As the semester is picking up speed, you might find yourself in a rut. It’s becoming hard to focus on your academics, and you’re struggling to find the energy to keep going. There are, of course, the obvious reasons why you can’t focus, such as exhaustion and lack of interest, but there might be more to the story. Here are some factors that stop me from focusing or concentrating on my work that took me a while to finally nail down.
1. You’re dehydrated.
Dehydration is a concern in more ways than one. Your body is made of approximately 55-60% water, depending on your sex, age and other factors, such as fat composition. But chances are, you’re not drinking adequate amounts of water. I know there are many times I feel cranky and just struggle to think properly, and it’s attributable to dehydration. The Mayo Clinic lists listlessness and irritability as a sign of dehydration, and those are definitely things that prevent you from absorbing your calc notes. So, make sure you keep your water bottle within arms reach and try to drink at least one whole bottle’s worth of water (depending on the size of your bottle) daily.
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2. You’re too cold or too hot
Uncomfortable temperatures can also prevent you from being able to focus on your work. If you’re indoors, it can be a little harder to determine if you’re bothered by the temperature. However, if you find yourself holding in tension, or feeling stifled, you’re probably cold or hot. Either keep a sweater with you or a big fluffy scarf you can curl up in, because you never know when you’ll be at odds with the temperature.
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3. Your workspace is uncomfortable.
This is an odd reason to be unable to focus, but it’s definitely a reason I find it hard to concentrate on my work, especially when I need to write at a desk. If you’ve been sitting at the tall tables in the Lib Café and find that you have to overextend your arms and your elbows are raised too high, try moving locations.
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4. You need to exercise
Although it might seem counterintuitive when you have a lot of assignments and exams coming up, the solution might be that you need to exercise and let your energy out, especially if you haven’t been exercising regularly. Even if you have been, but have been doing something slower in pace, you might need to get in a good cardio session and exhaust your muscles physically before your brain can settle down to study.
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5. You slept too much
While adequate amounts of sleep are definitely essential to your ability to concentrate, too much of a good thing is never a good thing. Excessive amounts of sleep might lead to being lethargic and sluggish. It’s hard to get back into a work mode when you’ve turned it off for a long time.
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6. You are hungry
There is really no way to get around it. When you’re hungry, eat something. However, make sure you eat something that is good for your body. If at that moment, you are really craving a brownie and can’t stop thinking of a brownie, that might be what is good for you, because it will help you the most. However, if it’s just hunger that you feel, not attached to a craving for anything in particular, pick a healthy snack, such as a bowl of fruit or yogurt instead.
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7. The internet
This is the most obvious distraction. When you find yourself switching back and forth between social media outlets and scrolling through the same things over and over again, that’s when you know its bad. Switch off the phone for a few hours. If you need it on and need an alarm so you don’t miss your class, you can put it on airplane mode. Another good strategy is to ask your friends, if you are studying with them, to keep your phone and not give it back to you until you’ve finished studying.
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8. You didn’t understand the material, and so you feel frustrated
This one isn’t so much about a distraction, but it’s about your mindset. If you already worked on the subject you’re trying to study and you’re frustrated with it, you can’t keep going. You can’t expect new results from the same actions, especially if you didn’t get the results you wanted the first time. Try watching a video on the topic. YouTube and Khan academy are great sources or try reading from a different textbook or even find it on the “for dummies” website. Once you have a more positive mindset towards the topic, go back to the original book or your lecture slides and tackle it again.
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9. You’re over-caffeinated
If, instead of drinking water, you reach for a coffee, you are not only depriving yourself of proper hydration, but you are probably creating a dependency on caffeine, whether it’s just in your mind or in your body as well. Cut down the coffee intake to 1 cup a day instead of 2 or only drink it on days that you need a lot of energy or on days where you got sub-optimal levels of sleep. You can also try substituting tea for coffee or choosing a less sugary latte.
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10. Your music is too engaging
Putting your music on and your headphones in can be just what you need to get in the zone. However, you don’t want to be too engaged in the music and not as engaged in what you’re studying. Instrumental music, or even trailer music or video game music is said to be the best at making you focused. If you listen to your favorite songs, you’ll probably be enjoying them more than they’ll be keeping you on track.
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I hope you can think more about why you find yourself distracted and unable to do your work, and hopefully you can find productive and healthy ways to overcome your distractions and obstacles.