Focus and concentration: how to avoid distractions

What breaks your focus and how to get it back: notification settings, your workspace, Pomodoro, deep work, family agreements and a 7-day exercise.

You sit down to read a single page and the phone rings. You answer, come back, and now there is a new message on Telegram. Half an hour later the page is still unread and you already feel tired. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone: these days, being able to concentrate has become a skill in its own right for many people. In this guide we look at what pulls your attention away, why doing one thing at a time works better, how to set up notifications on Android and iPhone, how to prepare your workspace, how the Pomodoro technique and “deep work” blocks work, and how to stay focused at home and in online lessons. At the end you will find three real-life examples, common mistakes and a 7-day “focus challenge”.

What breaks your focus

It is hard to fight distraction without knowing its causes. For most people, the main “thieves” of attention are much the same.

Phone notifications. Every sound or vibration breaks your train of thought. Even if you do not open the message, the question “who was that?” stays in your head.
Social media. The feed, short videos and comments never end. You go in “for a minute” and do not notice how much time has passed.
Multitasking. Writing a report, replying in a chat and watching a video all at once. It looks like a lot is getting done, but in reality none of it turns out well.
Noise. The television, traffic outside, the neighbours’ renovation work, conversations in the office.
Tiredness and lack of sleep. A tired person is easily “hooked” by any excuse.
A vague task. “I’ll work on the project” is far too big. A brain that does not know where to start escapes to something easier, which means the phone.

Watch yourself for one day: when and why did you stop working? Make a quick mark on a sheet of paper each time. In the evening, a glance at the list will clearly show your personal “thieves”.

One thing at a time: the multitasking myth

Many people see themselves as someone who “can handle several things at once”. In fact, with complex tasks that require thinking, the brain does not run two tasks in parallel; it switches rapidly between them. Each switch costs a little time and energy to “reload”: where was I, what was I going to write, which figure was I checking?

Of course, simple activities can be combined: washing the dishes while the washing machine runs, or listening to audio on a walk. The problem starts when you combine two activities that both need attention, for example listening to an online lesson while carrying on a conversation in a work chat.

The practical rule is simple:

Before you start, choose one task and write it down in a single sentence: “I am writing the second section of the report”.
If other thoughts come up, write them on a “later” list. Keep the paper next to you. A thought that has been written down stops nagging you.
When the task is finished or it is time for a break, look at the list and choose the next one.

How to plan your day and sort tasks by importance is covered in detail in our article on time management. Here we focus on seeing the chosen task through to the end without getting distracted.

Setting up your phone: notifications and screen time

You cannot give up your phone entirely: it connects you to work, study and family. But you can set it up so that you control it rather than the other way round. The menu names below follow the English interface; depending on your phone model, their location may differ slightly.

Android: Do Not Disturb and app notifications

Do Not Disturb. Settings → Notifications → Do Not Disturb (on some phones it is under Settings → Sound). Once it is on, calls and messages arrive silently. In the “People” or “Exceptions” section, add your close family as exceptions: if your parents or your child’s school call, you will hear it.
Schedule. Use “Schedules” inside Do Not Disturb to switch the mode on automatically at set hours every day.
App notifications. Settings → Notifications → App notifications (or Settings → Apps → the app → Notifications). Turn off notifications for apps you do not need, such as games, shops and services that send a lot of advertising.
Focus mode. Settings → Digital Wellbeing & parental controls → Focus mode. The apps you choose (social media, for example) will not open during the set time.

iPhone: Focus and notifications

Focus. Settings → Focus. There are ready-made modes: Do Not Disturb, Work, Sleep, Personal. In each one, under “Allowed Notifications”, you choose which people (People) and apps (Apps) are allowed to disturb you. You can also switch a mode on quickly from Control Centre.
App notifications. Settings → Notifications → the app’s name → turn off Allow Notifications, or just remove the sound (Sounds).
Scheduled Summary. Settings → Notifications → Scheduled Summary. Non-urgent notifications arrive not immediately but as a single bundle at a time you choose.

Telegram: Mute and Archive

For many people, the biggest distraction is dozens of groups and channels. You can quieten them without leaving:

Mute. Press and hold the chat (on iPhone, swipe left) and choose Mute. You can mute for a while (Mute for… an hour, eight hours, two days) or permanently.
Archive. Move groups you rarely read to the archive: swipe the chat left, or press and hold it and choose Archive. Muted chats in the archive do not return to the main list even when new messages arrive.
General setting. In Settings → Notifications and Sounds you can turn off notifications for groups (Groups) and channels (Channels) altogether, keeping only private chats (Private Chats).
Chat Folders. Use Settings → Chat Folders to create folders such as “Work”, “Study” and “Family”. During working hours you only look at the one you need.

Tracking your screen time

Before changing anything, look at where you are now:

Android: Settings → Digital Wellbeing & parental controls. The Dashboard shows your daily screen time, how much time went on each app and how many times you unlocked the phone. With “App timers” you can set a daily limit for an app.
iPhone: Settings → Screen Time → See All App & Website Activity. “App Limits” sets limits, and “Downtime” sets a quiet period for the night.

For one week, simply observe without changing anything: the result is often the best push towards change.

Preparing your workspace

Focus depends not only on willpower but also on your surroundings. The harder your workspace makes it to get distracted, the easier it is to work.

Desk. Keep only what you need for the task: laptop, notebook, pen, water. If a pile of papers and yesterday’s tea bowl are in front of you, your thoughts will be scattered too.
A place for the phone. Put the phone in another room, or at least face down and out of reach. A phone you cannot see is less tempting.
Browser tabs. Before you start, close the tabs you do not need. Save pages you want to read later as bookmarks. An open news site or social media tab keeps calling you back.
Computer notifications. Turn off email and messenger pop-ups on your desktop. Windows has Focus (or Do not disturb), and macOS has a Focus mode.
Headphones. In a noisy place, headphones help a great deal. You can wear them without music, too: they signal to others that you are busy. If you do listen to music, choose something calm and without lyrics.

If you work remotely, set aside a spot at home just for work, even if it is a corner of the kitchen table. When you sit there, your brain recognises more quickly that it is “work time”.

The Pomodoro technique and deep work blocks

Pomodoro step by step

Pomodoro is a way of dividing time into short, clearly defined chunks. The most common variant is 25 minutes of work followed by a 5-minute break.

Choose a task. One specific task: “Prepare 3 slides for the presentation”.
Set a timer for 25 minutes. An ordinary phone timer is enough. Switch the phone to Do Not Disturb or Focus.
Work only on that task. If another thought comes up, write it on the “later” list and carry on.
When the timer goes off, stop and rest for 5 minutes: stand up, drink some water, look out of the window into the distance. Do not open social media during this break; that is not rest, it is a new distraction.
After four “pomodoros”, take a longer break, for example 15–30 minutes.

You can adjust the timing to suit you. If 25 minutes feels hard, start with 15. When you are deeply absorbed in your work, chunks of 40–50 minutes may also be comfortable. The key thing is that the start and end times are clear.

Deep work blocks

“Deep work” means working on your most complex and important task with full, uninterrupted attention. Writing a report or program code, studying a topic for an exam and preparing a project plan are all examples.

Set aside one or two blocks a day, each roughly 60–90 minutes long (the figures are only a guide; adjust them to suit you). For many people this is the most alert time of the day, often the morning.
Plan the block in advance and tell others: “I won’t be able to reply between 10:00 and 11:30”.
No email or chat inside the block. Go through them after the block, all in one go.

Focus at home, in the family and in online lessons

Agreements with your family

The hardest part of working or studying at home is finding quiet time without upsetting the people you love. What helps here is not orders but agreement.

Share your schedule openly. A specific statement such as “I work from 9:00 to 12:00 every day, and we have lunch together” is easier to understand.
Agree on a visible signal. A small note on the door or a pair of headphones means “important work right now”. Once the signal is removed, anyone can come and talk to you.
Prepare activities for the children. For little ones, drawing, building blocks or homework for that time. With an older child you can agree: “You do your homework too, and we’ll sit together”.
Share the childcare. If your spouse or another family member is at home, agree on who looks after the children at which times.
Give advance notice about guests. In Uzbek families it is natural for guests to drop in unexpectedly. On an important day, let your relatives know beforehand, or put your deep work at a time when guests rarely come. If a guest does arrive, stop after making a note: a one-line reminder of “where I’ll pick up from” makes getting back much easier.

During online lessons

In online learning it is harder to stay focused than in a traditional lesson, because every distraction is on the same screen.

Before the lesson, close other tabs and chats, and get your headphones and notebook ready.
Take short notes by hand. Writing down the main points and questions holds your attention far better than passive listening.
Ask questions. People who take an active part get distracted less.
Do not watch a video lesson at higher speed if the topic is new. Fast viewing gives a sense of “I’ve watched it”, but you understand less.

How to combine online study with everyday life is covered in detail in our article on effective learning, and how to conduct yourself in online meetings in our online meetings guide.

Sleep, movement, breaks and when focus will not return

Your body affects your focus too

This is not medical advice, just simple things that many people notice from their own experience:

Sleep. Going to bed late and getting up early is bearable for a day or two, but regular lack of sleep weakens your focus. Putting the phone aside before bed makes it easier to fall asleep.
Movement. A short walk, climbing the stairs or some light stretching “refreshes” a tired brain.
Water. Keep a bottle of water on your desk. We often mistake thirst for tiredness.
Breaks. A break is not laziness but part of the work. Real rest is rest away from the screen.

What to do when focus will not return

Some days nothing works. Instead of blaming yourself, try the following:

Make the task smaller. Instead of “write the report”, try “write only the headings”. A small step makes it easier to start.
Change your location. Another room, a library or the courtyard: a new setting can bring your focus back.
Switch to a simple task. If creative work is not happening, do something mechanical, such as sorting files or clearing your inbox.
Accept today. Resting well and starting again tomorrow with fresh energy is also the right decision.

If your focus does not recover for a long time, for weeks, and your mood and sleep are also affected, do not ignore it: talk to the people close to you and, if needed, see a doctor.

Three real-life examples

The times in the examples below are only illustrative and are there just to show the idea.

Kamola, 29, lives in Tashkent and works remotely as an assistant accountant. Her problem is that her work chat and family groups are all on one phone. She created “Work” and “Family” folders in Telegram, muted more than twenty groups and moved them to the archive. Every morning from 9:00 to 11:00 is her “deep work” block: during that time she works only on spreadsheets and checks the chat just once, at 11:00. She agreed with her family that “if the door is closed, I’m doing important work”.

Jasur, 18, lives in Samarkand and is preparing for his university entrance exam. He would open his textbook and drift off into short videos every ten minutes. After looking at Screen Time, he was surprised at how much time was going on social media. Now he leaves his phone in his parents’ room while studying, works in 25+5 Pomodoro mode, and after every four “pomodoros” takes a ten-minute walk in the courtyard.

Nodir, 35, is a manager in an office in Namangan. In the open-plan office, colleagues often come over with questions. He blocked out one hour every afternoon in his calendar as “closed time”, wears headphones during it, and told his colleagues: “Put your questions on a list and I’ll go through all of them after 16:00”. He turned off email notifications on his work computer and now checks his inbox three times a day.

Common mistakes and the 7-day focus challenge

Common mistakes

Relying on willpower alone. Saying “I won’t look at my phone today” is not enough. Turning off notifications and putting the phone somewhere else is more reliable.
Changing everything at once. Someone who deletes every app in a single day and plans three “deep work” blocks a day soon burns out. Start with small steps.
Turning off all notifications and forgetting about family. Set up your list of exceptions, or you will miss an important call.
Ignoring tiredness. Planning your hardest task after a sleepless night.
Giving up after a bad day. One bad day does not mean the method does not work.

The 7-day focus challenge

Add one new habit each day and keep the previous ones.

Day 1: Observe. Check your screen time (Digital Wellbeing or Screen Time) and mark down every time you get distracted.
Day 2: Notifications. Turn off notifications for at least five apps you do not need, and Mute and Archive inactive Telegram groups.
Day 3: Workspace. Clear your desk, close unnecessary tabs, and choose a separate place for your phone away from where you work.
Day 4: Pomodoro. Complete at least four 25+5 rounds.
Day 5: A deep work block. Set aside one 60–90-minute block and tell your family or colleagues in advance.
Day 6: Body. Go to bed earlier than usual, take two short walks during the working day and keep water on your desk.
Day 7: Review. Look back at the week: which habit helped most? Which one was hard? Write down three habits you will keep.

Checklist

A Do Not Disturb or Focus schedule is set on my phone, with close family as exceptions.
Notifications from unnecessary apps are turned off.
Telegram groups are muted and archived, and I have folders.
I review my screen time once a week.
My workspace is tidy and my phone is out of reach.
I choose one task before I start working.
I have at least one deep work block a day.
I have an agreement with my family about quiet time.
I step away from the screen during breaks.

Focus is not an inborn talent but a skill that grows with practice. Start today with one setting, add another tomorrow, and in a week you will feel the difference yourself.

If you would like to learn a new profession or digital skills systematically, take a look at our association’s free training programmes. When you are ready, submit an application and our specialists will get in touch.