"Long ago he had heard of an old Chinese saying to the effect that any man who could concentrate for as much as three minutes on any given problem could rule the world. The thought had remained in his mind, and he had cultivated the ability to apply all his intelligence to any given situation. To close out everything from his mind but one idea to be considered had taken long practice, but much of his success had been due to that ability to concentrate, to formulate the problem, to bring to it all the information and knowledge he had, and to reach a decision." The Book of Flint Page 73
Training for attaining focus and concentration of Flint...
Prep:
Basic breathing meditation tips
-Inhale and exhale slowly, taking full deep breaths.
-Keep your attention only on your breathing. Be aware of each inhale and exhale.
-If you notice your mind drifting (i.e. if you start thinking about something) then just return your attention back to your breathing. It doesn’t matter if your mind wanders as long you bring your attention back to your breathing as soon as you notice your attention is not solely on your breathing.
-Do this for 5-15 minutes.
This meditation is very simple yet very powerful. Studies have shown that this simple form of meditation increases your brain size in areas such as attention and memory. The following extract is from an article from Time Magazine:
"Everyone around the water cooler knows that meditation reduces stress. But with the aid of advanced brainscanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory." from Time Magazine's article "How To Get Smarter One Breath At A Time"
This next meditation technique is more difficult and is considered to be an advanced technique designed to increase your ability to concentrate on a problem for 3 minutes...
This technique is from the ancient yogis(who were in the Himalayas and so thier teachings exist on both sides of the great divide)... it’s called dhyana. It involves focusing your mind on an object or image without distraction. In other words, the goal of this meditation practice is to focus unwaveringly on your chosen object/image. Nothing should be able to distract your mind. An accomplished yogi is expected to be able to hold his/her concentration on an object for several hours at a time.
To get to a point where you can practice dhyana meditation for even a short while requires mastering the simple breathing meditation first. If you can focus on your breathing – without distraction – for over 5-10 minutes then you are ready to practice dhyana for at least a few minutes a day.