5 Hacks to Deal with Distractions

Students often complain that they are easily distracted as they try to study at a stretch. Despite the best intentions to avoid getting distracted, this problem remains unresolved. Blame it on the smartphones that keep us connected to the world 24x7, or simply our own wandering mind. But this can be tackled and further into the article we will explore some of the best strategies for managing distractions as a high school student.

Setting Your Goals

One of the most preliminary steps in dealing with distractions is to have a clear sense of your targets. By setting specific goals, you can focus your attention on what matters most and minimise the impact of distractions. Start by listing your most important tasks for the day or week, and then break them down into smaller steps or goals. For example, let us assume you have your science exam in 10 days and you know that biology is not your strongest subject. Then choosing to complete biology first would be important, so that you have time to go back to it and revise. Therefore, your main target for the week would be to finish the biology chapters. Now to break it down into simpler or sub goals, you have to further define that you would do two chapters in one day. If you wish to divide this into further subgoals, then you also mention the time by which you would finish the first chapter, (morning of Day-1/evening of Day-1,etc).

Being SMART about your goals: One of the most popular tried and tested ways to set goals is setting SMART goals.

Specific: Goals should be well defined and clear. For example: Doing ten pages of chapter 9 from History textbook.

Measurable: Define what criteria would be used to measure progress towards the goal. For example: I will work on the grammar section to achieve at least 10 per cent more than the last exam.

Achievable: Goals should be reasonable and not impossible to achieve. For example: Setting goals such as doing 7 chapters for the second exam right after coming back from giving the first exam may be a difficult goal to achieve.

Relevant: Goals should be aligned with your long term goals and relevant to the purpose. For example: Make sure that chapters you pick up would be coming in the exam. More specifically, at times we get distracted focusing on some sections(or subjects) that are eye-catching but not relevant for the present exam. Those goals would not be relevant and spending time on them should be avoided.

Time-Bound: The goals should be attached to a realistic timeline and have priorities set. For example: A time bound goal would be ‘finishing the first 10 questions from the chapter on World War within 1 hour.’ Make sure you do not set too many or too little goals within the time you decide, that could lead to disappointment or demotivation.

Create A Distraction Free Space

Creating a physical space that is free from distractions is one of the most effective ways to minimise distractions. This means finding a space where you feel comfortable, focused and can work without interruptions. Ideally, the space should not have things that could disengage you or take your focus away from work. For example, for most people sitting near a window proves to be highly distracting as any movement outside the window takes their attention away from the task at hand.

Also Read | Beat Stress, Self-Soothe Using Your 5 Senses

Additionally, it is a good idea to remove objects that could be potential distractions. Turning off notifications on devices or putting them in a different room altogether may benefit some people.

Each individual has their own way of working, and you have to figure out which hack works best for you. Having a designated study/work space helps a lot of people in orienting their mind to work. Using the same idea, studying or working on your bed is generally considered a bad idea, as our mind is in the habit of sleeping when we are on the bed.

Remove Digital Distractions

You pick up your phone only to reply to a few messages and don’t realise how an hour passes as you start switching between Whatsapp, Instagram, and YouTube. Sounds like you? Here are a few ways you can limit your access to gadgets while you are amidst studies:-

• Study in a gadget-free room. Try and get print-outs of material that you regularly need to access in soft copy on the internet.
• Switch off notifications: If getting a print out is not a feasible option, try switching off the notifications of social media, entertainment apps that are not required while you study.
• Schedule time for using your gadgets. For instance, you could give yourself half an hour for watching your favourite videos after two hours of dedicated studying.
• Get apps to help you:If even after scheduling time for gadgets, you end up spending hours on them, (simply because the next episode or reel was tempting) then it's a good strategy to use apps or websites to help you. Some of the popular apps are Freedom and SelfControl that allow users to block access to specific websites and apps for a specified duration.

Using a “worry pad’’

Using a “worry pad’’ is also a good strategy for avoiding distractions that are created by our own wandering thoughts. If you find yourself getting distracted by thoughts, worries or ideas that keep coming to your mind while you are trying to focus, then you should definitely try the worry pad. The idea is to keep a paper or a notepad around you while studying so that you can write down all the thoughts that are coming to your mind, this way you can train your mind that you can come back to the thoughts later and they would not be forgotten. Once the thought is written down, you may find that you are able to focus better on the task at hand.

Body Doubling

Saving the most difficult hack for the last. Body doubling as the name suggests is having more than one ‘body’ or person at work. A more recently popularised technique, body doubling is involving another person in the same space when you are trying to focus on your studies or a task. However, this is not the same as studying ‘together’ as the person is engaged in their own work which could be completely different from yours. The idea behind this technique is to create a sense of accountability and focus.

Also Read | 7 Apps That Can Help You Monitor Your Social Media Usage

However, the reason for calling this hack the most difficult is its difficulty to implement. While choosing someone to body double with, you have to be very mindful to not choose someone you end up getting distracted with! Remember, you have to work together, not end up talking together.

Therefore, it is clear that having a distraction-free mind is an ideal situation, and most students struggle to get there. However, with the hacks mentioned above, you can always try to deal with distractions in an efficient manner and maximise productivity. Do remember, one hack may not work the same for two people. Each individual has their own way of working, and you have to figure out which hack works best for you.