Actor Journey : How to Increases your Concentration for Acting

     Concentration and observation are entwined with one another. In order to concentrate, you need something to focus on. In order to focus, you must have observed it first. You have to be aware that something is their, see it, notice it, discover it, investigate it, wonder about it, and care about it to focus and turn your concentration on it. What one chooses to focus on, what one chooses to concentrate on, comprises the elements that will make up the playing of a character or part.
     To focus one’s concentration on the concept that “every man carries his entire creative genius within him, and he pours everything out of himself into the broad stream of life” is very important while doing this exercise. If we can suppose that everyone is worth observing, that through observing the world around us, we may find the way to observing ourselves, then the path to concentration becomes accessible right in front of us, so to speak.

1. Choose a public place where you can sit undisturbed for a long period of time—a cafe, coffee shop, bar, park, etc., anywhere there are likely to be many people. It’s best to choose a place where you are not likely to run into people whom you know.
2. Bring a notebook for writing with you, The notebook becomes an important tool in this and in many other exercises, because it is easy to forget or reshape after the fact ideas, impressions, and feelings that happen spontaneously. It’s best to write things down randomly, and then read and think about them later.
3. Once you’ve settled in your place, set your watch for 1 hr. Time is such a strange thing, and our judgement of it depends on how we feel about what we’re doing.
4. Observe the people around you, and write your observations in your notebook. Watch, observe and write. This is not continuous writing. Most of the time is spent observing.
5. While you are observing others, observe yourself and how you honestly feel at the moment. Start to write down these self observations in your Journal as well. Be honest, stay in the moment..
6. Start by writing about what you see around you, then move it to the observations. Write about the people— who you think they are, where they come from, what they’re doing, etc., or whatever aspects about them interest you. 
7. When your hour is up, close your notebook and go about your life. Don’t read what you’ve written just yet. Wait.

After at least a few hours, pick up your Journal and read it. You should try and be in some surrounding that will enable you to concentrate on your words and read them aloud without causing a problem. Try some of the Mental Relaxation exercises before you begin to read the notebook so you’ll be in touch with yourself a little more.

As you read, ask yourself some of the following questions:

• Was I honest, and if I was, how do I feel about it now?
• When I started to feel something, what did I do? Did I investigate the feeling further, or did I quickly move on to something else?
• If someone seemed to notice what I was doing, how did I react?
• Did I go as far as I could have with my observations of my surroundings?
• Was I able to concentrate on the task at hand, or did I “drift” and then find myself lost in my thoughts?
• If and when I did this, did I admit it in writing, or was this self observation omitted?
• Did I leave myself and my innermost feelings and observations totally out of this exercise? Why did I do that?
• Do I judge people so harshly that I tend to stereotype them, and if that’s true, how would I portray them as an actor?

   The answers to the above questions are not important. There is no right or wrong answer; there is only the development of a better question and the strengthening of your ability to ask. 
   The process of developing observation and concentration is like working a muscle; it gets stronger with use. You have set parameters around your concentration by doing this exercise. Within these parameters, you can gauge your own performance and development. Each time you do an exercise, you can go a little bit further into the relaxation and concentration process.