Susan Jacoby recently wrote a book called The Age of American Unreason which stated that technology has started to damage our ability to focus and think clearly. The more our minds are divided, the less effective we are as individuals, and the weaker our thinking.



So how can we refocus in today's hectic world? It isn't as though we can stop using the internet or other technology. But the top achievers find a way to use technology, while maintaining their focus. Here are the top 3 ways to improve your concentration:

1. Daily meditation: Daily meditation can do an enormous amount to calm your mind and return clarity. In her book Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World, Naomi S. Baron shows how multi-tasking has diminished the quality of our thoughts and reflection—even our productivity. To get ahead in the office, Baron advises individuals to spend some time every day turning off distractions, and re-learning how to focus on the task at hand. This can be accomplished through daily meditation, which not only quiets the mind, but it allows you to prioritize, so when you return to work, you can know what requires your immediate focus, and what can wait.

2. Daily Visualization: Baron's book goes on to argue that poor language and writing skills are the result of electronic communication—short emails, text messaging, instant messaging—it's all dumbing down the quality of our prose. Being successful requires you to be able to verbalize clearly and eloquently what you want, inspiring confidence and leadership, improving your interpersonal relationships. The answer to improved verbal skills is daily visualization. In daily visualization, you create a perfect, detailed picture of something that you want, and then imagine feeling the corresponding emotions associate with this picture. This requires detail, creativity, and a clear idea of what you want and how you want to feel. This will help you verbalize your goals, feelings, and thoughts more clearly in the outer world.

3. Gain Knowledge There are a lot of books that prove that overuse of technology makes us weaker. Another one is Nicholas Carr's The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, which posits that daily Internet use may be rewiring our brains for skimming rather than for the sustained concentration that is required for reading books, listening to lectures, and writing essays. The natural way to combat that? Read books, listen to lectures, and write essays! The more time you take educating yourself, the less time you spend skimming. Your base of knowledge will be more substantial, leading you to greater achievement and success.

By taking the downtime you need to concentrate on your own education, goals, and desires, you can improve your focus. It won't be long until your desires manifest themselves!