How To Concentra- Oh, Look! Is That a Unicorn?!

I have maladaptive daydreaming, so I'm honestly not an expert at this subject. But I thought it would be fun if both you and I could learn together. I seriously suck at concentration. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll probably see me tweeting about ballet, One Direction, and other things rather than the SAT IIs, which I'm taking in less than a month (eek!). I barely even study for it because, hello? Internet.

I used to be much better at concentration, like when I was studying for my SAT Is, but the IIs are a big problem for me. I just can't seem to stop daydreaming and watching YouTube videos. I'm sure there are others like me, so I'm going to share with you some of the tips I learned recently about concentration. Hopefully, these tips will help both you and I with concentrating because neither of us don't want to end up failures... right?

1. Before you start anything... RELAX

Being agitated before starting your work is the worst idea ever invented. Worries will be running through your head and you won't be able to do your work properly. For example, if I study un-relaxed, I get worse scores on my practice SATs and I get super stressed over wrong answers. But on the other hand, if I'm relaxed, when I get answers wrong, I look over them and try to understand where I got things messed up. See? Much better to have a calm mind than an occupied mind.

2. Make a checklist

Seeing all the day's tasks laid out before you in your head can be really daunting. But if you write all the stuff you need to do down on a piece of paper on your wall, you'll have a much clearer picture of what to do. Keeping track of things in a visible way will give you less stress and give you a feeling of control over your day. Also, when you place a tick next to the stuff you've done, you feel really good about all the things you have done that day.

3. Turn off your Internet

I'm aware that Internet is sometimes necessary for your studies or work or whatever, but when you don't need it, turn it off. For me, my main source of Internet is my cell phone, so I turn off my 4G and WiFi. That way, I won't end up tumblring, tweeting, or doing other stupid things I shouldn't waste my time on especially when I'm freaking STUDYING FOR MY SAT IIS! Ugh. Where art thou, concentration?

4. Reward yourself

When I have a reward to look forward to after I've completed my studies, I find it much easier to push myself to finish everything and to study more. When I don't have a reward, I don't really have much incentive to study hard, but if I tell myself I can watch ballet and eat chocolate after doing a Literature practice test, I push myself to finish the test. When I don't have anything to look forward to, I usually end up somewhere deep inside my mind, daydreaming. With rewards waiting for me at the end of the day, I can actually finish my day's work much quicker too.

As I said, I'm still learning about concentration myself, but I'm pretty sure that these tactics work. My concentration improves when I use these tips. The only problem is actually using these tips of mine. Now that would make a whole separate blog post.


-Barista Mia-

Images:  RelaxingMusic, AJ Cann, Roland Tanglao, John Loo