Blog Challenge II // 01. How do you focus?

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We certainly live in a time when it's hard to focus. There are so many distractions: the TV, the phone on which we can see and learn about whatever interested us for so long (yet we tend to not do that) and so many sites and apps that we often open just by habit. 

I, for one, find myself opening a tab or an app, spend some time on it, get bored, close it and then open it again. I won't believe you if you tell me this never happened to you. Sometimes I have a certain site open in a tab on my browser and I open a new tab with the same site because I'm looking for something entertaining or fun. It's ridiculous! But the first step was made, I acknowledged it and now I'm working on it.

So how do I focus with all these distractions that I allowed to claim a big portion of my online activity? 

Focusing is really easy for me (motivation is something I struggle with) and it usually goes like this:

❀ Materials

This means basically whatever I need from notebooks, text books, a lot of fineliners and maybe some stickers to make everything look more fun and petty.

✿  Space

Besides the materials, I don't need anything else next to me. If I don't need my phone or laptop for the task at hand, then the laptop is on sleep mode on my bed and the phone is on silent mode next to it.

❁ Sounds

Sometimes I need sounds to help me focus. I don't put on music with lyrics because 90% of the cases I'm starting to sing along. I don't put on classical music because although I like it, I noticed it makes me angry when trying to focus. I don't know why, but it just does. Instead, I go on sites like noisli and pick up what I'm in the mood for. I already have some playlists saved, but really, nature does it for me. Hearing rain or a stream really puts me in a cosy mood and it makes it easier for me to focus. 

And that's about it. It really doesn't take much for me to be focus, and I'm certain not the same things work for everyone. Actually, even me, a while ago I was able to focus in the noisiest of environments, but after living in a relatively quiet place, I can't anymore. I'd much rather listen to the sound of nature. ♡