Tips to Get Rid of those Pesky Distractions

By Rachel Benson, Launch Academy Tutor Extraordinaire, Professional Writer, and Tulsa’s Premiere English Tutor

Have you ever been studying and – Squirrel!

Yeah, I know.  Happens to me all the time.  But guess what?  When your brain flits from your hardcore, totally-in-the-zone focus to upending ceiling tiles to find that dastardly creaky cricket, there’s still hope that you can get back in your studying groove.  In fact, you might just find out that you’ve become the next studying extraordinaire!  Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way that might help you when your focus gets slack:

1. No rambunctious noise! – Find a quiet spot to study where you can concentrate.  If you need a little noise, try going to a coffee shop or a place where your surroundings can easily become white noise in the background.  If you need to, listen to music with your headphones as you study.  Just be careful that it’s not so loud your attention gets drawn to the music.  Keep it simple, and if possible without lyrics.  The less outside words to interfere while you’re studying or writing, the better.  If you’d like some additional info on studying with music, check out http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Distractions-While-Studying at the bottom of the page, as well as their other study tips and tricks.
2. No phone whatsoever –Texting is just as dangerous as social media.  According to http://www.becomingminimalist.com/distraction-less/, most people will look at their phones every day at least 150 times!  No wonder it’s so easy to get distracted!  Conversations, games, aps, even texting are activities that are too distracting and will break your studying flow.  Put the phone away where you can’t see it for the hours you need to study.
3. No Facebook (Or Other Social Media) – Facebook is an instant time-sucker.  I cannot tell you how many times I go on just to check my messages or play one more round of Candy Crush and discover that it is now 2AM and I have done absolutely nothing for homework.  Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, SnapChat, Reddit, Pinterest, all of these will suck away valuable homework time.  If you need to take a break, go outside, walk around, and stretch for a few minutes.  Don’t do anything that could potentially become a 1-2+ hour activity.  Your future, less stressed-out self will thank you.
4. No Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, TV – Unless you’re doing something that requires a minimal number of words, such as painting or picture editing, DO NOT watch any media while you’re doing homework.  All too often I think, “Yeah, I’ll just watch Friends while I’m working on my Oliver Twist paper,” and then end up writing that Oliver went to Ross’s house and just stole a baby.  Homework takes twice as long when your attention is divided from your computer screen/TV and assignment, and it’s not worth the added hours to your studying time when you could otherwise get done so much faster.

I hope these tips have been helpful.  If you’d like some additional info, send us an email! We love helping students become better students.  As a matter of fact, that’s really all we do.

Remember, you can definitely do this.  You’ve got the stuff!

Git ‘er done!!

-Rachel Benson