Hey Kids, 7 quick tips for you today on How to stay focused on your homework.
This is going to get your parents off your back.
Alright parents, just...
You know what?
If you want a video for you as a parent, click on that one right up there.
That's how to help your child especially one who has ADHD to focus and stay focused.
That one's for the parents.
This one's for the kids.
Well, okay.
You can watch if you want to.
But kids , this one is for you.
Quick disclaimer: Somebody's got to be on your back.
Do you want it to be your parents?
Or do you want it to be you?
You got to make that decision right upfront.
Because if you're willing to own this and take the responsibility on your self, I can
get your parents off of your back.
And I can give you some really great tips for how to stay focused.
If you're in this because you're trying to avoid your homework or get out of the responsibility
or something, you are on the wrong channel.
You're going to have to go look somewhere else.
I can help you if you'll take responsibility.
And I would rather have you be in charge of your life than your parents bossing you around
all the time.
You with me on this?
So I got your back.
Now, let's go to those 7 tips.
All 7 of these tips are to help you get out of your own way and stay more focused.
Tip number 1, wear headphones.
But we got to be specific about what's coming through the ears.
Some of the music that you listen to will distract you.
Some of it will cause you to want to sing along.
That's not the kind of music that we're talking about.
Other kinds of music tend to help your brain to focus.
And it might not be the kind of music that you usually listen to.
We're talking about music without words that has not too hard of the beat.
It's kind of backed off from what you might normally be used to.
Some types of classical music.
Particularly handel or Mozart.
Spelled M-O-Z-A-R-T.
These are old guys who wrote music hundreds of years ago and they can help you to focus.
We've done brain-skin studies that prove this.
It changes the way your brain operates.
Just try it a little bit.
I think the key is that it's music that's no going to put you to sleep.
It's also not going to distract you with words.
But it has the kind of overtones and the kind of energies in it that will help you to focus.
Just try it.
Let's see what that does to help you focus.
Tip number 2.
Let's pick a place that is free from distraction.
If you can find a place where you're not going to be distracted by everything that's going
on in the house or the television is on over there on the corner, that's one of the worst
things that you can do around homework.
So, find a place where you're not distracted by everything that's going around.
And if you can keep it the same place, usually that you do your homework, that's going to
help to condition your brain to do this in a way that's going to really support you.
Just stay focused.
Tip number 3.
It's one of my most favorites psychological tricks.
It's kind of like a brain hack.
Give yourself a start time and an end time.
You're not just going to do your homework.
You're going to start your homework at 3:15 and you're going to conclude that homework
session at 4 o'clock.
Okay, I'm just picking those times at a thin air.
But here's the deal.
You give yourself a start time which is not that hard to do.
But if you give yourself an end time, you just gave your brain and out.
Because think about it.
You don't really want to do this.
Right?
I mean you do because you want to have good grades.
And eventually get a jobs that's going to pay you tons of money, right?
If that's your reason for doing it.
But your brain is trying to avoid it because it's hard.
And there's funner things to do out there.
You give yourself and end time and your brain is like, "Oh, okay.
Okay, I can hang in there until 4 o'clock."
Or 4:30 or whatever time it is that you sentenced your end time.
If you don't give yourself and end time, you just sentenced your brain to prison.
It's like without release date.
It's like, "Oh, we're going to do homework.
Argh!"
And it feels bad.
Give yourself an end time.
Brain hack.
While we're on brain hacks, here's another one: I call it 25-5.
So let's say that you're going to give yourself and hour to do your homework.
Remember, start time, end time.
3:15 to 4:15.
Got it?
Now, we're going to apply 25-5.
This is tip number 4.
25-5 is you take each half hour in this hour chunk that you just gave yourself.
You take each half hour and you divide it into a 25-minute study period with a 5-minute
break.
Oh, do you like the sound of a break?
Yeah.
So, does your brain.
That's why we're going to build in a break.
It's brain friendly.
And it will help your brain to stay focused during the 25 minutes where you're studying
U.S history or chemistry or math.
You'll stay focused because your brain is like, "I got a break coming up.
That's going to be awesome."
It's kind of like setting the end time or breaking it down to smaller chunks now.
So, all you have to do is work for 25 minutes in that half hour.
And then give yourself a 5 minute break.
Now, during the break, you get up from where you are.
You move around.
You go get a drink of water.
You go out and get some fresh air.
Get away from your homework.
Don't just sit there at the table.
Don't go to your device and play a game.
You got to do something physical.
Get up.
Off of that chair.
Move around.
Get to drink water, get some fresh air.
5 minutes, time it.
And then get back to work for the next 25.
You'll be surprised how much more you can do in 25 minutes than you could normally do
in a full hour.
It's a really cool brain hack.
Tip number 5 has to do with handling all these distractions.
You will open only what you need for that assignment.
So before when I was talking about 25-5.
Let's say that for the first half hour or 25 minutes, actually because you got a 5 minute
break in there.
You're going to be doing chemistry homework.
You open only your chemistry book.
You open only the chemistry assignment that you have.
You don't get everything out and open in front of you.
this is particularly important if you're using a computer or digital device.
Don't have Instagram open over here while you're trying to do your word processor to
write your report.
Do you see what I'm saying?
You open only what you need for that particular assignment.
That's going to help to eliminate whole lot of distractions.
Before I share tip number 6 with you, let's review about who's in charge.
Who's in charge of you?
Who's on your back?
Are your parents on your back about this?
Or are you willing to take responsibility?
If you're ready to take the responsibility for it, try this: Instead of using the regular
device that you would use, let's say that you have a computer that you use for you homework
and that's also the computer where you do your games and your social media.
It would help your brain to focus if you could arrange to have a different computer or a
different account specifically for your homework.
Because all of that other stuff's not there.
So, you might talk to mom about maybe using her computer to do your homework.
You just open the Word Processor and all of your games and your social media, you're not
signed in in any of that.
Have you noticed that you get notifications?
Yeah.
And those notifications distract you, make it harder to focus.
Own it.
Take responsibility for that.
Put the cellphone away.
Move the devices aside that are going to distract you because you're responsible for this homework.
And use a different device if you have to.
I saved number 7 for last.
Because it's my favorite one.
Set up reward system for yourself.
Give yourself a little prize.
A little paycheck for doing what you said you would do.
This could be as simple as purchasing some little treats.
But not consuming them until you've finished your homework.
Does that sound like something that your mom has tried on you?
Well, she tries it because it tends to be effective.
We want to have rewards for a good behavior.
If you're the one taking responsibility for this, don't expect somebody else to be giving
you a reward.
Give one to yourself.
I can tell you what.
Doing your homework is something you can get paid really well to do.
And I am talking about the way that it impacts your life and in the future.
I did not get paid for my grades by my parents, okay?
They did not offer me a reward for my grades of for doing my homework.
I was able to establish a career doing something that I love and get paid well to do it.
Why?
Because I took responsibility for my homework.
And you can do the same thing.
Set up a reward system short-term so that you'll get a little prize, a little treat
after your half-hour or after the hour that you set.
Even the 5 minutes is kind of reward kind a treat isn't it?
The end time is kind of reward and kind of a treat.
But we can do better than that.
Right?
Get yourself somekind of a physical reward or an activity reward that you get to have
once you've successfully completed it.
You're going to find that you're able to stay a whole lot more focused if you'll apply these
7 tips.
I hope that you found these helpful.
We've got other videos in the playlist just for kids and teens here on the channel.
Check it out.
Share it with some of your friends and I'll see you in another video.