Does anyone know of anything/way to improve concentration and clarity of thought especially verbally?
I am having serious problems focusing!
Thanks!
concentrating is like lifting weights.
i imagine people disagreeing…
but flexing your mind runs on the same principle as your body.
scholarship is discipline.
so to improve concentration, you sit yoru ass on the chair and do what it takes until your concentration yields results however they come and yea.
and drugs here are like steroids. for shame only.
Monooq,
are you writing in verse, man? That’s awesome ROFLMAO!
Krystalin - Good Post.
Plato said that the mind was like a team of horses, all trying to run in different directions. You are the charioteer, and you have to keep control. The Buddhists have a different take, describing thoughts as arising from the mind and trying to grab your attention. Your job is to let them pass by without paying attention.
My point? This is a pretty well known problem.
Usually concentration lags with reading, but if it’s verbal I’m not so sure. Do you mean listening to stuff, or trying to keep your answers logical?
One way I keep my concentration or improve it when it starts to waver is by reading or saying verbally in parts. When you divide the text or words in sections for reading or saying then you tend to become more focussed because it’s too much text that makes you waver sometimes and so when you divide the whole in parts and that too in points or sentences and then proceed, you’ll probably end up improving your concentration and also clarity of thought! Whatever…
Intent. It’s all about intent. If I intend to focus in, to organize my thoughts before speaking or writing, the results are as good as I have ability.
Half-interest is half -----. If you aren’t really interested then all the methodologies in the world won’t help. The mind love’s to run off for a holliday. 
JT
frozen orange juice helps one concentrate…
-Imp
i’m with you there buddy. personally i find a small amount of marijuana to be very helpful in keeping my focus on something, especially with the more dense or convoluted readings. and lately i’ve been noticing (somewhat) similar effects coming from prescription medications (particularly benzodiazepines, as odd as that may sound).
I recommend the book 20/20 thinking Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, P.H.D. Avery a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. penguinputnam.com ISBN#1-58333-153-0.
Some things that have helped me:
Reading, playing chess, ginko Biloba, caffeine.
Some things i do specifically for verbal skills:
learning another language (if you wish to improve your verbal skills try Latin). Check the word of the day on dictionary.com every day, reading (again).
Some things that i haven’t done for verbal skills: toastmasters
Anyway, the book covers all of these, i believe and has at least 1000 statagems.
Try listening to your radio at night with the volume as low as possible. If you continue this each night (progressively decreasing the volume lower and lower periodically), you may increase your ability to focus…
…or, at least that’s what I’ve heard. 
LSD
sdc.uwo.ca/learning/concentration.html
that website might help.
Also a buddhists level of concentration is off the charts. Scientists have done experiments where they poked a meditating buddhist with a burning hot rod and the buddhist didn’t even flinch. Now that is insane. So , while I haven’t done it myself, meditation is probably your best bet. I plan on starting meditation soon.
i also endorse this method.