1/5/2020 How to Focus on Reading in 5 Steps | LifeDev

How to Focus on Reading in 5 Steps

by AMBER

When I got to college, I was NOT prepared for the amount of reading
needed to keep up in my classes. After many nights of falling asleep
on my books or reading the same paragraph over and over, I had to
gure out how to focus on reading.

After lots of trial and error, I found a reliable way to make sure I can
get my reading done – faster. Here’s the process in ve main steps. At
the end, you can get a cheatsheet to use while you read.

Read here about the many bene ts of reading.

Materials
You will need these things for sure:

Book or ereader
Chair or comfortable place to sit upright

Each of these optional items will increase your focus:

Notepad and pen/pencil

Clock or timer

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Cold water
Process reminder cheatsheet (bonus printable)

How to Focus on Reading

Step 1: Prepare your brain to focus

To be successful, you have to prepare your brain to focus. If you’re
tired or emotional or it’s been quite a while since your last meal, take
care of those things rst.

Sleepiness – If you fall

asleep while reading, you
really need to get more
sleep at night. That doesn’t
always happen, so here’s
my hack – a nap will revive
you and boost your
learning potential. I go for a
10-20 minute micro-nap.
Any longer than that and I
end up drowsy.

Agitation – If your mind keeps wandering off your reading onto

something that bothers you, you can do two things:

1. Write it down and decide to deal with it later.

2. Clear your mind for 1-5 minutes using a quick meditation for
focus: see “the breathing exercise”.

Hunger – Concentrating increases the amount of energy your brain

needs. To compensate, eat a balanced snack that has some fat, carbs
and protein. Some good examples are:

a piece of fruit with some jerky,

hummus with carrot sticks, or
a small handful of mixed nuts.

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Step 2: Gather
your materials
and go to a good
location
Go to a quiet location
where you have a chair you
can sit upright in. Your desk
at home or a library carrel
are ideal spots. If you can
see a clock from where you
sit, that’s helpful, too. Good
lighting will also help you
stay alert and focused.

The idea here is to create a context that reminds your brain when it’s
time to focus. Set up the same surroundings each time and it will get
easier to snap into focus mode.

Remove all distractions. Close your door if you can, or make it clear
to other people that you’re busy.

Silence your phone and hide it out of sight. I can’t stress this one
enough. Even if you don’t act on the buzzes and chimes, getting
alerts destroys your concentration.

Step 3: Get motivated

Ask yourself “Why am I reading this?” When you have a good
reason, it Increases your excitement about the reading material.
That’s because you know what you’re going to get out of it.

Keep it positive by making it your choice. For instance, “I’m reading

this because I want to learn about psychology” is more motivating
than “I’m reading this because I have to pass my class.”

Set up a goal with a reward. De ne how much time you will focus
on reading and what treat you will get after. Example: I will focus on
reading for 10 minutes, and then I will get a piece of chocolate.

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Pick a length of time that challenges you a little bit. Use a reward
that motivates you personally, like browsing your favorite site for 10
minutes, or playing a game.

Set your timer (or note the time on the clock), and start reading!

Step 4: Stay alert

while you read
Posture is the most
important factor in staying
focused. Sit up straight, and
check your posture every
few minutes. Reading on
your bed or lying down are
sure ways to confuse your
brain into thinking it’s time to relax and sleep instead of focus.

Take notes. Use that notepad to take notes on what you’re reading.
If you’re looking for what’s most important to write down, you will
pay more attention to the material.

Bring your attention back when it wanders. It’s normal to get

distracted if you haven’t practiced focusing. Just remind yourself why
you are reading, and start reading again.

Tip: If distracting ideas bother you repeatedly, write them down in

the margin of your notepad to get them off your mind. Sometimes
I’ll be trying to concentrate, and it will occur to me that I need to
remember to do something. Just write it down and keep going.

Take breaks. At a minimum, take a short break after every 25

minutes of reading.

Stand up.
Do a “W” stretch to help your posture.
Look at something at 20 feet away for 20 seconds.This gives your
eyes a break.
Maybe do a couple air squats to get your circulation going.

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Pro Tip – Sip cold water. Here’s one that helps me when I’m getting
sleepy. Sip on some ice
water. It gives you a little
shock that helps your
attention.

Step 5: Finishing
reading
Review you reading
session.

Ask yourself:

What did I just read?

Did I get out of it what I wanted?
How was my focus this session, and what is one thing I could do
to focus better next time?

Celebrate your win with a reward. Make good on your promise to

yourself and have that treat.

Bonus step: Consider scheduling your next reading session now.

De ning ahead of time when and where you will do something
makes it much more likely to happen.

It takes repeated practice over time to train your brain to focus on

reading. Be patient and celebrate each success.

GTD Cheatsheet: The 8 Bene ts of Reading Easy Way To Save

Collection (or Ways Reading Valuable Time Reading
This is part 2 of The GTD Makes You Better at RSS Feeds
Cheatsheet series. Now Life) To Do or Else has a
that we've set the Last updated: May 15, great blog post with 3
groundwork for our 2017 Photo by celeste steps to saving more
GTD work ow, it's time The public library is a time with RSS. It's a
February 6, 2007 phenomena that to this fairly simple post if
In "GTD - Getting day I still can't get over. August 4, 2006
Things Done" June 1, 2009 In "Productivity"
In "Goals"

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{ 5 comments… add one }

Gustavo August 10, 2018, 7:43 am

Nice information, this helped me alot. Thank you for sharing

this, I will try it from now on

Ooreofe June 15, 2017, 12:40 pm

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Very lovely and helpful

Could you recommend any app that helps with reminding for reading

Amber June 16, 2017, 3:55 am

Google Calendar app for mobile has a feature called Goals. It

can be accessed by using the + and choosing goal. Then it guides
you through questions that help you set it up. It nds time on your
calendar for you.

Ingrid May 22, 2017, 7:31 am

Great tips! I wonder if the Pomodoro method would work here

also. I love the Marinara timer.

Amber May 29, 2017, 5:43 am

This would work great with the Pomodoro method.
Marinara is a great web-based timer. I like it because it works across
platforms.

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