Need To Focus? Follow These Four Simple Steps For Better Concentration

Consumer Tech Need To Focus? Follow These Four Simple Steps For Better Concentration Quora Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Oct 7, 2022, 11:00am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Woman thoughtful about work at home office desk laptop getty How can I focus better when I need to study? originally appeared on Quora : the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Andrew Cohen, Founder and CEO of Brainscape, on Quora : Aside from the obvious lure of social media and noisy environments, one of the biggest reasons we get distracted is because we have excess energy, unresolved stress, and disordered thoughts rattling around our minds and bodies. So the first step to focusing better when you need to study is setting yourself up to concentrate. This means doing a little mental and physical prep: Start your day off with some exercise, whether it’s a short walk, a yoga sesh, or two hours’ of weight-lifting.

Whatever works for you. Expend a little physical energy and you’ll feel better and more focused. Create a “study bubble” with everything you need to learn efficiently, including water, coffee, snacks, etc.

Set your notifications to “do not disturb” and, if necessary, LEAVE your phone in another room. Take care of anything that is likely to distract you BEFORE your study session: empty your email inbox, feed your pets, use the restroom, and so on. And if something does pop into your head while you’re studying, keep a to-do list next to you and write it down .

You can take care of it when you’re done. Now that you’re ready to dive in, it’s time to study more intelligently so that you actually find it more absorbing and engaging . Rather than boring your brain with pages and pages of black-and-white text, switch between study modes : Read and make notes for 30 minutes; then practice problem sets / answering questions for 20 minutes; then make or work through flashcards for 10 minutes, and so on.

MORE FOR YOU They Inherited Billions Upon Billions: Meet America’s Richest Heirs Rejection Time At Harvard Business School The Best Shoe Organizers To Tidy Up Your Footwear Collection In 2022 Don’t ever do one task for long enough to get bored because that’s when your brain is gonna start saying things like: just one episode or let’s pet the cat or I’ll even settle for doing the dishes! Also, use adaptive, digital flashcards to make the cognitively demanding task of memorizing information LESS taxing. Flashcards automate the repetition of concepts based upon how well you know them: showing you the concepts you struggle with MORE OFTEN and the concepts you know well LESS OFTEN. This empowers you to learn so much more efficiently and in short powerful study sessions of 5-10 minutes, without having to rely as much on your attention span magically coming to life.

Beats the heck out of hours-long sessions doesn’t it? Also, flashcards are fun, quick, and easy to work with if they’re on your mobile device. So use a flashcard app like Brainscape or Anki for just a few minutes, a few times a day, and you’ll be able to get so much more focused learning done in a shorter amount of time. Two final things to help you focus better when studying: 1.

Deal with your stressors: if there’s someone or something in your life casting a shadow of stress over everything you do, either move on, change it, or accept it totally . That’s easy for me to say, but unless you make a conscious decision to deal with it, it’ll only hold you back from your goals. 2.

Difficulty focusing could be a symptom of ADD/ADHD. So if none of the techniques I’ve mentioned above really do it for you, consider speaking to your doctor or read this article on how to study more effectively with ADHD. Or just close this article and go do the thing now! This question originally appeared on Quora – the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Follow me on Twitter . Check out my website . Quora Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.