You reach the bottom of a page and can’t say what it said. You go back up, and it happens again.
Here is how to stay focused while reading: get ready before page one and give each block a goal. A block is a fixed stretch of reading with a timer and one goal. You also get three moves for when your mind wanders off, and a clear point to stop.
Why does your mind wander when you read?
Your brain doesn’t stop thinking just because you’re reading. So thoughts about other tasks, ideas and errands keep coming up. Your brain is afraid of forgetting them, so it repeats each thought and pushes you to act on it.
Reading hides the moment your mind leaves the text. Your eyes keep moving down the lines. Later you notice that nothing on the page stayed with you.
Your phone, noise or a tired head can also pull you away, and you handle those before page one. Below, you’ll learn what to do when a thought pulls you off the page, and when you lose your place. To learn why focus fails in general, read why you can’t focus.
Get your head, your phone and your room ready before page one
Distractions from outside often start before you open the book. So first check how awake you are. Then deal with your phone, noise and desk.
To concentrate while reading, make this check the first step of every block.
- Your head: Ask yourself whether you’re awake and clear. The answer decides how long your reading block will be.
- Your phone: Turn it off and put it in a drawer in another room. Don’t leave it on the table.
- Noise: Put in earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones. Closed windows help, but they don’t stop every sound.
- Your desk: Keep only the text, a pen and two sheets. A protocol sheet holds your goal. A thought sheet holds distracting thoughts.
Once your phone is out of the room, you’ll notice how much quieter your mind becomes.
Reading on a screen? Close every program and browser tab the text doesn’t need, or open a separate browser window just for it. To keep other interruptions out of focused work, read how to avoid distractions during deep work.
Give your reading an end and a goal you can check
With your desk ready, set a timer. It tells your brain that reading starts now and will end, which makes texts you don’t enjoy easier to start. Your reading block works like any focused work block, so you may wonder whether reading counts as deep work.
Then write your block goal on the protocol sheet. Write what will be done at the end, not what you will do.
| Instead of this | Write this block goal |
|---|---|
| Read chapter 4 | Chapter 4’s main argument in three lines on my sheet |
| Go through the report | The report’s three key findings noted |
| Read for an hour tonight | Chapters 6 and 7 finished |
Make the goal ambitious but doable. If it’s too big, it overwhelms you and you can’t start. If it’s too small, you have no drive.
The goal gives you direction and drive. It shouldn’t put you under stress. With timer and goal set, you can open the text.
What do you do when your mind wanders while reading?
Once your block is running, noticing that your mind left the text is only step one. Then pick the move that fits what happened. Mind wandering while reading goes along with understanding less.
Sanders and colleagues (2017) found this link while testing reading strategies. Watching for mind wandering helped people keep their attention on the task. But they understood less.
In the same study, thinking more deeply about the text helped people understand more.
So after noticing, go back to your goal or next step. That pulls you into the text.
| What happened | Your move |
|---|---|
| A thought pulled you away: a task, an idea, an errand | Note a keyword on the thought sheet, then return to your goal |
| You lost track of where you are in the text | Write the next mini step on the protocol sheet, then do it |
| You read the same sentence three times | You’re tired: shorten the block, move, nap or read later |
A next mini step might be: sum up the last paragraph you understood in one line. When you’re tired and keep reading anyway, you only get pages to read again.
To stay on task longer, read how to improve your focus during deep work sessions. If you’re tired, read how to focus when you’re tired.
End each reading block with a note on where you are
The moves for a wandering mind keep you reading until the timer rings. If your reading flows at that moment, keep going.
If it doesn’t, your brain needs a break, even if you don’t feel it. Without breaks, the next blocks get worse.
- Stop when the timer rings and the reading doesn’t flow. Don’t read one more page first.
- Note where you are on the protocol sheet in one sentence: the last part you read and what comes next.
- Check your block goal: Did you reach it fully, partly or not at all? Notice it. Don’t judge.
Thirty seconds of notes save you minutes when you start again. Over time, checking the goal trains you to estimate what’s realistic for one block.
Then take a real break and leave your phone off. The break is when your phone is most dangerous. A quick check easily turns into 15 minutes of scrolling.
You can also learn how long your breaks should be.
Read hard texts while your energy is high
Your next block can be shorter or longer, because your energy changes over the day. Read demanding texts when you have energy, and easier ones when it fades. Wasting energy on an easy text is as inefficient as reading a hard one without energy.
- When you’re fresh: dense texts you have to understand or use, like a textbook chapter, a report or a contract.
- When your energy fades: lighter reading, like a novel or an article you read out of interest.
- Through the day: blocks of different lengths, maybe 45 or 90 minutes in the morning, only 25 in the afternoon.
Stop reading for the day when your blocks get worse and nothing from the page stays with you.
Two signs show it: you need longer to get into the text, and the protocol sheet doesn’t help anymore. Those signs also tell you when to stop a deep work session.
A good reading day is a few good blocks in a row. Three focused 45-minute blocks a day get more done than eight hours of half-focused work. See how it works →
FAQ
Should you listen to music while reading?
My advice for reading: skip music. Music uses up some of the attention you need for the text, even if it doesn’t feel that way.
If you can’t read without it, play instrumental music with no singing and no sudden changes. Keep one playlist on repeat.
How long should you read before taking a break?
Choose your reading time by how you feel today. If you’re unsure, start shorter.
Read 90 minutes at maximum fitness and motivation, 45 when you’re fit, focused and motivated, and 35 somewhere in between. Read 25 when unfocused and 15 when strongly unmotivated.
Can you train your focus for reading?
Yes, meditation training may help. Zanesco and colleagues (2016) studied people after one or three months of daily meditation away from normal life. Afterward, their minds wandered less, also during reading.
Meditate as a separate practice, not during reading blocks or breaks.
