365 Exciting Ways to Live - Excitement # 40 : Concentrate on Your Concentration

Concentrate on Your Concentration.

If you can keep playing tennis when somebody is shooting a gun down the street, that's concentration.

Serena Williams

We all know that concentration is important. Without focus and concentration, we cannot achieve great things in life. What is even more important is the quality of our concentration. It is something like the component quality. Components, assembled properly, will make a product. But if the product is to be a good product, then the quality of the components should be good.

Try the following parameters to enrich your concentration:

• What is the duration of your uninterrupted concentration? How long can you concentrate on a single subject?
• What is the consistency of your concentration? Can you concentrate on the same subject the same way every day?
• How strong is your concentration? Are you disturbed very easily?
• Do you have a strategy to handle interruptions?
• Can you anticipate the type of interruptions, so that you can handle them tactfully?

The most critical factor, which decides the world-class performance is the quality of concentration. Today, you resolve to improve the quality of your concentration by asking yourself the above questions. 

(From my book '365 Exciting Ways to Live')

N C Sridharan

www.thetimefoundation.com

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CHECK THE QUALITY OF YOUR ATTENTION

I think the one lesson I have learned is that there is no substitute for paying attention.

 Diane Sawyer

We have often heard that there is no substitute for hard work. In fact, if we think for a while, we cannot work hard if we don’t pay attention. Paying attention is a very important quality that we have to develop. Paying attention means that we are fully involved in what we are doing and that our mind is fully on the task on hand. Through our five senses we communicate with the world outside. We see, hear, smell, taste and feel. The quality of these sensations depends upon the quality of our attention and attention span.

Attention is the ability to focus our mind on one thing. Attention span is the duration of our attention. Our mind is normally distracted and disturbed and jumping from one thought to another. A wavering mind will not gather any momentum. Our mind and thoughts have to be contained and controlled. It does not come to us naturally. We have to train our mind.

The most important pre-requisite for paying attention is our interest level. If we do not have interest in what we are doing, we will not get involved and consequently we will not pay attention. Next time you watch a cricket match or a football match, notice the quality and intensity of the players’ attention and evaluate yours on your job.

Success or failure depends on the ability to pay attention to details. This factor also determines how much you can climb in your chosen field.

Stop reading this and check the quality of your attention: Can you recall the above quotation without reading it again?

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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