Dimension 1 - Concentration

"The secret of concentration is secret of self-discovery. You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources, and what it takes to match them to challenge".

What is that one important thing you need when you want to sit and study? What is it that helps you perform well in studies? What is it that you wish you had more so that you could enhance your performance in academics?

    The answer to the above mentioned questions is "CONCENTRATION".

          To concentrate means ‘to focus our attention to one single objective’. Concentration helps to improve our ability to learn, remember and recall information far more effectively. Concentration along with the person's ability and hard work plays a crucial role in deciding whether or not we will be successful in studies specifically and different walks of life, in general.

     The span of concentration differs from person to person, but do you know that there are ways in which you can enhance this skill?

     Well, this blog is all about the power of our mind to concentrate and how efforts made towards improving it can open the gates of success for everyone.

So, fasten your seat-belt and let's talk about a few techniques through which you can achieve good concentration.

Few tips to improve concentration:

1. GAMES

Any game which involves planning, remembering earlier moves will help to improve concentration. The perks of playing games are that, they can be played by anyone, there is no age restriction and they're fun. Be it the Rubik's cube or Sudoku, any game involving physical and mental skills has an amazing effect, in the best way possible. So play!

2. MINDFULNESS

Mindfulness meditation can help to improve attention as well as reduce stress level and anxiety. Mindfulness helps to keep our thoughts, focused on one single idea which is why it is great for improving concentration. 10-15 minutes of meditation daily can prove to be useful. There are a number of meditation apps available that can also aid in improving one's concentration.

3. POWER NAP

Power nap is ‘a short sleep taken during the working day in order to restore one's mental alertness’. Mind gets easily distracted when a person is not well rested, so power naps are useful.They restore alertness, performance, and learning ability. Taking power nap after coming home from college or when tired, for about 10 to 20 minutes can boost concentration. Important that the power nap should not extend to sleep.       

4. COMFORTABLE PLACE

Find a place which will help you to concentrate on your work. Library, study lounges and private rooms are the best. Above all, the place that you choose should not be distracting. Try to stay away from other people if you want to concentrate on your work. Adequate light and ventilation will be useful.

5. THE P2 PLAN (Planning and prioritizing)

Always have a plan for whatever you want to do. When you sit down to work without a plan, you may easily get caught in activities like checking mails, instant messaging (chatting) and browsing the web. Without a purpose, you are likely to waste your time. You'll find yourself distracted by a variety of nagging thoughts instead of devoting all your attention to one important task. Thus, make a clear plan that meets your needs beforehand. Take 5 or 10 minutes break in between and move on to your most important task. When making a plan be sure to allocate enough time for entertainment and sleep,  along with studies.

Also sort out priorities. Doing a lot of things at the same time not only divides attention but also leaves you exhausted. Hence, setting priorities and focusing on them instead of going back and forth from one plan to another makes it easier to concentrate. Ordering the jobs from highest to lowest in terms of priority helps in improving concentration and thus, enhances efficacy of the person.

These tips may sound common and routine. However, these simple steps boost our overall cognitive functioning and mental clarity.  Some methods will be more effective than others, you may even combine two techniques or discover new techniques which work best for you!

       Remember, learning to concentrate will require determination and consistent efforts, keep at it!          

An Introduction to Effective Study Skills

Learning is an integral part of our lives. As students, this learning gets tested during examinations. Often, students are aware that they need to study, but do not know how to go about it, and they are especially unaware of the methods to improve one’s study skills.

An effective study skills questionnaire was made available to students of D.G. Ruparel College. This questionnaire measures seven dimensions and yields a score for each.

These scores not only provide us with an insight into our current study methods and techniques, but it also provides us with an understanding of where our strengths and weaknesses lie. Based on this information, the student can direct efforts to the improvement various dimensions.

The seven dimensions tested through a questionnaire are:

1. CONCENTRATION  
Concentration means to focus our attention on the task at hand and enhance the quality of the work done. To concentrate is to focus on studying without allowing other thoughts to waver our attention. Concentrating well helps to boost our productivity and our ability to learn.

2. REMEMBERING 
Remembering is a process that is done by everyone daily. Remembering refers to being able to recall and reproduce what has been learnt. To recall means to bring to mind the information, events, situations, etc. that a person has previously learnt or encountered.

3. ORGANIZING TIME
Time management is a process of organizing and planning how to divide the time between specific activities. Good time management enables a person to work smarter - get more work done in less time. This is also applicable when the time available is less and the pressure is high.

4. STUDYING A CHAPTER  
Textbooks can seem scary but they are not difficult to understand. Focusing on the conceptual meaning of the material while reading enhances the quality of the material which has been learnt. Studying a chapter soon after it has been taught in class helps to gain clarity of the concepts taught.

5. LISTENING AND TAKING NOTES
It refers to actively listening to what is taught in the lecture while simultaneously taking notes of it. Taking effective and reliable notes helps to better understand the key concepts taught. It also helps us to distinguish between various concepts.  

6. TAKING TESTS
Helps a person to know his/ her own capability to remember the material one has studied. Taking a test is a common way to see how much a person has understood and remembers.

7. MOTIVATION 
Motivation is generally talked about as something that keeps us going. Motivation can be defined as a driving force or the reason behind our actions. It refers to our desire to bring about a particular change in behaviour. Unless people are motivated to work hard and bring about a change, it won’t be reflected in their results. It is also one of the reasons to explain why people like to repeat and be consistent with certain behaviours.

Each dimension will be further explained in a series of posts to follow. So, stay tuned!