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Time and Attention Management: Attention Management

Attention Management

Have you drafted a great plan for your studies but you struggle to keep focus and concentration? Find on this page some tips to stave off distractions and be productive in your studies. 

Contents of this tab:

  • Time and Place of Study 
  • Take Care of Yourself and Respect your Needs 
  • Study Actively 
  • Avoid Time Stealers
  • Dealing With Emotional Distractions

Time and Place of Study

It is very important that you find a suitable environment for your study:

  • Choose an appropriate study space. This should be from noise and social distractions.
  • If you find you concentrate better with some background noises or music, however, see to that! You can also use ambiance apps such as Study ambiance, Coffitivity, Noisli.
  • Minimise possible interruptions. For instance, you could set your laptop to 'flight mode', and turn-off or set your phone to silent. Use content blocker apps such as Forest, Flora, Cold Turkey.

Also consider the times of your day when you are more productive and be aware of your energy levels. For example, after a long day at university take a good break before undertaking a study session. 

Take Care of Yourself and Respect your Needs

In order to focus and use your brain it is fundamental that you live a healthy life:

  • Sleep at least 7 hours per night
  • Eat healthy food
  • Take regular breaks
  • Exercise regularly

Focus on Goals and Objectives

Focusing on timed goals and objectives is an effective shield against distractions. Giving yourself a little "pressure" from mini-deadlines can stave off unproductive temptations.

See tab Time Management for SMART goals and Pomodoro Technique. 

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Study Actively

What you do during your studies will also influence your capacity to concentrate. For example, it may be hard to focus on and process a text if you merely read it from beginning to end. 

Try active study methods to make your study more effective. By active we mean, for example:

  • Engaging the BRAIN (questioning the materials you are reading, linking and associating, taking notes, making mind maps, processing, elaborating, applying)
  • Involving the BODY (writing, drawing, highlighting, reading or repeating texts out loud)
  • Involving the SENSES (listening to information, also using text-to-speech software, watching videos, experiencing and role-playing)

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Avoid Time Stealers

Do you feel that your time is stolen by distractions and other obstacles to the achievement of your goals?

Think for a moment about your time stealers, and then think about solutions to avoid them.

Below we identify some common time stealers. You may notice that some are less obvious than others!

 

Time Stealers

Solutions

Daily distractions such as smartphones, television, social media

Clarify the priorities in your life. (See Covey’s matrix.)

Give yourself timed objectives, for example using the pomodoro technique. (See tab Time Management). This will automatically give some urgency to the study activity you are performing.

Use content blocker apps such as Forest, Flora, Cold Turkey.

Lack of self-awareness about time and how you spend

Reflect on your use of time. For example, how long does it take to

  • get ready in the morning?
  • travel to university?
  • read a chapter of an academic text?
  • get to the library after lectures/seminars?
  • check social media/texting/on the phone each day?
  • watch series/films?

Disorganisation

If you waste time as your notes are not organised, consider organising your study materials more effectively. For example, have a revision folder, organise your files on your computer in a logical way. (See tab Videos and Apps.)

Perfectionism

It may surprise you, but perfectionism can be a time stealer, if it prevents you from progressing in your work.

If you are writing an assignment, try separating generation of content from editing, so you can proceed more expeditiously and freely to lay the foundations of your work.

Procrastination

Procrastination comes from the Latin pro = forward and cras = tomorrow and means to postpone undertaking a task even knowing there would be negative consequences to this.

Try Time Management strategies to identify and visualise the tasks that you need to do and allocate time to them. This should help you appreciate how time is precious and what you don’t to today may not always be done tomorrow.

Inability to say “no”

If you receive too many demands from friends, families and colleagues you may need to simply say “no”. Every time you give your time think about the opportunity cost of this – what else could you have done with this time to move you towards your goals? We are not suggesting you to become a time scrooge, but that you consider your long-term interests as well.

Dealing With Emotional Distractions

Worries and anxieties can often distract us and undermine our focus and concentration. These thoughts may need to be addressed, but preferably not during your study time, so you can try this strategy: setting aside worry time. 

  1. Set aside a specific time in the day when you are allowed to worry.
  2. Whenever an anxiety or distracting thought enters your mind during the day, banish it until your next worry time, and re-focus on to what you are supposed to be doing.
  3. Some find it helpful to write down the banished thought, to make sure that you won’t have forgotten it when you get to your worry time.
  4. Try to deal with the sources of your worries.
  5. If the worries persist seek help. (See tab on Stress Management)

 

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