students are talking or another student coughs, don’t turn around to see
what is going on because this breaks your focus on the lecture. Sitting in the front of the
room will help you maintain “tunnel focus.” You will have fewer distractions because
fewer people will be in your line of sight.
3. Allow yourself to have a specific time for thinking and worrying. Set aside a specific
time each day to spend thinking about the thoughts that keep entering your mind and
interrupting your focus while you are trying to concentrate in class and while reading
and/or studying. Then, when the thoughts that take your focus away from where it needs
to be occur, remind yourself that you have a specific time set aside for those topics.
Having a time set aside for worry will significantly improve your focus and
concentration. You might find it helpful to jot down interrupting thoughts as a way to
reassure yourself that you won’t forget them. For example, if you are listening to a
lecture and the thought occurs to you that you need to pick up some milk, writing “Get
milk” can free your mind to let that thought go.
In addition to the three main strategies, you may also try these additional activities:
1. Score your focus and concentration. Get a piece of paper and divide it into a section for
each part of the day that you will be using the three main strategies presented above.
Tally up how many times your mind wanders every time you use the strategy (especially
the first strategy). This is a good activity because you can see your improved
concentration build over time as your mind wanders less.
2. Stretch and get active. Don’t just stay in your seat and talk if there is a break during
class. When you take a break, get up and walk around. This gets more oxygen to your
brain to help you focus more efficiently.
3. Change topics. When you are studying, change the subject or topic you are studying
every hour or two. The variety will help you be able to concentrate longer.
4. Pay attention to your energy levels and study at the times of day when you have the
most energy. Study for your most difficult courses during your high energy times and
your easiest courses or the ones you enjoy the most at your low energy times.
Author: Shirley “Mandy” Sexton, Ph.D.