Karnataka - Bangalore

Concentrate and avoid cutting a sorry figure

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Concentration is often a self-taught skill.

Often you watch a football match on TV or the umpteenth episode of the longest running soap without really taking in anything.

Your eyes watch, but your mind does not absorb anything much.

"It's quite all right if someone asked you later which team won and if you don't, but if it happens at a business meeting you could be risking your career prospects," cautions former HR head and now corporate consultant, M.K Rao.

Imagine being asked to give your opinion after an hour-long meeting and you find your mind is a blank.

Sometimes you could do it ad lib, but not always.

In fact, teaching how to concentrate on something that is only marginally interesting, or downright boring, is something people like Mr. Rao do.

Alertness

What happens often is that the subject itself may be interesting and does concern you (like the market projections for your company's best selling product), but the presentation and too many details and statistics make the presentation too dull.

There may be moments during that long winding speech when some facts grab your attention but you feel listless through most of it.

Sometimes it helps to take notes, at least of everything that is pertinent to your own job or task.

"The very act of listening, at least to some of what is being said and then writing it down keeps you more alert. While listening and watching, if you can also think about what it being said or shown, it improves your concentration level a lot," suggests Mr. Rao.

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