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“When I begin reading a book of my academic syllabus, within 40 seconds I find myself distracted. Somehow, if I sustain to read for another 5 minutes I find myself procrastinating on Social Media Network watching the photos that my friends recently uploaded.”
Well, do you feel this is a familiar thing?
Does it often happen to you that when you start reading a book you lose focus in a first couple of lines? Or simply you start procrastinating by seeing photos of your last vacation on your laptop or use your phone to take photos of the running ceiling fan or your slippers?
First of all let me tell you that it happens with several people so you are not facing this issue alone.
And in case you feel that you lack motivation to read or study, then sorry to say you are wrong!
Why? You are reading this post to solve your problem that means you are motivated enough to read/study but are just facing a hurdle which is creating complications.
Let me also tell you that if you are seeking solution to this problem then you will have to be extremely patient with the steps mentioned. In other words, you will just have to give some time to the solution to take effect.
The first few steps will help you condition your mind with the right attitude. The rest are practical steps which you can follow to study by avoiding distraction and procrastination.
So, are you ready?
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#1 First develop an Immovable attitude
Take a look at this picture. This is a picture of the Easter Island which is approx.. 3700 kms kilometres from Chile (South America).
These are 887 monumental statues which have been standing since 700 or 800 AD on this island.
Think about the forces which have tried to damage these stones in the past 6 centuries, for example lightning, storms, rains or even some of the pirates who would have tried to rob them but they are standing intact deeply rooted in the ground, totally immovable.
easter island - be immovable develop a mental attitude
All you have to take from this Easter island thing is the immovability in the face of problems.
This is the first step or I might say it covers 50% of the solution to your problem. Practically speaking, don’t get frustrated the next time you get distracted, don’t complain about it to yourself, and don’t get this feeling that it cannot be achieved by you.
Instead, think “I will overcome this problem if I am consistent with my solution”. Adapt this technique and see the magic within 15 days.
#2. Picture your mind
The first image below shows the state of your mind which tend to get distracted.
Your composure gets scattered like the red dots in the image because your mind is not conditioned to read and somewhere within you are intimidated that nothing works out when the book is in my hand.
Now after following the tips in this post you can gradually bring your composure to something displayed in images below.
And, when you hang in there and repeat these steps for some time, you will achieve full composure displayed in image 3.
The reason I have put these 3 images here is the next time you feel that you easily get distracted, try to map your mind with these image
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Gather your composure collect yourself
State of Mind when you are trying to focus
A full composed mind
#3. Run buddy Run !
When my friend broke up with his girlfriend he had a hard time, he tried to motivate himself several times but all his efforts went in vain.
Finally, He ended up in a therapy session where he was told by a renowned therapist to run for at least 30 minutes whenever he gets that dark feeling of break-up again in his head.
He did it for 15 days and started seeing results. His running was helping him in 2 ways
(i). Allowing him to focus (ii) Bringing him sound sleep
The message here is that running or any exercise which requires a lot of physical activity helps your mind concentrate and concentration is a thing which if nurtured carefully and properly will do wonders to you.
For reading, distraction will have no place in your life if your focus is strong and this is a way to strengthen it.
Running is an activity that will help you to concentrate
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#4. I cannot read because I simply find it uninteresting
Around 80% of the students like math simply because they find it interesting.
When it comes to history or social studies, the reaction of most of the students or people is ‘I don’t have any interest in history’ hence I hate to read it.
Well, this is the only problem why you find it uninteresting because you haven’t thrown your heart to it. Have you ever wondered why there are subjects covering several areas like social, math, science, language in the academic curriculum?
It is for your mind’s overall development which is necessary to grow doesn’t matter how old you are.
Reading about different areas grows your mind and helps you sow a seed of knowledge in your subconscious mind.
One example would be of a very dear friend of mine who was the captain of his football team and was an excellent player but somehow his team kept losing because of the absence of a fine strategy.
One day he was teaching his younger brother the chapter on Battle of Plassey and while reading it himself, a strategy struck to him which was originally applied centuries back in the battle.
The next day he applied the same strategy in the game and it worked. He was filled with joy because his team won after several days of losing.
The bottom line is correcting the mental attitude. Every field is important. You cannot give up on a book simply because you find it really uninteresting because whatever you read is going to help you some way or the other in the future.
#5. Start Early
begin early, make little effort from the first day itself
One reason for getting distracted easily is the hugeness of the task. Like, reading several pages of the book or memorizing several topics within a specified timeline.
Obviously, the mind will tend to divert when it gets to know that you have to read and assimilate 10 topics within 3 hours, hence, a good technique is to start early and start slow.
On the first day, start with 1 topic or 1 page of the book; keep reading 1 page a day for another 4-5 days and then increase it to 2 pages or 2 topics a day and continue in the same manner.
This technique is going to condition your mind to read more by increasing its reading potential gradually and then the chances of getting distracted will reduce drastically.
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#6. Maintain Logs
Buy a pocket diary; keep it close to yourself when you are reading and every time you get distracted write the reason of your distraction.
A majority of the problems can be solved by just being aware of the reasons. Check what the reasons are and if you can eliminate them completely.
Use logs to note down what is distracting you
For example, if it is as simple as getting distracted by noises outside when you are reading by the window then simply change your place of reading/studying.
Therefore, note down the reasons of your distractions and the next day if you get distracted make sure that you are not getting distracted by the same reasons.
#7. Write like Ruskin Bond
When you are starting early as mentioned in step#5 then I believe you would be having ample amount of time to write what you read.
Writing down what you are reading is surely going to develop your concentration plus it is also going to expand your mind.
Just make sure that you write what you read in your own words; doing it is definitely going to enhance your skills of explanation and expression.
It is going to open the pores of mind from which words will come out which in turn will better your communication skills.
Also, writing is one of the effective tips to remember what you read and study from books for a long long time.
Writing is the best way to learn what you read
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#8. Why Don't I record myself ?
After a few days it is the time to take a break from reading. With the evolution of technology, it has become very easy to record your voice in your smartphone or any other device.
Few people who do not enjoy reading prefer to take the lessons from audio books. Hence, make your phone a type of audio book by recording important concepts in your own voice.
In your free time or when you are driving, just put your earphones on and start listening to these concepts.
First of all, listening to your own voice would be fun and second the mind is going to remember the concepts forever. It is just like remembering a song when you hear it over and over.
The Audio is a bridge between your mind and reading with no place for distraction and procrastination.
Record your voice and listen to yourself illustrating important concepts
#9. I love to act in front of the camera
Just like Audio, there is another bridge which you can build between reading the book and your mind. It is called Video.
Mind is more receptive to video than audio. If you can record yourself reading a page or a topic you are studying just like a news anchor then there are more chances of your mind grabbing the content quickly than audio or direct reading from the book.
Record yourself and teach yourself what you read
But this should be done only at times when you need to change the methods of learning for a while as it can consume a lot of your time.
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#10. Subdue the enemies which cause distraction
You would have already caught your enemies I am going to mention here in the maintain logs section.
However, if haven’t yet then I must tell you that Social Media and the smart phones are the two biggest distractions that the parents have been complaining about lately.
Though, some people can manage with it but if you are not one of them then you must realize that it has the power to pull you towards itself.
You must be blaming yourself for touching the phone or opening a social media site during your study session, but why blame yourself, when you can just lock your phone in the next room.
Remember, the farther you keep it away from yourself, the lesser will be the urge of using it when you are in the middle of reading something.
Social media,texting are the distractions when you are studying
#11. Brainstorming
You must be thinking I will ask you to get into a discussion with your friends and discuss what you read, well this is of course a method of learning but I would rather ask you to take a different approach.
Pick up your book, get into your room and lock the door.
Imagine a round table and people sitting around it.
If you read a paragraph or a page just try to speak about it in your own words; imagine you are giving a presentation in a conference room to 10 people by reading and explaining them.
Again, this is an effective method to concentrate in your book because there is a physical activity of speaking involved.
This will also improve your hold on the language and you can learn a lot of stuff in a very short amount of time.
Imagine yourself speaking what you read to a group of people
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#12 Go on top of the hill or in a beautiful park
After a few days it is the time to change your place for reading.
Let’s say on a holiday you can go to the woods and read or if you stay in the city try going to the city park, sit under a tree which provides enough shade and read or study.
If your town is in the hills then sitting on top of the hill with a fantastic view in front of you is also a good option.
You might get a feeling of burden to go to such places with your book but give it a shot and I am sure that you will start feeling better from inside.
Mind grasps more when it is in close to nature. Change is constant but sometimes it is fantastic.
mind grasps quickly when you read in nature
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Wrap Up
Books are a person’s best friend. They just give you a lot but hardly expect anything in return (of course, the price cannot be ignored).
There is only a need to realize this fact.
To study or to read must not be a burden while it should be fun but the mind wouldn’t take it as fun simply by just reading it.
You have to keep inventing different methods and implementing them with patience to make learning fun.
Once you are acquainted with them, that’s it the task is done.
Do you feel better after reading this post? If yes, then which step did you like the most?
Also, have you grabbed a book from the used book store of bx-zone.com
,a website where you can directly buy books at great discounts from the book owner.
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