Have you seen yourself in front of the computer ready to do what you have to do and suddenly you are checking your Facebook wall, your instagram or watching videos on youtube?
Our productivity is affected daily by many factors and not being able to enter that state of concentration or “flow”, as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, professor of psychology at Claremont Graduate University, calls it. All these factors prevent us from moving forward and reaching our goals.
Also read: 3 super effective strategies to work smart.
Experts in various areas describe what they feel when they are concentrated, whether it is composing, writing or doing any activity that they are passionate about, regardless of their nationality, race or belief, they identify similar sensations:
- state of ecstasy – out of reality.
- they know that the activity is completely achievable because their abilities allow them to perform the task.
- Serenity – No worries. There is a feeling of growth beyond limits.
- timelessness – Hours seem like minutes.
- Continuous motivation.
Also read: How to stay motivated, even when you don’t have the energy to continue.
We would like to be able to experience those sensations when we carry out our obligations, unfortunately on a daily basis we are bombarded with temptations and bad habits that can destroy any attempt to concentrate, so why not identify what we are doing wrong and boost our concentration?
Mistakes that make you lose time and concentration.
1. We want to do many things at the same time.
If we want to focus on doing one thing well, there is no point in wanting to do several things at the same time. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says that the human brain can process a maximum of 110 bits per second, when listening to ourselves speak and understanding what we say we process 60 bits (which is why we cannot fully understand when two people speak to us at the same time).
Also read: If you do these 19 things, you are more productive than you think.
In the same way, our ability to process information is divided between the tasks we want to perform, so if we want to maintain our concentration, let’s focus on doing one thing in order to do it well.
Remember: Don’t be proud of multitasking! That does not work.
It is very possible that:
2. We give in to temptations.
As the first step to curing all addiction, we must acknowledge that we have it. In this case we must recognize the distracting agents that do not allow us to maintain our concentration for longer.
From Facebook, whatsapp, emails, or even going to “eat something” are activities that get in the way of completing our obligations, so we must recognize what distracts us and find a way to neutralize it.
Also read: 3 applications that help combat lack of concentration.
If it’s a web page, programs like Self-Control for mac or add-ons like StayFocus for Chrome allow users to limit the time they spend on time-wasting web pages.
They simply enter the addresses and the time during which they do not want to be distracted. These programs will block such pages to prevent you from being distracted.
3. We do not organize our time.
There are different theories about how long we can stay focused doing the same activity but they are all very similar. In general the recommendation is to be fully focused for about an hour and take a break of about 15 minutes. This will allow us to relax and not be constantly distracted by things outside of what we are doing.
Also read: The 52/17 rule, the key to increasing your productivity
4. We are planning our activities poorly.
We can make a list of activities for the next day, but if we set very general goals we will be easy prey to distraction. To the extent that the tasks that we plan are more specific, it is easier for us to put all our concentration to finish them.
Also read: What activities do successful people do before bed?
For example, if the task is to learn to play the guitar, we may not know where to start and we may wander, while if we break the activity down into more specific parts, such as recognizing some chords and memorizing the positions of the fingers, we will know exactly what to do and that way we don’t get distracted by unnecessary things.
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