Ultra Learning: Focus

What has come up over and over again in learning and in getting the most from non-fiction reading is

pretesting and post reading summarizing.
In chapter 3 of the book by Scott H. Young called Ultralearning he deals with focus.
There are 3 basic impediments to focus.
Procrastination-  main strategies to help are to force your self to do 5 minutes, or the
 Pomodoro technique. In the course "learning how to learn" there is a segment by a highschool girl who noticed that if she just started, go through the first 5 minutes, then she could skate.  I've found this to often be true
Carve out scheduled time to work is also a technique.
 He provides the example of a highly intellectual and accomplished woman from the 18th or 19th century who was able to accomplish a ton in addition to having full responsibility for children and running a household.  She was able to immediately dive back into a task.
Leave something half done Though not mentioned in this book, the Hemingway technique would fit in here.  He would leave something midway so that he had an easy entry back in.


Inability to sustain focus
 External distractions These you have to manage
Internal distractions  Acknowledge and release.  The more you do this the easier it becomes.

Poor quality of focus
here is you're too hyped up you can focus on minuteea.  Sometimes laser focus is required.  Sometimes, for writing or problem solving,  a looser type of focus is required.
Interestingly when your arousal is low, loud sounds can help.  I need to try this since that is usually my problem.  Not enough "juice"
Interleaving, changing to different aspects of study can help here.
Sometimes it's easier to focus on videos, but you need to keep an awareness of your quality of learning.  That is why he is not a huge proponent of "flow".  I do see flow as more of a function of creativity, rather than study.  Study is hard.