Why Can’t I Focus On Anything Anymore?

If you’re anything like me, the ability to sit down and effortlessly accomplish hours’ worth of work seems incredibly daunting on a good day, and nearly impossible on a bad one. It’s always taken a significant effort to keep me productive for long periods, but it feels like it’s been especially challenging lately. I don’t know if it’s because the weather is getting warmer, or because the end of the semester is in sight, or if it is simply just the “sophomore slump,” but one thing is for certain: it’s not going to fix itself. While I am by no means perfect (even just writing this article took intense effort), here are some practices that I have found to increase my focus and my overall mental state. 

Put Down the Phone

I know this is the last thing anyone wants to hear, but yes, it probably is because of that phone. For the longest time, I didn’t even realise how many hours I would spend on my phone every day, because an hour of mindless scrolling feels infinitely quicker than an hour of productivity. It got to the point where I didn’t even enjoy being on my phone; it just felt like the easiest thing to do to distract myself from everything else. Simply installing screen time locks on certain apps reduced my daily screen time significantly — and now I rarely find myself reaching for it. It would always be my default every time I wanted to take a break from studying, because I figured it would be quicker and take less brainpower to spend a few minutes scrolling than to read a book or watch a show. However, now that I have begun to break the habit, I have noticed that scrolling on social media has actually been more stressful and energy-consuming than basically anything else I could be doing. You won’t realise it until you stop, but once you stop, you will not notice it again. 

Move Your Body

I’m no stranger to the idea that I need to sit down and not get up until I finish a set amount of work. However, I have also found that this basically never works. I just end up with brain fog and a to-do list filled with unchecked items. I have found that stretching and doing yoga is the thing that best helps with my focus. I always tell myself that I don’t have time to take an hour-long break just to do yoga, but when I do, my productivity afterwards is much higher. I end up getting more work done than I would of if I had spent that extra hour aimlessly staring at my computer screen. Especially since I spend 90% of my week hunched over a computer (as we all do), spending even just a few minutes to counteract that always makes me feel significantly better, both physically and mentally. Even if you don’t have time to fully walk away and reset, taking a five-minute walk can help significantly. It seems small and is easy to overlook, but don’t underestimate the impact of simply standing up and coming back after a few minutes. 

Don’t Self Isolate

As someone who values my alone time and often finds myself too burnt out to justify going out of my way to hang out with people, I have also come to realize that it is the best way to keep myself on track. Whether it is meeting up with a friend to study, getting lunch together on a busy day, or even just debriefing with my roommates when I get home at night, these little social interactions add up and fuel my productivity and energy. 

It can be easy to think that just putting your head down and shovelling through piles of homework and studying is the only thing to do, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Uninterrupted periods of productivity followed by rejuvenating breaks may seem impossible when the work is piling up, but it is actually the exact thing you need to get through it efficiently and effectively. 

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• college
• focus
• productive
• social media
• yoga