Improve your memory

​Improve your memory

How to make your focus razor sharp

Why at times we lose our concentration and why we are at our sharpest best at other times. How we cannot remember few things in-spite of trying very hard and why we can remember many things without any conscious efforts.

Many times, we may feel restless and find our mind just wandering, unclear or foggy or there could be endless, absurd and totally unrelated thoughts moving in your head.

In certain instances, our unfocused states are caused by boredom, lethargy, procrastination and frustration those were triggered due to whatever reasons. Let us examine these one by one

The boredom

1.You are doing what is far below your competence level
2.You are doing the same thing again and again every day, same way
3.You are doing it just to do it and get it off your back
4.You are doing it in a motion

The lethargy [true unless your disposition is chronically lazy]

1.You might have been burned out emotionally
2.You might be physically fatigued
3.You might be in a state immediately after a serious illness, crisis or a setback
4.You don't see any reason to do something, you don't see any value addition
5.You have never been disciplined
6.You might be in a self-sabotaging mental state due to low self esteem and insecurities

The procrastination [true unless your personality is passive]

1.You are totally clueless about what to do
2.Your subconscious might be sleeping over it and giving you the signal to wait
3.You might be overwhelmed my the magnanimity of the situation and are paralyzed by it to take any action
4.You are scared of failing
5.You fear the outcome
6.You can not handle the process as it seems unpleasant

The frustration

1.You might have tried and failed several times
2.You might have unrealistic expectations from others
3.You might be dejected by yourself

4.You might have given up mentally

What you can do to counter most of the causes that distracts and build focus gradually.

Please remember, it is not going to be very fast at least initially.

All the * marked ones are those for which detailed DIY are given in my blogs on that or related topic, the REST ARE SELF EXPLANATORY

I.Mental
1.Meditate
2.Practice effective breathing exercises
3.Do concentration exercises

4.Have deliberate "Attention Breaks" & coming back to attention practice

5. Embrace Single-Tasking Whenever Possible 6. Get Yourself into Fun Situations that Requires Focus 7.Practice listening carefully to music, by focusing on catching the tune, the lyrics, the instruments, the beat etc
8.Listen to only instrumental music without lyrics and if possible try to hum the song if you can by subconscious memory
9.Practice attentive listening
10.Master the art of asking powerful questions*
11.Practice being great observer, compare notes with your buddy
12.Sharpen your mind*
13.For more complex topics focus on understanding basic ideas
14.Assign Abbreviations or Acronyms to tasks
15.Use Reminders & Checklists
16.Practice Mind mapping
17.Take challenging assignments those that would take you towards your life-dreams
18.Go for calculated risks*
19.Disrupt your routine deliberately*

II.Emotional
1.Learn to reframe negative situations, your doubts*
2.Practice getting into your desired mood instantly, whenever you are in resourceful states*
3.Learn to identify, listen understand your inner voice*
4.Learn to give a specific name to your emotions and identify what triggers them*
5.Create your own war cries. Notice how great coaches motivate their wards
6.Learn to beat the burnout*
7.Handle stress effectively*
8.Create powerful visualization* using NLP techniques

III.Physical
1.Work out, exercise, play to become fit*
2.Choose and go for sports that requires intense focus like Golf
3.Learn to meditate and get into thoughtless state
4.Practice Silence, let your mind wander, don't force it, but be aware of where all it is taking you
5.Learn different yogic breathing exercises and practice them, whenever you are in a negative mood or emotions
6.Learn to physically shift to different place, when you feel you are not able handle the situation or losing control of yourself
7.Learn the techniques of sleep for freshness
8.Pay attention to Diet, balance between cravings and healthy. Eat whole fruits than juices. Eat healthy and nutritious breakfast. Regularly eat between the meals
9.Drink more water than chemical drinks
10.Quit Smoking
11.Lose Weight

IV.Social
1.Choose positive people
2.Choose people who are smarter and successful than yourself
3.Choose social circles that inspires and motivates you
4.Enroll mentors who are your real well-wishers*
5.Choose your work or study partner who motivates you to stay focused with their extreme diligence
6.Try to ensure that you are the dumbest in the room, that way you would have 100% opportunity to learn from everyone
7.In social functions join the groups that is laughing loudest

V.Environment, Atmosphere, Surrounding and Aura-wise

1.Select your environment

2.Cut the noise

3.Remove Visual Distractions

4.Spend time with nature

5.Never work on your bed or play in your work/study time

VI.Habit-wise – given in random order
1.Understand the task before jumping into doing/solving it
2.Divide tasks into smaller chunks
3.Identify your energy peak times and resourceful state
4.If comparing yourself with others fills you up with the energy to do the necessary chores, then choose the people who are your role models and emulate them initially and later try to do better than them
5.Anticipate, organize and arrange for what all resources you are going to need, in advance
6.Schedule deliberate laze-time
7.If possible Organize your schedule around your energy levels* in order to manage your energies effectively
8.Develop an interest in the task you're working on
9.Learn and find all you can about that forthcoming interview, task, challenges, changes, job market etc. Then proactively go and prepare for them
10.Identify and create plan to counter your distraction triggers in advance
11.Start making a note of what all those people/situations that take your mind off from even the most important tasks – then plan on how you would schedule them/handle them
12.Create your priorities and choose the most important task and focus on that only*
13.Unless absolutely necessary, Avoid multi-tasking
14.Excite yourself with the possibilities of learning and growing by being curious
15.Delay gratification till you achieve your goals

VII.Proactive Future Pacing
1.Define your purpose
2.Create a plan of action and start working toward it immediately
3.Network, enroll and seek support of people "who have been there and done that" in the areas you are seeking to build your muscles*
4.Find your passion for what you are doing and then start Believing in your abilities and capacities to see you through
5.Start working on your action steps immediately
6.Be self-inspired through the power of your dreams, do what you have to without being told*
7.Have courage to think beyond what you feel, you are capable of
8.Make learning from all, learning from the best your major everyday goal*
9.Concentrate on your efforts not on the outcomes
10.Make your adversity create success*

VIII. Learning new skills for more control and effectiveness
1.Learn to deal with stress*
2.Learn to say no*
3.Learn to handle difficult people*
4.Learn to be assertive*
5.Teach yourself perseverance*
6.Learn to operate under a hard-disciplined manner
7.Practice to learn what the athletes call second wind, by pushing yourself a bit longer every time
8.Choose sports/hobbies/activities that makes you face your fears*

9. Future pace Your Brain by identifying the challenges, the anxieties, the fear that you may face. Then work on overcoming them*
10.Learn what to do if your will power doesn't work*
11.Start practicing remembering name
12.Read long stuff slowly, ditch the present culture of TLDR "too long; didn't read" or "Too lazy; didn't read"
13.Learn the art of doing the most unpleasant yet important things first
14.Decide ahead of time what task you're going to work on, to the exclusion of everything else, and for how long you're going to work on that task
15.Learn the art of humor*. Learn to Laugh at yourself*. Share your embarrassing moments
16.Learn to play the guitar or any musical instruments
17.Learn new language
18.Go for Aerobic exercises
19.Embrace Your Inner Artist, creating art stimulates your imagination, makes you more observant, and improves your memory
20.Learn to Involve as many of your senses as possible
21.Learn from the various concentration exercises from the internet