Tips to boost your productivity and concentration

We all went through that day in which the laziness and tiredness prevent us from studying. Your mind just keeps wandering off and every object becomes a strong distraction (yes, even a wall).  Don’t worry! The blog team got you. We will provide you with some tips that are going to help you study, and particularly increase your productivity and concentration. So grab a snack and take notes!

Physiological aspects

Did your grandparents already tell you to have a good night sleep before an important day? Well, mine always did and they got a point! It is proven that if you are sleep-deprived you will have a harder time concentrating on your task, hence the staring at the wall habit. On top of that, you will make more stupid mistakes which are time-consuming.

The recommended sleeping hours for a young adult are between 7 and 9 hours. It is also said that levels of productivity and concentration are higher in the morning. So stop snoozing your alarm in the morning and get up! Moreover, getting enough rest increases your memory which will facilitate learning.

Linked to sleeping is meditation. Meditation refocuses your awareness of objects and thoughts by letting them go. While this practice seems to be odd and religiously related, it is scientifically proven to significantly decrease stress and anxiety while increasing concentration, productivity and memory. In fact, meditation is part of many successful people’s routine such as Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, LeBron James, and many others.

Another important physiological need is food. Everybody loves food and it’s even better when it can help you study! Many feed help boost concentration and your ability to focus. Some of them are green tea, fatty fish, dark chocolate (in modération), flax seeds, and nuts. On top of that, studies show that blueberries and avocados stimulate the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain, plus they are super tasty. So don’t forget to incorporate those ingredients into your shopping list!

The Pomodoro Technique

The goal of this technique is to effectively manage your time to finish assignments and deadlines. It will enable you to “work smarter, not harder” according to the inventor of this technique, Francesco Cirillo. The concept is very simple. First, you choose a task you want to get done, put a timer of precisely 25 minutes and work on the task without any distractions. So switch off your phone, TV, or any other possible distraction and focus on the task. When the timer rings, take a 5-minute break in which you are allowed to do anything that is not work/study-related (e.g take a walk, get a coffee, etc.). If you did not accomplish your task in the first 25 minutes, then do it again following the same schedule. However, be aware that you can only continue in that way for 4 study rounds. After the 4th 25 minutes period, you must take a longer break, 20 or 30 minutes, to rest your brain.

Use this technique for every task you need to get done and you will see how it will improve your productivity!

App help

I have to admit, it is difficult not to check your phone every ten minutes. Fortunately,  the Forest app exists and prevent that from happening. This amazing app consists of a timer that you set depending on how much you need to study. If you leave the app during that time, the tree that you “agreed” to plant when setting the timer will die. But if you manage to stay off your phone, you will get coins. On the long run, those coins can be used to buy new trees on the app or to finance the plantation of real trees in Africa. Forest enables you to stay off your phone while participating in a good cause at the same time.

Another app that will increase your productivity is Todoist. As the name suggests, it is a personal To Do List in which you enter all your tasks. It is possible to set reminders and to organize your task by projects and levels of priority. A draft page is also available to quickly throw your ideas that you don’t want to forget if you still don’t know how to organize them. You can visualize your schedule daily or weekly to not lose track of your tasks and projects.

Overall, both apps are going to motivate you to be more productive and concentrated!

Did these tips already inspire you to improve your productivity? That’s good. However, don’t forget to take a break from studying! Join us at VUSE, the Aureus Lustrum party on Thursday. Get your tickets here