How to Double Your Attention Span

How to Double Your Attention Span in 21 Days.

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Today, 85% of parents use TV as a substitute baby-sitter for kids as young as two-years old. Well so what, when I spend my entire weekday evenings enjoying TV and it has not killed me yet.

A British study of 2,600 kids who had early exposure (age 2) to TV, offers evidence there is a reduction of Attention-Span occurring at age 7 and thereafter.

Pediatrics journal 113, 4.27.09: professor D.A. Christakis, University of Washington. Higher levels of TV (2.3 hours daily) viewing by kids, reduces by 24% their daily physical activity. No big deal? Guess what – it appears to establish psychological distress and loss of muscle strength in later years.

Definition

Attention Span: the amount of time we can concentrate on a specific task without
letting our mind wander due to internal (daydreaming) or external (email, instant
messaging) distractions. Focused attention is highest when we eliminae disruptions
like music, and the buzz of conversation, and enjoy the present experience.

So? If we have a limited attention span, how can we concentrate long enough to
learn and create long-term memories of practical knowledge?

Statistics: The average teenager has a reduced attention span compared to adults.
If you want to conduct an experiment watch one or two as a control, and
notice they are easily distracted from completing a task by external influences.

Adults can concentrate with undivided attention for up to five-minutes, while
teenagers are distracted by their own mental thoughts or external signals from
the high-tech world after approximately 30 seconds.

Does that make today’s kids dum or dummer? No, it merely reduces their ability to
learn and form long-term memories. Our world is not looking for smart ditch-diggers, but knowledge-workers, professionals, and experts.

We live in the Knowledge Economy and reduced concentration and limited attention span, limits our core knowledge for future career success. Personal productivity leads to promotions, and requires learning skills and strategies.

Internet

Since the Internet has become ubiquitous for 200 million Americans (out of 306 million population) we have learned limited attention span. We flip through emails,
instant messaging, and long articles like a blur. In fact we spend less than one-minute on each website we visit.

If you were a speed reader using peripheral vision to see more, it would be a solid scanning strategy. In reality we look at the headline, and if it does not intrigue us – we delete. This strategy reduces our ability to concentrate long enough to learn and absorb new information through Semantic and Episodic Memory.

Cause And Effect

Concentration occurs in our brain’s PreFrontal Cortex, controlling our thinking, analysis, and planning. The reason we focus our attention (concentrate) is chemical.
The neurotransmitter (hormone) dopamine, the pleasure chemical, floods our brain when we pay full attention to our task.

Our nonconscious mind feels good (pleasure) when we get a jolt of dopamine, and
triggers us to continue the task. If the book, article or movie is boring, dopamine is
inhibited from flowing because there is no pleasure to motivate us to increase our
attention span.

No pleasure, no dopamine. The result is a search for a substitute pleasure
source including emailing, instant messaging to friends, or alcohol.

Please take notice: Our nonconscious mind is located in our Midbrain, the site of the Limbic (emotional) System, and linked to our Brainstem and PreFrontal Cortex.
Our conscious mind is situated at our Neocortex.

School is Associated by Students And Adults With Danger

Our Autonomic Nervous System is divided between our Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System. When we are threatened Homo sapiens revert to our evolutionary survival system located in our Sympathetic Nervous System.

Epinephrine (adrenaline) pours into our Sympathetic Nervous System when we get stress or anxious. It excites us to survive through the behaviors of fight-or-flight.

Our Parasympathetic produces the chemical, acetylcholine, which causes relaxation and digestion once the threat is eliminated. Stress produces feelings of
danger and triggering our fight-or-flight syndrome for protection and survival.

The Parasympathetic produces feelings of homeostasis (return to the status quo) and our body and brain return to normal – the familiar, comfortable and predictable mental and physical state.

We change physically, chemically, and emotionally when Fight or Flight is activated.

The word or symbol of School triggers thoughts and emotions of being rejected, failing, and losing face. Students and adults become defensive when they think about school and inhibit their ability to focus their concentration.

Why? We mentally associate school with negative consequences. Our brain has synaptic connections and neural networks triggered by a single negative thought about school and learning.

Conclusion: change the looks and emotional contents of classrooms. Respect the
opinions of all students, and rely less on tests to trigger thoughts of personal failure.

Doubling Attention Span

Folks have trouble with simple solutions to complex problems, even when they are
effective. Harvard professor William James (1842-1910) said, Act as-if, think as-if,
feel, and believe as-if you are capable, confident and skillful, and your brain and body will make it a reality. It is a warm-up strategy.

Command Affirmation

Every day in every way my attention span is daily growing better and better.
Every day in every way my attention span is daily growing better and better.

Repeat this positive statement prior to falling asleep (hypnagogic) and again
immediately prior to awakening (hypnopompic) for sixty seconds each, for 21 consecutive days. This exercise produces a personal habit because it is accepted by your nonconscious mind as a reality.

Emotionalize (feel it) this Command Affirmation, and you double your attention span.

Creative Mental Imagery

Meditate (deep relaxation) or daydream situations where you can demonstrate your attention-span genius. Examples: in class, during your career, and during personal relationships. Mentally see the process in action. Problem? Ask-us-how.

Two-minutes daily for 21 consecutive days can double your attention span, and amazingly improve your learning and long-term Semantic and Episodic memory.

Endwords

Would it improve your competitive position in school or career by reading three
(3) books, articles and reports in the time your peers can hardly finish one?
How about permanently doubling your long-term memory – would that help your
opportunity for a promotion? Ask-us-how.

Speedread.tv See ya. copyright © 2009 H. Bernard Wechsler www.speedlearning.org hbw@speedlearning.org Call now: 1-877-567-2500
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