This Science-Based Focus Routine Tripled My Writing Productivity

Learning how to focus is an essential skill if you want to be a successful writer.

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You might have a lot of inspiration for new articles, but without focus, these ideas won’t see the light of day.

In other words, learning how to focus is an essential skill if you want to be a successful writer.

But with all those highly stimulating distractions pulling for our attention nowadays, it doesn’t seem to get any easier.

That’s why, in this article, I’ll share my personal focus routine that literally tripled my writing productivity.

Let’s dive into this routine right now.

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Set A Clear Writing Objective

Before you start a writing session, set a clear objective.

What do you want to write?

What’s the goal for this session?

When is it completed?

If you don’t clearly define the objective, you’re bound to lose focus. That’s because our brains don’t like it when it’s not 100% clear what we need to do.

Lack of clarity = Lack of focus.

So, before you start a writing session, define the objective as precisely as possible:

• Write for Substack → Write at least 10 Substack notes

• Write for Medium → Write 500 words for my new Medium article

• Write for my book → Write 1,000 words for chapter 5

The more specific you are about your objective, the more focused and productive you’ll be.

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Create A Distraction-Free Writing Environment

Distractions are the enemy of focus. And right now, we’re living in an age of distraction overload:

• Research by RescueTime shows the average person gets distracted every 3–6 minutes

• A study by Microsoft revealed that the average human attention span has declined by 34% since the year 2000

• A Vouchercloud study found that the average knowledge worker is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes in an 8-hour workday´

In other words, we are more distracted than ever before — and it’s only getting worse.

That’s because modern digital distractions have been designed to hijack our brain’s reward system (specifically the neurotransmitter dopamine).

Whenever writing gets a bit boring or challenging, we can quickly escape into a world of digital instant gratification.

We can get maximum mental stimulation at zero effort — and that’s a dangerous combination.

So, if you want to protect your productivity, create a distraction-free writing environment that allows for deep focus:

• Turn your notifications off

• Put your smartphone out of sight (and out of reach)

• Download app/website blockers (like Freedom or App Block)

• Put on noise-cancelling headphones

• Close all unrelated internet tabs (especially email, social media, etc.)

• Write in a quiet place (like a coffee shop or library)

Remember, distractions are the enemy of focus. They can’t co-exist.

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Write In 90-Minute Focus Bursts

As Dr. Andrew Huberman, neuroscientist and professor at Stanford University, recommends in his podcast, 90 minutes is the optimal length for a focus session.

If you try to write for much longer than that, you’ll start feeling mentally fatigued and become more prone to distractions.

(If you can’t do 90 minutes, aim for 60 minutes. And if you can’t do 60 minutes, aim for 45 minutes. Focus is like a muscle that can be trained. It gets stronger with repetition.)

Most writers think that focus works like an on/off switch, but that’s not true. It takes some time for the brain to settle into a state of deep focus.

Research shows it takes an average of 22 minutes for the brain to focus 100% of its attentional resources on the task at hand.

So, those first twenty minutes of a writing session are purely dedicated to getting your brain in a state of focus. Don’t expect to be super productive during those twenty minutes. Give your brain the time to settle.

Once you’ve passed that stage, you’ll drop into a deeper state of focus. And that’s where you do your most productive writing.

After writing in a focused state for about 60 – 80 minutes, attention will naturally drift. That’s when it’s time to take a break.