How To Stay Focused

Habits are hard to form, and distractions are everywhere. It's easy to get distracted, and it's easy to put your work off. But you can't always do that—and when you're able to focus and get your work done, you'll feel great!

Distraction is the ultimate productivity killer. It’s not just the things that distract you, it’s that you spend so much time getting back into focus after every distraction. If you can cut off distractions, you’ll save yourself so much time and energy!

To cut out the distraction, you need a solid plan. Here are some steps:

The first thing you need to do is create a plan. You are going to set up some rules, but before you do that, you need to decide what it is that you want to focus on. I'm sure many things distract you, but which one is the worst? If you don't know where your time goes then start tracking it. You may be surprised to see how much of your day and night you spend distracted.

Set aside sometime each day to focus on something—especially when you feel like you have no time to do anything.

When you're trying to focus, the first place to start is with your environment. The first step is as simple as it is crucial: get rid of anything that will distract you from what you're trying to do. This might mean shutting down your internet browser and turning on Airplane Mode or Do Not Disturb and putting away your phone for the duration of your work period. It might mean turning the TV off and clearing off any piles of distracting papers on your desk.

If you need some help in this arena, some apps can help block out distracting websites, like Freedom or StayFocusd (for Chrome). These tools can help you stay focused by blocking any number of sites you've identified as time-sucks—YouTube, Facebook, Twitter—anything you know will derail you if it's within reach.

Another great tool? The Pomodoro technique! This approach breaks down tasks into timed intervals (usually 25 minutes) with short breaks in between. After four pomodoros (four 25-minute work periods) take a longer break (15–30 minutes). This can help give structure to long work sessions where big tasks are broken up into manageable chunks.

Reward yourself for getting your work done, whether it’s through a favourite snack or a half-hour of TV time. With reward in mind, you'll be excited to focus more.

It starts with a simple question: Why do we distract ourselves? It's easy—because it feels good! We might be bored or tired, but when we open up our phones and start scrolling through Twitter (or whatever your distraction-of-choice is), it's like we're getting a hit of dopamine. That's why it can be so hard to put the phone down.

But here's the trick: To get yourself away from distractions, you have to have something waiting for you on the other side that provides that same dopamine hit. Figuring out what that reward is for you is the first step in breaking your cycle of distraction.

If you're someone who gets distracted by social media, for example, consider setting up a schedule for yourself where you only check Twitter twice a day at set times. Let's say your reward is going to be some quality reading time—an hour every day where you can read without interruption.

Permit yourself to be unproductive sometimes! There are times in life when it feels like there’s just no possible way to get anything done, and that’s okay! You may need to take a break and rest first before jumping back into being productive, and that can be good for your mental health as well as your productivity.