It is incredibly easy to get distracted and lose focus while doing schoolwork. Phones, television, social media and even your own thoughts can quickly hinder your productivity. There are several things you can do to make sure you stay focused on the work in front of you.
1) Use an app that keeps you off your phone or has a time limit for phone usage
Although it may seem nonsensical to use an app for reducing screen time, it provides direct control against temptations to further your device usage. Here are some app recommendations:
— Stay Focused
— Offtime
— Moment
— BreakFree
— Flipd
— AppDetox
2) Study or work with others
Hold yourself and your peers accountable by studying in a group. Whether you are doing work together or separately, having someone else do schoolwork with you can help motivate and keep you on track.
3) Have a plan
Create a schedule or list of the work you need to get done. Prioritize more important work — or if you are like me, get the easier or smaller assignments out of the way and then focus on the heavier assignments. Having an agenda is super helpful; physically itemizing everything you need to get done will make it so that everything is less scrambled in your head. Write it down!
4) Keep your space organized
Having a mess around you negatively impacts your ability to focus and stay concentrated. Make sure that your workspace is always clean and decluttered. It does not even have to be that your entire room is tidy; a neat desk or study space will suffice.
5) Listen to a study or focus music playlist
This one might not be for everyone, as some people find that having background noise can interfere with focusing. For those that find it does help, simply look up a study or focus music playlist on Apple Music, Spotify or any other application that streams music. There are bound to be endless options that fit your melodic and lyrical interests.
