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What to pay attention to and what not, we can decide for ourselves: of course, provided that we can control our attention. Managing your attention is a common skill, and it can and should be trained.
Warning: you should not train concentration of attention directly during responsible affairs. Why? Any new business, especially against the background of tension, interferes with the main occupation. Separate these things: when you’re busy, get busy and don’t get distracted by concentration. If you train concentration of attention (correctly!), then do not do anything else at this time.
The main array of exercises for developing concentration of attention is training in controlling the attention beam. There are dozens and hundreds of exercises that train the control of the attention ray, we offer here only the simplest ones, for example.
Exercise «Line»
The task is to draw a line on a blank sheet of paper with a pencil, very slowly and smoothly, and focus all thoughts and attention only on it. As soon as you catch yourself on a distraction, make a small peak upward, as on a cardiogram, and continue. Based on the results, it is easy to calculate the number of distractions. A good level of concentration if there is not a single peak in three minutes.
Exercise «Colorblind»
With outward simplicity, this is a rather difficult exercise. Call out loud as you read the following colored word color text. It is the colors, not what is written. Well, if after training you, in principle, managed to do this without errors.
Exercise «Fly»
This exercise requires a board with a 3 x 3 nine-cell playing field drawn on it and a small suction cup (or a piece of plasticine). The sucker plays the role of a «trained fly» here. The board is placed vertically, and the facilitator explains to the participants that the “fly” moves from one cell to another by giving commands to it, which it obediently executes. According to one of the four possible commands (“Up!”, “Down!”, “Right!” or “Left!”), the “fly” moves, respectively, to the command to the adjacent cell. The starting position of the “fly” is the central cell of the playing field. Teams are given by the participants in turn. The players must, relentlessly following the movements of the “fly”, prevent it from leaving the playing field. After all these explanations, the game itself begins. It is held on an imaginary field, which each of the participants represents in front of him. If someone loses the thread of the game or sees that the «fly» has left the field, he gives the command «Stop!» and, returning the “fly” to the central cell, starts the game again.
The “fly” requires constant concentration from the players: if one of them is distracted even for a moment or think about something extraneous, he will immediately lose the thread of the game and will be forced to stop it.
Usually the game is lively, arouses interest and stimulates the participants to further work. Some athletes tend to overestimate their mindfulness. The psychotechnical exercise «Fly» can be especially useful for a coach when it is required to dispel this illusion.
In groups that do not have sufficient experience in working with attention, prolonged observation of a moving “fly” usually leads to tension and fatigue. Participants increasingly begin to slip off the object of their concentration, stray and eventually interrupt the game. Therefore, the facilitator must monitor the condition of the players and finish the exercise before the group begins to grow irritated and lose interest. Work «to exhaustion» is justified only in those cases when the group members set themselves a special task: to test and train the stability of their attention, that is, the ability to long-term concentration on a subject.
An important characteristic of attention is its volume — the breadth of the area to which it can be simultaneously extended. When, looking at your full dress, you suddenly notice a hole eaten by a moth, the area of attention instantly narrows to the size of the discovered defect. It happens as if by itself. But we can also arbitrarily regulate the breadth of our attention.
Exercise «Two Flies» is a more difficult version of the previous exercise. There are two flies on the field — fly one and fly two. Flies walk in turn, for example: «Fly one — up», «Fly two — to the right.» The rules and the task are the same: mentally not to lose flies and not to make mistakes. Three minutes without errors is a good result.
The second series of concentration exercises
Reflection is a condition for conscious control of your attention and your life. Reflection helps the individual to realize where he is, what he is doing, and what needs to be done next.
- Exercise «Where is my attention directed»
- Exercise «Reflexive reading»
Exercises click here
The third row of concentration exercises
Emotional balance.
- Exercise «Breathing»
- Exercise «Smooth surface of the lake»
- Brush Exercise
- Exercise «Film Reel»
- Exercise «Mental relaxation»
- Exercise «Sphinx»
- Exercise «Sculpture»
Exercises click here
If you do this for half an hour a day (preferably in segments of 5 minutes), then concentration skills develop on average in two months. And it’s worth it. I wish you success!
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