By Erin Miller

Erin Miller is a Senior Psychology major and Spanish minor at St. Bonaventure University, from Long Island, New York. Her research interests include: mindfulness, its impact on memory and attention, and the exercise and health habits of children and college students. She is a member of Psi Chi, the Honors Program, and the cheerleading team. After she graduates in May 2018, she is going to graduate school for Occupational Therapy at Stony Brook University.

An earlier version of this blog appeared on sbucalm.blog

“I need to stop procrastinating and just focus” a sentence said by almost every student when under a time crunch studying for finals, writing a paper, or just doing math homework. The ability to “just focus,” is actually a lot harder than we think, specifically with your cell phone sitting right next to you, the people at the table two feet away, and the music blaring in your headphones. Focus, also known as selective attention, is “the process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain period of time. Attention is a limited resource, so selective attention allows us to tune out unimportant details and focus on what really matters” (Cherry, 2017). Research has shown that there are ways to work on this ability and improve our focus. Here are some tips to help your brain focus a little harder on the task at hand:

1. Put the cell phone away.