Let’s face it, every day comes with an infinite amount of distractions. With social media and the news and text messages and phone calls and simple noise from outside, it’s a wonder we get anything done at all. We get things done, because we have to, but many of us can agree that staying focused can often feel like a real challenge. 

If you’re struggling to achieve focus, don’t worry: it’s not your fault! Furthermore, nothing is wrong with you. Life is complicated and crazy and you have a lot on your mind, a lot of understandable reasons to lose focus. But if you want to work on your focus muscle and learn how to side-step those distractions, here are some tips to help you succeed:

• Rewire Your Mind
  In today’s fast-paced life, our minds have adapted to multi-tasking. Without meaning to, we’ve trained our minds to be unfocused. In order to begin to retrain your mind, practice blocking out all distractions and immersing yourself entirely in a single task. You’ll have to go easy on yourself and start really small. On the first day of this new practice, take five minutes out of your day with zero distractions. Put away your phone and close the door, then focus on one thing only. After five minutes, let your mind go back to wandering. The next day you can increase the time, even if just by one minute. 
   
• Start Your Work Day Creatively and Concentratedly
  It’s understandable that we tend to start our days with easy, mindless tasks, and leave the bigger items for later. You wouldn’t think it, but these smaller tasks actual begin to drain your energy before you’re able to get anything important done, and next thing you know you’re struggling to keep your tired brain focused. To solve this problem, organize your work schedule. Start with the more complicated tasks, the tasks creative in nature, that require the most concentration. Then, when you feel your focus fading, you can move on to the minute items on your to-do list. 
   
• Set Realistic Expectations For Yourself
  Strong focus is an admirable goal, but you don’t have to be focused all the time. In fact, you can’t be, it’s not possible. According to a study by David Rock, co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, we’re only truly able to focused for six hours out of the week! Observe where and when you’re able to be most focused--is it morning or night, on the train or in the garden?--then allocate your most mentally strenuous tasks for that time and place. 

If you’re struggling to stay focused, rest assured that you’re not alone. You’re a human being, not a machine, and your mind is not designed to stay focused for marathon-amounts of time. So pick reasonable amounts of time to put distractions aside and strive for full-focus. Be patient with yourself, and soon you’ll be impressed with the progress you’ve made.