“Focus. Speed. I am speed. One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers for breakfast. Breakfast? Maybe I should have had breakfast? Brekkie could be good for me. No, no, no, focus.”<\/p>\n
These are the mental ramblings of a childhood favorite, fictional hero–Lightning McQueen–as he tried to hold on to a semblance of mental focus to hail another racing victory.<\/p>\n
The struggle of Lightning Mcqueen isn’t just scripted, adults struggle every day with mental focus.<\/p>\n
One minute you’re writing an article for a client, and the next minute you’re liking photos on Facebook and uploading selfies to Instagram while trying to figure out what you’re cooking for dinner.<\/p>\n
There are several things that affect our ability to pay attention–some internal and some external. Genetics influence attention<\/a> and the way people focus. That can’t be changed.<\/p>\n However, there are ways to pinpoint the external attention attackers and conquer the minor things that steal our focus.<\/p>\n Here are 6 tips to improve your mental focus.<\/p>\n Put first things first. By organizing your tasks, putting the most important first, you give yourself a head start on focus.<\/p>\n Make a list of things to do in one setting then stick to the list.<\/p>\n For example, writing paper.<\/p>\n Every distraction comes at a cost.<\/p>\n Personally, people lose valuable time when their focus is interrupted by unnecessary distractions. Professionally, companies lose financially at the helm of distracted workers.<\/p>\n In a typical office setting, it takes 25 minutes<\/a> for a worker to resume a task once they’ve been distracted.<\/p>\n In other environments like dorm rooms, homes offices, and personal spaces, people almost never return to their intended project.<\/p>\n As a matter of study, it was revealed that cell phones are the number one distraction for 97% of all college students<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cell phones, tablets, televisions, and handheld gaming systems are the number one distractions for all people. Fun ringtones, dings, and flashing lights to indicate new messages are tempting.<\/p>\n “I’ll just check this quick notification.” It’s a comment on your facebook post about a hot topic you’re sure to respond to…more than once.<\/p>\n “Let me send this quick text.” It’s a group text that lingers on for an hour.<\/p>\n It’s best to silence this type of distraction and turn it face down a little distance away to ensure a task gets completed.<\/p>\n Opening a new tab on your laptop to one of your social media accounts while your working is another distraction that disturbs mental focus.<\/p>\n The temptation to flip back and forth to check notifications and posts steals time–valuable time away.<\/p>\n Study buddies are helpful, but when that study buddy is also a BFF, side conversations that draw away from important tasks are inevitable.<\/p>\n Spouses and children are also people distracters. They don’t mean to be, but they are. If you’re working on a task at home, make sure it’s in a quiet zone where everyone else in the house knows is off limits when occupied.<\/p>\n To gain mental focus, identify every possible distraction before starting a focus project, then distance yourself from it.<\/p>\n Meditation is simply focusing the mind on one thing.<\/p>\n To do achieve this means to block out distractions and find a quiet place to hear your own personal thoughts then quiet them.<\/p>\n Rome wasn’t built in one day. And, unless specified as urgent, neither are most projects. Take a mental break.<\/p>\n Mental breaks help by slowing down thought process. By simply taking 15 to 20 minutes a day to sit in a quiet place, absent from activity and stress<\/a>, people give their minds a chance to rest.<\/p>\n Mental breaks also help with refocusing.<\/p>\n Tasks can be mentally daunting. Sometimes you hit a wall and frustration takes over. The brain shuts down.<\/p>\n Push away for a few minutes and allow your brain to destress and refocus.<\/p>\n Food affects us psychologically and physically.<\/p>\n There’s an old adage that says, “We are what we eat.” It’s true! We are! Certain foods control the way we focus mentally, and when our bodies lack a regular exercise routine, we put our mental health at risk as well.<\/p>\n Establishing a steady exercise routine<\/a> could sharpen your memory and increase your focus.<\/p>\n Exercise increases endorphins in the body which in turn helps people concentrate and feel mentally sharp.<\/p>\n Adding as little as 30 minutes a day at least three to four days out of the week can help give you an edge on mental focus.<\/p>\n Just as our bodies age, so do our brains. Brain health matters. Focus relies on it.<\/p>\n Memory exercises help keep the brain healthy.<\/p>\n Simple brain exercises like learning the words to a new song, playing Words With Friends, and recalling a location<\/a> you recently visited, help strengthen the brain, increasing focus.<\/p>\n It’s believed that the attention-span<\/a> of the average person is eight seconds.<\/p>\n Basically, eight seconds into a conversation, task, or thought process, a person’s mind loses focus.<\/p>\n Picture reading the first eight words of a book and having to start all over from the beginning, or standing with the refrigerator door open for eight seconds and totally forgetting what you opened it for.<\/p>\n That’s loss of mental focus.<\/p>\n Personal and professional damage happens because of loss or lack of focus. Companies lose money because of employee errors due to distractions.<\/p>\n Lack of intellectual focus affects students abilities to learn, especially when they have access to electronic devices like cell phones and tablets.<\/p>\n There’s hope. Improving your mental focus is as simple as prioritizing, getting rid of distractions, taking mental breaks, and changing your diet.<\/p>\n Check out our blog<\/a> for more life-changing tips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Focus. Speed. I am speed. One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers for breakfast. Breakfast? Maybe I should have had breakfast? Brekkie could be good for me. No, no, no,… Continue reading “6 Tips To Improve Your Mental Focus”<\/span> <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":677,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675\/revisions\/677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upgifs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prioritize<\/h2>\n
\n
Identify Distractions that Block Mental Focus<\/h2>\n
Types of Distractions<\/h3>\n
Mobile Devices and Electronics<\/h4>\n
Open Tabs<\/h4>\n
People<\/h4>\n
Meditation<\/h2>\n
The benefits of meditation<\/h3>\n
\n
Mental Breaks<\/h2>\n
Change Your Diet and Add a Little Fitness<\/h2>\n
Practice Memory Exercises<\/h2>\n