Americas Group Book Selections
CONCENTRATION: How to Focus on the Business at Hand
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An enlightening and entertaining look at the importance of
concentration to the successful conduct of every day life, including a discussion of its
relationship to a good memory and sound physical conditioning, along with interesting
explanations and a variety of easy exercises to help kids, their parents, and others
improve their ability to focus on a subject instantly, sustain attention when there are
distractions, and get their minds back on a topic when it wanders.
The Book Reader says: "...lively, straight-to-the-point, very concentrated volume. In this high stakes world, where concentration means the difference between success and failure, health and injury, Concentration hits all the right notes." "...the book is great. The many choices of exercises [make it] easy to pick and choose and adapt when needed." Katherine Bard, MFCC |
New Second Edition remains an easy to understand guide on how to pay, keep,
and sustain attention when dealing with hard, repetitious, or boring topics while adding new learning about how the brains works and new exercises to keep it working properly.The following story, "If You Drive, Better Have Your
Concentration Checked!"
demonstrates the importance of concentration quite effectively.
Los Angeles, CA (special)- The new Lexus was moving comfortably through the Sepulveda Pass on the San Diego Freeway when the driver noticed a shiny blue Humvee sandwiched awkwardly between three CHP cruisers about a half mile ahead.
The officers were gathered around a tall woman in a broad-brimmed hat, short black dress, and high-heeled shoes. What's that about? the driver wondered to himself, as he started to lose focus on the traffic around him.
His concentration lapsed even further when he mentally noted that the dress was strapless and the heels were a minimum of 3 inches. Not an outfit you'd ordinarily associate with someone in a Humvee, he thought to himself. Probably her boyfriend's car and she's on the way to an audition for a TV pilot, he decided. Nope, he debated in his mind, it's her husband's car and she's on the way to meet him at a funeral.
Right, he said to himself as he heard his feminist ex-wife arguing inside his head, why can't it be her car and why can't she be on the way to a meeting of her computer software company?
As he stared off to the right to try to get a better fix on the woman's age despite pushing along at 65 mph, he didn't notice that the car in front had slowed. When he brought his gaze back to the freeway, he was nearly on top of the car in front.
Instinctively, he slammed the brake pedal down as he jerked the steering wheel to the right. The sound of metal crunching, glass breaking, and tires squealing signaled it was too little, too late. When everything finally came to a stop, he ruefully thought that you can have a car's timing adjusted, its wheels balanced, and its oil changed, but where can you go to get a driver's concentration tuned-up?
The truth is that very little information is available to strengthen people's powers of concentration. While a lot has been done to improve memory, particularly for the elderly, concentration is a different skill that, in fact, underlies the ability to remember. Lack of concentration is a problem, not only when driving a car, but while sitting in a class, talking with a group, watching a show, playing a game, and more.
Can someone be trained to focus instantly, overcome distractions, and stay with a subject? Absolutely. Techniques in the book Concentration can help kids, seniors, and everyone in between get their minds focused on any topic at any time in any situation. Concentration is a skill that can be strengthened and refined in nearly everyone so they think more clearly, feel more intensely, and move more certainly.
This new book explains what you, your relatives, or your colleagues need to do to improve concentration; provides exercises that can be practiced anywhere; and explains what is happening when someone is concentrating. Improving the ability to concentrate allows anybody to avoid the problems, embarrassment, and difficulties that occur when the mind wanders and enables all of us to take advantage of the social and business opportunities that arise when individuals are fully attuned to the world around them.
AUTHORS: Godfrey Harris and Kennith
L Harris
Godfrey Harris has been a public policy consultant based in Los Angeles,
California, since 1968. He began consulting after brief careers as a university lecturer,
U.S. Army intelligence officer, foreign service officer with the Department of State, and
organizational specialist in the President's Executive Office. As President of
Harris/Ragan Management Group, he has focused the firm's activities on projects that offer
alternative solutions to matters of community concern. In fulfilling that role, he has
specialized in political and economic analysis; marketing public and private sector
products through word of mouth advertising; developing new environmental products;
creating commemorative events; and promoting international tourism. This is the 22nd book
he has written or co-authored. He holds degrees from Stanford University and the
University of California, Los Angeles.
Kennith L Harris majored in psychology at university before deciding to devote himself to
teaching kids and training adults. During his career, he has worked in both the Los
Angeles and Santa Monica-Malibu school districts. He was selected Teacher of the Year in
1994 at the Santa Monica Alternative School where he currently manages a team of teachers
serving the learning
needs of some 60 students. In his spare time and during school vacation periods he trains
other teachers in computer techniques and serves as an educational consultant to various
businesses and organizations in the Los Angeles area. Mr. Harris holds a bachelor's degree
from the University of California, San Diego, and numerous credits from other
institutions.
ISBN: 0-935047-23-9
PRICE: $14.95
PUBLISHER: The Americas Group, 520 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite
204, Los Angeles, CA 90049-3534 USA
(310) 476-6374
E-mail: hrmg@mac.com
PUBLICATION: Softbound--5 3/8" x 8 3/8"--112 pages--Exercises some illustrated with examples, drawings--Bibliography--Indexed October 1997. (c)1998
