【2023-12-01 PT】《Concentration》

Ruby: Hi, everybody, how has it been? I don’t know if you guys can feel me but I’ve found myself quite dizzy after pandemic, everyday is a blur and I can no longer concentrate as soon as possible. All these things make me wonder whether I’m still the master of my concentration or not, whether I’m sober and productive as used to be, or not. I’d like to take this opportunity to discuss the topic according to our own experience or study. What do you think, Bunny?

Bunny: I'm not a person who can be one hundred percent engrossed, not at all. Sometimes I may make up my mind to concentrate on something, but it usually takes no more than an instant glimpse. But that has been said, if I were to do what I am interested in, I would finish it very seriously in one go; but if I had to do, I would not concentrate on it, for example, reading.

Selena: Exactly! I myself is a person who can be easily influenced by the surroundings, every time I decide to devote myself in something, I'm always distracted by all kinds of things, especially someone sends a message. In this case, the biggest factor that makes me struggle is the phone notifications, which caught me every single time, I couldn't help but check the message.

Tyler: In addition to phone notifications, when I am not focused, the clock on the wall, the sky outside the window, it seems that everything around me affects me in a thousand ways.Thus, it’ll spend more time than you’ve imagined reinstating your astray attention. Guys, I actually have a question for you, how long will it take to get into that “mental flow” mode?

Ruby: Well, it varies from person to person. For me, it takes half an hour to an hour on condition that there’s little interference. If I am interested in what I have to do, such as drawing, crafting, reading, or if I have to hand in a composition, give a presentation before deadline, I would be much faster hahaha, and I’ll be in that battle mode immediately. Usually in this state of “mental flow”, I do not want to be disturbed, and have a high sense of excitement and fulfillment.

Bunny: I dig you, yet my condition has slight differences. The timing of getting into an attentive mode is very random for me, that is to say it is not determined by the length of time, but an opportunity. At an uncertain moment, you will suddenly get into “mental flow” mode. This was evident in my senior year. At that time, I did not want to study every day. It was really painful for me. But once in a while, I will focus on the whole night and don't want to respond to anything people say.

Tyler: Yes, it is hard to give a specific length of time. Because when we feel that we are focused, we are no longer in a state of focus, and I think focus is also a gradual process. Attention gradually reveals itself, and the noise around us gradually disappears. Maybe the time we are unable to hear the environmental sound, background noises, is when we’re actually in “mental flow” mode.

Ruby: So it truly depends, what an intriguing discovery. Now that we have different disturbing factors, do you have any method to deal with the lacking-of-concentration problem?

Bunny: Recently, I saw a method of focused learning on the Internet, which is the psychological implication of role-playing, for instance, imagining myself as a princess who can only save her country and people by finishing her homework within two hours. I think this method is quite interesting. I set the deadline and the minimum amount of completion in a very interesting way, which is both dynamic and not very boring.

Selena: From my life experience, you can change the environment and put yourself in an environment suitable for concentration. For example, when learning, you can go to the study room, because it is quiet, everyone is learning. Another important thing is that the table in the study room is very large and clean.

Ruby: That is a decent one, and I have another one, which is to set up a reward mechanism. For example, if you finish this paper today, you will reward yourself with eating a piece of cake, give yourself a little benefits that you can achieve, thus focus seems to be easier.

Tyler: Moreover, put down the phone! You can try to put the phone in another room, to isolate the impact of it. I usually play some musics too, because they can block the noise from my surroundings, and quiet songs calm me down and make me more focused.But this method is not suitable for everyone, I think we must first understand ourselves, figure out why we can’t focus, in order to solve the problem to the case.