How to stay FOCUSED when studying English and stop getting distracted

How to stay focused when studying?

This is one of the most important questions that I get asked, and

I'll tell you why it's important.

Because as non native speakers, you probably face a lot of challenges

when it comes to mastering English.

The first has to do with understanding the language, getting the right

materials, finding the time to practice, making sure that what you

do to practice is actually effective.

And all of that really, really matters.

But what happens if you have all the right resources, you know what you

need to focus on, you clear out time for you to practice, you have the

most effective practice resources, and then you sit down and you spend time

learning, and you don't feel like you're actually progressing because you feel

like your focus is all over the place.

What to do when you're trying to study and you can't, for

the life of you, stay focused?

Obviously, when you're not focused, You're not going to have an

impactful exercise or practice.

And if you don't, then you're going to feel like you're on a hamster wheel,

just doing the work, practicing, but not really getting results.

And that is so incredibly frustrating.

So this is why I decided to make this video to help you understand what are

the very few things that you can do to stay more focused when practicing so

you can actually see results from the time that you're spending practicing,

studying, and learning English.

If you're new to my channel, then hi, my name is Hadar.

I'm a non native speaker of English, and I am here to help you speak English

with clarity, confidence, and freedom.

I'm obsessed with finding the best language learning strategies with

pronunciation work, and with mindset.

Because I think all of that works together, and that is what creates a

holistic, effective learning journey.

And if you want to learn more about me or with me, then go

to my website hadarshemesh.com.

You can also follow me on social media at @hadar.accentsway on

Instagram, and all the other channels that you see right here.

All right.

So let's talk about how you can stay focused when studying English.

Now, the first thing I want to say is that – if you feel like you lose your focus

really easily, this is not your fault.

It is the result of being constantly overwhelmed with information and

also the way we consume content, especially on social media, but

even on YouTube, has changed over the last few years as the formats

of lessons and videos have changed.

If before you used to consume content that can last 10, 20, 30 minutes, and...

I don't know, when I was a kid, we had to stay focused for an entire hour in class.

Now, after 15 seconds or even 30 seconds people already lose their

attention span because they're used to consuming content that is very

short and packed, and that's it.

So you can stay focused for 15 seconds or 30 seconds, and then you lose your

focus or you move on to the next thing.

And basically, when we consume content that way, we are training

our brain to only stay focused for a short period of time.

Now, I don't know if the short form content has evolved because we've

started losing our attention span over the years, or maybe it has

caused us to lose our attention span.

But the truth is that it's really hard for people to focus for

something that has longer or more thorough than a short 30-second reel.

Now, the problem is that while you can get fun tips and tricks in 15, 30 seconds

or even 60 seconds, if you want a real thorough, effective, complete lesson

or piece of content, then you know that it's not going to last for 60 seconds.

But I hope you also know that for you to be able to study effectively, it's not

enough to just consume content, you also have to put it into practice and to use

it, which requires more of your focus.

Because it's a lot easier to stay focused when you're just consuming content,

it's harder when you actually have to do something and to use it and to even kind

of like get through the hardships of not getting it right or not feeling you are

on the right track with your practice.

And that requires you to be hyper focused.

So when you study English, it's really important that you're focused,

for learning and for practicing.

So, you know that you need to be focused for more than 30 seconds.

You know that the circumstances have changed the way you are able to focus.

And we also know that we need to find a solution.

So let's talk about practical things that you can do.

First, you have to plan it.

If you just sit down to practice and you don't know what you're about to

do, then you might distract yourself.

You might feel like you're all over the place or do a bunch

of things at the same time.

This is not recommended.

If you plan your time properly, so for example, "On Monday morning at

10am, I'm going to practice for 25 minutes the Past Perfect Tense, and

I'm going to use it when speaking freely for a few minutes extra."

Okay?

So, you know exactly what you're going to do.

You know, ideally, you should know the resources that you're going to use,

and how long it's going to take you.

It's really important to set a limit, or to set a point where you know,

"Now I know that I'm finished."

And you can do that by setting a time limit.

So you can say "I'm going to practice for 25 minutes, and

when time's up, then that's it."

Because it's good for you to know when the end point is.

Or you can say, "I'm going to go through these three practice sheets.

Once I'm done, I'm done for the day, or I'm done doing this."

So, really, you kind of like give yourself a mark where you know that's done.

Because it's easier to stay focused when you know you have kind of like a

deadline or a mark when you're done.

Because if not, then your brain is going to get scattered and be like all over

the place and, you know, try to figure out other things and then your practice

is going to end up being two hours.

So that's also not efficient and you really can't stay focused for

more than a short period of time.

So you've got to understand how your brain works and your body works

and set yourself up for success.

Another thing that I recommend is to not multitask.

Do not multitask.

Don't do several things at the same time.

Don't study two, three, four different things at the same time.

"I'm going to do a little bit of this, and then I'm going to

do some vocabulary practice.

Then I'm going to come back to this, and then I'm going to practice pronunciation.

And all of that within 20 minutes."

No.

You have to stay focused on one thing.

If you do a bunch of things at the same time, I'm not even speaking about checking

your email or going on social media while studying, that is for sure a big no no.

That's going to keep you distracted for sure.

But also within whatever it is that you study, make sure that you focus on one

topic and you don't multitask or learn a bunch of things at the same time.

You can do it one after the other: once you're done with one thing,

you move on to the next thing.

But don't do it at the same time.

It's not healthy for your brain.

That's not how the brain works.

And you have to kind of like regain your focus every time you shift from

one content to another, and it takes time for the brain to gain focus again.

Okay?

Which leads me to the next thing, which is 'keep your environment distraction-free'.

Let's say you start studying and you're focused on one thing,

and then you get a text message.

You shift your focus to your phone, you check your message.

Usually we end up checking a whole bunch of other things, but let's say

you just check the message and then you go back to your article or practice

or whatever it is that you were doing.

It's going to take you time to get back to the same level of focus that

you were before the distraction.

And sometimes it's a matter of 15, 20 minutes until you gain

back the same level of focus.

And usually we don't stay focused for this long, so we never really

get to a high level of focus where you are really, really concentrated

on the thing that you're doing.

So really try to keep your environment distractionfree.

Don't have additional open tabs on your browser, turn your phone off.

Honestly, if you keep it in the other room, it's going to be less tempting

for you to check it, or put it in the drawer or just turn it off completely.

Close the door if you live with other people.

Let them know that now you're practicing and you need some quiet time, right?

So that people don't ask you questions or talk to you while practicing.

If you can do that, you will set yourself up for success.

And also, I don't know how it is for you, but for me I am a lot more

focused when my environment is clean, clutter-free, when I don't have a lot

of things happening in front of me.

So I recommend for you to check your work environment, see if you can

declutter it or create a space that really allows you to focus in a better

way, to study in a focused way – study and work, and really just like do

creative things, if that's what you want.

All right.

One more thing that can help you stay more focused is to understand

that you are teaching yourself to focus while studying English.

What do I mean by that?

Losing your focus is potentially a habit.

Here's what I can tell you about myself.

When I'm in a state of flow, meaning that I'm doing something that I love, let's

say I'm writing something or I'm creating content or even filming videos, right?

And I am focused, I enjoy it, I'm in my genius zone, it's

easy for me to stay focused.

I have no problem doing it for hours.

But I noticed that when things get hard or boring or repetitive, This

is where I tend to lose my focus.

And this is the moment where you have to catch yourself and bring yourself

back to what it is that you were doing.

So let's say you're studying English and everything's okay.

And then you come across something that you don't understand,

and it's a little harder.

This is where you're likely to lose your focus.

And this is where I want you to see what happens.

You are going to look for your phone or search for content online

or go to doing something else.

And that's the real work about training yourself to focus.

You've got to go back to what it is that you are doing and really bring

yourself to a state of focus again.

So say to yourself, "Now I'm losing my concentration, I'm losing focus.

I'm going to go back to doing what I was doing."

You can just take a few breaths.

You can kind of like meditate for 10 seconds and come

back, whatever works for you.

But recognize the moment where your brain wants to shift to

thinking about something else.

By the way, meditation really, really helps because what meditation teaches

you to do is to control your brain, your mind, right, your thoughts.

And this is probably the best skill that you can develop because it's going

to help you focus and it's going to help you understand your brain, how

you think, and sometimes even shift thoughts that are not serving you.

And I talk a lot about it when we talk about mindset, right?

So, training yourself to refocus or doing meditation exercises – while studying,

before studying – can help you gain back your focus and stay concentrated

on whatever it is that you're doing.

Another tip that I have for you is that if you do get distracted and

you go and do something else while studying, respect the transition.

Before going back to studying or your practice, take a few seconds, give

yourself some time to adjust back to this, a different state of focus.

Right?

Let's say you were speaking to someone that requires a certain type of focus.

Now you're going back to studying, that's a different type of focus.

And the brain doesn't transition in a click, right?

Like you can't click your brain into, "Oh, now I'm super focused.

Now I'm less focused because I'm speaking to someone."

So you got to respect the transition, right?

And if you don't, then you're going to try to do the work and

practice and study, but your brain is not going to be there for it.

So sometimes just taking a few breaths, telling your brain, "Okay, now we're

going to go back to reading, right?

Making sure again that you don't have any other distractions,

recognizing the transition going back is the best thing you can do.

And I know that sometimes we have the urgency of going back to doing what we

were doing, but taking time is sometimes the most efficient thing you can do,

most time-efficient thing you can do.

The last thing I'm going to recommend for you to do is to practice for short

periods of time, short, but focused.

The brain is really not created or built for long periods of time of

doing something in a hyper focused way.

And we need to respect that.

This is why when you're studying, I recommend to study in chunks

of 15, 20, or 25 minutes.

And then take a break and then go back to studying.

Some of you may be familiar with a Pomodoro technique, which is a really

great technique for staying focused.

The Pomodoro technique suggests that you need to do focused work in chunks

of time and take breaks in between.

So it says that you should practice or study or work for 25 minutes,

then take a 5-minute break.

Sometimes it could be a little less, but it's a 5-minute break.

Then another chunk of 25 minutes and then another 5-minute break.

And you do 4 loops of that: 4 rounds of 25 minutes of focused work, and then you

take a longer break, 15 or 20 minutes.

So, if you're studying English, I recommend to do the same thing.

It doesn't have to be 25 minutes, it could be 15 minutes.

But if you want to follow the Pomodoro technique, you can find

a lot of Pomodoro clocks online.

And you can set it up, and it's really nice, and it keeps you focused on track.

And the fact that you know that you have a break coming up, for some reason kind

of like keeps you more focused because you're like, "Okay, I'm going to just

wait with all the other things that I want to do, check my phone, check my email.

I'm going to do it during the break."

And during the break, it's recommended for you to get up, to do different

things and not stay on your computer or continue studying during the break.

So you can try out the Pomodoro technique that can also help you stay focused.

All right.

So now my question to you is, What helps you stay focused

when studying, when working?

I'm really, really curious to know.

So let me know in the comments.

And let me know if you also struggle with staying focused when studying.

Because if you are, I really hope this video is going to help you.

Thank you so much for watching.

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing and subscribing

if you haven't subscribed to my YouTube channel or podcast, the

InFluency Podcast, just yet.

And share it with your friends who might benefit from this content as well.

Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day, and I will see you

next week in the next video.

Bye.