How to Focus Effectively?
How often do you find yourself getting distracted easily and not being able to focus on your tasks? What do you then? Pick up your phone, scroll through social media and then feel disgusted about how you wasted a couple of hours just because you were not focused?
What you forget is, all through the duration of aggressive scrolling, you were intensely focused on your phone. So, that means that the problem does not lie in your ability to focus but your inability to maintain it for longer duration in some tasks(like studying) as compared to others(like scrolling).
The best thing about us is that we can train our brain to do exactly what it is resisting. In this case, we can improve our focus, but it should be done in a way that it can be sustained over longer periods. One of the methods I had adopted to do exactly this was practicing the Pomodoro Technique. The basic methods of which are-
- Pick a task in which you are not able to focus.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes and put all the distractions away. Just you, the timer and the task.
- Give as much focus you can to the task.
- As soon as the timer ends, take a 5 minute break.
- Repeat the 25 minute work — 5 minute break cycle for a total of 4 times.
- After the fourth round, take a long break for around 30 minutes.
This method is really a tried and tested one for me. And IT WORKS!!! Consistency is the key here. You have to do this as many times as the task demands you to. It also helps in overcoming ADHD as the attention span keeps on increasing.
Do try it and see the improvement for yourself.!
