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As much as you might want to get work done in theory, there are a lot of roadblocks that can keep you from crossing things off on your to-do list. This section covers three interconnected barriers to using your time effectively:
A distraction is anything that pulls your attention away from something you want or need to focus on. This can include external distractions, like noise or phone notifications, as well as internal distractions, like our own thoughts and habits.
One of the difficult things about managing distraction is that there is no way to do it perfectly. You will always get distracted at some point because people have limited attention spans, so the goal is not to eliminate distractions altogether but rather manage how often they happen and how quickly you can refocus on what you need to be doing.
There are a few strategies and tools you can use to manage how much distractions impact your work:
It's nothing personal, though: no one is good at it.
When we multitask, we feel like we’re being efficient because we’re getting multiple things done at once. We might be doing multiple things, but we’re not doing them well, and we’re often so busy congratulating ourselves for mastering the hidden art of productivity that we don’t notice all of the errors we’re making or the time we’ve lost switching our attention between multiple things. As we cover in more detail in the Learning New Material section, focusing on one task at a time feels more difficult, but the difficulty is part of what makes learning effective.
The fact that people aren't good at multitasking does not mean that we can't learn anything unless we're sequestered in a remote cabin off the grid. It just means we need to be aware of the impact of trying to do multiple things at once. There's nothing stopping you from studying in front of the TV, for example, but you will need to study longer than if you were doing it without the distraction.
Again, no one has an unlimited attention span, so you’re going to get distracted at some point. Stretching out the time between distractions can help you get more done, though, which is where batching comes in.
Rather than checking your phone whenever you get a notification, for example, check it once every 30 minutes or once an hour and work on other things in between. Batching is a way to avoid an “all or nothing” approach to managing distractions. Rather than trying to tell yourself to never check your phone while you’re studying, then failing and giving up, batching puts distractions into regular intervals. Making yourself wait for 30-60 minutes to do something is far easier than waiting all day; and if you fail, you just try again for the next batch.
Batching is the principle behind the Pomodoro Technique, but it emphasizes batching your work more than your distractions. The Pomodoro Technique involves setting a timer for 25 minutes (or less if 25 minutes seems like too much) and working on a single task without stopping until the timer goes off, then taking a 5 minute break. After the break, you set the timer again and continue working on the same task or start a new one.
We are so used to engaging in some distractions that we don't even notice when we do it, so removing your access to them (at least temporarily) can help you stay on task.
If you’re writing a paper on your computer, it can be very easy to slip into a website that isn’t relevant to your paper. Likewise, it’s really hard to avoid checking your phone every 30 seconds if it’s right next to you. To avoid these distractions, make it harder to access them unconsciously.
If you can, disconnect your wifi while you work. You could also install a distraction blocker like Freedom, Cold Turkey, StayFocusd, or SelfControl to keep you from accessing distracting sites while you work. For your phone, turn off the notifications and keep it out of arm’s reach. If that’s still too much of a temptation, add more incentive with a phone blocker like Forest, which turns not using your phone into a game (that can double as a Pomodoro timer).
Motivation is the ability to find and use energy to accomplish a task. If you lack the motivation to do something, like study for your biology exam, it’s a lot easier to be distracted because you aren’t devoting enough energy to it to overcome the temptation to do something else. If you find your motivation to study lagging, there are some things you can try:
Taking a look at what you want to accomplish this term, this year, or by the time you graduate can help put a more immediate task into perspective. How does doing the thing you don’t really feel like doing contribute to your bigger goals and plans?
Motivation is typically divided into intrinsic (personal interest or fulfillment) and extrinsic (money, grades, compliments, etc). It’s generally considered better to be intrinsically motivated, which is true in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes there are things you need to do simply because you have to, and in those cases extrinsic motivators can help you finish them. Promising yourself a fancy coffee, or a bubble bath, or an evening off for finishing a task can give you the extra push you need.
While you still shouldn’t get that BTS tattoo just because your friend said you should, sometimes peer pressure can be motivating:
Many people find that simply telling their friends or family what they plan to do (e.g., “I’m going to finish a first draft of my paper by tomorrow”) can motivate them because they are now accountable to someone. Study groups (functional study groups, not the ones that are excuses to slack off and pretend you’re studying) can do a similar thing: being around other people who are working can make it easier to work yourself.
If you’re more of a lone wolf when it comes to studying, try writing down your plan and putting it somewhere visible to remind you of your goal. You can also try playing a “study with me” video while you work. It’s just a recording, but seeing someone else concentrating can still motivate you to keep going.
When we have a task to do, but we feel bored by the material, overwhelmed about how much we have to do, frustrated by our lack of progress, or fearful of failing, we often procrastinate or avoid doing the task to avoid the emotion.
That’s why procrastination is so tricky: our emotions have more of an effect on our behaviours than we sometimes realize, so it can be hard to get to the root of why we’re avoiding a task. In addition to using the strategies for managing distraction and maintaining motivation, here are some things you can do to address your procrastination:
If you’re overwhelmed by how much you need to do, sometimes thinking of your tasks as very small, simple steps can help. It’s probably not very efficient to create a highly detailed to-do list like “1. Write one sentence 2. Write another sentence…” all the time, but when you’re stuck or procrastinating, giving yourself very small, achievable steps can help you get the ball rolling
Perfectionism is often a form of procrastination because our fear of making a mistake or failing leads to us not doing the things we need to do.
Explicitly trying to do something imperfectly can help you break out of that cycle because it takes some of the pressure off of you. Try to emphasize progress over perfection: getting something done that you need to go back and work on is better than not starting at all.