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I have studied all the literature of the world ancient and modern on concentration power of focus and he says one of the best books I have come across in that book he says is Indian panjali yoga sutras the this happens also in
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every occupation it happens in study especially it happens in research sometimes but it also happens he says a nurse in a hospital um you know any kind of occupation you may get flow how so how to attain this concentration here
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is the secret the fact about human psychology is whatever we are doing we do it less than what we can do we don't do it as well as we can do sometimes of course little kids and I saw the little kids here if you tell them to raise their hands they do it to
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the maximum can we improve focus how does it work can we improve focus so I'm going to use the work of
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another psychologist um his name is Mii cheni I don't try to write down the name it's a very complicated long name you need a lot of focus to write down the name but the book is very nice those who can you can read the book it's called flow f flow it's written many years ago it's a
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classic book come sit there are chair chairs here come sit he says the most important thing in life the best experiences in life are when there is focus when are you most happy
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when you are focused when you're continuously devoting attention to something then you're most happy when are you not happy you try to listen to something then look at something else then think of something else come back to the first thing again when you continuously distract it at the end of a period of distraction you don't feel
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good at the end of a period of focus you feel good so he calls it flow uh the main takeaway from that I will just tell you two points and then we will go further what is the finding of this
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person Mii CH and Mii the takea away from that book if you don't want to read the book he has given TED Talks also so if you want to look at the Ted Talk 15 16 minutes that much one can focus so you can you can get the basic idea so two points first point our capacity to process information is limited and he
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uses the language of Information Technology he says consciously deliberately we can process information process information means pay attention and understand what's going on uh he says that it can uh we can do up to 120 bits per second like in computer science we have bits as a unit
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of information so human beings consciously if you are alert you're trying to pay attention you can take an information consciously process 120 bits per second now that seems like a lot but it isn't it's very little actually and he says it takes about um 60 bits per
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per second to um listen to my voice for example if you're listening to a person and trying to understand what he or she is saying in that case you using up about half of your capacity that's why if two people that's why if two people
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uh listen talk to you if two people talk to you at the same time you find it very difficult you get know like it's it's it's a tense situation if you try to understand two people talking to you very difficult because it's exceeding Your Capacity if three people start talking to you it's impossible you can't
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hear you can't understand anything at all why it goes Beyond Your Capacity to understand why because if it takes 60 bits per second for one person to process the information from one person imagine two persons 120 bits three persons you don't have the capacity and
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it's not that out of 120 bits per second we can give the entire 100% to a subject to something you want to focus on because a little bit of it is always there for your own bodily awareness that I am here I am breathing I am a person some kind of background awareness is always there so little bit is taken away
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what is focus according to Mii Chen Mii out of that 120 bits per second how much can you pour into your object of focus suppose I'm reading a book or working on a math problem out of that 120 bits per second how much can I focus how much can
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I devote to that 80 90 bits per second maybe 100 bits per second and hold it there for a few seconds anybody can focus but to hold the focus for a for a time being and that is really concentration or focus is that idea
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clear suppose I don't give most of my cognitive capacity to that that obje of focus what will happen is suppose I'm giving maybe only 40 bits per second to that object then what is the remaining over 80 bits per second or something is remaining over excess capacity Surplus
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extra that will keep on distracting you little bit of attention and being my mind is mostly free what will happen is thoughts and feel thoughts will come in my mind desires will come in my mind something from outside phone or something will come in my attention and the whole mind will go away elsewhere so
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in order to focus we must use as much of the Mind as possible for one task one thing at a time how to do that there also this may he has made a in that book flow he has said I have studied all the literature
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of the world ancient and modern on concentration power of focus and he says one of the best books I have come across in in that book he says is the Indian pangali yoga sutras the ancient Indian Manual of meditation how to
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meditate but then he gives his his finding how do you focus then and he says this Focus which he calls flow continuous Focus he says many of us know this how
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many of you play an musical in instrument blah or guitar or something or some any musical instrument few of you how many of you sing your trained singer yeah okay good dance classical dance yes some of you a few of you he
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says how many of you play like tennis badminton Cricket or something many of you play so those who play either sports or you play a musical instrument or you sing or you perform some you're trained in dance that means a train dancer not
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just dancing like like that all of you will know if you're trained to do any any one of these things you all have experienced sometimes flow when you are playing t or guitar and you know it's going very well you
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feel it not always sometimes it's not as good as you want it to you're trying but making small mistakes only maybe you can see others cannot cannot notice but when it goes well you know some of you nodding just you know you have seen that feeling you feel that it's going really well even if for one or two minutes only it's going really well and that happens
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in Singing in playing musical instruments that happens in games in sports um that happens in so this be me I saw that this happens also in every occupation it happens in study especially it happens in
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research sometimes but it also happens he says a nurse in a hospital um you know any kind of occupation you may get flow how so how to attain this this concentration here is the secret he said that um this flow Focus
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has these two aspects one is the your ability your skill and other one is the challenge skill and challenge how many of you have learned x-axis y- axis mathematics how many you in mathematics like the cartisian coordinates yeah so
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think of it in the x-axis is your skill your ability Your Capacity and and y axis challenge difficulty now if difficulty and capacity are um not matched something is very difficult and your
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capacity is not up to it what will happen is you will feel tension you will feel anxiety fear for example you want to learn so me CH gives the example of tennis you want to learn how to play tennis and you don't know so the first time when you go to learn what will be it'll be very difficult for you to even
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return a serve somebody serves it you have to work really hard running around you keep missing so returning a serve itself is a challenge so your Your Capacity is low your skill is low challenge is high as you keep on trying then returning a serve becomes easy now
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Your Capacity has increased and the challenge it has matched when capacity and challenge your ability and challenge are matched you get flow every serve you're able to return but you know you have to be very alert you have to work hard after some time what will happen your ability increases your skill
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increases if the challenge remains the same only have to return a serve what will you feel what will you feel bored yes absolutely he says that bored you'll feel bored I know this then next you must increase the challenge now I want to play a game I
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want to play a game I want an opponent another player so that player will play with me now my challenge is increased it is equal to my uh capacity again I will get flow then you have become a good player
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ordinary opponent will not do for you you need like a you know like a champion like a award winner or Prize winner really good player then your challenge will be higher and your U skill will match the challenge you'll get flow so is here summing up summing up your
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ability and the challenge if ability is low challenge is high you will get anxiety fear uneasiness those who play a music instrument or you sing you have learned now suppose you put on a stage come here
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and perform all you know parents are there uncles and aunties are there all your friends are looking at you you feel uneasy you feel tension why first time on the stage I have not performed earlier what will happen if I make a mistake everybody will laugh at me you
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feel tension uneasiness why the ability is not up to the challenge but as you perform on the stage once twice Thrice then what happens you're relaxed you know you can do it you get the flow when your abilities increase further you
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get bored you need more challenge 10 people okay 10,000 audience now the challenge is higher so to this is the this is the uh key idea he G gives for you to have Focus make sure whatever you're doing
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the challenge and your ability are equal so I'm studying a book I don't understand challenge is too high my ability is too low then what what should you do break down that challenge into smaller easier pieces I don't understand what you don't understand the whole page
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everything no here so what are the things you understand then isolate the one you don't understand and work on that then your challenge and skill will be equal after sometime you find you're studying this you're boring you're finding it boring boring means what your ability is higher than the challenge
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then make it more challenging how do you make it more challenging suppose I'm reading a book there's something called active reading active reading active reading means um not just look open the book and read what will happen is I'm looking at the book half an hour I'm looking at the book my mind has gone
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everywhere except the book many people say that so active reading is when you read you underline you write notes on the side you review it there's a there are many strategies there's something called sq3r
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sq3 some of you know know about it so this one strategy for studying sq3r but it's active studying actually active read reading what is sq3r s means survey survey Q means question question three r r means read recite review read recite
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review read it first read it underline actively reading it not looking at it thinking something else then then uh recite recite means not memorize just in my own words how much do I remember of the last one page I read what we do is
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we go on reading reading and then stop finished but that that's not a good way of of studying you read a little bit and you stop and then you recall at least say to yourself even mentally what what are the main points of what I read and when we do that we'll see that something will be there something will have
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dropped out so you review that and positive psychologists have said those who have studied attention and memory they have said this uh trying to recall and reviewing the material is a powerful way of remembering just reading it even with Focus that's not enough read it
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with focus and try to recall it they said the different parts of the brain are activated when you try to recall and different parts of the brain are activated when you go over material which you have already gone over so three things survey before you start reading you know when you go to a new city Singapore what do you do Google
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Maps what is where you see like that before you go into a chapter on a book quickly go through the chapter one minute good I can finish in one minute no it's just the beginning in one minute look through the chapter head the the heading subheadings diagrams main points
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nowaday textbooks are so nice nice and colorful I wish we had such glossy colorful textbooks when we we were kids anyway we in India at that time we had the most boring looking textbooks recycled paper blurred PR printing but now it's very nice um the
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textbooks so go through that quickly one minute then questions what do I want to learn here some questions in my mind see often what we do is we read the book or we read the chapter and then try to answer questions but that's no good try to have a question
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and then read the material then what happens is your search engine is engaged I I'm looking through this material to find I'm curious to know the answer to these questions the next three four pages will it give me the answer to my question or questions curiosity is one of the most
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powerful urges in human beings curiosity that's why research is so enjoyable those who do research in in education you know if you are studying or teaching if you're engaged in research you love it I mean it's because
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you are searching it's the same thing that a little child has curiosity even a baby has it have you noticed even if a baby is crying suddenly what what will the the grown-up's father or mother do they'll put a little toy in front like this the crying baby shouting screaming
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look at it for a while again go back to crying but for 10 seconds hm what is that Curiosity we all have that and unfortunately what education does it kills curiosity how it kills curiosity even before a child has asked the question
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you're supplying it with information even before I'm hungry you're feeding me continuously I'll never be hungry that way now what to do you can't drop out of this education system what to do is generate your own curiosity how will you generate your own curiosity how will you engage that part
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of your brain you ask questions so when I go into this the chapter I want to know the answers to these questions then you will see your you will be engaged so active reading that's one way of um of
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increasing the challenge remember challenge skill should be equal what was Swami viv's recommendation for increasing concentration power of focus he said do whatever you are doing with the fullest possible attention now fullest possible
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attention now you have got a lot of information what is fullest possible attention 120 bits per second do whatever you're doing with the fullest possible attention how do you do it with the fullest possible attention increase challenge challenge increase skill till they're equal skill is more increase challenge challenge is more
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break it down till your skill level so that they're equal always then you will automatically get focus when you play a game of tennis or badminton you have to focus otherwise the other guy will simply beat you easily you know you can play a good game if you play really hard
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but if you play less than hard you're going to lose if you play really hard what will happen is all your attention energy will be focused in that activity so challenge increase the challenge till it matches the level of your focus so vianda says do whatever
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you are doing with the fullest possible attention normally what we do is we don't do that um but it's a habit I remember there was this Management Consultant who came to one of
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our schools long ago this was this was 20 um how many years ago 1996 95 so that's 10 20 25 27 years ago and I asked him to speak to the students
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about your age more or less he had no time at all so he spoke for 5 minutes but what is said I still remember till now and I'll show you now and you'll remember all your lives some of you have seen it maybe this uh he said to the students there and you do it with me you
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can do it now you sit straight very simple he said raise your hands raise your hands and raise them a little more okay you raise them a little more put your hands down this shows us a very big fact about
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human psychology see notice when I said raise your hands we all raised our hands when when I said raise your hands a little more we all raised it a little more which means the first time we did not raise it to our maximum capacity the fact about human psychology is whatever we are doing we do it less than what we
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can do we don't do it as well as we can do sometimes of course little kids and I saw the little kids here if you tell them to raise their hands they do it to the maximum but as we get older when you are
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11 12 13 14 years old and from that time onwards little less not like this H whatever we are doing whether we are studying thinking talking to others working we are always performing below
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our capacity now raising hands there's a limit to it there you can raise little further little further no more you can you can't raise but in our thinking in our Behavior with others and in our work there is no limit to that
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Improvement Asian economies especially Japan in management studies people all know the word one word transformed those economies especially Japan and the word is Kaizen yes those of you know how many of you
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know the word so the grownup people know and some of the young people know uh those who have studied maybe business management or economics they know a little bit but it's something that we can apply to our lives what's the secret secret it is a big fancy word for it incremental Improvement incremental
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Improvement incre incremental means little bit improve your life change your life little bit just a little bit how much this much this much from here to here this much and then he said that Management Consultant he told the students there
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every day these three things head Heart and Hand improve your U you know head Heart and Hand your thinking studying your feelings for others and behavior with others and the work that you're doing and including the play that you're
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doing improve them a little bit daily how to improve where to improve you know better because you are the one who's not performing at Peak capacity you know where I can do a little better it seems in Japanese companies and all
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they would have these Kaizen meetings little circles they would sit around quality circles they would say and how to improve our wherever we are it is office it is Factory it is showroom how to improve classroom playground how to improve it what little change you you can everybody
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has to suggest a little bit of change so like this in our own life do Kaizen in our own life do incremental Improvement concentration Focus improve a little bit in Focus also improve a
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little bit more concentrated more focused SW viand says do whatever you are doing with the fullest possible attention why I will say that I will study with full ATT attention but I want to relax I want to watch a movie I want to talk with my friends or text them why
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do I need full attention again viand answers remember because it's the same mind you have only one mind you have only one mind one of our senior swamis he told a group of students you know your dad shaves they said yeah if you take the
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razor with which he shaves and you you sharpen your pencil with it will you be able to shave with that razor nope why not because it's become blunt exactly like that we have only one mind if I make it blunt not able to concentrate throughout the day I do
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whatever the mind wants let me see the little bit browse here all right let me text my friend all right let me see my update on social media all right like this whole day is going in the evening now I have to do my assign assignment for school what will the Mind say I don't want to do it why it's boring
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whole day I did whatever I liked now you're telling me to do this boring physics or um you know whatever it is English grammar or whatever no I won't do it if you force the mind what will the Mind do fall asleep either Restless or falling asleep
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now how to change this situation vianda says do whatever you doing with the fullest possible attention will texting text with fullest possible attention talking with a friend talk with fullest possible attention playing a video game play with the fullest POS said that Swami no problem I play play with
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fullest full attention yeah sometimes times when we there are things which we like and it engages us notice why we become very attentive when it's a video game now can you apply Challenge and skill huh Mi CH and Mi
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idea are you intensely absorbed by all video games no same video game at you know have you noticed they have different levels of difficulty level 1 2 3 4 level 50 so why is there different levels of difficulty because at different levels
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people will get absorbed at one level will become very boring for you you don't want to play that level another level impossible for you you can't play that level but as you build up your skill set at every level if you're enjoying it if you're enjoying it the secret is you have got Focus there
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flow there that's why you are enjoying it if you want that enjoyment in everything in life match your level of difficulty with your capacity whatever you're doing studying working presenting in a in a classroom playing a musical instrument
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match level of difficulty with your skill set keep on pushing up your skill set pushing up the level of difficulty you'll be focused you'll enjoy it you'll enjoy it you'll have fun you'll do great stuff deep work like car Newport says and you'll have
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fun it's important to have fun and important to enjoy it why it's only the things that you have fun it's only the things that you enjoy that you will continue for the rest of your life