Your perceived ability to learn and study: Manage emotions & Beliefs to increase concentration

Just like distractions, your beliefs and attitudes can break your concentration. People have core beliefs such as I’m not smart enough; This is too much to study, I’ll never finish this in such little time, I don’t know how to start, I cannot focus without _____, If I study a lot I will change who I am, etc. These beliefs open the door to procrastination and even self-sabotage. Some of these beliefs are rigid, and we tend to affirm them because they are a part of who we are. Sometimes, these beliefs come from only a small portion of your real experiences, usually negative experiences. To counter those negative experiences, we engage in mood-improving distractions that make us feel good.

If you believe that you cannot study for long hours, you can direct yourself to study for only 15 minutes. Or, instead of feeling overwhelmed by the entire workload, pick a tiny load, and study it thoroughly. The smaller the task gets, the more manageable it feels. And that is an easy way to overcome low concentration and negative beliefs about your capacity to focus. Read more about managing emotions here and here.

Breaking a task into small parts (chunking) is a good way to have short bursts of concentration, especially if your baseline concentration is poor. Taking breaks between study sessions and revising previous learning is another useful technique (spaced repetition). Both of these techniques reduce the actual & perceived burden of intense study sessions. Read more about these techniques here.

The latitude of acceptance^[17] is a mental filter that accepts self-thoughts based on how easy it is to believe them. If you hold strong beliefs like “I am bad at numbers,” it will be hard to modify that belief into “I am good at numbers.” Instead, modify a self-belief just enough so you can accept it (e.g., I am bad at numbers but can try and learn this short routine). Small positive changes can widen the holes in that filter and allow bigger changes in beliefs. These beliefs would determine your attitude, commitment, and confidence in focusing.

Tips on how to change your beliefs about your capacity to focus, study, and learn

• Improve your study-related beliefs a little at a time so they are believable. I hate math —> There must be something in it that I like.
• Study for short durations, like 20-45 minutes at a time, so you are not emotionally exhausted.
• Expect more from yourself and surround yourself with people who expect more from you.