How To Increase Focus: 7 Ultra-Fast And Science-Backed Tips

Zoning out sucks, doesn’t it? You’re sitting there, wishing you can concentrate, wishing you knew how to increase focus on demand … and yet … your mind is just dancing all over the darn place.

Well, if you want to know how to improve focus and concentration so you can finally get those important things in your life done, the step-by-step process is quite simple: Get started by optimizing your environment, work on your body and start understanding how memory is involved in shaping your focus.

There are nuances to those three steps that I’ve learned over the years as a PhD and full time memory researcher, so please make sure to read the entire post for all the details so you can enjoy rapid progress.

Here’s a Table of Contents for you:

• Everything You Need To Know To Increase Your Focus
• The Fastest Way To Improve Your Focus
• How To Increase Focus With These 3 Quick Environmental Hacks
• How To Improve Focus By Concentrating On Your Body: 4 Simple Tips
• Want To Put These Instant Focus-Boosting Strategies To Work In Your Life?

Ready to boost your focus? Let’s get started.

Everything You Need To Know To Increase Your Focus

If you want to skyrocket your focus we need to start with the fundamentals first.

Buckling down so you can get things done is not just about this mysterious thing we call “focus. It’s also about developing rock-solid mental skills that allow you to learn, memorize and recall anything.

The process truly centers on memory because getting into focus draws upon a part of your psychological makeup called procedural memory.

This means that in order to increase your focuse, you have to take action and start rewiring the brain consistently so that future focus-boosting actions start to take place almost automatically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-zTkA8MW2k

Here’s the deal, especially for people who regularly read this memory improvement blog:

Without good focus, no matter how much time you spend using mnemonics or walking through Memory Palaces, very little will stick.

Why?

Because focus is to memory and attention what a key is to a lock.

Yes, you can always force-open a lock. But it’s easier and smoother and faster with a key, don’t you think?

As with increasing memory, far too many people get this point about focus wrong. They think it has to do with willpower. But willpower has been proven not to work:

https://youtu.be/phhMItNvOac

The Fastest Way To Improve Your Focus

Meditation is great – and it’s probably where you think all of this is going.

Don’t get me wrong. Its benefits are multiple and well proven. It helps improve concentration, mental and physical health. Even better, meditation keeps you young and happy.

There is a downside to meditation though. It can take time to see the benefits. Plus, you need to commit to at least 4, 15-minute sessions per week. Well worth it, but not necessarily the path to instantaneous results.

You have more pressing questions:

What about that neuroanatomy revision for the exam tomorrow? Or the German phrases you need to memorize for your trip next week?

Meditation is great and you should continue practicing it if you’re already doing it, but for all those moments when you need a quick focus fix, here’s my best tip:

How To Increase Focus With These
3 Quick Environmental Hacks

As great as meditation can be for increasing your focus, it’s not everything.

So what else works?

Making changes to my environment has been one of the quickest way to make an impact and offered the most bang for my buck.

When it comes to making space work best for you, here are some of my best tips.

1. Create A Comfortable Workspace

First, to focus on work better, improve the ergonomics of where you want to boost your concentration. Make sure your desk and chair are at a comfortable height so you don’t strain your back.  Often a simple thing such as a small cushion or a rolled-up towel to support your lower back is enough to fend off that back soreness interrupting your workflow.

Adjust the position of your computer and any other work tools you use. The optimal set-up for your desk space includes your monitor being at arm’s lengths away from your eyes and your wrists and hands on the keyboard straight at or below elbow level.

These little tweaks will help your body stay comfortable at work. Check out this Mayo Clinic article for more info on office ergonomics.

2. Eliminate Noise

Noise is another vital element of work environment many people don’t appreciate the effects of. Noise is not only a powerful distractor, but also forces your brain to do additional work by ignoring it. If you’ve ever worked in a noisy environment, you know how tiring this can be.

Eliminating or minimizing noise in your environment can reap immediate benefits for your focus and memory.

You don’t need complete silence, but at least try to minimize/eliminate conversations and anything that resembles conversations around you. These are real focus killers, because our brain is wired to tune in to conversations (in case there are some survival benefits to it).

Conversations and fragments of conversations come from many sources, For example:

• Colleagues
• Friends
• Family
• Passers-by
• Radio

Whether these tidbits of gossip and other verbal diarrhea float in through the window, an open door or thin walls, they will keep your brain busy trying to make sense of the fragments. As a result, your focus and memory powers will be affected.

Music needs special attention, because music evokes emotions, and emotions, positive or negative, affects the learning process. That’s why many people find music helpful in the learning process.

If you have found music that helps you memorize better, good for you. If you’re still looking for the right music, be mindful that evoking emotionally powerful memories can hurt your learning process, too. And if you like to listen to music with lyrics – just mind that conversation effect: don’t add any more work to what your brain is already doing by trying to tune into the lyrics and understand what they mean.

If you don’t have your own office/study room, don’t despair. There are a number of simple devices that can help. The easiest thing is to get a pair of noise cancelling headphones or earmuffs.

White noise may also provide a solution, albeit not a permanent one, as white noise can be tiring in the long run, too. I’m writing this post in our dining room (I don’t have an office at home) while my husband is watching Hunger Games in the living room next door. I’m generally sensitive to noise and get distracted and tried by it, but the fact that the dehumidifier is on and it’s loud really saves the day for me.

Before I finish talking about your environment, let me mention one more powerful trick to improve your focus immediately.

3. Manage Technology So That It Doesn’t Manage You

Turn technology off.

Yes, technology can be helpful when it comes to learning and work productivity, but if you don’t manage technology, it will manage you.

I’m not telling you to go ‘off the grid’ completely, but you can boost your concentration and ability to memorize by simply turning off all the notifications. Or, as I suggest in my post about Learning Mandarin Chinese , I don’t even turn any computers on until you’ve got your most important memory goals completed.

How To Increase Focus By Concentrating On Your Body: 4 Simple Tips

Now that I’ve told you about fixing your environment, it’s time to talk about fixing your brain, right?

Nope.

I’m sure you’ve heard about all sorts of exercise to improve your brain powers.

But did you know that one of the best strategies for a sharp mind has nothing to do with those ‘mental workouts’?

I can’t emphasize this enough:

Two years ago, I was struggling with focus. My memory was shockingly bad and I was constantly fighting tiredness.

At that time I was doing research for one of my online courses and discovered a book by John Medina called Brain Rules. This is an excellent book, well written and full of useful, evidence-based stuff.

1. Get Good Sleep

Among many other strategies, Medina emphasises the immense mental benefits of sleep.

It’s well known that sleep improves our memory, and it bears repeating that sleep deprivation affects also your ability to concentrate.

Worse, if you’re not sleeping well, you’re eroding your ability to think, problem-solve and succeed at many other tasks. One sleepless night impairs your performance as much as having 0.1% alcohol in your blood (which is above legal driving limits even in the most liberal countries).

So if you want your mind to be sharp, your wit quick and your thinking top-notch, don’t skimp on your zzzz …

And if you happened to sleep badly last night and you can feel the effects of it – take a power nap. Power naps are 15-20 minutes long naps aimed at ‘resetting your brain’.

You may need to find your own sweet spot, but generally it is recommended not to exceed 30 minutes, so you don’t enter the deep sleep phase as this can make you feel groggy and sluggish. Set the alarm, sleep in a quiet, dark room or use an eye mask, make sure you warm and comfortable.

2. Exercise

On top of keeping you physically well and happy, exercise can also improve your mental performance. And it happens in two ways:

1. By increasing the flow of oxygen into your brain.
2. By boosting the creation, survival and resistance of your brain cells.

In a nutshell, exercise is the cheapest and easiest mental enhancer available.

And I experienced it myself. Those 2 years ago, having read about the benefits of exercise, I decided to get back into regular running.

And once I started running, my concentration, memory and thinking powers improved quickly.

The takeaway:

If you’re still hesitating if you should go for a walk or work out tonight – just get on with it. Do it for the health and happiness of your precious mind and memory.

3. Destroy Procrastination

Procrastination is a massive killer of productivity. From bills unpaid on time, to Christmas gifts bought at the last minute, to time spent on playing games, or watching stupid programs/videos instead of preparing for tomorrow’s exam or that crucial presentation.

We all procrastinate. But do you know, what your favorite procrastination monster is?

I don’t mean what you do when you procrastinate, but why you procrastinate in the first place?

If you don’t, I recommend next time you procrastinate, explore the underlying issue.

Once you understand that, you can apply a targeted solution..

I’m going to make it easy for you. Here are the 7 most common reasons why people procrastinate:

1. Fear of failure or success
2. Perfectionism (which is usually p.1 in disguise)
3. Feeling overwhelmed by the task
4. Lack of /insufficient interest or motivation to do the task
5. Skill or knowledge gap
6. Disorganisation
7. Internal (thoughts or emotional state)

Explore your underlying reasons for procrastination by asking yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing instead of working on what you should be doing. Keep asking why (usually 5 times is enough) until you get to the bottom of the problem – or until you reach one of the reasons listed above.

Why should you investigate the roots of your procrastination?

Because, the better you understand your problem, the more targeted solution you can put in place to address it.

And this is the point many people miss:

Jumping from one ineffective/partially effective anti-procrastination strategy to another. Don’t waste your time and energy on strategies that are unlikely to address your problem. Diagnose your problem and apply the right strategy.

4. Discover Your Inner Drive

Remember what I said at the beginning? Motivation is flimsy. Get over it and get on with your life.

Now, you might be thinking:

These tricks sound clever. But surely, we need something more substantial to carry us through all those days, weeks and months filled with stuff to do? If not motivation, what should I rely on then?

Well, let me get this motivation bit straight.

If you want to get somewhere where you want to get – not to a random anywhere, you need motivation.

But since you’re reading this, you already have motivation. Motivation to improve your memory, your mental performance and probably – also your life.

Because these are all self-improvement goals. And that’s awesome.

You know what you need, you’ve done some research to identify what may help, you’re reading, digesting it and maybe even implementing.

That’s a lot, actually.

So in my books, this means you’re motivated.

And even if you haven’t started implementing any of the advice on this page – it still doesn’t mean you need to ‘motivate yourself’ to get there.

No.

We’re all driven by some type of motivation, whether extrinsic, like money, praise or avoidance of punishment, or intrinsic – autonomy, mastery or purpose.

Most of us have a mix of things that make us tick, but often there is a dominant one – one motivational driver that lights your fire.

I suggest you find out what it is. Because, honestly, if you know what lights your fire, you’ll be always able to put the right fuel into your motivational tank and get where you want to get without having to ‘motivate yourself’ again and again.

I recommend you read Daniel Pink’s great book: Drive. The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. If nothing else, watch his TEDTalk, The Puzzle Of Motivation:

https://youtu.be/rrkrvAUbU9Y

It’s awesome to always feel motivated to do what you need to do, but sooner or later you’ll end up feeling like you’d rather play your favorite game, watch silly cat videos, or clear your desk.

The best way to prevent it from happening is to create a system that runs on autopilot.

This is the way I get my writing done – my book(s), guest posts, emails, etc. Even this podcast was written using my system – a system that makes me do what I need to do even when I don’t feel like it.

Systems are reliable, repeatable and run on autopilot.

They require some time and effort investment upfront, but once set up, they run automatically, without fuss and extra cost.

I can talk for hours about building productivity and habit systems, but let me give you a few juicy tips.

Want To Put These Instant Focus-Boosting
Strategies To Work In Your Life?

You now know why you want your focus to be laser-sharp. This insight will fast-track your journey to your memory goals and help you become a powerful learner. Whatever the dreams you’re pursuing, laser-sharp focus will make it easier and faster to achieve.

It may seem like focus is a skill that takes a long time to develop and a lot of effort to perfect – and yes, traditional approaches, like meditation and motivational strategies indeed take time and practice before you can reap the rewards.

But with a bunch of smart tricks that truly improve two levels of intelligence, you can quickly turn your overwhelmed by distractions and defeated by procrastinations mind into a powerful machine that you can turn on with a flick of a button.

Speaking of increasing your level of intelligence, if you’d like more help focusing, complete my free memory improvement course:

It gives you four video lessons and worksheets that help you discover special techniques that will boost your focus on demand.

This the same technique that helped me increase the power of my memory so I could complete my PhD. I also used it to help while studying languages.

The challenge itself will exercise your focus, so dive in, enjoy and make it happen. Focus is yours to shape!