How to avoid being distracted by thoughts during meditation. Use the right soundtrack

Books are an important part of our intellectual and personal development. It doesn't matter what media you use - paper or electronic. A well-read person absorbs and analyzes information faster, can use an impressive amount of knowledge for work, and his brain is like the trained muscles of an athlete.

But many cannot read long and carefully. They are distracted from the process by extraneous thoughts, noises, and the habit of switching from one thing to another. To know how not to get distracted while reading, you need to learn how to read correctly. It's actually not that difficult if you follow some rules.

Move from simple to complex. If a reader is distracted by extraneous thoughts and actions, this is often a signal that he simply has not yet made reading a daily habit. The brain doesn't like to be stressed. Therefore, when you try to force him to perceive information from the pages of a book, he immediately begins to diligently sabotage. It gives you tempting thoughts about interesting news in your social network feed, invites you to think about a future vacation or sleep... And the more complex the text, the more actively the brain will try to “get it.”
Therefore, you need to develop the habit of reading gradually. Start with light, easy reading, popular fiction. Over time, you can move on to more complex texts. Reading time also needs to be increased gradually. At first it could be half an hour a day, then an hour, and then - and before you know it, you’ve been reading all weekend, forgetting to eat and sleep.
Take a break before reading. You also need to be able to start a reading session correctly. If you have just been engaged in some complex mental activity, then for some time after completing the work you will return to it with your thoughts. The head should “cool down”, thoughts should settle down. Rest for 15-20 minutes, don’t think about anything, listen to birdsong or calm music, walk the dog or sit with a cup of tea in the garden, if you have one. Relax and complete previous tasks, and then you will fully join the reading process.
Don't eat while reading and don't read while eating. If you do something at the same time, neither one nor the other will really come out. This applies to all activities in general, so if you have the habit of combining several things at once, fight it. Your thoughts should be completely focused on what you are reading.
What to do if noise bothers you? It often happens that what prevents you from concentrating is not your internal monologue or confusion in your thoughts, but objective external factors. Neighbors are watching TV, children are screaming in the yard, cars are driving on the street... You can deal with annoying sounds in different ways. First, remove it. That is, try to minimize it - close the window, ask your neighbors not to make noise. And in the end, just plug your ears with earplugs. You can change the reading time by choosing the part of the day when there is the least noise around. You can interrupt, for example, by turning on unobtrusive instrumental music. True, music also interferes with reading for some, so this option is not suitable for everyone.

But the most effective method is to learn to abstract from noise. To do this, you need to “turn off” your hearing and not analyze the sounds coming to your ears. Focus completely on the text, think about the characters and the plot - and the noise will cease to be felt. It will take some effort to train yourself not to perceive external stimuli, but if you succeed, you will become a reading god. You can read on the train, in the subway, in a cafe, and on the beach.

Force yourself to reread. Our brain is an instrument of cognition. This is not an independent uncontrollable organism, but a part of you that you need to be able to subjugate. When the mind tries to draw thoughts into a more pleasant and simpler direction or “chews” some emotions, then your eyes simply rush through the text without thinking about the meaning. This way you can sit for a few minutes staring at a book. If the brain trick works, then you simply put the volume aside.
The brain doesn’t want to read, it’s too lazy. Therefore, stop yourself, look carefully at the text and return to the place that you were still reading consciously. Reread what you skimmed over and try to comprehend it. Sometimes it happens that you have to re-read a paragraph many times. But this way you make it clear to your inner lazy person that you won’t be able to cheat, and that you will still force him to read everything in good faith. After some time, the habit of being distracted from the text by an internal monologue will disappear, since repeated reading of the same passage will work as a punishment effect.
Perhaps the problem is complex? Often, an inability to concentrate on reading is just a symptom of a larger problem. It is called disorganization and lack of internal discipline. A person grabs onto one thing, quickly gets bored, and immediately takes on another, or even several things at once. This phenomenon is sometimes proudly called multitasking, but this lady with an exotic name is the twin sister of stupidity, and the main thing here is not to confuse it.

You will have to think carefully - perhaps a person is distracted not only from reading, but also from work, and from everyday activities, and in general cannot really complete anything? If this is about you, then you will have to seriously start organizing your time and change your attitude towards your own activities. Learn to focus on one activity without being distracted by others and finish what you start, work on setting goals and writing plans. But this is a completely different story...

To stay focused while reading, you should do concentration exercises

Exercise 1:

Imagine what will happen if you don't read the right book. Imagine the picture in negative colors. Now imagine what will happen after you read the book. How the world will become a better place.

Exercise 2:

Clear your brain of garbage. Enter into a state of not thinking anything.

Develop effective reading and learning strategies

Determine the purpose of reading. The research topic itself can act as a distraction if you don't know how to handle it. Set clear reading goals based on why you read. Determine in advance what information you need to take away from the text and look for it instead of reading from beginning to end.

Make a list of tasks and questions that you might find answers to in the text. This will turn the task of reading into an investigative job and allow you to skip over irrelevant passages. If, for example, you are only interested in the general argument created by the author, find a paragraph where it is clearly stated and go through the data.
Review and analyze. Read to get the general meaning. Look for key words and paragraphs in the text. Pay more attention to headings and the first and last sentence of each paragraph.
You can preview the text by simply reviewing the headings and subheadings. You can then come back to them with a mind map of their most important argument. The second time you read it, you'll know what to expect and which sections you should spend more time on.

Engage all your senses as you read.

Reading is much more than just a visual activity: you can read important points or make comments out loud, write them out or mark them in the text. All these actions will create a connection between you and the text and involve you entirely in the learning process.

If you're a better visual learner, highlight text and take notes to help you focus on it and remember it. If you remember sounds better, use rhymes and acronyms.

Mark the text and take notes.

Highlight or underline important passages and key words, or take notes in the margins or on another document. This will make it easier for you to return to the text and immediately see the main points.

If you borrowed the book from the library, take notes on a separate sheet of paper or in a document on your laptop.

Focus your energy on understanding the subject.

When you read, your mind may wander to thoughts that have nothing to do with the information in the text. Repeat the main points in your own words, silently or out loud, to make sure you fully understand the meaning of the text. Being interested in what you are working on is a major factor in your level of focus. If you're having trouble connecting with the text, here are some ways you can develop interest in it:

Critical Approach: Ask yourself questions and don't hesitate to disagree by coming up with evidence against a particular argument.
Predict what will be said next based on what you have read up to this point, this can speed up the reading process.
Make connections with what you already know.

The easiest way is to throw the book into the far corner and say: “Reading is not my strong point!”

But remember that all rich and successful people read a lot, and not a single millionaire would prefer TV or a computer game to a book. You just need to make a little effort to learn not to be distracted while reading, and then this activity will bring a lot of pleasure and benefit.

Source S auap.org

George R.R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones, said on one of his TV shows that he uses two computers. The first one is needed to surf the Internet, communicate and pay bills, and the second one, not connected to the Internet, is needed to write novels. Moreover, the “writer’s” computer, which Martin calls his secret weapon, runs on the DOS operating system.

The absence of the Internet on the computer helps the writer not to be distracted by extraneous sites and work productively. Look At Me figured out how else you can overcome online procrastination and finally get down to business.

Why the Internet encourages procrastination

Michal Lev-Ram, a writer for the American magazine Fortune, describes the process of working on a new article this way: “I start writing, check my email, make coffee, write some more, drink coffee, go on Facebook, take a psychological test (which confirms that I and I knew it), I tell myself that I need to stop procrastinating, I write another paragraph, I go to my mailbox, I answer a non-urgent question, I get up to make another cup of coffee...”

Webtrate conducted a survey among 2,500 people and found that more than half of them cannot control themselves while working and constantly check email and social networks. 63% of the percent admitted that they forget their ideas and lose their thoughts while reading or responding to messages, despite the fact that 36% of respondents spend about an hour daily in email services, and for 16% they “eat up” more than three hours a day. Most people noted that online procrastination reduces their overall level of happiness and satisfaction.

Will Little, the creator of Webtrate, explained these figures by saying that the Internet increases procrastination and reduces productivity due to constant access to time-wasting sites. In his opinion, a person would rather read an interesting article or discuss a new viral video with a friend on Facebook than finish the work he started. The company’s survey showed that 59% of people “kill time” on the Internet, the rest sit in front of television screens or spend time with friends.

Why is Internet procrastination dangerous?

An NBC News study found that people who are prone to online procrastination score 20 percent lower on cognitive tests than organized people. Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University, conducted an experiment with 263 students. He asked students to focus on their work for 15 minutes and found that after just two minutes, students began to become distracted by mobile devices and social media.

Research from Harvard University, which estimates that between 12 and 20 million Americans suffer from a mild form of Internet addiction, is frightening.

Youth media company The Beans Group conducted a survey among students. 40% of young people said that the main reason for Internet procrastination is the reluctance to study and work, 20% answered that they procrastinate out of boredom, for 21% procrastination is a habit, and the remaining 19% admitted that they simply cannot control themselves.

Why do we procrastinate?
and how does the Internet affect this?

“The reason for procrastination lies in perfectionism. This is paradoxical, but true. It is the constant desire to achieve perfection in any activity that makes a person postpone this activity. Behind procrastination is the fear of failure. If a perfectionist doubts that he can do the job perfectly, then he will prefer not to do it at all or will delay the delivery of the work due to constant rewriting, editing and delving into details.

As for the Internet, any form of activity on the Internet or consumption of media products becomes a filler in life and distracts a person from the experiences that he experiences, because he puts off doing an important task.”

How to deal with Internet procrastination?

“There is only one way out - always start with the main thing. Then there will be nothing to put off. There is one trick: try to do the work “imperfectly”, “somehow”, but immediately, without delays! If you decide to do this, you will not notice how you will complete your task very decently.

In the end, this is exactly what we do when all the deadlines have expired - we do the work “somehow,” “just to get it done.” But if you do this right away, without delay, you will have a lot of time and energy left to bring the matter to fruition. Besides, you won’t worry and fill your head with all sorts of nonsense.”

Internet blockers and other tools to combat procrastination on the Internet

Look At Me has studied the market and compiled its list of software innovations that will help you cope with Internet procrastination in a few clicks.

Once the above-mentioned Will Little, an American playwright, was worried that he did not have a whole year to finish writing a play. Little spent little time offline and was therefore constantly distracted from work. Understanding the problem prompted the playwright to team up with programmers and create Webtrate, an Internet blocker (for Windows and Mac), which the College News website recognized as the best on the market. Webtrate is a pretty radical tool. It blocks access not to individual sites (as they do, for example, Cold Turkey for Windows or SelfControl for Mac), but to the entire Web in general. The user can deny himself web access for a while by setting a timer from a minute to a day. In addition, he can choose one of two options: the first - the Internet can be “unblocked” only after restarting the computer, the second - access to the Network will not open until the agreed time has expired.

The point of meditation is not to cling to thoughts and not to immerse yourself in their endless stream. Yes, thoughts will arise during meditation, but let them just come and go, don't react to them emotionally or overthink them.

Do you want to let go of thoughts freely and quickly? There are a few tips to help keep your mind from getting distracted by thoughts during meditation.

Watch your breath

To prevent your brain from being immersed in a stream of thoughts, give it another task - let it count your inhalations and exhalations. First breath, second... and so on up to 20 times. Once you get to 20, start again from 1. If you lose count and find yourself lost in thought again, that's okay, start again from 1.

Focus on a symbol

Another great option to keep your mind from wandering during meditation is to visualize symbols, images, or objects. You can concentrate on the OM symbol, or imagine your favorite animal (a tiger for example), or mentally draw a triangle or square.

Use a meditation recording

There are no right or wrong methods for meditation. Choose the one that is closest to you! You may find it easier to meditate using a voice recording as a guide. There are a huge number of video and audio recordings with meditation on the Internet, choose any one you like and relax.

Visualize your thoughts

When thoughts come to you during meditation, do not resist them, but rather welcome them, allow them to be. You can imagine that your mind is like the blue sky and your thoughts are the clouds on it. You allow these thought clouds to come and go freely, they do not affect you in any way, you are not dependent on them or attached to them.

Write down your thoughts

If you are planning to meditate, and there are a lot of thoughts in your head that don’t give you peace, write them all down on a piece of paper. Write everything that comes to your mind, everything that worries, upsets and worries. Write until you feel relief. Then take a few calm breaths and exhalations, completely calm down and relax before meditating. Realize that your mind has become much clearer.

Regular practice

The more often you practice meditation, the easier it will be for you to stop the flow of thoughts. Try to meditate every day in the same place, at the same time - this will make it easier for you to immerse yourself in a meditative state.

Start with short periods of meditation and gradually lengthen it, remembering to treat yourself with kindness and patience. It is important to understand and remind yourself that meditation will be different every time, sometimes it will be easy to concentrate, and sometimes it will be difficult. In a 15-minute meditation, only a few minutes can be calm and clear, the rest of the time thoughts can lead to consciousness. But that's okay, that's the point of meditation. We practice patience, we try to know ourselves and slowly but surely we give ourselves freedom from thoughts and attachments.

Have a great meditation practice!

Today I want to share my observations about those things that can distract us during work. I see surprised faces. Yes, it also seemed to me that this issue was unimportant.

But statistics show: any irritant that distracts you from work takes away from 3 to 10 minutes of working time. If, while working on a layout, you respond to someone on icq, then your attention will be scattered and it will take you some time to get back into the working mood.

And with 5-10 such irritants at hand, we can lose up to a couple of hours a day on unimportant matters. So, how can we avoid distractions while working?

Mail and icq

It seems to us that by replying from time to time to messages from friends on ICQ, we are not wasting time. In fact, every potential slacker from the contact list, who every now and then throws links to photo in contact or funny video from YouTube, simply steals your time.

A similar situation with mail: in TheBat settings I specified that mail should be checked every 10 minutes. Now imagine: every time you receive 1-2 letters (LJ notification, blog comment, newsletter, etc.). All this makes you take a break from the main task and look at emails, delete unnecessary ones, respond to important ones, etc.

How to deal with this? For myself, I found a very simple solution: set up email checking every 60 minutes, and in icq I created a visible list, and only people in it have the right to disturb me. At critical moments, icq (like the mailer) turns off.

Surfing

I don’t know how it is now, but in the days of my youth, surfing was the name for traveling through websites. Sometimes meaningful, and more often thoughtless. I opened one site, left it for another and off we go. I woke up - not a cast, of course, but an hour of time had disappeared. Sound familiar? Me too.

How to deal with this? I think the especially responsible comrades have already decided this issue for themselves - just refused from visiting entertainment sites during work hours. But what to do if you give up classmates, rutub, ladies and Temino's jeezhe difficult?

There is an excellent solution for Firefox users - the LeechBlock addon, which can don't let in browser to the specified sites at the right time. It's easy to turn off, but I can say from experience that it helps you concentrate on work.

Surroundings

In two hours of work in peace and quiet you can do more than 6 hours when you are distracted every now and then. But nevertheless, there is a cat/dog, a guy/girlfriend, children (underline) who constantly They try to stick their nose into the monitor, invite you to drink tea, watch TV or go to the store.

If the cat invites you to go shopping, I can’t help you here, but with the rest of the issues the matter can be resolved quite simply: set up a work place for yourself in the room with door, which during work you can close.

If noise bothers you, wear it while working headphones. And it’s not necessary that Bilan will play there, the technology has still reached us and we can listen to the radio. For example, I love Radio Mayak. And you?

Phone

It’s not for nothing that some call it the scourge of modern society, because with a mobile phone in your pocket, everyone can reach you at any time of the day and anywhere.

I think that someone will be surprised, but the phone during the day can be turned off or, as a last resort, put it on silent mode and check missed messages every 2-3 hours and reply “I love you too” to 5 different subscribers via SMS.

Again, judging by myself - turning off the phone saves I have a lot of time. Need it? Write by email or icq. Don't need it? So why call then?

Small offtopic: what the Bolsheviks talked about so much, they proved. Mobile phone really harmful to health, especially for men's joys (the phone is often carried in the pocket of their pants) and the brain (during a conversation).
And the younger the organism, the stronger the effect radiation has on it. Believe me, my experience of working in one of the mobile operators.

Music

Some people cannot work without a player, while others find it more convenient to work in silence. I belong to the latter, because... during work any sounds to me interfere, so silence is the most important thing.

The only thing I can say about this is that in the morning, upbeat music helps you wake up, but it’s still better to work without it. In the evening turn it on again, but something calmer. This scheme will most likely suit most people.

To the question “What for example?” I can offer mixes of my friend Dj Hemulen. Relaxes and does not interfere with work.

Smoke breaks

Stop smoking if you haven't done so already. And if you can’t, don’t justify yourself by saying that smoking relaxes you. Until they prove to me that this can calm me down, I won't believe it.

Instead of a smoke break, it is better to do exercises, drink tea or count the blondes in red outside the window.

The following is said against smoking breaks: usually one at a time for a smoke break. don't go. One person proposes, the rest agree and go together to breathe smoke and one and a half thousand chemical compounds and resins. At the same time, everyone breaks away from something, which does not at all contribute to concentration on work.

If you really need to, then if possible, go for smoke breaks or rest when some part of the work has already been completed and you can be distracted.

I am guided by these rules so as not to be distracted from important matters. I would like to hear your advice on this topic.

In today's high-tech world with a high pace of life, it is increasingly difficult to concentrate on one thing and not be distracted. Thoughts, actions and devices that are an important part of everyday life can become interruptions when trying to concentrate. If you need not to be distracted from the task, then you should create an atmosphere in which your attention will not be scattered around. This may require turning off your phone and many other electronic devices, scheduling work hours, and following your own schedule.

Steps

How to create the right environment

Turn off your phone and other devices. If you need to do work, clean, write an essay, or do something important, then switch to silent mode or turn off your phone and other devices (TV, set-top box, etc.) that may distract you. Modern technology can rightly be called the main distraction in our society, since the presence of constantly ringing, noisy and flickering devices really makes it difficult for us to concentrate.

Pause the music. If you need to get down to business seriously, then work in silence and do not occupy your thoughts with anything else. Our minds naturally become fixated on melodies, rhythms and words. Music can uplift and speed up the passage of time, but by subconsciously perceiving the song, we limit our ability to concentrate, even if we don't realize it.

Listen to music after completing a project or while performing simple mechanical tasks.

Choose the best place to work. If you work from home or are creative, choose a place where you feel comfortable spending a lot of time. This could be a corner table, a well-lit sunny room, or your favorite coffee shop. It is important to create an atmosphere in which it is easier for you to get things done.
- Beware of conditions that may otherwise dull your attention. People often associate spaces with their usual use, so it's easy to fall asleep in a quiet bedroom while working.
Make sure there are no distractions. Try to protect yourself from people when you need to complete an important project that requires concentration. Sit in a place where you will not be disturbed by other people. For example, if you work in an office, closing doors will communicate to employees that you should not be distracted. Sometimes this isn't possible if you have to share a space with other employees, clients, or children, but try to at least cut off all non-urgent interactions.
- Organize your responsibilities in the most efficient and logical sequence possible so you don't get distracted from the task at hand.
- Try wearing headphones, even if there is nothing playing, to appear busy and less inclined to make casual conversations.
How to Ignore Distractions
1. Notice when you get distracted. If you reach for your phone to read new messages or open a page in the browser that is not related to work, then nip such impulses in the bud. To deal with common distractions, you need to learn to notice them. Practice intentionally resisting distractions and repeating phrases to yourself like “focus” or “now is not the time for this” when your attention begins to wander. Follow your thoughts so as not to be distracted from reality.
  
  Don't hesitate. Teach yourself to get started on time. Procrastination is a serious distraction. We are able to convince ourselves that it is better to complete a task when we are better prepared for it. It is important to understand the following: it is impossible to do something if you do not start right now, so do not put it off until later.
  - Procrastination is an infantile way of thinking, our attempt to escape responsibility for the sake of momentary pleasure.
  - Research shows that those who get started right away rather than constantly procrastinating are more successful.
2. Use intentional concentration. Sometimes you need to actively remind yourself of the need to focus. Often people do not know how to maintain concentration and think only about the task ahead. Cut off all mental distractions that can divert your attention to other tasks. It is not enough just to be aware of the need to concentrate; make an effort to think only about the task at hand.
  - You can remind yourself that the best way to deal with something is to focus your efforts on one point right now. Start to see the process of completing a specific task from start to finish, and then move on to the next task until you have completed everything for the day.
3. Move away from the source of distraction. Try to remove yourself from the source of distractions that weaken your mental abilities. Pack up all the things you need for work and move to a public library or a quiet cafe where you can continue to do your work. Isolate yourself to literally get away from the aspects that you can't ignore. If you lack the strength to resist temptation, then sometimes you can escape.
How to improve your work efficiency
1. Do the most important tasks first. It is important to have a clear idea of what needs to be done so that you can start with the most difficult tasks. This approach allows you to deal with at least the most important matters. Set priorities wisely to complete minor tasks with minimal effort and time. The anxiety caused by the mountain of unfinished tasks will soon go away.
  
  Determine the minimum list of tasks for the day. Set yourself one or two goals for each day, rather than looking at all the work ahead with apprehension. Goals should be small and achievable. Sometimes it's hard to force yourself to go outside and start building a fence around your yard if you only think about how much time, effort and money it will take. If you decide that today you need to dig holes for supports, and tomorrow you need to install them, and so on, then the upcoming task will not seem so daunting.
- Use a planner or notepad to plan your daily tasks and notice when you're most productive.
- Set your own deadlines. For example, tell yourself, “I have to finish this project by the end of the week.” Many people find it easier to force themselves to act when there is a specific deadline.
- Watch your diet. Maintain proper blood sugar levels to stay alert, improve self-organization, attention to detail, and gain energy for the tasks at hand. Remember to eat breakfast in the morning and eat nutritious foods and snacks every few hours.
- Learn to change priorities if you have a lot of things to do.
- Reward yourself for projects completed and goals achieved.
- Don't forget that your tendency to get distracted depends on your level of mental concentration.
Warnings
- Distractions are always present. Learn to ignore them, otherwise you will never cope with the task ahead.
- It is not always possible to turn off electronic devices. If you always need to answer calls or use your tablet or computer, you need to work on the personal discipline to use your devices for their intended purpose.