Workshop: Focus - How to work concentrated on what is important

The most productive people do not work long hours, they work with intense concentration on their most important tasks. This workshop will teach you how to improve your focus and sharpen your concentration in order to be more productive and experience flow in your endeavours.

Target group

Young to experienced faculty members who want to improve their focus and work more efficiently.

Goals

• Learn what concentration and focus are and why they are essential to productive work.
• Identify what prevents you to work concentrated.
• Develop your vision and identify your priorities.
• Create a plan of action.
• Learn how to overcome procrastination and deal with distractions.
• Learn how to increase your concentration skills.

Content

Success in academia is not so much a question of talent as of focus and perseverance. As a researcher, you need concentration to read and write articles, conduct studies, analyze data, or make decisions that will have a significant impact on your career. But there are often so many things to do and distractions that it's hard to focus on a particular task or project.

This workshop is designed to help you improve your focus and sharpen your concentration skills. To this end, we will identify what prevents you to work concentrated, what is your vision for the future, and how to make it happen by working with intense focus on the right tasks. You will learn simple methods to increase your concentration (e.g., batch work, the Pomodoro technique, mindfulness training, sleep improvement methods) and experience flow in your endeavors.

Methods

This workshop is interactive and takes place in a relaxed atmosphere. It consists of discussions, individual and group exercises, and short lectures. The contributions and methods taught in this workshop are easy to use, effective, and directly applicable to the participants' current situation.

• Learn what concentration and focus are and why they are essential to productive work.
• Identify what prevents you to work concentrated.
• Develop your vision and identify your priorities.
• Create a plan of action.
• Learn how to overcome procrastination and deal with distractions.
• Learn how to increase your concentration skills.