Bernard O'Shea: I tried to teach myself how to concentrate and this is what happened

I’ve tried all the mind games. I’ve meditated. I’ve even tried hypnosis to try and catch myself out.

'I’m essentially parenting myself and trying to convince myself to concentrate for an hour so I can use the time for leisure.'

I remember in school constantly “fidgeting” and being told to concentrate. I knew I avoided the work because I didn’t find it interesting. However, I found subjects like History and English fascinating but struggled severely at Maths and nearly failed the pass paper in The Leaving Cert.

My concentration levels for subjects I didn’t like were zero. What I did learn from my Leaving Cert was that even though I couldn’t care less what 'x' and 'y' got up to inside or outside brackets, you had to give it some thought or else you’d fail.