By Isabella Gomez
Tell me if you can relate to this. After a long day of classes, you sit down at your desk and get ready to begin your homework. It’s due at midnight but you’re confident you can get it done in no time. So confident in fact that when your friend texts you and asks if you want to hang you, you reply “sure!" After all, you have plenty of time to finish the assignment; it'll only take you about an hour. After getting some dinner together, you head home and see that your family is watching your favorite movie in the living room. Well, you have enough time to spare. If you work quickly, then you can finish in 45 minutes. After all that, you sit back down at your desk and… wait hold on… you need the perfect music to start. So you start to scroll through your Spotify, but you can’t just put on any playlist. You have to make the perfect queue. Finally, you can start your homework. After a few minutes you realize “hey this is a lot more time-consuming than I thought." As the time ticks onward the situation comes more dire. You’re typing and answering the questions as fast as you can but no matter how quickly you move, time marches onward! Panic starts to set in as the clock ticks ever closer to midnight. Why did you wait so long to start your homework?!
If you’re like me, then you get easily distracted by everything. As soon as something vaguely interesting happens, I’d rather be doing anything else except my homework. However, that’s a problem when I should be doing nothing except my homework. I’m always envious of people who can just sit down and work with no prep included. How do you possibly sit down in one spot for so long?
Yet, there are those moments when everything seems to tune out and the cogs in your brain spin at max speed. Nothing matters except what you’re doing right now. Ah, the fated hyperfocus. The thing that has gotten me through many nursing school exams. Unfortunately, my grades usually don’t ride on weekly online modules so the hyperfocus tends to elude me for most of the year.
While easily distractible people may not be able to obtain hyperfocus, how do you get as close as you can to that? To phrase it differently: how can you eliminate distractions? To put it simply, it’s different for everyone! What works for one person may be different for someone else. All that matters is finding the technique that works best for you.
Recently, I’ve discovered that studying at the library really does work. No, I’m serious, it actually works! I normally study in my room but when I’m not surrounded by potential stimuli, I’m able to focus much more easily. Who knew that the plain white study rooms of the library actually have a purpose? Additionally, I commonly use music to tune out any noise. However, a big problem is that it’s a possible distraction because I have to find just the right song to start out my work session with. In order to counterbalance this, I’ve been tuning to those 24/7 Lofi hip hop livestreams. It makes for relaxing background music and it takes all the pain out of picking your music. Again, what works for me may not work for you. Experiment a little! Some people focus better when they’re studying with others. Some people work better in complete silence. So find your perfect studying environment, try different techniques to tune out the world, and please, turn off your phone!
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