My attention span has never been good. I had a hard time concentrating in long classes and lectures and long trainings and work calls would have me zoning out.
But in the past 3 years it’s gotten increasingly worse. With the TL;DR culture, tweets in 280 words or less, TikToks in under a minute – I just can’t focus on long tasks or even conversations. I can’t even watch TV without opening an app on my phone.
It hurts my listening skills, relationships, and ability to work. I find myself struggling to stay engaged in work calls that go over 30 minutes or to interact in conversations I don’t have a stake in. So I decided to put together a list of things to implement in my daily routines that can also sharpen my mind.
- Play more scrabble/bananagrams – being forced to think in a fun way will be helpful to me and also provide me time without technology.
- Suck on a hard candy without breaking it with my teeth – I’m so guilty of this, but if you suck on it for a long time it forces you to concentrate on an activity and not just mindlessly chew it.
- Doodle or color for 20 minutes – another activity without technology. Maybe I can listen to music in the background or even a podcast.
- Read more – I’ve always called myself a reader when in reality I stopped being an avid reader a long time ago. I have a hard time concentrating when reading, and although audio books are more convenient, I want to try to actually read more.
- Focus on blinking less for 3 minutes – take just three minutes to actively think about something like blinking and try not to do it too often.
- Create a distraction to-do list – when something comes up in my mind while I’m already doing something, I can simply write that task down to come back to at another time.
Rosie Culture 
I really should try a couple of these!
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Very useful and interesting tips
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I may need to try some of these 😂
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I got 3 adult coloring books for Christmas and they’re great to do at night!
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I have one that I’ve only used on plane rides but I think it’s time to break them out again!
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These are actually some great tips. I’m sadly on a screen almost all of my waking hours and sometimes even two. I need to get out more. Sheesh.
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me tooo!!!
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Have you tried mono-tasking? It really helped me with my focus. My attention span is still crap but focusing on one thing at a time has been a game-changer.
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I’ve never heard of it, I’ll look into it more!
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Ooh that Distraction To Do List is an awesome idea! I can easily forget and remember something multiple times in an hour.
Getting away from technology and doing something like reading or doodling for how long YOU choose to do it for is a great one to slowly build up concentration.
My tip is sticking to what you are doing at that moment and do things in some kind of order (unless you are bored while waiting 30 mins for food to cook and could get on with a small task in the meantime).
✨🖤✨
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That’s a great tip! Thank you!
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What an interesting list! I’ll be trying them for sure
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The easiest way I found to improve my attention span: put down the phone. It really is that simple. If you want to do something that requires attention, put the phone on silent, and put it in another room.
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Ugh easier said than done
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Totally, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
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