By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.
The ability to focus is at the core of nearly everything youâre asked to do in school. You canât read a book if you canât focus. You canât follow along with a science lecture if you canât focus. You canât solve a math problem if you canât focus. Heck, you canât write more than a few sentences if you canât focus.
In other words, being unable to focus is no joke, and can lead to so many other issues. This blog post contains four tips for what to do when you just canât focus on what needs to get done.
ADHD and focus
In this blog post and this video, I cover the two main reasons why you canât focus. I cover ADHD in those two resources too (of course), but a quick word about ADHD and focus: neurologically, ADHD directly impacts sustained concentration.
The four tips I share below will by no means outweigh the negative effects of ADHD of focus. If you have ADHD, the tips Iâm sharing are even more important because youâre starting at a disadvantage. Make sense?
What to do when you just canât focus
Your essay is due tomorrow. You have to read 11 chapters in Moby Dick by the morning. You have to study for two tests tonight and itâs already 10 PM. But you just canât focus! Youâre trying, but ⊠your brain is just ⊠somewhere else. What do you do? Try the following tips.
1. Get rid of the phone – for real.
I debated starting the list with this tip because I was afraid youâd roll your eyes and leave. (If youâre still here, youâre the best.) I am dead serious about getting rid of your phone when youâre trying to focus. Itâs really one or the other: you either have your phone with you, or you focus on what youâre doing. We canât have both and itâs time we stop pretending we can.
Your phone is one of the strongest emotional triggers in your entire environment. Itâs the source of endless information, distractions, potential emergencies, and âurgentâ notifications. If we were to go back in time, your phone is the equivalent of a dark cave, and your Neanderthal brain would be unable to think of anything except for whatâs in that cave? Itâs a matter of survival, really.
If youâre having a hard time focusing, you must remove your phone from your workspace. No exceptions. Keeping it upside down on the table next to you is not enough, because the visual trigger is still there. Zip it inside a pocket inside a backpack, or put it in another room altogether.
2. Go somewhere totally different.
Novelty, which means newness, is a primary factor in motivation. The more motivation you feel toward a task, the better youâll be able to focus on it. The next time you just can’t focus, pack up your things and go somewhere different. This might mean you move from your bedroom to the kitchen table. Or maybe you move from your dorm room to your campus library.
Changing your physical environment isnât practical all the time. But, itâs an excellent strategy when youâre working on cognitively demanding tasks and just canât focus.
3. Have total clarity before starting.
If you donât have total clarity about what youâre supposed to be doing, you wonât be able to focus. When we are unclear about a task, procrastination kicks in hardcore. Thatâs because we perceive unclear things as hard things, and we emotionally run from both.
To improve your focus, get clear on exactly what youâre doing before you sit down to do it. For example, instead of saying âIâm going to study,â youâd say âIâll make flashcards for all the vocab in Chapter 17.â Instead of saying âIâm going to read for English,â youâd say âIâll read until the end of chapter 9.â Be specific.
If youâre confused about what youâre supposed to do, be honest about that before sitting down to âfake doâ it. Ask your teacher, ask a classmate, read the assignment again, check your notes, or use any of these How to Figure Things Out strategies.
4. Have a clear starting and stopping point.
The final tip for what to do when you just canât focus is to determine a starting time and stopping time before sitting down to work. When you know how long you are going to work on something, the task wonât seem so endless. This can help improve your focus.
On the other hand, if you donât have a clear stopping point, thereâs no urgency. Psychologically, when we donât perceive urgency (the sense that time is limited and running out), we work slower and with less focus and intention. According to something called Parkinsonâs Law, which was originally published in this Economist article (the original article is behind a pay wall, but if you Google âParkinsonâs Law,â youâll see plenty of other sources), âwork expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.â Said a different way, if we give ourselves 60 minutes to write an email, it will take 60 minutes. But if we give ourselves 15 minutes to write the same email, it will only take 15 minutes.
Hereâs what you can do: For simple tasks that youâre struggling to focus on, set the timer for anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes. Pump yourself up to work on the task until the timer goes off. If you feel the urge to check your phone (which should be in another room, yes?), donât do it. Stay in your chair and do the work. When the timer goes off, get and take a break.
If youâre working on something challenging that will require more than 15-30 minutes to complete, use this Google Calendar strategy to identify exactly where in your day or week you have pockets of time to work on the task or project. Find specific starting and stopping points to work, and write those down or put them in your calendar. For example, the goal is to have a plan thatâs as specific as Iâll work on my Psychology essay on Monday from 1:00-1:45, and Wednesday from 12:00-1:00 and 4:00-4:30.
More of my top resources and tips to improve your focus:
- How to avoid distractions while studying: 7 tips for better focus
- How to stay focused while reading
- How to stay focused in class: 7 tricks to avoid zoning out
- How to stay focused in a boring class