7 Easy Tips to Concentrate and Focus
Posted by: cmaeon in reflection on Aug 17, 2010
Every blogger and writer has had days when even writing a sentence was fraught with distractions. The mind wanders, emails demand attention, you get another text message… all of a sudden it’s been 2 hours and you’re still staring at a blank screen.Why is it so hard to write one small blog post? You’re procrastinating – for one reason or another – putting off work that you know you should be doing, but just can’t quite bring yourself to start. Whether it’s sleep deprivation too much information coming at you all at once, you know you need to focus, but how?
1. Stop Multitasking
- Quit Outlook or whatever mail client you’re using. If you really need to work, then you can’t answer emails. Nothing sent in an email is so urgent it has to be dealt with right away. If it was that important, they’d phone you. Speaking of which…
- Screen your calls. Use caller ID to determine if you really need to talk to that person. Realistically, you can call your partner to get the grocery list after you’re done. Tell yourself that your boss can wait to talk to you – after all, you are working.
- Unconnect yourself. No twitter, feeds or news until you’re done. Quit your browser entirely, or only leave open tabs with information you actually need.
2. Create a bubble
- Everyone has their own way of focusing their mind: listen to music (my pick is Scottish electronic band Boards of Canada), zone out to talk radio, or just use a pair of noise cancelling headphones to reduce the noise around you.
3. Get Comfortable
- Get yourself a glass of water, a mug of tea, a granola bar… whatever you need to keep you at your desk before you start. The only excuse you’ll have to leave it would be to go to the bathroom, and of course you’d do that before you start, right?
4. Clear Your Mind
- Sure you have a million things to do and to worry about, but you can’t obsess over them and get something requiring concentration done at the same time. Tell yourself you’ll deal with them later. If you can’t put them out of your head, create a list of everything else you need to do, then put it away and tell yourself you’ll come back to the list as soon as you’re finished.
5. Figure Out what You're Doing
- If you’re trying to focus to start working on a huge presentation, you won’t get it done in one sitting, but you can decide that you won’t stop until you’ve gotten your outline done. Breaking big projects that you’re putting off into a list of manageable tasks can make the project seem much less intimidating.
6. Set Goals & Rewards
- Ever hear of a second wind? Runners get them after they refuse to stop when they begin to get tired. Writers can get them too. Instead of running out of steam and then getting distracted again, force yourself to carry on. Keep writing, even if you know you’ll have to revise it later.
- Rewards are a great motivator – tell yourself once you’re done whatever you need to do, you can have a coffee break, go for a walk with the dog, watch some videos on Youtube… whatever makes you want to work towards your goal.
7. Take a Break… or don’t
- Concentrating is hard work. Take a break every time you’ve finished a task, or every 30 minutes. Use a timer to make sure your breaks don’t start to become longer than your work periods. Don’t do other work on your breaks. You’re taking them to stay fresh and sharp, not to worry about other things.
- Keep on working – if the creative juices have you and you’re on a roll, keep going! Don’t let taking breaks become another distraction.
