I Tried to Focus… Then Instagram Said "Hey"

You know that feeling when you sit down to get serious work done—like really crush your to-do list—and five minutes later you're watching a raccoon make pancakes on TikTok? Yeah, me too.

Welcome to my brain, where thoughts run marathons and attention spans take frequent coffee breaks. I used to think I had incredible multitasking skills. Now I realize I was just giving half-effort to five things instead of whole effort to one. (Spoiler: None of them got done.)

The Great Distraction Olympics

It starts innocently. I open my laptop to write an article—just one article. But then I think, “Let me quickly check my email first.” One click leads to another, and suddenly I’m Googling if alpacas can be emotional support animals (they can, by the way).

Meanwhile, the article remains unwritten, my coffee gets cold, and my productivity takes a nosedive into a pit of memes and missed deadlines. Welcome to the Distraction Olympics, where I hold a gold medal in scroll-diving.

Sound familiar?

Focus Is Not a Personality Trait—It's a Muscle

Somewhere between “just five minutes on Instagram” and “wait, it's already 3 PM?” I had a realization: focus isn't something you’re born with or without. It’s a muscle. And mine had atrophied from years of multitasking, open tabs, and the dopamine buffet known as social media.

Here’s what helped me start flexing that muscle again: I began treating focus like a habit, not a magical mood that might bless me someday if Mercury’s in the right retrograde.

Productivity Tips I’ve Tried (and Not All of Them Were Weird)

1. The 20-Minute Rule: I set a timer for 20 minutes and commit to focusing on one task. No switching tabs, no checking notifications. Just me and the thing I’m supposed to be doing. It’s short enough to not feel overwhelming, and long enough to actually get traction. (Also, the timer ticking makes me feel like a spy defusing a bomb, so that’s fun.)

2. Digital Do Not Disturb: I moved all my social apps off my home screen and enabled “Focus Mode” during work blocks. It turns out, if I don’t see the Instagram icon... I don’t tap it. Groundbreaking, I know.

3. Brain Dump Journals: When my mind is a squirrel on espresso, I pause and write everything I’m thinking about. Just blurt it onto paper—grocery lists, ideas for world peace, that weird dream I had about Nicolas Cage in a tutu. Once it’s out of my head, I can breathe. And focus.

4. Task Triage: I pick three things I must do each day. Not twelve. Not twenty-seven. Just three. Everything else is optional, negotiable, or a job for Future Me.

Overcoming Distractions (Or at Least Outsmarting Them)

The truth is, the world isn’t going to become less distracting. Social media will keep serving up cute dogs doing backflips. Work will still come with dings, pings, and existential dread. And our brains will still crave easy hits of novelty over hard-earned progress.

But we don’t need to become monks or throw our phones into volcanoes to stay focused.

We just need to recognize when we’re slipping, laugh about it (because let’s be real, some of our distraction detours are hilarious), and gently bring ourselves back.

Final Pep Talk (Because You Deserve One)

If you’ve been struggling with how to stay focused, you’re not alone. We’re living in the Age of Infinite Tabs—mentally and digitally. But every time you catch yourself and say, “Okay, back to the thing,” you’re building that focus muscle.

Progress isn’t about being perfect. It’s about noticing when you’ve wandered off, and choosing to come back. Again and again.

So here’s to you—yes, you, the distracted genius with 17 tabs open and a heart full of good intentions. You’re doing great. Even if you got distracted halfway through reading this (no judgment).

Try This Today:

• Set a 20-minute timer and focus on one task—no guilt, no pressure, just curiosity.

• Move one distracting app off your home screen.

• Write down your top three tasks for tomorrow. Just three.

You’ve got this. (And hey, if you finish early… maybe reward yourself with that raccoon pancake video. You’ve earned it.)