The exam is in two weeks. Your book is open, and your hand drifts to the phone.
You’ve just read a whole page without keeping a single line. So you try harder, and it gets worse.
The steps below run in the order they happen. They go from the state of your head to the last block of a long day.
Reading the same sentence three times is a warning sign
When you can’t stay focused while studying, check your head before you blame your willpower. When you’re tired, you can’t concentrate, no matter how hard you push.
Learn your warning signs. You read the same sentence three times or keep reaching for your phone. Or you feel a pull behind your eyes.
Tired studying gets less done, and you make mistakes you have to find and fix tomorrow. You produce work you have to redo. And a block that feels like torture makes you not want to do one tomorrow.
Don’t push through; choose a shorter block. Or wake your body first with a short workout or cold water on your neck and face. If you’re massively tired, take a power nap of 10 to 20 minutes or postpone the block.
There’s more on how to focus when you’re tired. The other reasons are in why you can’t stay focused while studying.
Put your phone in another room before you open your notes
Once your head is awake, put your phone in another room before you open your notes. Even untouched, it costs you focus.
Ward, Duke, Gneezy and Bos (2017) showed this. The mere presence of your own smartphone reduces your available cognitive capacity, even when you resist checking it.
Stothart, Mitchum and Yehnert (2015) found that a notification alone disrupted performance on an attention-demanding task. This happened even when people didn’t use the phone. The effect was comparable to actively using it.
So get the phone out of the room, then clear the rest:
- Phone: off, in a drawer or cabinet in another room. Not on your desk, not in your line of sight.
- People: tell flatmates or family that you’re unavailable for the next 45 minutes.
- Desk: remove everything that doesn’t belong to the subject you’re studying now.
- Laptop: close email, chat, social media and every tab this subject doesn’t need. Turn on Do Not Disturb.
Once the phone is out of reach, your mind gets surprisingly quiet. Airplane mode and Do Not Disturb didn’t help me; today my phone is off, in a drawer in the hallway. For the rest of your space, see how to avoid distractions during deep work.
How long should you study in one go?
With the phone gone, set a timer. Let today’s state choose the length, from 15 to 90 minutes. Let the timer end the block instead of your willpower.
The timer is the signal that work starts now. Without one, you either study too short or too long. Pick the length that fits your state today:
| Length | Your state today |
|---|---|
| 90 minutes | Maximum fitness and motivation |
| 45 minutes | Fit, focused, motivated. Ideal |
| 35 minutes | Somewhere in between; 45 minutes feels too long |
| 25 minutes | Unfocused today |
| 15 minutes | Strongly unmotivated; gets you started, better than nothing |
Go through the table from top to bottom and check in with yourself. Stop at the length that still feels doable.
You can always go over the timer and keep working when you’re in flow. When in doubt, start shorter.
Use a timer app on your computer. The phone is a last resort, and then only in airplane mode with Do Not Disturb. There’s more on how long a deep work session should be.
Write down what you’ll be able to do, not what you’ll read
The timer is set. Now write the block goal as a finished state. Your session turns from rereading into a result you can check.
Take your protocol sheet, a blank sheet for your goal and your steps, and write the goal on it. In your head, a goal stays vague; on paper, it binds you. Phrase it as a done state, never as an activity, for example:
| Instead of this activity | Write this block goal |
|---|---|
| Read chapter 5 again | Chapter 5’s three main ideas explained from memory |
| Highlight the lecture notes | Ten practice questions answered without notes |
| Go over the vocabulary | Vocabulary list tested once, misses marked |
Dunlosky and colleagues (2013) reviewed learning techniques. They rated practice testing and distributed practice (spreading study over time) as high utility. They rated rereading and highlighting as low utility.
A goal like “ten questions answered without notes” can be checked at the end of the block. But “chapter reread” can’t.
Miss the goal, and the world won’t end: the more often you do this, the better you’ll judge what’s realistic. For active study techniques, see deep work for students.
What do you do when your mind wanders while studying?
Even with a clear goal, your mind will drift, so don’t fight it in your head. Park the thought on paper. If you’ve lost the thread, meaning you don’t know where you are, write down the next mini step.
Stray thoughts are normal when studying, because your brain keeps thinking even when you don’t want it to. Write it in a few keywords on your thought sheet, a second blank sheet, and return to the task. The full routine is part of how to focus better.
Some distractions look like work: an interesting link, a research tangent, a seemingly productive idea. Say you want to look up something mid-chapter that your block goal doesn’t need. That goes on the thought sheet too.
Losing the thread is different. You lose track of where you were, can’t concentrate, or have finished a part and don’t know what comes next. Write the next mini step on the protocol sheet, for example “part (a) of problem 3 solved”, and do it.
Being stuck is no reason to end the block. Describe the problem in one sentence and write the smallest next step. If nothing works, switch to another aspect of the task.
What are strategies for maintaining focus during long study sessions?
Once one block holds, a long study day is simply a stack of them. Your energy changes over the day, so your blocks don’t all need the same length.
Choose each one the way you chose the first. Then keep the stack working:
- Match subjects to your energy: demanding subjects when you have energy, easier ones when it fades.
- Restart fast: air out the room, refill your water, move briefly, go to the bathroom, breathe. Then timer, goal, go.
- Use one protocol sheet all day: write each new block goal below the last one.
- Take real breaks: move, get fresh air and leave the phone alone. A quick check easily turns into 15 minutes of scrolling.
- Stop when your blocks get worse: you take longer to get in, and the protocol sheet doesn’t help anymore.
The break length follows the block length; see how long deep work breaks should be. Look at results, not at the number of blocks. One block too few is better than one too many, because overworking today costs you tomorrow.
A long study day is only as good as each block in the stack. Get one block right, and you can repeat it until your results tell you to stop. See how it works →
FAQ
How do I focus on studying when the subject is boring?
A timer helps you focus on studying a boring subject. It tells your brain the work has an end and will be over soon, which makes starting easier. Fixed time blocks taught me that tasks I didn’t enjoy are done faster than I think.
Should I listen to music while studying?
My recommendation for studying: skip the music. Music takes up mental capacity you need for the task, even if it doesn’t feel that way. If you can’t go without, choose instrumental music without vocals and without changes, one playlist on repeat.
How many hours a day can I study with full focus?
For studying, the realistic upper limit is four to six hours of full focus a day. The same goes for any highly concentrated work.
Some people manage less, some more. It depends on training and on how the day is going.
