5. Take a break if you start feeling stressful. Once you are distracted by emotion it's that much harder to give your full attention to present task. It's best if you don't lose what concentration you've built up to that moment by talking to others. Instead take some deep breaths, gaze out window, take a short walk, or listen to instrumental music for a few minutes. Once you finish job, then take a longer break to relax before moving on to next item you need to accomplish.

6. Do your best to block out everything else. Obviously, this is much easier said than done. Becoming preoccupied with what will happen when you finish this project tends to make your thoughts more scattered. You need to be focused on present moment. Your thinking must be that right now, this is most important project to you. It should be only thing in your consciousness while working on it.

7. Believe that you are capable of attaining whatever end goal is. How many of you played card game of Concentration where you had to match cards as they were flipped over? You paid attention to location of cards, you developed a ritual for remembering where certain cards were, you didn't leave game until it was finished, you told yourself and/or your partner that you were going to win, and you were elated (or at least quite satisfied) when you ended up with lots of matched pairs.

Here's to improved concentration in whatever you do whether it be work oriented, scholastic, social, sports, or anything else.

Communication skills are improved during brainstorming sessions as participants articulate their thoughts and feelings. Keeping track of this output is important. If ideas are not written down they are too easily forgotten. Seeing ideas together can lead people to see how two or more may work in conjunction with another. Many useful ideas are generated that may not be used for current project but could prove useful for later consideration or with other endeavors.

Brainstorming is wide open to interpretation and experimentation - let your mind play with ideas rather than fighting them or applying too much logic. Make replies to specific questions short - simply convey main idea. After several rounds have taken place, group ideas into categories and then start pursing how they can best be used.

Sessions using these brainstorming practices can be looked at with a sense of pleasure and productivity if handled in spirit of people at all levels working together. Generating additional thoughts gets flow going towards creation and implementation of whatever you are working on, dreaming of, or playing with.

Instead of making one line resolutions for new year - try brainstorming for more options and possibilities to achieving that which you seek. May each year bring you even more success, fun, and synergistic projects and relationships.