In a fast-paced world that moves from in-person to online in an instant, finding how to concentrate on tasks throughout the day can feel slightly challenging. Distractions are everywhere, and they can easily influence how much you focus on your daily routine.
Jump Ahead:
- Why Is It Hard to Stay Concentrated?
- 10 Tips for Improving Your Concentration
- Restore Your Focus With Mobile IV Medics
Luckily, you can try several solutions to help your concentration levels at work, school and home. Look over the following reasons your concentration may change and our top 10 tips for focusing on your goals.
Why Is It Hard to Stay Concentrated?
We’ve all been there. We have an important task or goal that we want to tackle. However, it can feel like we’re stuck in place. Progress can seem simple some days, and the next day feels more challenging.
Similar to how phones can switch to different apps in a matter of seconds, our brains try to focus on multiple tasks and ideas at once. However, our minds do not function the same way as technology. While sometimes necessary for work or home projects, multitasking might make us feel like we are getting ahead of our daily routine, while it hinders our performance. Instead, our complete focus on one task at a time allows us to get things done more quickly and accurately.
External factors can also make it difficult to concentrate. Our work environments and conversations with co-workers, other students and family can distract us from getting everything down that we planned for the day.
Luckily with a few tips for concentrating, you can work on starting your day with a focused mindset to achieve your goals.
10 Tips for Improving Your Concentration
If you relate to these internal and external factors that make concentration challenging, you are not alone! Luckily you can do several things to increase your focus and learn how to stay concentrated longer. Take a look at these 10 concentration tips and apply them to your daily routine when needed.
1. Limit Background Distractions
Working from home is an excellent way to complete your work tasks from the comfort of your living room, home office or bedroom. While responding to emails in your pajamas is a fun way to get your to-do list done, working from home also increases the distractions around you. Your pets may want to be around you more often, your family may have the TV on as you work, or the snack breaks we all love sound tempting more often. Distractions are everywhere, whether we notice them or not, and can make us lose focus on the tasks at hand.
The first of many focus tips is to limit these distractions as much as possible. Try to find a place in your home where you can have peace for several hours. You can let your roommates or family members know that this space is for work only, so they can steer clear until you clock out for the day. You can also try to keep TVs off to focus without background chatter. If you concentrate better with background noise, listen to some jazz or lo-fi beats during work! Instrumental music is excellent for concentration since there are no words in the songs, and it provides relaxing sound waves to your workspace.
2. Get a Good Night’s Sleep
While it may sound cliche that sleeping can fix almost anything, in this case, it can! Our ability to focus can rely heavily on how much sleep we got last night and the quality of our sleep cycles. Getting enough sleep to wake up with high energy and motivation helps us retain the attention and concentration we need to accomplish our goals and make new ones.
When we don’t get a good night’s sleep, our neurons become overworked, making us more tired, less focused and unprepared to make logical decisions. You can wake up ready to accomplish your daily goals by limiting screen time an hour before bed, going to sleep at a reasonable time, not having caffeine in the evening and clearing your mind. Some enjoy meditating or reading a relaxing book to rest peacefully before starting their day!
3. IV Drip Therapy
IV therapy is a great way to get your energy back to tackle the day ahead. Our bodies quickly respond to routines and consistent schedules, which can sometimes decrease our energy levels daily. To get more pep in your step, you can try IV therapy to help recharge your cells and mental clarity! An IV drip supplies you with vitamins, nutrients and fluids through one of your veins to boost your energy and help you focus effectively on one task at a time.
Our Energy and Focus IV drip package can also help you get a good night’s sleep, manage stress, increase productivity and find the motivation to accomplish your daily tasks. In a short time, you can bounce back to your energetic self to complete any goal you set for yourself — big or small!
4. Create a Comfortable Work Environment
Your workspace can significantly influence your focus levels. Even the slightest discomfort in your seat, desk and surrounding environment can shift your focus to these factors instead of the tasks you planned to complete.
You can boost your focus with the proper support to create a comfortable and productive work environment. Try adding these items to your workspace:
- Seat cushion
- Lower back pillow
- Elevated footrest
- Mouse pad with wrist support
- Blue light glasses to protect your eyes from screen lights
- Soft lighting
- Greenery for more fresh air
You can also personalize your workspace to match your aesthetic so you feel a sense of belonging when you sit down to work on a task. Even the slightest changes to enhance your comfort can make a world of difference to your work day and concentration levels.
5. Remember to Take Breaks
Eight hours straight of working can sometimes make our minds feel tired or burnt out. If you sit at a desk for hours for meetings or to complete your daily assignments, you may notice that your focus fluctuates throughout the day. You might feel more energized in the middle of the day but mentally crash by the last hour.
To reenergize your brain and gain more focus during school or work, try to get up from your desk for about five minutes every hour. Walk around, get a glass of water, grab a snack and catch a break. Your brain will thank you for looking away from your screen for a few minutes once in a while. When you sit back down, you may notice that your attention to detail and performance levels improve.
By the time you clock out, you can feel more energized to do something for yourself. Remember to be kind to your brain and body after working several hours daily — you deserve it!
6. Focus on One Task at a Time
Think of your brain as an internet browser. When you’re working or turning in school assignments, your mind starts filling up with tabs. Like a computer starts to lag when you have too many pages open, your brain loses focus on the most crucial task you need to complete. Your brain does not perform its best when you have more than two tabs up and running.
Give your mind a break by focusing on one task at a time. You can clock into work or start school assignments by concentrating on a single brief goal. Send that important email first before starting on a project. Ask your professor questions about your essay instead of starting before you understand the assignment.
Focusing on one task at a time can also make the day go by more quickly and help you perform your best. Many people find to-do lists satisfying, so you can check off each job or goal as your day progresses. End each school or work day with a checked-off list and high concentration levels!
7. Live in the Moment
When we preoccupy our minds with plans or past choices, we limit our ability to focus on the present. Many students and employees focus on keeping a goal-oriented mindset, which is excellent for reaching personal accomplishments. However, it’s equally important to practice mindfulness so we can focus on our current actions that will someday turn into exciting achievements.
Using your five senses can help to live in the moment with mindfulness exercises. You can practice mindfulness to enhance your focus at school in work with a few grounding techniques:
- Sight: Find five objects around you that you can see from your desk. Pay attention to their colors, size and distance from you when you’re sitting. It may sound simple, but acknowledging these five objects can make you more aware of your environment, making it easier to live in the moment.
- Touch: Find four other things that you can touch. Your clothes, hair, skin, the floor below you and surrounding objects count as touchable things. Take some time to feel the texture of these objects that you might not have noticed before.
- Sound: Try to recognize three noises around you. Instead of focusing on your thoughts, take a few seconds to acknowledge your co-workers typing, fellow students chatting, sounds of nature or the ticking of a clock. These noises can help your mind focus on your surroundings, separate from your work.
- Scent: Notice two different smells in your workspace or learning environment. If you have candles or plants around your desk, take some time to smell them. You can also try to recognize the scent of coffee, tea, paper or perfume to ground yourself in the environment.
- Taste: The final step is to taste one thing with one of your favorite flavors. You can take a sip of your morning coffee, take a bite of your lunch or chew a piece of gum while you work.
8. Replenish Your Mind and Body
Nutrients and plenty of water can help you focus on important daily tasks. Try foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E and antioxidants. These nutrients boost energy and concentration so your brain can function at high levels on the clock and after hours.
Drinking enough water in a day supplies more oxygen to the brain so you can make logical decisions and stay focused all day long. Try to drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily so you’re ready to concentrate on your work or school tasks with complete focus.
9. Set Worries Aside
Project deadlines, presentations and big meetings can sometimes cause us to think of these events over current tasks. While it’s normal to anticipate important plans, you can learn how to concentrate on the present by putting these worries aside.
If you find yourself overthinking about the future, try to write your concerns on a sticky note. Physically recording your emotions and being able to put them in a designated drawer or corner of the desk can separate your worries from your daily to-do list. As these deadlines approach, you can slowly prepare yourself with small steps so you are completely ready by the time these critical dates reach your current to-do list.
10. Check Emails and Chats Routinely
It can be incredibly tempting to get up to date on messages from fellow students and co-workers. While communication is key in any work environment, you can improve your focus on daily tasks by setting a schedule to check your emails and chats.
Try to go through your messages after you clock into work or start school, again at lunch and once more before you leave for the day. These three designated times allow you to read important information as soon as you start your day and by the time you clock out. The chance to check your messages halfway through the day at lunch is helpful for any immediate questions you need to answer before completing a task. You can spend the rest of your time completing your to-list one assignment at a time.
Restore Your Focus With Mobile IV Medics
If you could use a little more pep in your step, Mobile IV Medics is here to help! Our Energy and Focus IV drip package uses vitamin B complex, vitamin B12, vitamin C, taurine and IV fluids to supply your body with an extra boost of energy. With Mobile IV Medics, you can book your appointment straight to your home for a comfortable and painless IV experience. In 45 minutes to an hour, you can feel the effects of the IV and be ready to tackle your daily tasks with ease.
IV therapy provides several health benefits, including helping alleviate symptoms from hangovers, colds, the flu, pregnancy, migraines, headaches and physical pain from athletic performances while helping support your immune system. One of our registered nurses will administer the IV and walk you through the process to answer any other questions you may have during your appointment. All you have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy feeling focused after your session ends!
Schedule an IV drip appointment that comes to you!
