Question and Answer: How To Improve
Concentration

I have a problem. Whenever I sit to study, I get distracted very easily and can't concentrate on what I am reading or studying. I keep thinking about other things. I am worried that if I keep doing this I won't be able to do well in the exam. Please help!

If you focus the rays of the sun through a lens, they can burn cotton or a piece of paper, but the scattered rays cannot. When you concentrate, the various "rays" of the mind are collected and focused on the object of concentration.

Concentration is the ability to focus the attention on one single thought or subject, excluding everything else from the field of awareness. It is one of the most important abilities one should possess, as nothing great can be achieved without it.

• Students need to concentrate and focus on completing a homework assignment, a project, or review for a test in order to excel in school, learn the subject, and get good grades.

• Athletes need to concentrate on performance, execution, and strategy in order to do their best and overcome their opponent.

• Entrepreneurs need to concentrate on all the factors involved in starting a new business and promoting their product or service. They need to do this in order to get their idea off the ground and make their enterprise into a profitable entity.

• Business leaders need to concentrate on their company mission, vision, and strategies, as well as the work at hand, in order to stay ahead of their competitors.

• Workers need to concentrate on their jobs and fulfilling their supervisor's goals, in order to complete projects and advance in their careers.

Unfortunately many people lack the ability to concentrate. Their attention usually wanders, without being able to fix it on one subject for any reasonable period of time.

Many people think that concentration is an inherent ability that one either possesses or does not. This is simply not true. Concentration is a skill, and as any other skill it has to be acquired, after which one's proficiency at it can be constantly improved by regular and sustained practice.

Compublox Improves Concentration

Compublox is a computer program available on CD. It contains a series of mental exercises, designed to develop, practice and improve a variety of cognitive skills, including concentration.

You can download a sample exercise – the Pattern Exercise – at the bottom of this page.

Once installed, select "Trial Student" and click the "OK" button. Next, click on "Pattern".

In the Pattern exercise, you will be shown a pattern of blocks on the screen for a brief period. Your aim in the exercise is to repeat the same pattern that has been shown to you, by taking blocks out of the "Box of Blocks" and placing them on the Pattern Grid.

In order to complete the pattern, you need to put blocks of the correct colors in the correct place in the grid.

To assist you, some blocks will be left behind on the screen, and you only need to replace the blocks that have been removed.

This is a timed exercise, so you will need to complete the pattern before the Timer runs out.

Pattern Grid:

This is where you need to place the blocks:

Box of Blocks:

Click on a colored block in the "Box of Blocks" with the mouse to pick up blocks, and click again in the pattern grid to drop them in the squares.

Click on a colored block in the "Box of Blocks" with the mouse to pick up blocks, and click again in the pattern grid to drop them in the squares.

Trash Can:

If you have picked up the wrong color simply click on a new block in the "Box of Blocks". Alternatively, you can drop the incorrect block in the Trash Can, before picking up a new one.

Here’s My Answer:

When you believe that you have the correct answer, click on the "tick".

Re-center Pattern:

If you find that you are running out of space at the edge of the grid, press this button, and your pattern will be moved to the center of the grid.

Timer:

The timer shows how much time is left. When time is close to running out, a hooter will sound to warn you.

Click Here to Download the Pattern Exercise!!

Click on "Run" - not "Save"