How to improve your concentration 5 or 10 minutes at a time

[Jon L]

I've struggled with lack of concentration ability all my life. A few times a year, I can get into a zone where I'll concentrate for several hours at a time. Those episodes are amazing. They're addictive, and they left me wanting more.

They are also quite difficult for me to achieve. Chasing them has left me frustrated to the point that I beat up on myself internally when I'm not in the zone, which is most of the time.

Well, what if I didn't need to concentrate more than a few minutes at a time to meet my goals?

The speaker in this Ted Talk says that is exactly what he does. He'd struggled with lack of focus until his sophomore year in college when he decided to put his 5-10 minute bursts of activity to use instead of deriding himself over how short they were. As a result, he changed his GPA from C's to A's. He went on to become a billionaire hedge fund manager, speaker, artist (featured on the cover of several big-deal art magazines), professor at UCSB, Guinness Book recordholder, etc etc etc, using 5 to 10 minute bursts of activity.

The big idea in his Ted Talk is that we should 'go with what works for us.' Use it to its full advantage. Maybe you're the type of person that, with persistence and the proper environment, you can concentrate for hours on end. If so, wonderful. Use that. If you're not, though, use what you have. Forget people who tell you to do what works for them but will never work for you.

I've been doing this for a bit now, and its changing my life.

Worth 20 minutes of your time:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMbvJNRpLE

 

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[BellaPippin]

Thanks for sharing. I like this--yet at the same time it doesn't feel I could do that. I can focus for 5 min, but I can't stick to focusing for 5 min every day. I drop the ball at the part of creating the habit. I think that's more discipline-related which he doesn't address much (except for the part where he talks about making the decision to take that first step every time).

 

[Andre Aguiar]

Excellent insight.
I have lack of focus too, this minor adjustments exercise makes a lot of sense.

 

[Deleted72597]

Thanks a lot for posting! I adjusted my daily business goal from 1.5hto 5m because of this. Looking forward to see how it works!

 

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[SEBASTlAN]

Just watched it. Great story.

 

[Argie]

Thank you for sharing this, just saw the video, will apply it. Thanks again. Merry Christmas

 

[Mball]

I've struggled with lack of concentration ability all my life. A few times a year, I can get into a zone where I'll concentrate for several hours at a time. Those episodes are amazing. They're addictive, and they left me wanting more.

They are also quite difficult for me to achieve. Chasing them has left me frustrated to the point that I beat up on myself internally when I'm not in the zone, which is most of the time.

Well, what if I didn't need to concentrate more than a few minutes at a time to meet my goals?

The speaker in this Ted Talk says that is exactly what he does. He'd struggled with lack of focus until his sophomore year in college when he decided to put his 5-10 minute bursts of activity to use instead of deriding himself over how short they were. As a result, he changed his GPA from C's to A's. He went on to become a billionaire hedge fund manager, speaker, artist (featured on the cover of several big-deal art magazines), professor at UCSB, Guinness Book recordholder, etc etc etc, using 5 to 10 minute bursts of activity.

The big idea in his Ted Talk is that we should 'go with what works for us.' Use it to its full advantage. Maybe you're the type of person that, with persistence and the proper environment, you can concentrate for hours on end. If so, wonderful. Use that. If you're not, though, use what you have. Forget people who tell you to do what works for them but will never work for you.

I've been doing this for a bit now, and its changing my life.

Worth 20 minutes of your time:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQMbvJNRpLE

Thanks for sharing. I too struggle with focusing for long periods of time. Every once every few months I can get in a zone for a few hours but then the next day back to the same. I will definitely try this out.

 

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[Jon L]

Thanks for sharing. I like this--yet at the same time it doesn't feel I could do that. I can focus for 5 min, but I can't stick to focusing for 5 min every day. I drop the ball at the part of creating the habit. I think that's more discipline-related which he doesn't address much (except for the part where he talks about making the decision to take that first step every time).

yeah it does leave me wondering what else he did to achieve his success. Clearly, he has drive. and some discipline.

what it leaves me thinking is: Ok, that's worked for him. What am I still missing about how I'm made that would work for me. I've forever tried to be someone I'm not, in everything I do. That doesn't work. It just leaves me frustrated.

Thanks for sharing. I too struggle with focusing for long periods of time. Every once every few months I can get in a zone for a few hours but then the next day back to the same. I will definitely try this out.

the main thing i've taken from this is to be gentle on yourself, and then, gradually, figure out what works for you, ignoring just about everyone's advice on the subject.

 

[lucasb]

10 minutes doing something difficult is enough to shoot dopamine. And each 10-minute tiron clearly tells us where we have to dedicate the next 10, and so ad infinutum.

Great approach to make the brain go to the difficult and productive at all times. In short, only that we need to move forward