Mental concentration is a key factor affecting academic success, according to the Connect program at the University of New Hampshire. Students' ability to concentrate can help them pay attention during classes and take notes during a lecture, complete assignments on schedule and focus during their studying hours. Concentration is also important during exams, as test takers have to avoid distractions and stay focused on understanding the test's tasks and giving the right answers.
Multitasking, the performance of more than one assignment at the same time, seems to be a method of saving time and maximizing efficiency. Employers often emphasize it as a valuable skill for their employees. However, according to researchers Joshua Rubinstein, David Meyer and Jeffrey Evans, multitasking actually results in a significant waste of time. Their research found that it took participants several tenths of a second--which add up when you repeatedly switch between tasks--to redirect focus to each assignment's rules and goals. Other psychological studies have supported these findings and continue to demonstrate the inefficiency of multitasking.
Concentrating your mind on a specific task can be a significant benefit when you want to free your mind from unpleasant thoughts. As the Center for Performance Psychology suggests, unpleasant or irrelevant thoughts are part of "internal distractions" that can negatively impact your concentration. Such thoughts include worries about past or future events, over-analyzing problems, lack of motivation and fatigue.
Apart from internal distractions, people also have to deal with distractions in the environment. Even though the Center for Performance Psychology focuses on how mental concentration can help athletes disregard distractions, everyone, regardless of occupation, has to overcome distractions in his everyday life. Environmental distractions are divided into visual (a large billboard on the motorway) and auditory (the sound of a television program while you're reading).