I can't concentrate! Advice to my student(s)
How can we focus better? AND take breaks that are much needed?
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One of my amazing students sent me a message the other day and she was worried as she feels she can’t focus - which can happen to all of us! It is the end of the year, which was an exhausting one as many people shared with me - and we are all trying to finish some things before the end of the year.
Here is my answer to her - which I am sharing with her permission and I thank her for the inspiration!
Hi (Student)! Don’t worry at all! I understand you and it can be a challenge for all of us, as we live in an age of distractions and we are all tired at this time of year.
I have a few tips and hope you find them useful!
1. Study with a friend, even online - connect on Zoom or anywhere and tell each other what you’re going to study and then start studying. It can be even an hour at a time, you can’t imagine how much material you can get through! I do that too.
2. If other people make you nervous, or you can’t coordinate your schedules, you can find a lot of study with me videos on YouTube - they really help and I use them too! Here is Holly, one of my favourite PhD YouTubers:
3. You don’t have to sit long for hours at a time - break tasks down into smaller chunks.
4. The Pomodoro method helps a lot - here it is and you can always adapt it to your own pace:
Here is a nice video with light music and Pomodoro sessions:
5. Find what time works for you - I’m more of a night owl as I get older and also it’s the only time I can study because the rest of the day I work full-time and take care of my family.
6. Give yourself rewards: I do that too - tell yourself that after you study for an hour or so, you can read a book, watch YouTube or Netflix, or scroll on Instagram or anything you like! The reward can also be chocolate 🍫 or anything you like, a walk with your friends or on your own 💕
7. Make sure no one bothers you if possible and put away your phone, turn it off or put it on airplane mode - and you can get it back when you have a break! It’s one of your rewards after all ❤️
I hope these tips help us all! And don’t forget - you also need to take breaks : )
Thank you!!! I love your tips! I've used most of these and they work! I wrote a productivity article on Medium (that I'm re-editing to post here at some point) and mentioned some of these techniques. What helps me the most is focusmate. You're matched with a "study mate" or someone who's working at the same time as you. I've been using it since covid and while it's no longer free, it's worth every penny imo!