Our attention is the most valuable cognitive resource we have. The MOST effective way to train your ability to focus on what you care about it is mindfulness training.
Sport and performance psychology coach: Attention focus is the currency of your performance. The number one, number one way to train your attention is mindfulness training. When your attention shifts, you notice it, bring it right back. Comment if you want more meditation or mindfulness training ideas.
Wouldn't it be great, gosh, just so freaking awesome. If we could control our mind a little bit with our attention and our focus a little bit more, that would be awesome. Well, I am a sport and performance psychology coach, mental performance consultant, whatever you want to call me. But I basically help people train their minds to work for them rather than against them in the realm of performance. And one thing that is often talked about is attention focus. It is, I like to say, the currency of your performance.
You can't perform if you don't have proper attention. And that goes to not just performance in sport and with soldiers that I work with in the army, but just anybody. Need to have your mind on the right spot at the right time and be able to control your attention. So I got a few strategies that I'd like to propose to you. All of these strategies in this series are what I call proactive strategies. So rather than reacting in the moment, these are things you can train and use beforehand to help you be more effective with your attention.
I think of attention as kind of like a flashlight for your brain. Where are, where is that attention going? Is it going to be a narrow flashlight that's on one specific thing or is it more broad to a moro? Like a bunch of different areas, observing your surroundings and scanning. And that attention can be on an external target. It can be on an internal target. There's so many cool things about attention. And I'm thinking about this a lot because there's a great book that explains it better than I ever could.
Peak Mind. It's by Amishi Jha. She's a researcher on attention that works a lot with the military and athletes. But yeah. So I got a few strategies for you. The number one, number one way to train your attention is mindfulness training. Mindfulness training meditation is within that umbrella. But however you do it, the basics of mindfulness training are to pick a target. That target can be internal or external. So that can be internally on your breath, your body. It can be external on different sounds or noises or, you know, your body touching the seat or the chair, whatever that might be.
But you're picking a target and you're focusing your attention, then your attention will inevitably drift, wander. So you notice that and bring it back to your target. So over time you're training. When your attention shifts, you notice it, bring it right back. And then over time, you get better at that part of noticing it and also bringing it back to whatever you're focusing on. So you can do a bunch of different mindfulness trainings. There's so many resources out there. Like here on Cadre, there's meditation apps.
If you look up YouTube videos, there's plenty of different scripts you can follow. You can do it yourself. So comment if you want more meditation or mindfulness training ideas. But that is the number one way to train your attention is mindfulness. Picking that target, your attention will drift, bring it right back. Just like a dog with a leash or a fish on a line. Just reel it back in and over time, your mind will be trained to keep that attention on its target and pick up when it is lost from that target.
So that is the number one way. And don't worry, I got more strategies for you too, but this is the most effective, proven by research way to improve your attention.
