We live in a world that never seems to sleep. I used to try hard and often felt unaccomplished at the end of the day. Determined to change my life, one day, I opened my laptop. An email notification popped up, so I responded, leading me to my LinkedIn profile. I had to add some new skills because - “What can be more important than keeping my professional website up to date?” Right? While doing that, I got a few notifications suggesting a critical video I HAD to watch: “What if I forget about it later?”. This took me to a YouTube video,   “How to improve your body language to look more professional”. I ended up spending almost 2 hours watching videos from there. By the time I shut down the laptop, I knew which actor got married, how I could lose 10 kgs in one week, and why the state of the economy in the country was what it was. You get the point. That was when I asked myself, “Oh wait! Why did I open this laptop exactly?” Ultimately, I decided to take a step back and see what happened. If you are like me, you might have been in a similar situation, and you know what I am talking about. I was distracted! After this realization dawned on me, I started researching how to increase my focus. I read many books and watched the videos of famous productivity gurus, and these were the points I could distill it down to. Let me share some things I do to stay focused in a distracted world.

Have a structure to your day. Jumping into your day without an agenda is like leaving a child in a shop full of toys and expecting them to pick up the homework instead. Have a broad structure to your day. This is where you would decide that today I have to (for example) meditate in the morning, attend gym class, finish that presentation, and go out for dinner with my friends. Now you have a broad plan. You can see how all these tasks fit into your day. You can go as granular or as comprehensive as you want with it. It works differently for every person. Too much structure and granularity do not work for me, but if that makes sense for you, go for it!

Create a focus time block. Block out the chunks of time on your calendar to let people know you are in focus mode. Make sure that the time you block is at least 2 hours. For example, in my case, I keep the morning time from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm for meetings because my team is scattered all over the US. I ensured I could help them and attend any meetings during that time. The second half of my day is what I block out for some hard-core-focused work. I made it a point to add a block to my calendar for this time. Now that I have this block, my teammates know not to expect a response during my focus time.

Weed out the distractions. Now that we broadly know what tasks must be tackled today, we have created a focus block. It is time to weed out the distractions that might keep you from getting that work.

Remove your phone from your field of vision. The less you see your phone, the less tempted you’d be to pick it up. Before keeping the phone away, make sure to silence the notifications. If you need your phone for work, then another idea is to turn your phone from color to black and white. You won’t believe how fast one loses interest in the phone when you can’t see the colors on those Instagram photos or that TikTok video.

Block distracting websites. With faster internet and searches, opening the browser and watching a video or reading a news article has become easy. We think these are harmless, but every distraction is a small dent in our focus. To stay focused actively, blocking out the websites you open most frequently is a good idea. We have extensions and apps these days that allow blocking out websites for a certain period. This can be done on all the devices.

Work from a designated area. The physical space where you work matters, too. It can be your home office, dining table, or walk-in closet. Whatever location you have selected for your work, make it a point to work in that designated area. That way, when you return to it, your brain will perceive it as focus time and get into the zone!

Face the workstation away from distractions. Do you have a home office? Great! Just shut that door and get to work. If you cannot avoid high-traffic areas like the living room or dining room, try to face the wall and work.

Reduce noise distraction with noise-canceling headphones and music. Noise is everywhere: honking cars, crying kids, that neighbor who wants to listen to the music on loud, that backing truck. Noise is the primary source of distraction. Investing in a good pair of noise-canceling headphones is an excellent way to focus. They will help you concentrate on the task at hand while keeping the unwanted noise out. Listening to music is also one of the best ways to stay focused and boost creativity.

Create a visual signal for focus time. Suppose your peers or family tends to come up and chat every few minutes. Have some signs to let them know that you are in focus mode. It can be when your headphones are on or just sticking a piece of paper near your desk saying - In Focus Mode.

Create a block for unfocussed time. Just like creating a block for focus time, you can also create a block for your unfocussed time. It might be helpful for some people to chunk out time to read and respond to emails or Slack messages. Chunking out time for meetings is also a great idea. It allows you to concentrate on the tasks that need collaboration, leaving the time for focused work undisturbed.

Respect your blocked time. Blocking out the time is one thing, but it is also essential to respect that. Because this is an appointment you have set for yourself, it is on you to ensure you keep it. So, the next tip is to silence all notifications. Distractions like notifications make it more challenging to stay focused. What works for me is to silence my phone, laptop, and any device around me. Only time-sensitive notifications and repeated calls are allowed. An exception to this rule is the calls from my family, and they know not to call during that time unless it is urgent.

Set goals. Setting goals is an essential part of staying focused. A deadline or a goal is a great motivation to stay focused and finish work. Goals let us measure our progress and make adjustments to our schedule. How focused you want to stay and for how long would largely depend on the goal you are trying to achieve.

Reward yourself for a job well done! Don’t forget to reward yourself when you achieve those goals. Every win is a big step in your journey.

Even if you eliminate all the distractions and sit in a box with no human contact, there is still one person who needs to learn not to disturb you during focus time. You! To stay focused, you need to re-train the brain. Here are a few ways that can help with that.

Meditation - Meditation is nothing but sitting silently, focussing on your breath. Sitting still is challenging; our minds are trained to think that sitting still is wasteful. But that is when you are working the hardest. This is where most of the ideas and inspirations come from. Meditation has a lot of benefits, like increased focus over a more extended period. Start small with 2 - 5 minutes of meditation sessions, then slowly increase the time. Eventually, you’ll be able to sit for much longer.

Exercise - Another way to increase your focus is exercising. Exercising helps develop new neurons that promote cell growth, improving concentration. If you can exercise daily, that’s great; if not, two days a week is a great start. The body and mind are very closely interlinked with each other. So, it is essential to keep both healthy. A healthy body also leads to a healthy mind, which helps with focus and concentration.

Reading - Immerse yourself in a great book. It does not matter what genre it is; the act of undistracted reading is what is essential. Reading has a lot of benefits; over time, when you read more, you’ll realize that it has done wonders for your focus, along with other benefits.

Pick up a hobby. Nothing trains your brain to focus more than a new hobby. Whether painting, sketching, or singing, anything you pick up will need your full attention while learning.

Finally, remember to schedule some downtime. Just like a car cannot run without fuel, our body and mind cannot run without some fun. It feels great to be in a flow state, but taking a break and rest is equally important. So remember to schedule some time to relax!

These suggestions can help you focus if that is something you have been struggling with, just like me. That being said, not everything might work for everyone. Everyone’s situations are different, after all. But this is the core of my research on improving my focus and productivity. In writing this, I hope that, if not all, some points will help you figure out what works best for you and help you on your productivity journey. I wish you all the best!