I have noticed that ever since I graduated college two years ago, my mental capacity to just focus in on anything has been getting slimmer…and slimmer…and slimmer. Every time I try to sit down and focus on doing anything, I can only make it 5 or 10 minutes before I start mindlessly checking my phone, staring out the window, or getting up and walking around aimlessly.
Now that a new semester of grad school has started, I realize that I need to get it together. There are fortunately a lot of things I would like to accomplish this semester, both intra and extracurricular, and I am looking forward to doing, well…all of them.
If I am to do that, I need to sort of “re-teach” myself to focus and work efficiently. I invested in a monthly planner for example, and I’ve started to write down everything on it — appointments, meetings, my work & class schedule, assignments…And though it has helped substantially, there are a lot of things I still need to work on. Until I do, I feel that I will not be giving the opportunities in my life the time and energy they deserve.
I have thus come up with three things that I am prioritizing when it comes to planning and working efficiently this semester. This way, I can start kickin’ ass instead of sitting on it eating ice cream and stressing over the things I want to do but haven’t done.
Enjoy!
- I need to stop believing I am the Queen of Multitasking. Sit down Paola, you’re not. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve attempted to work on three different things at once only to realize that I have not successfully accomplished any of them. Repeat after me: 10% of 10 things does not equal 100%.
- I have started brainstorming and have very quickly become obsessed with it. To do this, I start out by writing my name on the middle of a sheet of paper. Around it, I write all of the things that are taking up my time or that I need to or want to accomplish in the near future. I then rate all of those things in order of importance using a number system (from 1 to 3) so I have a better idea of what to tackle first.
- I’ve started implementing my psychology studies into my life (hallelujah), especially the concept of instant VS delayed gratification. Instant gratification is easy to give in to because it is just so attractive: why start studying when a new season of Queer Eye just came out? We choose easy distractions over our responsibilities because they’re just that: short-term gratifications to help us escape from whatever is stressing us at the moment.
What are your favorite ways to focus?
Until next time, Pao.