Trying to improve mental skills

I've been searching a lot of information about improving "mental skills", such as concentration, memory, and stuff. Then I started to apply it.
First of all, I searched for "meditation's psychological and biological effects", as I believed that there was a connection between the obviously high concentration rate of Buddhist monks and the time they spend meditating every day. I was right: focusing your attention on one thing - acting as "meditation base" - improves your capacity for concentrating on other things. Once mastered, this "actualized" skill can be applied on mostly whatever.
I'm giving it a try, and I can focus more on reading books, for example. I don't know if I'm doing it right or it's just placebo effects, but I'm happy with the results.