Concentration: Improving Productivity
This article was written for all the students who train at our fight training dojos at Five Rings Training but ultimately this advice is applicable to anyone who feels they need help in increasing their concentration, focus and productivity at work, school or university:
Switch Off Your Phones
During periods of study, exam revision period weeks or periods of intensive work within your business or employment, commit to switching your phones off, (not the ringer off, the whole phone power button) for periods of 2 Hours at a time. During that time, focus entirely on one topic.
After the 2 Hours get up, walk about, hydrate and take your eyes away from the screen, go for a quick 20 mins sprint, eat.
Then get ready for your next 2 Hours intense study session. You must do this to maintain energetic stability and not burn yourself out. Everything needs to be approached moderately, in a disciplined and steady way.
The phones must be switched off (naturally keep communications handy if you are feeling unwell or may need to be in contact with someone but stop browsing) to allow for the development of mental focus. You can switch it back on in a couple of hours (you’ll be surprised how much you didn’t miss).
If you don't think you are checking your phone too much then at least consider the possibility and count how many times you are checking it in one day. You might start to realise it is more distracting than you think.
You Know How To Concentrate
Consider the concentration you use to apply to your gradings when you have to focus entirely on getting through the number of fights, when there is no opportunity to bail out, give up, stop for water or walk away from the task, look at or do something else. Apply this same focus to your studies.
I have seen in the movement work in the dojo sometimes a disconnection between mental focus and physical commitment. The disconnection happens when the mind wanders too easily and that wandering tends to come from habits which are carried out repetitively throughout the day.
What we want to be seeing is:
Instruction > understanding the instruction > beginning the action > embodying the action > mentally driving the action > completing the action to maximum capability
Consider it like two plates:
1) Mental: The mental plate activates first
2) Physical: The physical plate catches up
3) Mental: The mental plate drives the physical action beyond its target
Ø Once the physical plate has achieved that action outcome, the mental plate has already configured the next moves.
We know this in the dojo as driving our intention beyond our physical target to get maximum results + further strategizing our overall gameplan as we would in chess, thinking 3 to 5 moves ahead. The same equation keeps repeating itself.
For exam studies or periods of intensive work we want to take that equation and zoom right in to the middle of it.
Zooming in On The Equation
We want to focus on embodying an action with complete physical and mental commitment working in sync.
That section of the equation when you are undertaking a part of one of your best sequences in the dojo is what you want to utilise in order to mimic the same state of focus. Fundamentally you are borrowing a strategy you know works in your martial arts and you are applying it to your academic studies.
This complete connection between mental focus and physical action drives fast and effective results.
Stopping Phone Checking
Stopping phone-checking sounds like a simple solution, but when it alone is creating the problem, stopping it will give you a greater chance at strengthening your mental muscle and building directional mindset. (To understand Directional Mindset see the Performance Coaching posts on this blog).
The less phone-checking you are doing, the better you are able to excel in your actions and get things done.
Repetitive Fleeting Thoughts
The constant fleeting thought pattern phone-checking creates builds a repetitive habit of disconnection. Your thoughts end up flying about all over the place. It’s not good for your martial arts and it’s not good for your academic studies or work. You must consider your brain as a muscle you are training: focus, feel the physical feeling of focus and be able to connect into that whenever you need to.
Instead of fleeting, distracted thoughts, we want to cultivate strong focus which is both aware and directional.
Feel The Focus
Consider your fight-stance: you know what it physically feels like to go into stance. You no longer have to think about it, you feel your way into it. You also know what it physically feels like to ready yourself for a fight whether that’s tournament or grading. When you think about and remember that feeling it is more than a physical feeling, it is more of a State.
That readiness and mental application can be applied to your work. A mix of mental focus, readiness and determination, and a settled inner confidence which knows you can do this.
We are simply a product of our repetitive behaviours so change the actions you are carrying out to promote the results you require.
Train your body and train your mind, both in and out of the dojo.
Help each other with your exam support, keep hydrated, eat properly, rest properly and plan in regular short burst training sessions.
For One to One or online Coaching contact www.fiveringstraining.com
During periods of study, exam revision period weeks or periods of intensive work within your business or employment, commit to switching your phones off, (not the ringer off, the whole phone power button) for periods of 2 Hours at a time. During that time, focus entirely on one topic.
After the 2 Hours get up, walk about, hydrate and take your eyes away from the screen, go for a quick 20 mins sprint, eat.
Then get ready for your next 2 Hours intense study session. You must do this to maintain energetic stability and not burn yourself out. Everything needs to be approached moderately, in a disciplined and steady way.
The phones must be switched off (naturally keep communications handy if you are feeling unwell or may need to be in contact with someone but stop browsing) to allow for the development of mental focus. You can switch it back on in a couple of hours (you’ll be surprised how much you didn’t miss).
If you don't think you are checking your phone too much then at least consider the possibility and count how many times you are checking it in one day. You might start to realise it is more distracting than you think.
You Know How To Concentrate
Consider the concentration you use to apply to your gradings when you have to focus entirely on getting through the number of fights, when there is no opportunity to bail out, give up, stop for water or walk away from the task, look at or do something else. Apply this same focus to your studies.
I have seen in the movement work in the dojo sometimes a disconnection between mental focus and physical commitment. The disconnection happens when the mind wanders too easily and that wandering tends to come from habits which are carried out repetitively throughout the day.
What we want to be seeing is:
Instruction > understanding the instruction > beginning the action > embodying the action > mentally driving the action > completing the action to maximum capability
Consider it like two plates:
1) Mental: The mental plate activates first
2) Physical: The physical plate catches up
3) Mental: The mental plate drives the physical action beyond its target
4) Physical: The physical plate reaches target with maximum ability
Ø Once the physical plate has achieved that action outcome, the mental plate has already configured the next moves.
We know this in the dojo as driving our intention beyond our physical target to get maximum results + further strategizing our overall gameplan as we would in chess, thinking 3 to 5 moves ahead. The same equation keeps repeating itself.
For exam studies or periods of intensive work we want to take that equation and zoom right in to the middle of it.
Zooming in On The Equation
We want to focus on embodying an action with complete physical and mental commitment working in sync.
That section of the equation when you are undertaking a part of one of your best sequences in the dojo is what you want to utilise in order to mimic the same state of focus. Fundamentally you are borrowing a strategy you know works in your martial arts and you are applying it to your academic studies.
This complete connection between mental focus and physical action drives fast and effective results.
Stopping Phone Checking
Stopping phone-checking sounds like a simple solution, but when it alone is creating the problem, stopping it will give you a greater chance at strengthening your mental muscle and building directional mindset. (To understand Directional Mindset see the Performance Coaching posts on this blog).
The less phone-checking you are doing, the better you are able to excel in your actions and get things done.
Repetitive Fleeting Thoughts
The constant fleeting thought pattern phone-checking creates builds a repetitive habit of disconnection. Your thoughts end up flying about all over the place. It’s not good for your martial arts and it’s not good for your academic studies or work. You must consider your brain as a muscle you are training: focus, feel the physical feeling of focus and be able to connect into that whenever you need to.
Instead of fleeting, distracted thoughts, we want to cultivate strong focus which is both aware and directional.
Feel The Focus
Consider your fight-stance: you know what it physically feels like to go into stance. You no longer have to think about it, you feel your way into it. You also know what it physically feels like to ready yourself for a fight whether that’s tournament or grading. When you think about and remember that feeling it is more than a physical feeling, it is more of a State.
That readiness and mental application can be applied to your work. A mix of mental focus, readiness and determination, and a settled inner confidence which knows you can do this.
We are simply a product of our repetitive behaviours so change the actions you are carrying out to promote the results you require.
Train your body and train your mind, both in and out of the dojo.
Help each other with your exam support, keep hydrated, eat properly, rest properly and plan in regular short burst training sessions.
For One to One or online Coaching contact www.fiveringstraining.com
Comments
Post a Comment