The College Transition ~ What Writers Can Learn From Athletes ~ Finding Your Place ~ Comp131

                 Being able to focus is extremely important for musicians. When you’re preforming the nervousness’ takes care of that for you but day to day practice can be excruciating, and the same thing goes for athletes. You can’t play your best in a game if you can’t focus and get stronger during your practice. And when it comes to schooling being able to focus can mean better papers and less time you need studding.

                Athletes have there playing field and musicians have their practice rooms. Having a place to study can help as only as you only study there. If you have a place where you do nothing but study, going there is like flipping a switch in your head that helps you focus on studying. A lot of scientists are saying now a days that you should only use your bed for sleep, because of the same reason. Melinda Smith, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, Joanna Saisan, M.S.W., and Robert Segal, M.A. say that “Use your bed only for sleep ... That way, when you go to bed, your body gets a powerful cue: it’s time to nod off” (helpguide). When I’m in a practice room my brain knows that it’s time to work. So find a place to study and don’t do anything but study there.

                I don’t know if you noticed but the biggest part of having a place is NOT DOING ANYTHING ELTS THERE! One of the easiest way to make your place useless is to text or do other stuff in your pace.  To get yourself to focus, eliminate distractions. That means no cellphones or video games or anything else that distracts you. You don’t half to have a study place to do this, but if you do have a place make sure there are no distractions.

               If you’re like me your brain will do anything to keep you from focusing including making you remember things you really do need to do. My solution to this problem is to have a note pad and pencil with me at all times so I can write done all the things I need to do and the things I want to do so I don’t half to think about them while I’m practicing. Also I usually only have an hour at a time I can practice, so instead of looking at my watch (or phone) a thousand times I set an alarm for when I’m done. That not only saves time, but takes my mind off of where I need to be so I can focus on what I am doing

Works Cited

Smith, Melinda, M.A., et al. “How to Sleep Better.” helpguide. Robert and Jeanne Segal, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.helpguide.org/life/sleep_tips.htm>.