Get Motivated to Study: Schedule 2 Hours of Focus Time
This is part of my How to Stop Procrastinating series.
Hey, friends!
Momentum is the antidote to procrastination. It’s that feeling, “Hey, I’m actually making progress here. Let’s keep going.” With momentum, we can accomplish anything.
What destroys momentum?
Not getting started. What keeps us from getting started? Distractions.
Distractions are everywhere. Maybe it’s doomscrolling Twitter, browsing Amazon, or binging Netflix. We’re inundated with distractions, hit from 1,000 directions. (How does anyone accomplish anything?) We’re drowning in a sea of interruptions, and it feels hopeless.
But I want to share three harsh truths I learned about myself and distractions (and then we’ll look at a solution).
One: Distractions don’t happen to me; I seek them out. I keep my favorite distractions nearby, like a safety blanket. Like a humongous pacifier. Feel an ounce of boredom? Let’s browse self-help books on Amazon. Feel annoyed at work? Let’s explore the latest drama on Twitter.
Two: I have a zillion ways to spend my time, and I always choose the most exciting thing. When Netflix offers a boring documentary or an action-packed thrill-a-minute heist movie, guess which I pick?
Three: My brain expects an unreasonable amount of stimulation. It’s difficult to sit in silence and be alone with my thoughts. And it’s my fault. I overstimulated my mind with a constant flood of drama and intrigue. My poor little brain is addicted to novelty and excitement. Anything remotely boring is painful.
Yes, it’s true, I’m the problem.
Solution
My solution is simple: Scheduled focus time with a few rules.
Example: Every morning, I have a 90-minute writing session scheduled on my calendar. During this time, I can write, I can stare at my computer, and I can sip my diet Mountain Dew. Those are the only three things I’m allowed to do.
Things not allowed: Netflix, YouTube, and Twitter. I’m also not allowed to read emails, the news, or books. (Yup, books are prohibited!) I don’t even listen to music during this time.
Why so many restrictions? Because I need writing to be the most interesting thing I can do. When the only options are 1) write some crappy words and 2) be bored out of your gourd, guess what I do?
I write!
Benefits
Scheduling focus time ensures:
I make sustainable progress toward long-term dreams
I keep commitments to myself and feel more confident
I feel more relaxed and less anxious during leisure time
Scheduled focus time builds long-term momentum. After a writing session, my brain’s subconscious crew keeps working in the background. They mull things over; they stew over things. Even when I’m working. Even when I’m washing dishes, sleeping, or watching TV, the crew is hard at work. Invisibly, in the background, and then when I start my next writing session, there they are. They hand me new turns of phrase. They hand me entire paragraphs. They’ve worked hard, and I’ve built momentum.
In addition, scheduled focus time trains my mind to be ok with periods of low stimulation. This was hard at first, but I developed a tolerance for working on things with no immediate reward. (My little brain still whines about boring tasks, just not as loudly as it used to.)
I also applied scheduled focus time to my job (as a computer programmer). I have “focus time” blocks scheduled on my work calendar. During these periods, I ignore emails, Slack messages, etc. Unless there’s an emergency (which is rare), I focus on my work. As a result, I complete more tasks in less time and feel better about myself.
Honestly, the ability to focus on boring tasks is a mini superpower.
Take action: Schedule 2 Hours of Focus Time
Block off two hours on your calendar for studying. (Ideally, this is when your energy level is highest.) Commit to a couple of hours every day.
If you’ve never done this before, start small. Commit to just one hour.
Benefits of focus time:
You make sustainable progress toward long-term dreams
You keep commitments to yourself and feel more confident
You feel more relaxed and less anxious during leisure time
Beware of two traps
When we first hear about scheduling focus time, we frequently fall into two traps.
Trap 1: We over-do it. (“I’ll study for 12 hours every day!”) And then we give up after three days (and feel bad about ourselves).
Focus is a muscle and needs time to get stronger. (It also needs rest between sessions.) Start small and optimize for consistency. (Imagine you were consistent for a year—what could you accomplish?)
Trap 2: We say, “I’ll schedule focus time… tomorrow….” We genuinely believe that tomorrow will be magically different. We believe "future me" will schedule focus time. But it won’t. Today’s excuses follow us into tomorrow.
So why not start today?
Read more on How to Stop Procrastinating.
Thanks to Brynn Stewart for reading a draft of this!