Know what you are being asked to do
The task looks straightforward until you cannot find the next number. A typical grid mixes numbers across a page or screen, sometimes with a time limit. Before starting, check the sequence, the starting number and how errors count. Different versions can ask you to do slightly different things.
What happens when you lose your place is worth noticing. Perhaps you rush a selection, keep searching the same corner or pause to recover the sequence. These details tell you about your approach to this attempt. They are more useful to discuss than assigning your whole attention span a good or bad grade.
Interpret a score within the task
Scores are easiest to compare when you know what stayed the same. A larger grid, a different device or a shorter time limit changes the task. So does remembering where numbers appeared last time. Keep those details beside the score rather than asking the number to explain itself.
Treat the score as a description of what happened on that attempt. It does not identify why the result changed or measure every form of attention. Seeing a passing option while moving, listening to an instruction and finding a number on a screen involve different demands.
What does the research show?
A 2026 study by Husselman and colleagues examined grid practice in silence and with background music in two separate samples of 12 participants. The authors reported no significant effects on the measured performance, attention and core affect outcomes, while observing changes in EEG measures.
Those findings are a reason to keep claims specific. The study does not establish that completing a grid improves an athlete’s decisions or competition results. A screen-based score should not be presented as a readiness rating or proof of sport skill.
Connect reflection to a real sport task
If you use the grid, choose one observation to discuss: “When I lost the sequence, I checked the last correct number and resumed.” Then identify the relevant return action in your sport, such as clarifying an instruction before a drill.
Do not assume the transfer has happened because you can describe it. Practice the sport-specific action in its actual setting and review a real example. The grid can be one optional activity among other forms of practice, not a replacement for coaching or decisions during play.
If the format is useful and accessible to you, keep it as one optional activity and stay curious about what you notice. If it is not, another attention exercise may suit you better. You do not have to earn a score on a screen before you can work on a clear, meaningful task at practice.
Sources and further reading
- Husselman et al. (2026): The concentration grid exercise
Primary research with two 12-person samples, studying grid practice, attention, affect and EEG outcomes.