How do you stay on task?

[elysepopplewell]

We've been discussed a few ways to deal with struggling to focus here. I've struggled with focusing for even short periods of time myself, so I'm really keen to know how everyone else stays on task, even if you do have a longer attention span!

Who doodles in class? Who uses social-media blockers? Who gives their mum their phone when they get home? Who breaks every half hour to watch YouTube? What is your incentive to stay on task?

I really would love everyone's contributions - I want to collate a list of ways to stay on task. Tell me about your experiences, what works and what doesn't!

Edit: Although I'm interested to know how you beat procrastination, I'm more interested in how you stay on task, rather than how you psych yourself up to start! What keeps you focused?

[bsdfjnlkasn]

Hey, interesting thread! What I tend to do is plan the work for the afternoon in the morning to ensure I have some direction for when I get home. If I need to tweak a few tasks, then I do (say if I'm tired or got a new, more urgent task) - but for the most part I stick to it . If I find myself getting distracted I take a quick break or even switch subjects and of course, if I start feeling tired before all the work is done, I've recently started going to bed because there's no point producing poor quality work just because I expect myself to work to a certain time. Hopefully this is what you were looking for and interested in reading what everyone else does

[vox nihili]

Was going to write some tip-top advice here until I realised that the only reason I'm reading this thread rn is because I can't stay on task...

[tanyaboer]

There are a few tactics I use to stay on track! These include:
Only studying for 1 hour max- I find that if I study for longer than 1 hour chunks (sometimes even 40 minutes), I start procrastinating and checking my phone constantly.
Setting goals for each hour- When I set a goal for every hour of study, I feel motivated to achieve that goal. For example, if my goal is to finish revising chapter 2, I will not procrastinate until I know that I will finish the chapter in time.
Setting big goals for each hour- When I set very achievable goals (e.g.: revise 1 chapter), I tend to procrastinate because I know that I can easily achieve them in and hour. Instead, I try set optimistic goals for myself (e.g.: revise 2/3 chapters) in an hour. By doing this, I make sure that I don't procrastinate.
Reminding myself why I want to reach the goal- If I don't have a reason for achieving my goal, why do it?! I usually want to finish the work so that I can take the next day off, or have a super long break that day.

Of course there are days when even these don't work, but for the majority of the time they do A okay!

[j_asf]

Great question!
I know that focusing on any task at hand is especially difficult, however what I've found really helpful is listening to movie soundtracks whilst studying, and I have a few in particular which I always recommend to friends:

-Narnia: Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe (my all time favourite, I adore the Narnia movies!)
-The Theory of Everything
-The Danish Girl
-The Imitation Game
-Lord of the Rings/ The Hobbit

There's something about these soundtracks in particular which really get me in the zone and motivate me to keep focused!

[pikachu975]

I stay on task if I like the subject like maths or sciences but if it's english I procrastinate till no tomorrow.

My main tip is music because it motivates me and helps me to do work, and I listen to like nightcore or the modern songs or mashups etc.

[sudodds]

Great question!
I know that focusing on any task at hand is especially difficult, however what I've found really helpful is listening to movie soundtracks whilst studying, and I have a few in particular which I always recommend to friends:

-Narnia: Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe (my all time favourite, I adore the Narnia movies!)
-The Theory of Everything
-The Danish Girl
-The Imitation Game
-Lord of the Rings/ The Hobbit

There's something about these soundtracks in particular which really get me in the zone and motivate me to keep focused!

I am exactly the same! Highly recommend the Game of Thrones, Pirates of the Caribbean and Battle Royale soundtracks as well. (Hunger Games also works well if you're working under pressure I find!)

[brenden]

I don't

[bowiemily]

If I really need to get stuff done, I set a timer for an hour and cover the clock on my computer with bluetak. Then I know once the timer has gone off, I've done a solid hour of work. The first hour is generally the hardest. However, once it passes, I get up and make some tea, come back and restart. It then just becomes habit of studying. That first hour is brutal though, especially if you know its the start of a very long day of studying.

[Calebark]

I tend to keep my study sessions short. Half an hour, short break, repeat.

But the key is to plan something enjoyable for after your study session, whether it be sport, a book, a movie, or some nice food. This way, I feel like I have to work hard in order to deserve the treat. I call it the Doggo's Treat Study Method.

[herb123]

Good to take some time out beforehand to make a little study schedule/plan. I find i get motivated to follow that through

[herb123]

If your're getting distracted particularly by ur phone there's a great app called forest which locks ur phone for a given time period
it also lets u add friends so its a bit more fun so u can compete who stays on task for longer

[Coffee]

If your're getting distracted particularly by ur phone there's a great app called forest which locks ur phone for a given time period
it also lets u add friends so its a bit more fun so u can compete who stays on task for longer

+1

I was just going to mention Forest. It's a great app!

I usually don't have too much trouble staying on task but when I do I set the Forest timer to 30-50 minutes with a 10 minute break in between each session. In the past year or so I've really gotten into watching Youtube, so I tend to use those 10 minutes to catch up watching my favourite Youtubers as a bit of an incentive to stay productive.

[sweetiepi]

If your're getting distracted particularly by ur phone there's a great app called forest which locks ur phone for a given time period
it also lets u add friends so its a bit more fun so u can compete who stays on task for longer

+1

I was just going to mention Forest. It's a great app!

I usually don't have too much trouble staying on task but when I do I set the Forest timer to 30-50 minutes with a 10 minute break in between each session. In the past year or so I've really gotten into watching Youtube, so I tend to use those 10 minutes to catch up watching my favourite Youtubers as a bit of an incentive to stay productive.

+1000
Brilliant app!

Recently though, I've used an app called Tide, with some cool white-noise sounds, such as rain!
Also habitica is great as well, I've been using that as an accountability tool, with a friend

[CalvinHill]

And I'm always motivated by music