Building Your Focus

Learn to focus. That is all.

Alright. Why Does This Matter?

You have limited mental resources every day and too many tasks to complete within 24 hours. This means that you need to spend your energy wisely and carefully on the tasks that truly matter most to your goals (or are closest to being due…). Without an ability to focus, you will be stressing yourself out every day just trying to get anything done. It’s an indispensable skill.

Cool. So What do I do?

In academics and learning in general, focus is a critical skill to have. It’s something that grows with practice. Here are some good tips to build up your focus ability:

• Read. A lot and often.
  • Steer clear of internet list articles. They often contain false or exaggerated information, or useless factoids. The majority of the stuff your friends post on Facebook, Twitter, etc. is not worth your time to read.
• Write. A lot and often.
  • Some ideas for writing: Thought book, Dream journal, summaries of the books you read
  • Try to write with a pen and paper. Using your hands slows you down and forces you to think more thoroughly through the words you commit to paper.
• Remove yourself from distractions.
  • Head to the library for more intense work or study sessions
  • Somewhere like Starbucks or major traffic areas on campus or in the office are good for less mentally intense tasks, like organizing your files, writing emails, or taking care of small life admin. related activities.
• Work with timers.
  • This bleeds into the territory of the Pomodoro technique which divides your time into 25 minute work sessions with a 5 minute break (the 30 minutes = 1 ‘pomodoro’)
  • If you split up your time into ‘focus chunks’ with a timer and an audible reminder to take short breaks, you can quite effectively focus on singular tasks.
• Set simple working rules for yourself. These are little mental agreements with yourself about your actions and behaviours that are allowed or disallowed during work time. Here are some suggestions:
  • no more than 4 tabs open in your internet browser
  • Phone on silent for the morning
  • no email before lunch
  • no social media during lectures or meetings
  • 3 programs open at once max (might not always be practical.. but it might help)
  • write for 15 minutes every morning
  • etc.

More, Please!

The Pomodoro Technique:

http://pomodorotechnique.com/

Rescue Time is an excellent app that tracks where you spend your time online. It might prove to you just how much time you spend procrastinating, or encourage you if you already work hard!

https://www.rescuetime.com/

A decent article containing suggestions for how to improve your ability to focus:

http://lifehacker.com/5596964/how-to-rebuild-your-attention-span-and-focus