5 Benefits of Improving Your Focus and Concentration

Meditation Series Part 2

Continuing our Meditation Series, it’s only natural that Part 2 is all about focus, concentration, and the benefits of improving these skills.

Find Part 1 here: Defining Meditation, Benefits for Mental Health, & How to Start.

It took too long to sit down and write this post because… I kept getting distracted.

I couldn’t concentrate long enough to write a post about concentration, and the irony isn’t lost on me.

We can’t deny it takes a herculean effort these days to concentrate on anything for a long time.

And if that doesn’t sound like you, you can skip this post. And teach us your ways.

But in this digital age, we’re really bad at concentrating.

Screens dominate our spaces pinging with notifications, and we advertise “multitasking” as a desirable skill.

BUT. 

If we can manage to strengthen that concentration muscle, it can enhance our awareness and improve our lives across the board.

So it makes sense that the first step in meditation is enhancing concentration by training the mind to focus on a single point (i.e. breathing, sounds, etc).

And to provide even more incentive to get you hooked, I compiled 5 life-changing benefits of improving your focus and concentration that make it worth your while.

Concentration is a muscle 

It may be obvious but I want to make this point.

The minds is like the body.

A “muscle” can only be strengthened through exercise and consistency. There are good days and there are bad days. Either way we benefit. And the only way to get better is to practice.

Neuroplasticity has shown us that new neural pathways can form through repetitive action. And that’s all it really is: a repetitive exercise. So the more we bring our mind back from wandering, the easier concentration comes.

Let’s dive into benefits, and I included tips and activities toward the end to start improving your concentration and focus.

1. Enhance presence by ignoring useless thoughts

Meditation and concentration go hand-in-hand for their promotion of presence.

The foundation of meditation is to observe your thoughts. And that’s incredibly hard to do, particularly if you’re short on concentration.

Thoughts are addictive. They can take us on a wild ride and distract us from our practice.

By concentrating on our breath or senses, we practice bringing our awareness back to the present over and over again. We become more aware of thoughts, recognizing them as useless.

And that has a calming effect on the mind and body. This is where the journey begins in reaping the benefits of meditation.

Which segues smoothly into the next section.

2. Improve mental health

With the ability to ignore useless thoughts and focus on a single task at a time, our concentration practice can help improve our mental health.

I’d like to talk about the concept of continuous partial attention (CPA), a term coined by Linda Stone, ex-consultant at Apple and Microsoft.

CPA is the idea that we’re all in an active state of alertness, scanning anything and everything at once without paying full attention to anything.

Sound familiar?

Me too.

This is a good thing in the fast pace of society today and enables us to “multitask”. But we can’t deny the stress when our minds never get a break… from overstimulation, disconnectedness, and feeling like you’re always running behind.

CPA can leave us in a constant state of fight-flight-freeze. This floods our system with adrenaline and cortisol, which means happy hormones – serotonin and dopamine – get blocked. 

If we practice concentrating on one task at a time, with presence and intention, our minds naturally slow and we start to come out of this state of frenzy.

We may even see those cortisol levels drop.

Fun tip: remember to breathe between tasks.

3. Improve memory and comprehension

This may come as a shock but multitasking is horrible for our concentration.

It also inhibits memory. 

People often say “I’m just forgetful”, but are they really?

More likely it’s because our attention is scattered, flitting from one thing to the next.

We’re distracted, so we don’t fully absorb details and don’t have enough room in our heads to comprehend complex ideas.

When our attention is fragmented, information isn’t fully processed. This is especially true for students who have to worry about a million things and process a daily influx of new information

Slow down and devote your full attention to a single task. Take many breaks. You may see your memory improve and comprehension come easier.

4. Manifest your fucking goals

There are many theories on channeling the energy of the universe to manifest our desires.

There’s the Law of Attraction – sending vibrations out to attract what you want. I believe there’s merits to this. I send buckets out daily, to the point of aggression.

Another is Makia, a principle in Huna tradition, which states “energy flows where attention goes.”

At first glance, it sounds a bit woo-woo.

But you can’t help but wonder. When we sustain our focus and concentration on a single goal, a single vision… it tends to manifest, doesn’t it?

Life is a manifestation of where your energy goes. Your physical experience is a direct result of your mental patterns.

This can good or bad, depending where you put your energy.

But imagine… if you could come out of this constant state of scattered attention, hone that focus and bring it into everything you do every day… you’d be unstoppable.

Harnessed in the right place and sustained over time, concentration is a superpower.

5. Generally more life enjoyment… including your sex life

With all the reasons above, it’s no surprise that concentration will boost life enjoyment. With your mind de-cluttered, presence is enhanced.

This may be controversial but being in the present moment makes me feel high. Every detail, every sound is acute. I feel the expansiveness of the world around me, having escaped the confinements of my mind. Clarity lights up my brain. Every thought is crisp and intentional.

And then, joy comes. And you learn that happiness isn’t complicated. It’s readily available for us to sample anytime, anywhere.

And if your concentration is strong enough, you can be in that state endlessly without risk of being hijacked by toxic thoughts.

So if you consider this superpower, of being acutely aware of all details, all sounds, all sensations… of sustained focus and presence without a wandering mind… you can bet it’ll improve your sex life.

Yes, I speak from experience (sorry, mom).

An Exercise to Improve Focus and Concentration

Other than meditation, there are many ways to help improve concentration. These include:

• Better sleep
• A healthy diet
• Staying hydrated
• Exercise
• Spending time in nature
• Brain games (puzzles, gaming, word searches, sudoku, etc)

And I thought I’d share one of my favorite concentration exercises.

Music is everything to me – I include a “Today’s Tunes” recommendation at the end of every post. So I find this exercise effective and thoroughly enjoyable.

Try This

Pick a song you love and know well. Listen without anticipation.

Concentrate on each note as if you’re listening for the first time.

Try not to produce future notes in your mind before they actually come.

Try not to add stories to the song. I.e. where you were when you first heard it, who it brings to mind, what memories it stirs. If emotions rise, breathe and send them off with gratitude.

Focus note by note, enjoying every sound and instrument as they come.

Hard, right?

It feels like rediscovering the song, falling in love once again.

Concentration can be practiced 3 minutes at a time, and this exercise is perfect for it.

Conclusion

Given the benefits of improving your focus and concentration, I hope you feel motivated to grab a cushion and commit to a meditation habit.

Meditation enhances concentration. Concentration exercises enhance meditation. They compound on each other.

And the benefits are life-changing. Not only do you feel calmer, but you produce better work. You’re empowered to step out of survival mode. To pursue your projects with interest and excitement rather than resentment.

It’s worth it. Create more space in your life. Avoid overstimulation. And if you’re doing a task, focus solely on that task.

Bring this energy into everything you do. Give your undivided attention. It’s exhausting at first, but it’ll come easier in time.

Remember, it’s a muscle. So practice, practice, practice.

And keep me updated on your progress! I love hearing from you.

Today’s Tunes: Aftonland by För Alltid