We’re all probably guilty of doing one thing when we really should be doing something else entirely, especially during quarantine when we’re home and all the best (and worst) distractions are all around us: Netflix, social media, our beloved pets, the refrigerator, and the bed that’s always inviting us to lay down for “just a few minutes.”

If you find yourself going down the rabbit hole of things that take you away from doing the homework, research, or any type of work that you really need to do, here’s a quick list of tips that might help you:

Get in the zone. But how?

It’s always helpful to hype yourself up for a task, especially if it’s something you don’t particularly enjoy like homework, or your internship boss’s piles of deadlines. Get yourself in the zone with an energizing cup of coffee or tea, watch or listen to something that will pump you up, or devour a filling breakfast to get you ready for the day. When you start your day off right with things that will help your body and mind get motivated, you’ll find a “work day” go a lot more smoothly with productivity.

Write down a to-do list

A big part of staying focused starts with clearly identifying your objectives and goals for the day. Jot your tasks down on a piece of paper, or a notes app, and divide it based on class subject (Science, English, etc.), task (Writing, Research, Study, etc.), or level of urgency based on due dates, and tackle it from there.

There’s also nothing like that feeling of striking off an item on the list, or checking a box of fulfilled obligations.

Work marathons

Go on deep focused work marathons where you allot a chunk of your time dedicated to doing (and hopefully finishing) a requirement, one at a time. Take the divided tasks from your to-do list, and block out specific portions of the day to work on each category (by subject, by task, or by level of urgency).

It’s best for our human brains to focus on one thing at a time with proper time management, and it’s also easier to finish tasks when we’re not jumping from one topic to another. This also lessens the danger of getting distracted, and ultimately leading to procrastination.

Go on (calculated) breaks, and stick to it

More often than not, we tend to have no problem in taking breaks. The problem is that we may be taking breaks that are too long, and too frequent. The key to this is to integrate it with the aforementioned work marathons. Lock in thirty minutes to an hour of deep focused work, and allow yourself to have five to fifteen minutes of rest time.

This ensures that your mind and body won’t “overheat,” and that you have a few minutes to slow down and recharge. This system will also prevent you from growing restless from not checking social media or playing with your pet for far too long, and will sharpen your mind when you get back to work. Just remember to stick to a maximum of fifteen minutes!

Best to keep this short and concise, so we don’t keep you too long from the list of things you need to do. Just remember to prepare, divide, conquer, and celebrate the wins from your daily assignments, and watch those requirements get crossed off one at a time.

Now, get to work!