Factor Influencing Learning

Enemies and Ways to Improve Concentration

Concentration :enemies and ways to improve concentration
Concentration=power of focusing all ones attention
The things that commonly disrupt our concentration on everyday activities that are the
enemies of concentration
Whoever we are, we can benefit from learning how to find laser focus in daily life.
To find a concentration, we need to get rid of what’s standing in the way of
concentration while working. There are a few big enemies of focus or
concentration and now we are going to talk about each. Together with that, we
can see how to overcome it so it doesn’t stop you from concentrating better.
Enemies and ways to improve Concentration
• OVERTHINKING

Overthinking simply means to think about something too much or for too long.One of the
main reasons why we procrastinate is overthinking. It consists of wondering what might go
wrong, thinking of situations from the past and comparing them to your current one, playing
scenarios in your head. You’re basically letting your mind wander instead of focusing on the
activity in front of you and getting the task done.
• Overthinking sabotages your focus as it takes you away from the present. Due to the
negative nature of the thoughts that pop up in your mind, your self-esteem also lowers and
you’re less likely to start working any time soon.
• To beat that, practice mindfulness. Build the habit of noticing when your brain is starting to
come up with random thoughts and stop it. You are in control, you just need to be aware of
what’s happening.
• Once your mind is calm and present, it can easily concentrate on the one important thing
that you planned to do.
• NOT KNOWING WHERE TO START
• Oftentimes, we don’t find focus and get distracted instead simply because we don’t know
where to start.
• The solution to this is simple. Get better at planning.
• Start by organizing your thoughts. To empty your mind, write down anything you can think of
related to the new project you’re about to begin. Then, see which of the ideas on the list are
realistic and remove the rest.
• Break down everything into smaller steps so each seems doable and doesn’t overwhelm you.
We often postpone taking action simply because the time something might take scares us.
• Once you have a list of steps, focus only on the first 3 of them. Forget about anything else.
Your goal is to include these 3 actions into your daily schedule.
• That’s not just simple but won’t take much time so there’s no reason not to do it. When the
time comes to get to work, you’ll find focus as your mind will already be prepared to get this
done knowing it’s just one easy step.
• FEAR OF FAILURE
• Fearing failure is an enemy not just of focus and productivity but success in
any aspect of life. It can make you lose hope, compare yourself to others,
focus on the negatives, and – ultimately – give up.
• There’s no such thing as fighting it, though. In this case, you must let go of it.
• Understand that failure is a stepping stone to success. Knowing it exists
doesn’t mean you’ll fail. And even if you do, the worst scenario is not usually
that bad.
• There’s not a single person who succeeded without making a few mistakes.
Be okay with that and know it’s part of the journey.
• Such a mindset will help you stay consistent with your goals, but also stop
procrastinating, find focus more easily and get more done each day.
• SOCIAL MEDIA
• We’ve all heard that social media is addictive. To be precise, 210 million people suffer
from Internet and social media addition.
• Common side effects include the fear of missing out (when you check your newsfeed as
often as possible knowing there’s always a new update to like, comment on or just read),
information overload (consuming too much unnecessary information online is bad for
your mental health), procrastinating (using social media is one of the most common
ways to kill some time these days, especially when there’s a long to-do list waiting).
• All this is shortening your attention span and leads to being distracted.
• Experts suggest you must limit social media usage. That can happen by using an app to
block social media sites on your phone for a certain period of the day, such as when
you’re doing some focused work.
• Another way is to turn off notifications and only allow yourself to log in and check what’s
new 2-3 times a day.
• Being in a Hurry
Some people are used to living in a rush. Because
they are always keeping themselves busy and
moving from one task to the next, their mind is
never at ease and so they can never find the
focus necessary to perform well.
Change that by slowing down. It’s good for your
productivity but can also 
help you stay healthy and happy.
Now that you know what the biggest roadblocks
to finding focus are and how to eliminate each,
you can start working on the first barrier to laser
focus and overcome it as soon as possible.
Personal Smart Goals –Goal Setting
• Personal=affecting a particular person rather than anyone else or
distinctive
• Smart= Clever, Intelligent or tidy and well dressed
• Goal=Aim or Target
First consider what you want to achieve, and then commit to it. Set
SMART (specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and time-bound)
goals that motivate you and write them down to make them feel
tangible. Then plan the steps you must take to realize your goal, and
cross off each one as you work through them.
Personal Smart Goals
S.M.A.R.T. Goals are goals written to conform to the following criteria: Specific,
Measurable, Achievable (or Attainable), Realistic (or Relevant), and Time-
bound. The S.M.A.R.T. process was originally a management concept that was
presented as a SMART way to write management goals and objectives. It was written in
the following manner:
S=Specific=Identify
M=Measurable=Objectives should be measurable and achievable
A=Attainable=able to attain
R=Relevant=Applicable
T=Time-bound=requiring completion by a specified deadline
Without making your goals SMART, they would be vague goals or just mere resolutions.
The S.M.A.R.T. Goal setting process will help you think through your goals carefully so
that you can give your goals structures that can be easily tracked and implemented. This
also brings your goals closer to reality from the point of setting them.
15 Examples of Personal SMART Goals

• The following are 20 examples of Personal SMART Goals that you can
set to improve your life. They cut across different areas of life. Some of
them are daily and weekly habits while some can take a longer time to
achieve.
1. Walk 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week
• Health is wealth, exercising for a recommended 150 minutes a week
can reduce your risk of having heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high
blood pressure, depression, etc.[2]
• You can achieve this goal by brisk walking for 30 minutes a day on
Mondays – Fridays. You may further break it down to 15 minutes each
for morning and evening.
2. Improve your listening skills
• Whether it is discussing with a spouse, a colleague at work or a
casual friend, most people are swift to talk but poor at listening.
You can know whether you are improving in your listening skills
by asking for feedback after you have made your contributions.
• For example, ask questions like “Has my answer addressed your
concerns?”, “Is there anything else I can help with?”, “Do you
have anything else in mind you want me to know?” You need to
listen more to let people know that their opinions really matter
to you.
3. Speak up to increase visibility
• Are you one of those that hide in the crowd and barely talk in meetings? Setting a goal
to increase your visibility is something worth considering. Plan ahead before each
meeting to consider the agenda and prepare to make thoughtful and meaningful
contributions.
4. Improve presentation/public speaking Skills
• With thorough research, adequate preparations and rehearsals, you can make 
effective PowerPoint presentations, and deliver great speeches. Set a goal to always
research your topics thoroughly, and get to rehearse before each presentation.
5. Improve your Emotional Intelligence
• You can set a goal to become less reactive to issues and pay attention to finding out the
underlying emotions and motivations behind the actions of others. Learn to connect
with people at their own level.
6. Start networking
• Networking is important for personal and career development. Set a goal to
attend three networking events quarterly to connect with old colleagues
and meet new people.
7. Volunteer regularly
• Contribute two volunteering hours weekly for community service. It could
be teaching your favorite subject at a nearby high school, coaching kids in
basketball or serving food at a restaurant for the homeless.
8. Improve your time management skills
• Be more focused on achieving daily tasks. Minimize distractions and
increase productivity by, say 40% over the next 3 months.
9. Wake up early
• Ever thought of not having enough time to do the things you really love doing? Try 
waking up early. Set a goal to wake up as early as 5:00 am every day; you’ll have at least
an hour extra to do the things you love before the day’s work begin.
10. Learn one new thing every week
• There is no end to learning. Set a goal to add to something new to your knowledge and
skill base every week.
11. Learn a foreign language
• There are many benefits to learning a foreign language. You will be able to expand your
career opportunities, find more clients, expand your business, make more friends and
make more money.
• You might attain conversational fluency in a foreign language if you commit an hour
daily to learning it over a period of one year.[3]
12. Overcome social media addiction
• If you want to increase your productivity, you have to learn to 
manage or beat your social media addiction. This can be achieved
in a couple of days, weeks or months depending on how strong
your resolution is.
13. Keep a journal of key events
• Practices like keeping a journal to record key events in your life can
help you keep track of your progress. Such journals can help you
regain motivation whenever you are facing a difficult situation.
• This is Why You Should Keep A Journal And How To Get Started.
14. Increase spirituality
• Spirituality means different things to different people. Whatever it
means to you, you can set a goal to be more devoted and spend more
time enriching that part of you.
15. Reconnect with “foes”
• It is normal in life that people get to annoy you to the point that you
block them out of your life. This happens a lot on social media.
• Set a goal to let go of the past and look at these people you have
barred with new perspectives. These people might have turned a new
leaf and you might be surprised to find them valuable once more.
 Personal SMART Goals can be just about anything. You will only
have to be sure that you can muscle the discipline, resources, and
requirements you will need to achieve them.
We may not achieve 100% of your goals all the time but it’s worth
it; knowing that we are making progress with our life.
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or
things.”
― Albert Einstein
Personal Goals
• Personal goals are the expressions of the things you want to achieve for
yourself in life. When you think about what you want to achieve in life and
set goals towards achieving them, you will become more self-motivated
 and positive-minded.
• Your personal goals can be in the form of short term goals or 
long term goals. They can provide you with long term direction and short
term motivation.[1] Below are some examples of personal goals:
• Learn something new every week
• Work out every morning
• Keep a daily journal
• Volunteer at a non-profit every month
Why Set Goals?

Top-level athletes, successful businesspeople and achievers in all fields

all set goals. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term
motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to
organize your time and your resources so that you can make the most of
your life.
By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride
in the achievement of those goals, and you'll see forward progress in
what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. You will also
raise your self confidence, as you recognize your own ability and
competence in achieving the goals that you've set.
Starting to Set Personal Goals

• You set your goals on a number of levels:

• First you create your "big picture" of what you want to do with your life (or over,
say, the next 10 years), and identify the large-scale goals that you want to
achieve.
• Then, you break these down into the smaller and smaller targets that you must hit
to reach your lifetime goals.
• Finally, once you have your plan, you start working on it to achieve these goals.
• This is why we start the process of setting goals by looking at your lifetime goals.
Then, we work down to the things that you can do in, say, the next five years,
then next year, next month, next week, and today, to start moving towards them.
 Setting Lifetime Goals
• The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or at least, by a significant
and distant age in the future). Setting lifetime goals gives you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your
decision making.
• To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in some of the following categories (or
in other categories of your own, where these are important to you):
• Career – What level do you want to reach in your career, or what do you want to achieve?
• Financial – How much do you want to earn, by what stage? How is this related to your career goals?
• Education – Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and skills will you need to have in
order to achieve other goals?
• Family – Do you want to be a parent? If so, how are you going to be a good parent? How do you want to be seen by a
partner or by members of your extended family?
• Artistic – Do you want to achieve any artistic goals?
• Attitude – Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Is there any part of the way that you behave that upsets you? (If so,
set a goal to improve your behavior or find a solution to the problem.)
• Physical – Are there any athletic goals that you want to achieve, or do you want good health deep into old age? What steps
are you going to take to achieve this?
• Pleasure – How do you want to enjoy yourself? (You should ensure that some of your life is for you!)
• Public Service – Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?