Parents and teens spend so much energy, time and money on getting a good result. Parents sacrifice personal time, spend more on studies than they can afford and are sometimes constantly thinking anxiously about their child’s future.
On the other hand, students fight impulses, sacrifice hobbies, and make an earnest effort at studies to make their parents proud.
But an insidious enemy threatens to undo all the hard work and resources put into study success.
Distractions are the enemy.
Good study performance requires focus—no doubt about that. Whether trying to remember things or understand concepts, a focussed mind performs infinitely better than an unfocused one.
Research says that it takes about 15 minutes for the brain to focus on anything you are doing truly. Only after this time does the brain start to devote its resources to whatever you are doing entirely.
Just four distractions ruin a whole hour.
If you are distracted from studies, you are again not using your brain to learn thoroughly for the next 15 minutes. Do that four times each hour, and you have lost that hour. Keep doing that, and you have lost an entire day ( and eventually a whole year).
Two kinds of distractions.
Distractions can be internal or external.
External distractions are sounds that draw your attention or people asking you for something. External distractions are easier to manage. Once you feel committed to studying, you can find a quiet place, close your room and tell everyone not to disturb you.
The other kind is internal distractions. These come in the form of thoughts, ideas, boredom, or any feelings that takes your attention off your studies.
Internal distractions are outside your direct control.
The real challenge is that the brain randomly generates internal distractions, and there is no way to stop them.
Research says that an average person has 6200 thoughts per day.No wonder studying can be so hard for most students.
People try meditation to “calm their mind”. Meditation is a good tool, but it takes years of practice to be good at it. Some people try very hard to concentrate, thinking they can use their “willpower” to focus, but find their mind wandering off just the next minute.
Will power does not work because the part of the mind that generates internal distractions is outside of your direct control.
Use Chitta Yog for a Quiet Mind.
I use Chitta Yog for students to calm down their internal “thought factor” in just a week. By speaking to your Chitta ( inner mind), we can ask it to be quiet. Once this happens, you can find it so much easier to focus, learn and remember from your studies.
The “Stay Focussed” training in my “Study success for teens” program will transform any students focus and attention, giving them a quantum leap in results.
Now. Take a deep breath – and try to focus on your next task.
Ninad Sharma
