"How to Concentrate" Article Published in 1930

I was reading a post at http://www.academicproductivity.com/ about an article that was written in 1930 found on http://www.oldandsold.com/articles06/memory-18.shtml.

I found it extremely interesting. I have always been interested in the ideas of meditation, or concentration, and how it can affect what you do day to day and how well you can do a single task.

Some quick quotes from the read:

• Make a business of doing one thing at a time with all your soul. Chesterfield was right when he said, " There is time enough for everything in the course of a day if we do but one thing at a time, but there is not time enough in a year if we try to do two things at a time."

• All great mental achievement has been preceded by periods of absolute rest or relaxation!

• Take your breathing spell before the battle.

• When harassed by the three devils, hurry, worry, and fear, the mind never has a fair chance to center on anything. (Free your mind from everything but the task at hand).

• Seek a quiet place free from all distractions (and noise is a terrible distractor), a place free from all interruptions which may break your train of thought (and a telephone is a terrible interruptor), a place where you can be alone, free from all outside influences (and a friend who " must drops in " is a terrible outside influence), and a place of pleasing environment, beautiful or otherwise, where the atmosphere is right for you.

• Choose your own place for concentration, but remember that solitude has always been, in all the history of mental achievement, a requisite for great work.

• And today right in this practical present—thousands of our most successful business men have learned this secret—that by getting alone—they can gain new efficiency—and think out better plans for managing their daily affairs.

• Your daily schedule helps to focus the mind, holds it steadily to one thing at a time and in the right order. Following a logical sequence tends to eliminate confusion.
  

To summarize: Relax. Free the Mind. Find Quite Solitude. Follow Your Daily Schedule. These are the things that will lead to great concentration.

(This article used citation from "Concentration is the Most Important Intellectual Habit of Man." located at http://www.oldandsold.com/articles06/memory-18.shtml)

Thanks Jose for the great lead! ( http://www.academicproductivity.com/)