A quick productivity tip

This may seem incredibly obvious but today I used the best trick to keep myself focused as opposed to my usual habit of study for 5 minutes, check Instagram...study for 10 minutes, send a text, etc. I often blame my my iPhone for a serious decrease in productivity (in my pre-laptop/smart phone  high school days I swear I could sit and read for three hours straight) and I was determined to really power through my English literature study guide today.

I sat on the couch, study guide and notecards in tow, phone and laptop on the kitchen island out of reach. I kept a post-it on the arm of the couch and whenever a "pressing" thought would cross my mind -- must text Danielle now! Need to send email to dentist! -- I just jotted them down on the post-it. Instead of the incessant internal dialogue that comes from realizing you need to do something and hoping you won't forget it (should I do it now? No, 5 more minutes. Then I'll forget!), as soon as I jotted it down, I was able to refocus quickly. After an hour and a half of diligent studying, I took my post-it and as my "reward," finished the non-English related tasks I had accumulated. It only took ten minutes to finish my list of tasks, as opposed to the ten minutes that each task would inevitably have taken had I completed them individually, with water and bathroom breaks each time.

Again, probably obvious but it was nice to find my own way to break the smart phone distractions cycle!