Home / attitude / business / concentration / focus / success / Concentration 101.2 and more: Time to Focus
Concentration 101.2 (thru .6) Time to Focus
A key element to the entire study of Ya-ttitude is Focus. While running on the treadmill, aren’t we supposed to find a spot to focus on and go-go-go? I remember when I played ball in my recent past. Our batting coach always reminded us about finding a spot on the pitcher and focus on that – watch the ball come out of that focus-spot and get to hacking. In life, knowledge is great, but focused knowledge is power, Desire is essential focused-desire is unbeatable and energy is always needed but focused energy bring home your success!
Today’s exercises are clearly focused on developing your focus!
101.2
Find a straight-back chair to sit in and have you a seat. Sit back in the chair, chin up and shoulders straight with your back resting against the chair. Then point your right arm out and make sure it is level with your shoulder. Turn only your head and look directly at your fingers. Palms should be downward-facing at this point and your eyes locked on the tips of your fingers. Now, work on keeping your arm perfectly still. Focus on your fingers and watch them intently. Your fingers will let you know if you are slipping in your attention and your control. Try this for one minute with the right arm and then one minute with the left arm at first, but eventually I want you to be able to do this for five minutes with no loss in control. Pay tight attention to your fingers and do not let your mind waiver, as once it does, so will those fingers.
101.3
Fill a small glass with water, and again sit in a similar fashion as in exercise 101.2. Hold the glass in your right hand, with your fingers, not centered in your palm. This time point your arm out directly in front of you. Hold steady now and focus on the waterline in the glass. That line will be your signal if there is a change in your focus and control. Hold that arm perfectly still and straight. Start with your right arm and then repeat this with the left. Being able to do this for one minute at first will be fantastic, but eventually I want you to be able to do this for 5 minutes on each arm. Practice this, hold steady your focus as it will allow you to hold steady your control. You can do it!
101.4
Here is one that you can work on all day long. You can and should do this one in all situations, at home and at work. It is time to watch your body. Well time to focus in on the movements of your body that is. Focus in on the movements of your muscles. The real key here is to see that you are not making unnecessary and unneeded extra motions and movements with your body. Be sure to keep all of your muscles at ease during the day and as you work this exercise. Keep your mind on staying relaxed. Control the tension and remain tension-free. Please pay close attention to anything – events, actions, words and people that may cause you to lose focus and tense up. Be sure to pay very close attention to what or who they are – even jotting down some notes if you can. Work on eliminating all useless gestures: eye rolling and hand waving to name but two. Eliminate the wasted energy by focusing your energy on the elimination of needless actions and movements.
This is an incredible skill and once acquired you will notice two amazing things:
1. How you are able to stay relaxed and at ease in all situations (imagine this skill during a job interview or a salary negotiation with your boss) and
2. How ill-at-ease those who cannot control their bodies are around someone who can. This will allow you an amazing advantage in most situations; imagine how much you can learn from others when you can focus in on them and be relaxed, always.
101.5
Sit comfortably in a chair and then slide it up close to a table. Lay your right hand on the table with your palm facing up. Make a fist, curing all of your fingers and wrapping it up with the thumb folded over neatly.
Time to relax and focus your mind.
Focus on your thumb, and slowly unfurl it. Watch it slowly and painstakingly as it moves up and away from the rest of your fingers. Then slowly do the same with your forefinger, watch closely, focus on the movements, pay close attention. Now slowly do it with the rest of your fingers, following the same guides as previous. Once they are all open, reverse the process. Again, slowly, focus in on just the movements of the fingers – focus your attention. Then switch hands and repeat the process. Continue to do this exercise until you have done it 5 times with each hand. Give it time. But over the next few days work on increasing the amount of times until you can comfortably do ten of these.
I bet this exercise will actually make you feel tired; but please continue to train your attention on your movements and your fingers. You must keep your attention at a highly-focused level or the value of this exercise will be lost.
101.6
Place your hand on your knee and fold all fingers except the forefinger into a fist. Your forefinger will basically be pointing out away from your knee. Move your finger up and down, slowly pay attention to only the movement of the finger, nothing else. Up and down at first, then right and left – focusing attentions on the moving finger. This one is much harder than you think as your mind will be looking for much more exciting things to do and think about; how exciting is watching the motion of your finger? This is quite boring for your mind, so you will really need to focus on the finger and work on keeping your concentration locked on the movements.
Make up a bunch of singular-body-movement exercises; Always being sure to focus in on the singularly moving part of your body. It is great training to come up with your own little singular-movement exercises and work on them – always paying attention and focusing in on the moving part only!
Main Point Here is keeping it simple! All your energy and focus must be locked in on that moving part only. You will notice that your mind really does want to wander away from its focus with this one and try to find something more interesting to think about – fight the urge – focus and pay attention!
I know, I know, I know - It sounds too simple and cheesy and corny; much too easy to be effective. Listen to me on this one, you will be absolutely amazed when you will notice (and in a very short amount of time,) that your mind and body control have become remarkable. You will have gained control over all of your muscles and movements and you will have learned incredible focus. Just imagine all the places you can use this to your advantage and all the places this will help you to achieve that ultimate goal and success. Even in simple everyday occurrences these skills will astound you. Next time you are in a bar or a club and you want to walk over to that guy or girl and start a conversation – this is a skill you will thank me for later. Job interviews with no nervousness and uncontrolled hand and body movements, meetings with you in total control even better focus during sex with your lover – Ya! now your thinking.
The person that can concentrate can gain full control over their body with their mind; you become your master not your slave.
Try them – You will be sending me those emails of gratitude shortly!
May 8th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Great blog, Ben. I’m adding to one of the first things I read in the morning.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:40 am
Thanks Bradley,
You honor me by allowing me to be part of your day. On the “starting your day” note - I will have some real valuable information coming in future posts about how you really should be starting your day - not to mention ending it.
Ben
May 8th, 2008 at 11:28 am
These are interesting exercises. I’m not sure if they are supposed to do this, but I just now tried the arm out to the side and focusing on the finger tips and then the fist one and what happened if I REALLY focused like you said….I became very relaxed. It made me aware of how tense I was just now at my desk working….well, working until I came ot your site…hahaha. And I wasn’t feeling particularly distressed or worried, but it made me realize how we can be walking around with low grade tension. And of course sometimes high test tension. : )
Anyway, I found these very cool. It’s almost like doing a meditation that slows one down and allows them to be more present, right in the moment. Then of course they can focus more readily or easily.
Very cool Benny!
Also, I laughed over your comment on my post. Wonderful!
Thanks my friend.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
It is all about being able to relax, lose the stress and tension and learning about concentrating on focus. You will realize, as it seems you already have, that by refocusing your concentration onto the one thing you are trying to focus on - the rest of you becomes relaxed… How great is that during a stressful encounter…
You can focus in on the issue at hand - while the rest of your body takes time off from the needless wastes of energy that is lost.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Simple and motivating, thanks ben for your nice article.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Aw Benny this came perfectly on my most ADD day ever!! I am going to sit down with this blog tomorrow and work on this. Great article!!!
May 8th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
http://ya-ttitude.com/blog/2008/03/10/ya-ttitude-procrasti-nation/ -
Click that link Nicole - ADD or not - you need some work on those procrastination skills -
I am glad you liked the excercises - and I know they will help you learn to keep a high powered focus on everything you want to do!
May 8th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
A very insightful post on concentration excercises.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Thanks Justin -
I checked out the site you pointed to - if you want a little love talk to me first…
Your comments keep going to spam because you fill them with links to your site - and your email and and and — drop me a note… we can talk
Ben
May 9th, 2008 at 12:18 am
it’s so long that i have not read it completely ,but it’s a great article! thanks
May 9th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Thanks
Yes it may be a bit long - print it out and divide it into its parts - and work on it a little at a time. You will be amazed at how it will make your life so much better!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:45 am
As someone who never ‘Stops’ I figure I’ll catch up with sleep and rest at the cemetary.In the mean time I just stumbled the hell out of your awesome Blog.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Thanks for the Love John. Sleep and Rest are very important - catching up with it - then - is simply a waste. Spend time with your son - and enjoy what you have. I understand the “lack of civilization” that you speak of - but - in order to get to that ultimate success - you need to understand that you have to make the best of the current situation - go the extra mile - and kick some tail!
Ben
May 10th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Wow Benny these exercises look very relaxing. I need to try them out to deal with some work stress and family life stress lol.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
They will teach you how to focus in on issues…
May 10th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
You’re a fascinating guy Ben and I like learning my way through this blog. It took me all this time to focus well enough to work through all the exercises from beginning to end. The original angst I had about reading instructions and ‘not doing this right ‘dissipated and I found that I did relax when I began following only my out breath (Buddhist training). I’m interested to see what the next adventure at Ya’ttitude will be.
May 10th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Thanks Time - There are a few things I am working on. Stay tuned - around every corner is the next success story - is it yours?
May 11th, 2008 at 3:45 am
I just can’t get there from here. It seems to me all your doing is avoiding , blocking out , becoming oblivious to the reality of our situations.
If your in a bad situation the last thing ya want to do is focus. I may be way off base but come on, It seems a bit silly to me. If you can take your eyes off the half glass of water for a sec you’d see the guy across the street dying of thirst. Maybe there are more important things to focus on than ourselves.
I’ll give you this much. If someone stares at their finger tips long enough they might forget about the tax and spend politician who just voted your unalienable rights away to the UN because of a bogus global warming report as they hop into their new private commuter jet. ( Yeah that’s it, stay….. relaxed ) While another million people starve to death and We in the US burn are food source for energy. Stay focused now, that’s it…..
I don’t know what bars or clubs your frequenting but your probably the only one in there that’s focused. One might get the same result with a shot of liquid courage.
ParanoidX2… Because I’m Twice as Paranoid as your average Joe.
We need to look passed our fingertips, see what’s really going on, get pissed off enough to do something about it, or we loose the freedom to contemplate our naval’s. inhale 12345, hold 123, exhale 1234, repeat.
May 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
It is an interesting point of view you share with us here today. I am not one to argue or censor so your words are here and available for the world to see.
This bit of information I do offer to you:
Sometimes “the good of the one outweighs the good of the many;” And the one cannot help the many until they are fully aware of themselves.
The ability to understand all that goes on around us comes from the understanding of ourselves. You cannot understand love until you love yourself, you cannot understand helping someone until you can help yourself, and you cannot understand the issues you bring forward until you understand the issues you have within.
Ya – it sounds like gobbledygook – and I can help you argue the other side if you like too – but all it will get us is a whole lotta negative and absolutely no positive – and in that – there is no use at all. Positive begets positive and that is the only way we are going to be of any use to the rest of the world.
Yes – we need to be cognizant of what goes on in the world, but we too need to be cognizant of what goes on in our own life and mind before we can be of much use to the rest of the world.
Are you serious – So in a tough situation – you find it better to be all over the place – with no plan and no focus? Now I may be way off base here, but that sounds silly to me. Your ability to focus in on what is going on and what it is you want to accomplish is paramount in its achievement.
Have a great weekend
Ben
May 11th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Here from BlogCatalog - thanks for the add - nice to meet you - hello from Norway - have a nice Sunday and a great week ahead!
May 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Thanks for the add and the visit - hope to see you again and often!
May 12th, 2008 at 12:03 am
I was trying out some of the exercises and I really liked it. They really did help me to relieve some stress(I’m always so stressed out). It helped me to just focus on something other than the constant thoughts that occupy my brain. Thanks a lot Ben
May 12th, 2008 at 9:02 am
My Pleasure Nicole. The beauty about these are once you really have them down in your mind - you will be able to remove the stress and anxiety from any and all situations you find yourself in!
Ben
May 13th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I am trying 101.4 tomorrow at work. In my position, I think it will really help a lot. Staying focused is a problem.
I should pass this onto my boss. He is constant movement all day long. I think our clients really pick up on that and it’s not good.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Welcome back Holly -
We have missed you here at Ya-ttitude. I hope all is well with you. Please show it to him. Maybe he will learn something. Being able to control yourself is very important Holly!
May 30th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
[...] Do try some concentration exercises such as Concentration Exercises by Ya-ttitude [...]
July 18th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Ahhh…what can I say? Better focus during sex?… Now that alone is good enough reason to learn to be more focused and concentrate at the task at hand (or wherever, I guess).
Actually, this is very reminiscent of what I learned during my zen meditation training. And it isn’t easy. Part of the point of your article is that you’re looking to be focused on the body - in meditation training, the “focus” is on the mind, but obviously the body comes right along with it. So specific sitting and hand positions are important, as well as ways to breathe.
It’s all of a piece, you know? The one thing different (maybe) is that with the mind, you know it’s going to drift off somewhere else - whether that somewhere is figuring out the budget, what you’re wearing to the party, or the state of the stock market. Basically, the mind likes to think. What I learned is that we have to corral the mind by gently and compassionately refocusing ourselves back to the breath (or the mantra). And in meditation I learned, you do this over and over and over again.
Of course over time the mind wanders a bit less and you have to corral it a bit less, but it’s never at the point where the mind doesn’t wander AT ALL. The mind likes to think. That’s just what mind does.
Sorry - I’m wandering now. I hate to just say, “great post” but I certainly will be printing this one out and trying the exercises along with other meditation exercises.
Thanks for the wisdom!
Warmly,
~Laura
July 19th, 2008 at 2:46 am
good stuff to start your day with, we really need this at times
every thing is so demanding that we dont give the time to our body and soul, so how can we be happy.