You sit down to work and can’t get into it, or you drift off after a few minutes. So you search how to focus better and get another list of tips. Probably tips you have already tried: phone away, meditate, sleep more, try Pomodoro.
This article gives those tips the order they are missing. You’ll learn the one step to take first and where every other tip belongs in a single block of work. And you’ll learn how to get back when your mind drifts.
Why more focus tips won’t help you focus better
The usual focus tips are mostly sound. Remove distractions, meditate, do one thing at a time, take breaks, sleep, move and eat well.
But they come unranked and all at once. So you don’t know which one to try first.
And a missing tip is not what stops you. The hard part is getting started and choosing what to do. Starting has its own article: why deep work feels impossible to start.
If you want the causes first, read why you can’t focus, and focusing with ADHD has its own article. Here, the question is what to do in your next hour of work.
That is the idea behind this article: one block, prepared step by step. And the first step of that block comes before any tip.
What should you do first to focus better?
Check your state before anything else. It comes before the steps: without mental fitness, no Deep Work Block will work.
So before you try to get focused, ask yourself: am I awake, and can I think clearly? Be honest, because the answer sets your block:
- Fit: work a full block of 45 or 90 minutes, at full power.
- Not quite fit: choose a shorter block, or activate your body before you start.
- Massively tired: take a power nap of 10 to 20 minutes, or postpone the block.
Learn your warning signs. Typical ones are reading the same sentence three times, constantly reaching for your phone, a pulling sensation behind your eyes. Once you know your signs, you can decide honestly before you waste 45 minutes.
If you’re not quite fit, do 35, 25 or 15 minutes instead of 45, or get your body moving first. Coffee is no way around this: caffeine is not a substitute for sleep. It masks tiredness, it doesn’t fix it.
Working tired can be worse than not working at all, because you make mistakes you have to fix tomorrow. If tiredness is your problem today, read how to focus when you’re tired.
Where each focus tip belongs in one block
Once you know your state, the usual tips fall into place. Most of them are right, but each belongs at one moment of one block.
Below are the usual ways to improve focus, in the order I use. First comes body, then environment, then tools, then mental preparation.
| Common focus tip | When in the block | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Diet, water, caffeine | Before | Eat light, drink a glass of water, test coffee instead of guessing |
| Exercise | Before, right before you sit down | One to two minutes of jumping jacks or squats |
| Remove distractions | Before | Phone off and in another room; door and windows closed |
| Workspace | Before | Desk cleared; programs you don’t need closed; Do Not Disturb on |
| Meditation or mindfulness | Before, last step | Box breathing, 1–2 minutes: in, hold, out, hold, count 4 each |
| Pomodoro or timer | Start | Timer length chosen by your state, 15 to 90 minutes |
| Single-tasking | Start | One block goal on paper, written as a done state |
| Breaks | Break | Move, get fresh air, leave the phone alone |
The order is a suggestion, not a rule. It looks like a lot, but after a few rounds the entire preparation takes only a few minutes. Distractions have their own guide: how to avoid distractions during deep work.
How do you get back focused when your mind drifts?
Even in a well-prepared block, your mind will drift, and that’s normal. Don’t fight it in your head: put it on paper. Your brain is afraid of forgetting stray thoughts, and once a thought is on paper, it calms down.
- Catch it: notice that you’re following a thought that has nothing to do with the task.
- Write it down: jot it in a few keywords on the thought sheet, a second blank sheet for stray thoughts.
- Return: look at the protocol sheet, the sheet with your block goal, and keep going.
Step 1 is the hardest. Watching your own mind wander is called metacognition, and it takes practice.
Only when I started writing thoughts down did I see how loud my head is. Regular meditation, guided by an app at first, helped me train this.
Did you lose track of where you were in the task? Then write the next mini step on the protocol sheet and do it. You can’t write down a step without knowing what it is, so writing it brings you back.
Getting stuck is not a reason to end the block. If nothing works, switch to a different aspect of the same task. Staying focused for a whole block is its own topic: how to stay focused.
Do coffee, music and meditation help you focus?
When focus gets hard, it’s tempting to reach for help, but meditation belongs outside the block, as training. Coffee and music can feel like focus without being focus. So judge them by what you get done in the block.
- Meditation: MacLean and colleagues studied it (Psychological Science, 2010). Intensive training, about five hours a day for three months, improved sustained attention.
- Coffee: caffeine creates energy and drive, but don’t confuse that with focus. I feel a motivation boost but get jittery, so I skip it.
- Music: skip it. Music feels like a focus aid but is usually the opposite. It makes work more pleasant, and we mistake that for productive.
That study tested hours a day, not a few minutes, so it doesn’t show what a short daily practice does. I recommend meditation as a practice outside of work, not as a break activity, because it requires concentration.
For coffee, don’t guess, test: do one block with coffee and one without, on two different days. Don’t compare the feeling, compare the actual work output.
If you still want music, run the same test. If you can’t go without, use one instrumental playlist on repeat. More on whether music helps you focus.
A test like this needs blocks you can compare. Each has the same steps, a goal on paper and a timer. Then your own output shows what really helps you focus. See how it works →
FAQ
How long does it take to focus better?
Don’t expect to focus better after one try. Your first blocks won’t be perfect: you’ll forget steps and get distracted anyway.
It gets better with every block, and after a few weeks the process is routine. More on whether focus can be improved.
Does having your phone nearby hurt your focus?
Ward, Duke, Gneezy and Bos tested this in “Brain Drain” (2017). The mere presence of your own smartphone reduced available cognitive capacity, even when people resisted checking it. Costs were highest for those most dependent on their phone, hence the phone step in the focus table above.
What if the task feels too big to focus on?
Split a big task on paper before you try to focus. Write the end goal first, then the block goal: the result you want in the next 45 minutes.
Make the block goal ambitious but doable. Too big means overwhelm, and overwhelm means paralysis. Too small means no drive.
