Tips for staying focused
My worst trait is my inability to stay focused for long periods of time. When grinding out a ppt or model I get so easily distracted and start scrolling through my phone, might do push ups, or just generally zone out. I’ve tried listening to music but I get distracted by the lyrics, or after awhile get tired of hearing it and turning it off. I’ve also tried working while listening to informational podcasts which hasn’t worked either.
I also can’t really work in an accountability group because I get distracted easily by noise from other people. I know this sounds like untreated ADHD but I really don’t want to get on adderall / any other drugs unless I absolutely fucking need it, which I don’t believe is true because I got through a tough college workload just fine…it might be burnout or something but what do you do to keep yourself working productively throughout the day and night? Please help.
Start with the simple shit.
Get enough sleep, eat healthy food, exercise, even try fasting.
Try a dopamine detox or just going on your phone/ the internet less. Especially things like tiktok and any instant gratification vices.
After that just train it like any skill or muscle. Meditation is the best way to do this. Start small and work your way up in time.
bump
Chill Lofi Study Beats playlist on spotify and blue light glasses are my go-to when I start to struggle with focus. Most of the time I don't use either but it works well to trick myself into locking in.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX8Uebhn9wzrS
You sound a lot like me, but then again I have diagnosed ADHD and my life improved dramatically after being prescribed Adderall, despite my initial resistance to it.
Medication is no replacement for discipline, though. A habit that helped a lot before I was medicated and that I still use every day: first thing I do in the morning is jot down every single thing I have to do, on the job or otherwise, on a legal pad. Don’t type this up, write it down on a physical piece of paper. Break down every task into sub-tasks, estimate how long each one will take you, write down each deadline, and rank them all in order of priority. Add to the list as emails pour in throughout the day.
This is going to sound weird, but hopefully you have at least a bit of anxiety - if so, it’s impossible to zone out or become unfocused when you have a pile of to-do’s staring you in the face at all hours of the day, knowing you have a limited stretch of time to complete them all.
You might be wired differently though. If so, like one of the replies above said, start with the basics - sleep, diet, exercise. Make sure you’re not iron/B12 deficient or anything like that (you might laugh but the number of people I’ve seen falling asleep at their desks only to find out they were straight up anemic would surprise you).
Hope this helps, but if it doesn’t, you’ll need to find what does motivate you and put up a constant reminder of it somewhere in your immediate vicinity. I find that sustained focus follows sustained motivation.
Waiting on my ADHD test next week so replying to bookmark this lol. I think the not getting stuff done/zoning out until it's about to blow up in your face thing is the biggest one with me
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