It’s all about concentration

Mary Robinson / News Virginian
Published: September 10, 2007

Tiger rarely gives interviews, so I was glad to catch his appearance on Larry King's show.

"Tiger," Larry said, leaning toward his guest as he asked an important question, "You compete against the best golf pros in the world and you usually win. What makes you so good-"

Tiger leaned closer to Larry, looked him right in the eyes, smiled that fabulous smile and replied, "Concentration, Larry. It's all about concentration."

Larry had forty minutes of interview time left in his show. He needed Tiger to elaborate.

"Concentration, right, but what about the other winning strategies and techniques you use-" Larry probed. Tiger, in a word, had already revealed his winning strategy. "Concentration, Larry. It's all about concentration," he repeated.

Larry seemed a bit flustered. I was intrigued. I share Tiger's winning strategy story with all my students.

We talk a lot about concentration at the Tutorial Center. First we make sure that our student knows what it really means to concentrate. I sometimes stand behind and over a student and put my hands to the sides of their eyes like blinders. "To concentrate means to have your eyes only looking at your assignment, your brain only thinking of about your assignment and your ears only listening to something that's being said about your assignment."

I liken concentration to race car driving. "Do you think Dale Earnhart looks out his window and watches a bird fly by while he's driving in a race-" I ask. "No. He's thinking about one thing and one thing only and that's driving to win. His eyes stay on the road, his hands stay on the wheel, his brain is totally focused on the race. If he loses his concentration he could crash!"

Colton's lessons often begins with "Driver, start your engine." This is his cue to sit up tall and get focused. He sometimes warms up with a calculator exercise. Computing large quantities of numbers correctly requires accuracy; accuracy requires concentration. It's been fun watching his ability to focus develop.

Students who have trouble staying focused often interrupt themselves. We work with some students who can't complete reading a couple sentences aloud without wanting to stop and share an unrelated thought or two. I tell them to, "Be kind to your brain! It wants to pay attention to what it's reading so it can understand and remember. Give your poor brain a break. Don't make it think about other things while it's trying to read." And so we set goals.

"See if you can read this whole paragraph without interrupting yourself." The paragraph becomes a page, a page becomes two. Conscientious effort and lots of practice pays off.

Mariah had trouble with long division. We examined her mistakes and discovered a pattern. She often goofed about two-thirds into some problems. "That's where I lose my concentration," she said. Discovering her loss of focus was the beginning of the end of her mistakes.

Playing "Beat the Clock" while mastering math push-ups has helped Jenny sharpen her math skills as well as her ability to concentrate. We get the 12 math facts arranged and ready for quick viewing, sit up tall and flip the 30-second egg timer. Jenny has 30 seconds to shoot out the correct answers and beat the clock. She loves the challenge and loves to win.

Kaitlynn, a middle-schooler, learned to rip through the simple math facts and quickly advanced to more complicated mental math exercises. The egg timer and the advanced math push-ups have helped her learn to get into the "focus zone" while beating the clock. She'll be racing through the algebraic expression math facts soon.

The above students have found their winning strategy. "Concentration. It's all about concentration."

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