How do you stay focused when studying?

Drew Got No Clue@lemmy.world to ADHD@lemmy.world – 6 points –

I'm struggling to find the motivation and focus. Do you guys have any tips?

7

this has only worked for me a few times but during lectures id open a Word doc and type out anything worth noting

I mean this is literally note taking but it took me way too long to figure out lol

also sometimes id focus so hard on taking notes that I missed the next thing my professors talked about ADHD strategies really are just a bag of pros and cons and its frustrating

When I REALLY struggle, I try the pomodoro timer, because then I can console my brain with the promise of a break soon. šŸ˜¬

thereā€™s a lot of factors for me:

  • diet, if iā€™m on a sugar rush or binge i canā€™t focus
  • activation energy and flow state, if i can just start and make progress i know i can slip into a more focused mode. if iā€™m constantly flicking between work and distractions iā€™ll stay distracted.
  • environment, i discovered i work much better in a cafe around others compared to just in my room. bonus points if thereā€™s a friend who i can sit with.
  • having a plan, just studying for the sake of studying doesnā€™t work for me. knowing what i want to achieve and having mapped out what i need to do to get there helps me focus. it lets me know how far iā€™ve come - and feel good about that.

hope that gives some inspiration!

moving to different environments has always been so helpful to me. I actually figured this out by having detention in high school. Sometimes I would even go to detention even though it wasn't required of me.

I have to literally isolate myself from anything that can distract me. Iā€™ve noticed that pressure from a looming deadline helps, but thatā€™s not very healthy. What really gets me is the motivation to actually study, but I have been getting some good results with putting those ambient music or sounds on noise canceling headphones. For motivation, itā€™s hard. The mindset of ā€œmight as wellā€ seems to work but is hard to get into the habit of doing. I have long commutes to school and if Iā€™m bored I might as well look over my notes on my phone then be bored. Sometimes I just have a ā€œblah dayā€, which is literally a day I just wonā€™t get anything productive done if I donā€™t have to. And thatā€™s ok, we tend to burn out quickly so itā€™s good to listen to our bodies. But I hope this helps!

I find that sometimes I know that I'm not going to get anything done and its healthier to try again later

other times it's later and I really have to get said task done

ambient music is a must-have for me, especially in combination with Pomodoro