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Once I actually sit down at my desk, I often have a hard time getting anything done. I鈥檒l clean my desk, browse the New York Times, skim the Twitter headlines, respond to messages on my phone, organize my email, make a to-do list, alphabetize my files, and on and on. I pretend that I鈥檓 being productive; but in reality, I鈥檓 just avoiding my work.

, here鈥檚 my handy guide for staying focused while working.

Before You Sit Down to Work

Try these one day prior to your workday, even the night before.

• Write down your three most important tasks (MITs) for the day.
  • Use an old-fashioned post-it and pen.
• Break everything down into manageable tasks.
  • Again, use a post-it and pen to make a hierarchy of concrete and manageable tasks. For example: MIT #1: Write a resume.
    • Find and read articles on best practices for resume building
    • Write down components of my resume: education, experience, skills
    • Create rough draft
• Write an hour-by-hour task list for the day and include time for breaks or administrative tasks (e.g., checking your email or getting a flu shot).
• Use or other similar apps to block access to Facebook, Reddit, and YouTube and adjust according to your addiction status.

When You Sit Down to Work

• Have a pen and blank post-it next to you to write down any other 鈥渢o-do鈥� tasks that come to your mind.
• Chew on gum or suck on a cough drop or other hard candy. I heard once that there was scientific research saying that .
• Turn off your phone, or put it on airplane mode, or put it in another room. Don鈥檛 even let it vibrate. Make it completely silent.
• Close your email. Yes, close it; no one is going to die if it takes you two-plus hours to respond to their email.
• Shut down your chat windows. That means Skype, Facebook, iMessage and Gchat. The messages will still be there when you get back, I promise.
• Write down all the endless chatter happening in your brain. Keep a document on your desktop titled, 鈥渄istractions.鈥� When you find yourself thinking about your ex-boyfriend, or how much you hate your neighbor, or whatever other drama is happening in your life, open that doc and get it all down. Then, get back to work.
• Tell yourself, 鈥淚鈥檓 just going to work for five minutes and then I鈥檒l take a break.鈥�
  This tricks your brain, every single time, into working much longer.

While You鈥檙e Working

• Turn your timer on.
• Break up your work into 25-minute chunks with 5-minute breaks or 50-minute chunks with 10-minute breaks ().
• Turn on music. I listen to classical or instrumental music with no lyrics.

If You Find Yourself Getting Distracted

• Take a few deep breaths and tell yourself something motivational like "you got this."
• Focus on a motivational image or think about obtaining something you desire: imagine yourself on the day you graduate with your PhD, or the day you pass your comps鈥� anything that will motivate you to get back to work.
• Close your eyes and imagine myself succeeding in what you are doing.
• Think of a reward when you finish your task, like watching a favorite episode of your favorite show or treating yourself to something decadent like a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.

Sarah Tynen is the graduate program manager at the Graduate School. She completed her PhD at CU Boulder in geography in May 2019.