Concentration

Developing the skill of concentration will immediately improve your value to society.

“Concentrate your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

Colossians 3:2

You walk out of the church building. You didn’t hear a word of the sermon, can’t remember a single thing that was said the whole morning. Why? You couldn’t stop thinking about football. You couldn’t stop thinking about sex. Maybe you were thinking about eating lunch, taking a nap and playing video games later. You have no concentration. 

Inability to concentrate is one of the hallmarks of a beta.

Literally, beta brain waves are associated with awakeness and alertness, but they are also rapid and unfocused. Alpha brain waves are present when you are asleep, or practicing meditation or mindfulness. This is the difference: Alpha waves represent a more mindful and focused state of mind while beta waves represent the complete lack of focus that most men have. Beta waves are jittery like a rabbit, just like the majority of weak men. This is also why mindful meditation is incredibly important. 

The ability to concentrate is exceedingly rare. So rare that it is incredibly impressive when you find someone who can concentrate consistently. So impressive is the concentrated man that he is invited to give public speeches just to talk about this rare “gift” he has. It is no gift, it is a skill built over time. 

The inability to concentrate is the cumulative effect of years of not even trying to concentrate.

A person with concentration has done the opposite if this. His focus is the cumulative effect of years of practice and dedication to the art of concentration. 

You too can build this level of concentration.

Make concentration a priority for the sake of your worship.

Build your focus so that when time calls for it you can work and destroy any task at hand, or so you can worship in spirit and in truth. 

Mantra

Complete Concentration

Application

Research the idea of “Access Concentration”. (Try this). The exercises are simple, but they build focus. One exercise is to lightly pinch your index and thumb, and concentrate completely on the sensation between the fingers. The pressure is very light, very difficult to stay focused on, but it builds the concentration skill. 

Apply concentration to your work. Whatever the task at hand is, concentrate completely on it until it is finished. Your concentration muscle will be weak, so build it. Don’t be discouraged by your complete lack of concentration at first. Most men fail at building any habit just because they want results too quickly. This is the state of society. Earn it. Work for it. Do not be the pathetic man who wants overnight results, be willing to put the effort in to building concentration, or to building any habit you want. 

Another tool for building concentration is to eliminate distraction. Everyone knows this, but so few apply this tactic. It is simple, remove every unnecessary, distracting item from your workspace. Make it so you have nothing to do but work when you are in your work area. Set up some filters on your computer to block social media between various work hours of the day. (Try getcoldturkey.com). 

If you eliminate distraction, you can accomplish in 3 hours what used to take you 9.

Use that efficiency to be successful.

Set small time goals for concentration before you attempt long spans of time. If you cannot concentrate for 15 minutes, then trying to concentrate for an hour is going to get you nowhere. You have to build up to those numbers through training. When you do your concentration exercises, make the first goals very small and achievable. 

Aim for 1-2 minutes at first. Only when you can complete those 1-2 minutes with perfect focus (no intruding thoughts, pure mind control) should you move up and attempt 3-5 minutes. Slowly level up your training and don’t expect immediate results. Improvement always takes time. Endure the pain of change.

Conduct yourselves like men