How I trained myself to focus long periods of time (even when I dont want to)

When I was in 8th grade, 7 years ago, I was preparing for the high school entrance exam. I wanted to score as high as possible so that I could get into my dream high school. But the problem was, I could only concentrate 5 minutes, literally. After 5 minutes, my mind was everywhere. I was daydreaming, throwing something, looking out of the window, and wasn't really listening to the teacher. The exam that I was going to take lasted, I think, about 90 minutes; 120 minutes, I don’t really remember.

But in order to study full day, I needed to improve my concentration by trying different tactics, methods, and tricks. I trained my concentration from 5 minutes to multiple hours. If you have a short focus and if you are struggling with concentrating on a task for a long period of time, then this video is for you. Before trying to improve your focus, I want to give a disclaimer: This is a method that I use for myself; it worked for me. I figured out this method when I was 14, and I'm still using these tricks and tips when I see my focus is not really lasting. So it worked for me, but it might not work for you.

The recommendation that I can give is, you know, try and see what works for you. So the step one will be figuring out which type you are. When I was talking to my friends, I realized that there are two types of people when it comes to concentration. This is not science-based or anything; this is just from my observations, so take it as a grain of salt.

So, the first type is short and deep. One is the first group of people who basically can use the Pomodoro method. If you don't know about the Pomodoro method, it's basically a study method where you study 25 minutes and then take 5 minutes of break, and you repeat the cycle. After four times, you take a 15-minute break, and you repeat and repeat and repeat. If you tried the Pomodoro method and if you see that this method works for you, then you're probably in group one.

So if you are able to concentrate for a short period of time, and after 5 minutes of break don't have any difficulties coming back to your desk and study once again, you're probably in this group. The second group is long focus but limited time type of a group, if it makes sense. So these are the people who can study for a longer period of time but having difficulties coming back to their desk.

So you can study for an hour or maybe an hour and a half, but after you take a break, even like for 5 minutes, it turns into 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and maybe a whole day you take a rest. If you're type two, maybe you're saying, "I cannot even concentrate for 25 minutes. How the heck am I supposed to find out whether I belong to group one or group two?" If you cannot concentrate for 25 minutes, maybe it's not about your focus but maybe there are too many distractions around you. I'm going to talk about how to solve them.

After solving all these distractions, you can figure out which one you belong to. But generally speaking, if you can focus more than 25 minutes when you reflect back on your study skills or study patterns, you probably already know which group you belong to. I belong to the second group, so I just cannot come back to my desk once again when I take a break.

So, the Pomodoro method, I always hated that. It works for some people, but it does not work for me. It is just not for me. I just cannot follow a structure 25-5-25-5 type of a study schedule. It is just too boring for me, so I'm group two. Now, your type is important because in step two we want to figure out which type you want to become. You can change, basically, your type.

Maybe you have a bit more tendency to either of these groups, but of course, you can change this focus type. In my experience and in my friends’ experience, there is no such thing as group one being better than group two or something. It totally depends on your goal. Do you want to spread your study time to the entire day, for example, from Monday to Friday? You study all day long, and the only thing you do is studying, but you get a solid study session? Or do you want to study every day but have a pretty intense studying session in the morning and then have the rest of the day for yourself?

It totally depends on that person, and it totally depends on how you want to study. But for me personally, I don't want to study all day long. Even if I can take breaks here and there, I just don't want to spread my study sessions all day long because I have so many things aside from studying that I want to do, like YouTube, going to the gym, spending time with family, friends, whatever.

So I wanted to make my focus so packed and so intense in the morning so that I don’t need to do any studying anymore in the evening. But for some people, they really don't like intense studying sessions like 4-hour blocks or 3-hour blocks, and they say, "I feel like burnout." So I want to spread my study session across the whole day so that I can have a bit of rest here and there, lunchtime, and then study again. But this doesn't work for me.

In order to figure out which type you belong to, of course, you need to calculate your focus in the first place. So step three will be calculating your focus. We need to understand your starting point before talking about tips and tricks. So now stop the video and sit at your desk. Try to concentrate on something; it can be studying, it can be work, or it can be whatever you want to focus on.

When you get distracted, take a pen and paper and write down how many minutes or maybe hours you could concentrate, and also write the reason why you got distracted. Do this calculation multiple times; maybe give yourself a week, and each day, each time you try to study or work, write down the minutes and the reason why you got distracted.

Step four will be analyzing the reason. After a week, you will have solid data about why you're getting distracted when you're studying or working, and now we're going to analyze the reason why you are getting distracted. First thing first, take the average of your concentration so that we know how many minutes you can actually concentrate without getting distracted. It can be even 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes; it totally depends on you.

You don't need to be ashamed of your short focus duration because everybody starts from a different point, and it's totally fine. So just calculate your average focus time and note it somewhere. Also, when it comes to distractions, figure out why you are getting distracted. If you can see a pattern reason that is repeatedly occurring, mark it up and write it down.

Things like sleep, nutrition, environment, your phone, your mood, or the specific time of the day can be a great reason. By giving yourself honest feedback, you will be more conscious the next time you're trying to study or work or trying to concentrate on something. Use the Pareto principle to train your focus; observe the conditions and the things that you did differently on days you're productive versus unproductive, and repeat the things that help you make you more productive.

So, in order to create this environment, you might think, "Okay, I now understand my distractions, but how am I supposed to create a great environment that I can concentrate for multiple hours?" Step five will be eliminating distractions. For each category that I figured out that happens to me, I came up with some solutions. So I'm going to give the solutions, but the way you solve your problems can be different from mine.

So always keep in your mind that you need to figure out what works for you. The first one, I think when it comes to my concentration, is the major reason is lack of schedule. I am the type of a person who enjoys a scheduled day. Even if I'm not going to follow that plan, because by scheduling, I can see how much I can achieve in a day, and then I can have a realistic vision about my day.

Sometimes I plan too much, and sometimes I don't plan anything at all. Like I start in the middle of the day, around like 1:00 p.m., or something, and I'm like, "It's already 1:00 p.m. I can't do anything. I'm just going to lay all day long." It's not true, right? Just because you woke up at around like 1:00 p.m. doesn't mean that the day is going to be unproductive.

If you have a scheduled planned day, you can clearly see what you can achieve or what you can't, and it gives you a great sense of control over time. Because we usually overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year; therefore, planning and scheduling really worked for me.

So now I have a solid weekly, daily, and also monthly planning system that really works for me. If you guys want a video about it, I can make a video about it. The second major problem is distraction. Of course, it can occur because of different reasons. The first one is the phone. If your phone is always buzzing, if you're getting notifications constantly, of course, your focus will not be that long because you want to check your phone.

You can have the best self-discipline, but after a bit of time, you want to check your phone because that's how they made it, you know? You just want to check your notifications and see who commented on your post or who sent you a message or something. So put it in Do Not Disturb mode, or on iPhone, I think with the new update they have a couple of new Focus functions, I guess, like "Work," "Sleep," "Do Not Disturb." You can set and arrange which apps you're going to get notifications from.

The great thing about Do Not Disturb mode is you can add people to your favorites; especially, like I added my family to my favorite list. Even on Do Not Disturb mode, if they call me, I'll get notifications, you know? I live abroad; I live in Italy, and my parents are in Turkey. So if something really urgent happens, I can still get the notification without getting distracted from, you know, daily conversations and kind of unnecessary things.

The second distraction type is people. This can happen especially if you have younger siblings, loved ones, roommates, or if you're like me, who is really talkative, and you know I like to go to my parents and tell about my day in the middle of my study session to procrastinate because I like to talk. I like people, and I like to share my moments. You know, I think rather than telling them to be silent, the best method is changing the place you study.

You can go to libraries, cafes, or maybe to your school or whatever and find an environment that is quiet enough for you to study. Maybe you don’t have the money to study in cafes; you know, when I was in high school, I was so broke that I couldn't even study in cafes because coffee is expensive. The thing that you can try is to study during different periods of time.

So if your family wakes up around, I don’t know, 10:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., you can wake up a bit earlier and study early in the morning. Or if you can stay up late and study in the midnight, it might not be the best thing to study in the midnight because you might not get enough sunlight exposure, and it might mess up your sleep schedule.

But maybe waking up 2 to 3 hours earlier than you do might work for you, or try to figure out some public libraries that you can go to. The third major distraction is, I think, environment. Maybe in your house you might not have a proper desk set up that you can study, or maybe you're not getting enough light; everything is possible. Arrange the schedule according to that.

So you don't need to study at home, but it might be really difficult for you to arrange your schedule accordingly. So the tip that I can give is to separate your play, work, and study areas. Basically, don't study on your bed, or don't eat something on your studying desk. Make a separate studying room. If it's not possible, if you only have one desk like I do, you can study at one corner and you can eat at one corner.

By basically separating the work, play, and sleep areas, your mindset can easily shift when you sit at your study desk. You know, when I sit here, I ultimately turn on my study work mode, so it's much easier for me to concentrate. When talking about distraction, I get so annoyed when study material or anything I want to watch basically is not available in my country.

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The great thing about it is especially if you're like me, if you're constantly changing countries. Like, you know, I'm sometimes in Italy, in Turkey, in Japan, or sometimes travel to different countries. You don't miss any content or whatever material you want to watch or work on. With NordVPN, you always have access, and I have a discount code, of course.

Get a two-year plan plus one month free by clicking the link nordvpn.com/duty, and also it’s risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. Thank you, NordVPN, for sponsoring this video. I'll link them down in the description below; don’t forget to check them out. Another major distraction, I think, is boredom. It can be your passion in life, but sometimes we can still get bored of that.

Now, yes, I want to study medicine, but sometimes it's so boring that I want to crush my head into a wall and, like, you know, not study. It can still work for your goals and follow your passion, but sometimes it can still be boring because it's part of the process. You know, when it comes to boredom, I think the thing that I can recommend is to study or work with your friends.

For me personally, my friends are really, you know, highly motivated people so I can study with them. If your friends get easily distracted, you can keep each other accountable and work together and have more fun while getting more done. Or if you are lonely and if you don’t have friends, maybe try listening to some lo-fi music or classical music, or you can even try listening to some ASMR while studying.

Also, you can try out various apps for your focus, like Forest, Pomodoro timers, and such. I actually figured out quite a lot of good productivity apps, so if you want a video about it, comment down below. The other distraction I think is health condition. When your health condition is not good, I mean if you’re not getting enough sleep or if you're taking too much caffeine or if you're not eating healthy, you can get distracted very easily.

Of course, our body and our brain are connected, and if your body is not in a good condition, don't expect from your brain to concentrate for multiple hours. You need to put yourself in a good condition so that you can handle studying and concentrating for a long period. You cannot expect to sleep only three to four hours and have deep flow concentration. You need to treat your body and your soul right in order to concentrate.

I figured out, at least for me, when I eat high-carb and high-sugary foods before studying, my insulin spikes and I immediately become really sleepy, and I cannot concentrate well. So these days, I try to avoid hard carb foods before my studying session, and I try to take them a bit like afterwards. You know, if I take them right before, I just become too sleepy, and I need to rely on too much caffeine to keep me awake, and it's not a good thing to do.

So I try to avoid high-carb and high-sugary foods before studying. And you know, getting a great amount of exercise really helped me too. I feel like after starting to work out, my focus became more stable, and I could concentrate for hours and hours without getting distracted because I use excess energy during my workout, and I get the endorphins kicking, you know, after a workout session. So I maintain my mental health too.

But if you don’t have access to the gym or maybe working out, you can try doing meditations before and after your study session to keep you sane. Another factor that can affect your concentration is your flow time. This is really debatable, actually, in the productivity community. But the thing that I realize about myself is that I can either concentrate well in the very early mornings or very late nights.

I think it's due to the quietness of the environment. You know, I live alone, so my house is pretty quiet. But when I look outside and open my window when everybody is quiet, when everybody's sleeping, I feel kind of superior, and I can concentrate more. Or I tell myself that it's 5:00 a.m.; what the heck are you doing? You're not going to spend your time watching unnecessary YouTube videos when you woke up at like 5:00 a.m. You're going to spend this time productively.

Or when I'm staying up late around like 1:00 a.m., I tell myself, "You could sleep now, but you chose this, so at least do something." So my mind works like that. So maybe that's the reason why I can concentrate more in the early mornings or late nights. But after, you know, doing this concentration time and distraction thingy, you can realize your patterns too, and you can figure out whether you can concentrate better in the early mornings, maybe the middle of the day, if you're lucky, or maybe late at night.

Try to arrange your schedule according to that. So, as you can see, there are various reasons for distractions and various ways to solve those problems, but it's totally up to you why you're getting distracted and how you solve it is totally up to you. So always give yourself feedback after you get distracted, not it, and try to figure out how you can solve them.

But after solving those problems, step six will be taking action. Of course, you can do the best analysis in the world, but if you're not taking action, it doesn't make sense; like, it's not going to work. Of course, you need to actually implement these methods and work to see how you can improve. So you need to study and work; just knowing the methods doesn't work; you need to implement them into your real life.

Step seven is to repeat the cycle: work, get distracted, analyze the reason, give yourself feedback, solve the reason, work, get distracted. You know, this is just like a whole cycle that you need to repeat and repeat and repeat to find out your best method of studying and your concentration. And with time, you can clearly see that your concentration is getting better and better.

I literally started from 5 minutes, and I don’t have any difficulties right now studying or working for like 3 hours. I want to improve it more so that I can reach 4 hours. My goal is to, you know, study and work without getting distracted for 4 hours because I usually do my studying and working sessions in 3 to 4-hour blocks. Your goal can be really different from mine; maybe you only want to focus for an hour, and that's totally fine. You know, everybody has different goals and different ways of living, so it's totally fine.

The last step is enjoying your flow. Once you reach the flow, once you figure out how to focus more and how to study and work and, you know, how to be more efficient, it’s so fun. Because you’re getting distracted, you're doing the work, finishing, and then the rest of the day is for you, and you can do whatever you want, and it's so enjoyable. You know, so enjoy the flow. Don't forget, always enjoying the process is important when you're trying to achieve something.

You don't need to sacrifice the current moment to achieve your goals or anything; you can enjoy the journey and still reach your goals. It's totally up to your mindset, so always stay positive and be energetic towards life, you know? So yeah, that was it. If you find this video helpful, let me know in the comments down below so that I can create more videos about these types of things. Thank you, Nord, for sponsoring this video. Don't forget to check out the links down in the description below, and see you guys. Bye!