Challenge yourself with this 2-minute concentration test (it’s harder than it looks)

Let’s be honest: when it comes to performing some task that requires all our concentration, most of the time, we end up paying more attention to anything in the environment than to our goal. And it’s not because what distracts us is particularly interesting. Sometimes, even a fly flying is more attractive than the activity we are involved with and that’s because obligations, of course, while important, are not necessarily fun.

If you need a little nudge to tell your brain it needs to get to work, the awesome.club presents a method that requires no more than two minutes of your time.

It is normal that, when the brain needs to perform an unpleasant activity, such as working or studying, it immediately wants to divert attention to another objective, such as the cell phone screen. The reality is that our brains are lazy by nature.

According to some scientific studies, it is more difficult to concentrate today than it was decades ago, as the human brain has not evolved to keep up with the huge supply of electronic devices that, nowadays, have become real distraction traps.

In other words, our “gray matter”, eager for new stimuli and novelties, cannot resist the charms of screens and the result is that, although theoretically we can produce much more (since we have access to much more information), in practice we waste time getting distracted and productivity drops. Maybe after reading this data you’ll decide to leave social networks a little aside until you can finish that report, for example.

Sit comfortably in front of an analog clock and keep your mind relaxed, without any other device that could distract you. When you are ready, you should follow the second hand of the watch with your eyes and with your full attention for two minutes in a row.

One might naively think, “Is that all? Watch the pointer move? How easy!”

But it’s not as simple as it sounds, because if you get distracted during that short period, you have to start all over again, until you get the two minutes needed to complete the activity. Believe me, it’s a bigger challenge than it looks. You will be surprised at how many times your brain will try to deflect this task with any other thought.

Theron Q. Dumont first proposed this method in his book The power of concentration🇧🇷 in which he emphasizes that it is very good to practice it, since it is simple and fast – keep in mind that, even if you have to fulfill the “penalty” of starting the process over a few times, everything will be relatively fast. It is worth remembering that Dumont’s original idea was for the technique to take five minutes, not just two.

Here, we leave a video so you can test yourself in this challenge. If you are successful, congratulations! But if you get distracted more than you want, don’t give up. For our brain, being asked to perform a boring activity makes it want to run away, diverting the mind’s attention to whatever else is more interesting.

The fact is, concentration is like a muscle that needs to be exercised to strengthen. So, if you take two minutes daily for this (and only once a day), over time, it will become easier to fulfill the challenge without getting distracted. Come on, you can do it!

Were you able to meet the challenge of following the hand of the clock, without getting distracted? Let us know in the comments. And did you already know this method? What other concentration techniques can you suggest?