84: Five Useful Strategies to Help You Focus on Writing

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Hi everyone. Today I'm going to talk to you about five useful strategies to help you focus on writing. Why am I talking to you about this? Well, I've noticed that it's the start of a new academic year. Some of you are going into your senior year and you're having to write or finish writing your senior thesis. Some of you are in graduate school, have advanced to candidacy, and you need to write your dissertation. Some of my friends are trying to finish up their programs, and they're going to finish and file in December.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

I'm thinking of you all as you are feeling like it's crunch time, and you really need to focus on your writing. And I've been there. I know how daunting it can be to have this big looming writing project that's there, and to sit down and try to start your writing. Then this big thing becomes so big that it's hard to focus. Well, I'm going to share some strategies that I actually continue to implement even to this day. I'm no longer writing a dissertation. I'm not quite writing a book, although I do have ideas for a book project in the future.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

But I still sometimes struggle to focus on whatever project it is that I'm working on. It could be, I'm working on a talk that I'm giving, or a workshop that I'm giving, or I'm writing a blog, or whatever it is. It still requires me sitting down, taking time away from all of the many distractions in my life. We all have so many distractions. It could be our parents. It could be our kids. It could be our jobs. It could be other family members. You might be in a multi generational household. You've got lots of people around you. How do you focus when you have looming deadlines, when you have especially writing to do and you are struggling?

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Well, I'm going to start with a tried and true technique that so many people use. Sometimes I'm surprised when I mention it and folks say that they've never heard about it before. If you are a consistent listener of my podcast, you have heard about this before. It is the Pomodoro Technique. What is the Pomodoro Technique? It is a technique where you work for a brief period of time. You set a timer for 25 minutes, and you work on whatever it is that you're doing for 25 minutes straight- no break, no pausing, no anything. Keep working for 25 minutes. After that time is up and the timer goes off, you take a five minute break. You do that again and again. After the third time, then you have earned a longer break.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

But the purpose of the Pomodoro timer is to get you to work in short bursts of time, so that it minimizes the amount of distractions that could get in the way of you stopping what you're doing. Like even right now, there is background noise right now, because I am in transition. I've got a baby in the background who's yelling, crying. But I remain focused right now. I should probably just set my own Pomodoro timer for this podcast episode to remind myself that no matter what happens in the background, no matter how many distractions I have, I have to keep doing this for the 25 minutes of the timer. Then I get my break. Then I get to kind of attend to the things that were distracting me for those five minutes or for the longer break. So that's the first one.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Timers. Timers are great. Pomodoro, it's actually based out of an actual tomato timer. You know, the timers that people would use back in the day when they were not digital. You would set it and then you'd hear the little ticking- tick tick tick. Then eventually ding! Time is up. That's what it's named after- a tomato timer. Timers are great. They're great with kids too. My son has a timer when he's doing his own work, his homeschooling. I tell him, you gotta work on this for 15 minutes. When the time is up, you need to be done. Trust me, without the timer, he takes ages. With the timer, he gets it done. He focuses.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Next strategy I'm going to talk to you about has to do with getting yourself in the mood to focus, and having consistency every time that you're doing things that require you to focus. For me, one of the things that has been useful is having a playlist. I have had the same work playlist- it's my writing/work/focus playlist- for I don't know, 15 years or so. It's the same music, same playlist. It doesn't get old. It doesn't have any lyrics. It's not about jamming to whatever song it is that I want to sing along to. Although that might work for you, too. You might have songs that you love and enjoy, and that don't distract you, that help you to focus. But having a playlist, or having some sort of background noise can help you.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

In fact, I remember when I wrote my dissertation, I would go to this website called Coffitivity that would replicate the sounds of a coffee shop. So you'd have ambient coffee shop noise through that website without having to physically be in a coffee shop. If you like that kind of kind of background noise, it helps you to focus. I would recommend something like Coffitivity. If not, create a playlist. Have it be your getting focused playlist, and keep using it every single time you to be in the zone. It can help you to have that noise, that sound, the music to - again- mute out any of the distractions.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

When it comes to working, another big distraction for a lot of us- I'm not gonna lie, for me too- is social media. WZe are so plugged into our cell phones. We probably use social media more than we've cared to admit. Some people get to the point where it's just too much, and they completely quit social media- as if it's an addiction. They'll take all of their social media apps out and no longer use it. I'm not quite there yet. I am okay with my social media use. Although I have to admit that sometimes it can be a distraction when I'm trying to focus.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

If that's the case, you might want to look into an app or two that will help to block out those distracting social media apps. When I was in grad school, I used the freedom app. But I know there's another one called antisocial. And there probably are many more options nowadays than there were when I was writing my dissertation. But it doesn't hurt to try that out, to try out an app that will block out websites and things that will distract you. Some of them are specifically for social media, and others will allow you to pick and choose the websites that are most distracting to you, and not let you access them for that period of time that you're working.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Another related option- related to this third thing about using apps to kind of help you with staying focused and not to distract you- is maybe downloading an app that will help to track how you use your time, both on your computer or on your phone. I used one called Rescue Time. I no longer use it anymore, but I did use it. It helped me to identify how much time I was spending writing, because it would tell me- this is the number of minutes or hours that you spent this week on Microsoft Word. That was what I used to write my dissertation. So if you know you have a goal of- I want to log this much time of writing this week, you might want to download an app like Rescue Time, that will actually track how productive you're being in certain ways.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Those were three out of five. Now the fourth out of fifth strategy that I want to mention is free writing. I also have an app recommendation related to free writing. So what do I mean when I say free writing? I mean, sitting down, pen and paper- or it could be opening up a Word doc or a Google doc, doesn't matter- and typing non stop for five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or as long as 25 minutes. Non stop, stream of consciousness, everything that you're thinking, but with a prompt in mind, with a topic in mind- and that topic related to the thing is that you need to get done.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

So if you're writing for that day, if your dissertating, if you're working on your thesis, a blog, whatever it is that you need to focus on, write, write, write, write write. Half of it is going to be nonsense, but the other half of it might be useful and will help you again, get started. It's a great way to start that process if you're really struggling to focus, to just get words on a page. The app that I want to recommend that goes along with free writing is called write or die. Yes, I did use this one when I was in grad school. I haven't used it recently, so I don't know what kind of updates they've made in the last six or seven years since I used it. But it's still around. It's still a thing.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

What does it do? It is an app that will force you to keep writing, because if you stop first, it sends you a reminder to say, hey, you stopped typing. What's going on? Then if you keep going, and you again, stop, it will make loud noises, like really scary or annoying, just like disruptive loud noises to get your attention. Now, if you do it a third time, what it does is it actually starts to delete your words. You might be typing, and out of nowhere, you notice that your words are deleting, which is a little bit scary. That one was actually a fun app that I used to help me to focus, because I felt like okay. I've got that accountability through this app.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

The last thing I want to mention as a strategy to help you focus on your writing is- seguing into this topic of accountability- is actually having a person there to hold you accountable. It could be an accountability buddy who you meet with in person, at a coffee shop, outdoors, whatever it is that you're comfortable with. It could be someone you meet with over zoom or over chat, and you check in every Pomodoro timer, every 25 minutes. Hey, how did it go? How are you doing? Are you focusing, are you not focusing? Why not? Okay, let's keep going, another timer.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

That was really helpful for me, continues to be helpful for me. There are some folks that I check in with for accountability every other week when it comes to my own personal goals. It's no longer just about writing like it was in grad school. Now it's more just a wide range of goals. But yes, accountability partners are great, and I highly recommend them.

Dra. Yvette Martinez-Vu

Those are my five useful strategies to help you focus on writing. Again- using timers, using sounds, noises, music, making use of apps that help to block what's distracting you., free writing, and of course, having accountability buddies. I hope you found this helpful and I will talk to you all next time.