How to Focus: 8 Changes That Make Concentration Easier

To focus, make the decisions before you sit down: pick one task and its first step, put your phone in another room, work in short blocks with planned breaks, and get enough sleep the night before. Concentration depends more on your setup than on how hard you try, and each of those changes has research behind it.

Why it's so hard to focus

Most trouble focusing comes from three things you can change.

The phone is too close. In a set of experiments, people whose phone was in another room scored better on working memory and reasoning tests than people whose phone sat on the desk, face down and silent (Ward et al., 2017). You don't have to check it for it to take some of your attention.

You switch too often. When you leave a task unfinished and jump to another, part of your attention stays on the first one. Leroy called this attention residue, and people with more of it did worse on the next task (Leroy, 2009). Every quick look at messages starts a new switch.

You're tired. In a meta-analysis of 70 studies, a night of lost sleep hurt simple attention more than any other mental skill tested. Reasoning was barely affected, but lapses of attention went up a lot (Lim & Dinges, 2010).

8 ways to focus better

1. Choose one task and write the first step. "Work on the report" is vague. "Write the intro paragraph" is something you can start in the next minute.
2. Make an if-then plan. For example: "If it's 9:00 and I've made coffee, then I open the document before email." A meta-analysis of 94 tests found that plans in this format had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 200638002-1)).
3. Put the phone in another room. Not face down, not in your pocket. If you need it for two-factor codes, leave it in the hallway.
4. Lock the apps you open out of habit. Social media, video and news apps during your work hours, so a quick check isn't an option.
5. Work in blocks with planned breaks. In a study with 87 university students, those who took fixed breaks, either 6 minutes after every 24 of study (Pomodoro style) or 3 after every 12, felt less tired and distracted and more focused than those who chose their own breaks. They got the same work done in less time (Biwer et al., 2023).
6. Finish or park before you switch. If you must stop halfway, write one line about where you left off and what comes next, then close that tab.
7. Keep a distraction list. When a thought pops up ("reply to Sam", "buy milk"), write it on paper and go back to the task. Deal with the list at the break.
8. Protect your sleep. Focus starts the night before. If you slept badly, schedule the hardest work for when you feel most awake and keep the blocks shorter.

Lock distractions while you work

LockTy blocks the apps you pick on a schedule, when you arrive at the library or the office, or by mode, so the rule is set before temptation shows up. If you need an app for a minute, you can ask for a short break instead of turning everything off.

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How to focus when studying

For studying, what you do during the block matters as much as the block itself. A large review of learning techniques rated practice testing (quizzing yourself, flashcards, past exams) and spreading study over several days as the most useful. Rereading and highlighting came out as low utility (Dunlosky et al., 2013).

Active methods also make it harder for your mind to drift. It's easy to reread a page while thinking about something else. It's much harder to answer a question from memory without paying attention.

An example focus session

This is an example, not a rule. Adjust the times to your day.

If 24 minutes feels too long at first, start with 12 minutes of work and 3 of rest, the shorter schedule from the same study.

Common mistakes

• Waiting to feel motivated. The if-then plan decides for you. Start with the first step even if you don't feel like it.
• Leaving the phone "just in case." It costs attention even when you don't touch it.
• Skipping breaks to push through. In the Biwer study, people who managed their own breaks studied longer at a stretch and felt more tired and distracted.
• Trying to fix everything at once. Start with the phone and the first step. Add the rest once those stick.

When it's more than distraction

If you can't concentrate in any setting, the problem has lasted months and it affects your work, studies or relationships, talk to a doctor or psychologist. Trouble focusing can come with ADHD, anxiety, low mood or sleep problems, and a professional can check for those.

For a longer reset, monk mode applies these rules for 30 to 90 days. How to stop phone addiction covers the phone setup in more detail, and the app blocker comparison shows which tools lock apps on iPhone. If you've heard about a dopamine detox, here's what it can and can't do.