How to Stay Focused

The ability to focus can help you complete a variety of professional and personal tasks, from studying for exams to finishing work up to an hour earlier. There are many practical steps you can take to help yourself focus better and stop checking Facebook or your phone every 15 minutes. To stay focused on the task at hand, you need to resist the temptation of distractions, make a to-do list (including breaks), and try not to do too much at once. job.

Table of Contents

Stay organized for better focus

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Organize your workspace. Whether you’re working in the office or studying at home, a clean, tidy space can help you focus and get things done more efficiently. Get rid of anything that is irrelevant and can distract you. Tidy up your desk with work essentials, leaving just a few picture frames or relaxing mementos.

If you spend 10 minutes each day cleaning at the end of the session, you will maintain a new habit of neatness.
If you don’t need your phone for work, put it away for a few hours. Don’t leave your phone on your desk, making your workspace more cluttered and distracting.

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Make a to-do list. A to-do list listed at the beginning of each day or week can help you stay focused and motivated to keep working. If you have a to-do list, no matter how short or long, you’ll feel accomplished when you cross off what you’ve done and move on to the next task. This also helps you stay focused on one task at a time. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Prioritize tasks. Put the most important tasks first to do first. It’s better to leave easier or more manageable tasks until the end of the day, when you’re more tired and don’t have as much pressure to complete the most difficult tasks. If you delay difficult tasks until the last minute, you will have to worry all day about completing them.
For example, a to-do list might look like this: “Call mom. Order a birthday cake for your child. Call the doctor again. Arrive at the post office at 2pm.”

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Set deadlines for each task. Time management goes hand in hand with to-do lists. Next to each item on your to-do list, write down the time it takes to complete each task. Be realistic when estimating this time, then try to complete each task within the allotted time. This will save you from procrastinating or spending an hour texting a friend instead of completing a task. ^{[2] X Research Source}

You can break down time-consuming tasks into smaller, easier chunks. Thus, you will not feel overwhelmed with too many difficult tasks. You can view smaller tasks as a small reward.
For example, you might write: “Make coffee: 5 minutes. Reply to email: 15 minutes. Company meeting: 1 hour. Meeting notes: 30 minutes. Editing report: 2 hours.”

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Take a break during the day. While it doesn’t make sense to include relaxation time in your daily schedule, it’s an organized way to really focus. You should take a 5-10 minute break every hour or 3-5 minutes for every half hour of work. This will give you more motivation to complete the task, give your eyes a break, and give your brain time to move on to the next task. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

You can even set an alarm after every half hour or hour of work to alert you to a break. If you’re really into work, you can skip a break, but don’t let this become a habit.
If you have a smartphone, you can also use an app like Pomodoro to schedule your day, including breaks.

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Choose a resting place that won’t distract you. Breaks won’t clear your mind if you’re still checking your work email. So get up during your break. Look out the window, take a few steps outside, or climb five flights of stairs to increase blood circulation. Such short breaks will keep you energized when you get back to work. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

For example, you might set a goal of 30 minutes of reading out of a 3-hour workday. When you take your eyes off the screen and finish reading a book chapter, you’ll be more motivated to complete the task.

Improve concentration

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Enhance concentration. Even if you think you’re easily distracted, anyone can improve their focus with a little motivation. All you need to do is pick a task and give yourself 30 minutes to just do it without paying attention to anything else – not even getting up. Keep doing this and see how long you can concentrate. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

After a few weeks, when it’s easy to maintain focus for 30 minutes, see if you can extend the time to focus by 5 minutes, even 10 minutes more.
While it’s a good idea to take breaks at least every hour, learning to focus for longer periods of time will make it easier to complete the tasks at hand and increase your ability to focus in the short term. than.

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Don’t procrastinate on tasks that need to be completed. Avoid putting off any procrastination-style activity until tomorrow, next week, or next month. Instead, do it now and move on to the next project. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

For example, if you know you need to call a certain customer this week, don’t wait until Friday afternoon. Call Monday or Tuesday morning, and this task won’t hang over your head all week.
The habit of procrastinating will destroy your ability to focus and significantly reduce your productivity.

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Reduce multitasking to increase your ability to focus. Many people have the misconception that multitasking is great because that way they will accomplish many tasks at the same time. In fact, this makes the brain confused, slows down and makes it impossible for you to fully focus on a task. Every time you switch between two tasks, your mind will have to readjust, leading to a decrease in the speed of work. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

This is where your to-do list comes in handy: it will give you extra motivation to complete each task one at a time.

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Avoid online distractions. Pastimes are the enemy of concentration. If you want to stay focused, you need to know how to avoid various distractions. There are countless types of distractions that you need to find ways to avoid. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

To avoid distractions on the web, try to open as few tabs on the internet as possible. The more tabs you have open, the more you will have to do at once and the more distracted you will be. Every 2 hours, you can give yourself 5 minutes to check email, Facebook or any other social networking site you absolutely must see, then log out until another 2 hours have passed.

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Avoid external distractions. Whether you’re working in an office, library or at home, you should try not to let other people distract you. Don’t let your work be ruined because of other people, whether they are classmates, colleagues or a friend who always asks for help. Put personal matters aside until the job is done. That way, you’ll complete tasks faster and have more time to enjoy your personal pastimes. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Don’t let your surroundings distract you. If you’re in a noisy place, you can listen to soothing music or buy noise-cancelling headphones. While it can be tempting to look around to see what everyone else is doing, try to only allow yourself to look up about every 10 minutes to stay focused.
Work in productive environments like a coffee shop or library. When you see people working effectively, it’s also easier to focus on your performance. ^{[10] X Research Source}
Listen to classical music or nature sounds to help improve concentration. Avoid music with lyrics, as you may be distracted by the lyrics. ^{[11] X Research Source}

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Take a few deep breaths to calm your mind and increase concentration. If you feel stressed, restless, or overly excited while working, sit down and close your eyes. Breathe 3-5 times deeply and fully. Increased oxygen levels stimulate the brain, making it easier to focus on the task at hand. ^{[12] X Research Source}

If you have time, you can take several longer deep breaths instead of just 3-5 deep breaths. For example, during your lunch break, sit or lie down and focus on breathing deeply for 15 minutes.
Accept the task to do. When you resist a task, you will only make it more difficult. ^{[13] X Research Source}

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Chewing gum. Studies have shown that chewing gum can temporarily increase your ability to focus. The act of chewing increases the amount of oxygen to the brain, thereby helping you to focus more. ^{[14] X Research Source}

If you don’t have gum, try eating a healthy snack that will have the same effect as chewing gum, such as a handful of nuts or a few carrot sticks.

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Avoid consuming too much caffeine. However, a cup of coffee or tea a day can help you energize to get ready to start a working day. But if you drink too much caffeine, you can get so excited that you have trouble concentrating, or even feel jittery or shaky after a few hours. Try to resist the urge to refill a cup of coffee every time you need to focus. ^{[15] X Research Source}

It is best to stay hydrated and drink only one cup of tea a day instead of drinking too much caffeine that makes you restless.

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Look at a distant object for 20 seconds. Most of us work on computers or desks, and often see from a distance of 30-60 cm. This can strain the eyes, cause discomfort, and reduce concentration. So give your eyes a break by looking at a distant object for a few seconds. That way, your eyes (and your mind) will focus better when you go back to looking at the computer. ^{[16] X Research Source}

Try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, you will spend 20 seconds looking at an object about 20 feet (6 meters) away.

Stay motivated while trying to focus

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Remind yourself of what you’re aiming for at work. When you have a goal in mind, you’ll be more motivated to get things done, and you’ll be more successful if you stay focused. ^{[17] X Trusted Source Harvard Business Review Go to the source} Part of the reason why we lose focus is that we don’t see the importance of the work we have to get done, so we tend to turn to work. other.

For example, if you’re studying, remind yourself why this task is important. It may not be important for you to get an A in the exam, but it is important that the score on the exam affects the outcome of the course, and you need to get a good score in order to graduate. .
Or, if you’re working, tell yourself why this job is important to you. Remind yourself of everything you can afford to do with that job or of all the pleasures you can enjoy after a day’s work.

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Identify a specific goal that you can strive to achieve. It’s easy to get bogged down with a bunch of little distractions if you’re not working towards a single big goal. A goal to reach will be a reward after much hard work, helping you feel that your effort is completely worth it. ^{[18] X Trusted Source Harvard Business Review Go to Source}

So, what are your goals when you get the job done? Is it simply completing a work/study day, saving enough money to buy a boat or advancing in your career?
For example, your goal might be just to clean the whole house for a party, or to run 40 minutes without giving up to get in better shape.

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Read or write down the “focus mantra.” Once you know exactly what your goals and objectives are, you can come up with a “mantra” to get you back whenever your mind wanders. If you feel embarrassed saying the spell aloud, try writing it down on a note and stick it on your desk.

The mantra could be something like, “Don’t watch Facebook, don’t text until you’re done. When I finish my work, I will get the maximum score in the chemistry exam, and when I get the maximum score in the chemistry exam, I will reach the top of the class!”

Advice

If you find yourself constantly losing focus and feel like you’re always wasting time, try creating a time management board to look at it and see how you’re spending your time.
If you’re frustrated with the uncompleted workload of the day, try creating a track of the completed and unfinished tasks. Try to increase the number of tasks completed. This will further motivate you to focus on the tasks at hand rather than distractions.
If you want to upgrade your to-do list, try splitting it into three lists: to-dos that day, to-dos the next day, and to-dos for that week. When you finish the day’s tasks and still have time, you can move on to the next list.

Steps

Stay organized for better focus

Improve concentration

Stay motivated while trying to focus

Advice

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