I believe everyone has a similar situation: after reading a few pages of a book, you start to wander. A book has hundreds of thousands of words, and you have read it. What do you remember when you close the book? Then I realized that I didn’t seem to have much of an impression, so I watched it again.
First of all, it is really normal to be distracted. Most people are easily distracted when working, reading, or in class.
(The higher the concentration to the right, the size of the ball represents the size of the crowd)
Because during the process of reading, our brains notice too many things and cannot take them all into account. , when you read, if you don’t pay attention or are defeated by some fun and interesting things, your brain will choose something that makes us happy to perform. So why when we want to start reading, if we don’t control our concentration well, it’s easier to get distracted.
However, this kind of mind wandering can be further improved through daily practice.
I recommend several methods here:
Enter "Schulte Square" in the mini program to search for a game, as shown below.
Schulte grid, click on the squares in front of you in order in the shortest possible time. The shorter the time it takes to count 25 numbers, the higher the concentration level. This game can not only exercise our concentration, but also our ability to read ten lines at a glance. It is very suitable for children who are slow to read word for word.
There are many apps on the Internet to improve concentration, but the principles are inseparable from the Pomodoro method. It requires us to focus on one thing for 25 minutes, without thinking about anything else, just focus for 25 minutes (a Pomodoro), then rest for 5 minutes, and then focus for another 25 minutes. In this cycle, we can complete the task efficiently through the number of Pomodoros accumulated in a day.
Here are several APPs recommended to help improve concentration:
① Tide. In addition to adjusting the appropriate Pomodoro period, you can also choose to listen to white noise to improve our concentration. White noise allows us to focus more on what is right in front of us for maximum effect.
②Forest. This APP can motivate us to do more focused things by planting trees while executing the Pomodoro. If the Pomodoro is interrupted, our small trees will wither. You definitely don’t want the small trees you have worked so hard to plant to be destroyed. Bar. The more Pomodoros you accumulate, the more small trees you will plant, and eventually they will grow into a big forest. By then you will definitely feel a full sense of accomplishment.
③The mobile phone has its own alarm clock. Set a time period on your phone and you must stay focused during this time. When the alarm goes off, stop what you are doing and relax.
It should be noted that we do not need to set a Pomodoro timer of 1 to 2 hours. It is difficult for you to ensure that you are fully focused during the entire process. You can stay focused for the first 30 minutes, but you will not be able to focus for the next half hour. Our control will be reduced, so take a 5 to 10 minutes to relax and replenish our concentration, so that we can achieve greater effectiveness in the next few Pomodoros.
This is what I've been trying lately. He practiced through physical exercises.
① Take a deep breath. Don’t do anything, just focus on your breathing, recite the count silently, and focus all your attention on every moment between the nose and the air, going back and forth more than 10 times. At the beginning, you may start to get distracted when you count to the third number. You don’t have to ask yourself to practice more than 10 times. You can start practicing from 5 times, and then gradually increase the number of times. The more you repeat, the more your focus will improve.
②Running. Running is also a kind of meditation. You can't play with your phone or talk, you can only talk to yourself. So when you run, you are in a solitary space, and you will start to focus on your body and pay attention to every state of your body.
The above methods all require deliberate practice. It is not that you can improve the problem of mind wandering if you do it once, but it needs to be practiced repeatedly within a period of time and internalized into life. .
When your concentration improves, you will not be distracted easily when reading. Let’s not talk about the concentration method of reading a book with questions. Sometimes you don’t know what questions to ask at all. Even if you ask questions, you will probably forget them because you see the back.
Let’s start with changing ourselves. There is no way to prevent mind wandering. You can only reduce the chance of mind wandering and devote more energy to completing tasks seriously.