Today’s digital world, easily distract us from concentrating on our daily schedule activities. Information is everywhere around us which we need to deal everyday with this ever increasing and multiple forms of information. It drags on our time and our attention.

Our daily schedule is dominated by switching in and out of our mobile phones and computer with lots of messages and mails to deal with. For solving our daily problems we constantly search for information thus consuming a lot of our valuable time.

Frequent distractions affect our productive effort. It takes longer to finish a task. Neither can we listen well nor can we comprehend information as well. This leads to misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and conflict with our partner or colleagues. It thus affects our memory. We forget many things or can’t recall information promptly which affects our personal life and professional image.

As we grow older our aging gradually leads to many changes in our capacity to concentrate on our thinking and memory. We find it much difficult to and harder to focus our attention and grasp information or any topic quickly. This gradual slowdown in processing information can lead to a blockage of information entering our short-term memory, reducing the amount of information that can be acquired and programmed into long-term memory.

On reaching the age of sixty, more than half of adults have concerns about their memory. However, minor memory lapses that occur with age are not usually signs of a serious problem, such as Alzheimer’s disease, but rather it results in the normal changes of structure and function of the brain.

Everyone wants to know how to focus better and how to concentrate more as we are always unable to concentrate on the task at hand. Here we need to understand the benefits of improving concentration and focus on improving our memory to address this worthwhile issue.

Here are some simple ways how we can improve our concentration and focus on attending to the information presented to us:

When someone is talking to us, we should look at the person and listen closely. If we missed something that was said, we should ask the person to repeat it or to speak more slowly. We should paraphrase what is said to make sure that we understand it and to reinforce the information.

If we find that we tend to become distracted during conversations, we should try getting together with people in quiet environments. For example, we can suggest meeting at someone’s home instead of at a noisy restaurant. If we meet people at a restaurant, should try sit at a table near a wall. If our companions sit against the wall and we should sit facing them to be able to focus on them without having our attention wander to other dinner.

We can also improve your ability to focus on a task and screen out distractions if we do one thing at a time. We should try to avoid interruptions. For example, if someone asks us something while we are in the middle of reading or working, we should ask the person to wait until we’re finished. We should not answer to phone calls until we’ve finished what we’re doing.

Some more ways to improve our concentration and memory :

• Being an organized person is easier to remember time schedule. Check listing and manually writing down our checklist also increases the likelihood that we will remember what we have written down.
• We always need to concentrate on a particular task, but sometimes we get stuck and our brain needs something fresh to focus on. Here we should switch to other tasks or something we love to do. Switching tasks can help us stay alert and improve our productive for longer period.
• Getting out into nature is incredibly important for our emotional and physical health. Enjoying nature can even be considered a form of meditation. Walking in a park can improved memory and attention compared to walking in a city.
• Exercise has been shown to have cognitive benefits. It improves oxygen and nutrient delivery to the body, and helps to create new cells in the brain which are essential for memory storage. Walking every day is a good choice.
• Mounting evidence shows the benefits of meditation on health. Studies show that meditation helps in improving several functions, like focus, concentration, memory, and learning. Meditation may actually revitalize the brain and encourage more connections between brain cells.
• Our brain is made mostly of water. Water acts as a shock absorber for the brain and spinal cord. It helps our brain cells use nutrients. So just a small amount of dehydration can have disastrous effects. Aim for at least six glasses per day, or more if you’re very active.
• Foods habits can affect cognitive functions like concentration and memory.  We should avoid processed foods, too much sugar, and very greasy or fatty foods foods to boost our concentration. A good healthy breakfast can help by boosting our focus first thing in the morning.  Meal should be low in sugars and high in protein and fiber.
• Going to bed at the same time every night and getting up at the same time each morning should be a habit. Try not to break your routine on the weekends. This can greatly improve sleep quality, rest our brain and improve our memory power.

We can conclude by saying that memory is a skill, and just like other skills, it can be improved with practice and healthy overall habits. We may start small like picking a new challenging activity to learn, incorporate a few minutes of exercise in our daily schedule, maintain a sleep schedule, and eat a few more green vegetables, fish, and nuts.

Hence learning to concentrate at our work is essential for success in your career and life. By improving your concentration we can accomplish more of what we value and feel better doing it. It is not just about accomplishing a tasks but about making time for joy and happiness to achieve a meaningful and satisfying life.