The past and future are the most irrelevant things we dwell on. This may come as a surprise to most people, but remembering the past and worrying about the future are almost always a total waste of time.  There are of course exceptions: if you are working on a particular task, and it’s useful to remember what you learned the last time you did it, you can deliberately reference it. When you need to plan upcoming activities, of course you need to think about things that will happen in the future. The issue is being deliberate and doing things with intent. Most of us spend a lot of time worrying about things that have already happened or may happen in the future.  We lose energy when we do this. The past no longer exists: if you dwell in it, you are dwelling in a fantasy. The future hasn’t happened, and likely will not play out the way you expect. The only real way to create a better future anyway is to do everything perfectly in the present.

So as you notice your mind wandering to things that are not relevant to the task at hand, such as the past and future,  you simply and gently bring your attention back to your focus. That’s it! Now you just keep doing this during the period of your particular task for which you’ve chosen to be mindful. You have strengthened your inner “muscle” of concentration, which is the same muscle you will use when you meditate.