Before you start working toward improving your mental focus, you might want to begin by assessing just how strong your mental focus is at the present moment.

      Your Focus Is Good If...

• You find it easy to stay alert

• you set goalsand break task up into smaller parts

• you take short break, thenget back to work.

      Your Focus Needs Work If...

• You daydream regularly

• You can't tune out distractions

• You lose track of your progress

Not all distractions come from outside sources. Exhaustion, worry, anxiety, poor motivation, and other internal disturbances can be particularly difficult to avoid.

Attentional resources are limited so it is important to budget them wisely.While multitasking may seem like a great way to get a lot done quickly, it turns out that people are actually rather bad at it. Juggling multiple tasks at once can dramatically cut down on productivity and makes it much harder to hone in on the details that are truly important.

It's tough to stay mentally focused when you are ruminating about the past, worrying about the future, or tuned out of the present moment for some other reason. You have probably heard people talk about the importance of "being present.