About a month ago, my chess rating dipped from 1450 to 1250.

The main cause of this was me trying to learn the London system, as played by white. There are simply too many variations to learn so your attention must be keen.

I play 5 minute games with a 5 second increment. So, you don't have much time to analyze every variation that the London system forces upon you.

Aside from the London system being my downfall, silly mistakes killed my rating.

The third and major factor was concentration, which is the subject of this memo.

I found that my focus or concentration was a major factor in my chess success.

So, I analyzed my mind and found my problem.

If I went from Twitter straight into a chess match, I'd probably lose.

But if I did some puzzles to warm up my brain then I had a higher chance of success.

After some research, I realized that the puzzles had little to do with my success.

The truth is, I was putting my brain in a different "mode".

There's selective attention and then there's sustained attention, also known as vigilance.

Social media is going to use selective attention.

Tasks like reading, working, or playing chess requires vigilance.

To increase my chances of winning a chess match, I simply have to activate the vigilance in my brain. I can do this simply by reading a few pages from a book.

It's like slowing your brain down so it can focus deeply.

If you have a task to complete which requires sustained attention, complete some sort of puzzle or read a few pages of a book. This will activate the sustained attention in your brain. It only takes about five minutes to turn on.

Alternatively, you can simply meditate. However, meditation is difficult and requires massive attention because it's so easy for your mind to wander with nothing interesting to fixate upon. You have to focus on your breath.

Attention = Money.

The longer you can focus, the more successful you will be.

Most people never activate the vigilance in their mind and so, their sustained attention will be lower than the average bear.

The brain is like a muscle so it needs to be exercised.

Work that brain!

Thank me later.

bryansharpe.co

Hotep.