mind wandering off while studying

How do I stop my mind from wandering while studying?

Your exam is coming up in a couple of days. However, for some reason you cannot concentrate.  Your mind keeps wandering off and you find yourself thinking about the most random things. As a student, I have also been struggling with this issue for quite some time. However, after more than 3 years of experimentation and research, I have developed a list of suggestions that might help you out. So how can you stop your mind from wandering while studying?

There are 8 actionable steps that you can take right now:

• Reduce unnecessary distractions
• Test yourself every 10 minutes
• Motivate yourself and set clear incentives 
• Study in chunks and take breaks
• Use the distraction sheet technique
• Label your thoughts
• Give your mind a bit more to do
• Take notes, make a mind map or doodle

Let’s review each of these steps more in-depth and see how they might help you reduce the clutter in your head.

1. Reduce unnecessary distractions

How can you be focused if you are constantly being interrupted by various distractions? One of the easiest ways of improving your concentration is to reduce the distractions around you. This involves several steps:

• Firstly , a good study environment should be quiet – a library, a private room, a calm coffee shop, etc.
• Secondly , if you can, make sure that the chair and the desk are comfortable, there is adequate lighting and the place is properly ventilated.
• Thirdly , make sure that the study place is clean and organized.
• Either turn off your smartphone, switch it to airplane mode or leave the smartphone in your backpack (or some other place where it would be difficult to reach it). If you are constantly receiving notifications, it will be very difficult to concentrate. Putting your smartphone away could help you reduce the temptation to check on these notifications. 
• If you are using your laptop for studying, make it a rule not to use any social media, websites, and apps that are not directly related to your studies. If you commit to following this rule while studying, it will be easier to fight off the urge to check notifications. If the urge is still there, I found that one way to keep yourself from breaking the rule is to make a bet with a friend. In my case, I usually make a “no social media usage” bet during exam time with my best friend. Every time I break it, I had to pay 50 USD. Your ability to stay honest will of course be put to the test. However, I have found that putting yourself in a “lose-lose” scenario is a very good way to make sure I maintain disciplined.
• If the area is noisy (or you prefer to study with music) you can listen to calm music and sounds (for that check out our study music playlist) or use noise-canceling headphones. However, listening to loud music or music with lyrics is highly discouraged since this could make it even harder to concentrate.  

By taking these steps, you will limit yourself to outside distractions and decrease the likelihood that your mind might wander off.

2. Test yourself every 10 minutes

A study has shown that students were able to remember more and concentrate better if they tested themselves on what they are studying every 10 minutes.

Furthermore, periodically quizzing yourself has been shown to be an effective technique for increasing retention (see the video below). So test yourself and watch the immediate results! (e.g. ever 10 minutes write down the 5 key things you have learned during those minutes of studying).

3. Motivate yourself and set clear incentives 

If you think that what you are studying is useless or unimportant, you will obviously find it more difficult to concentrate. So before studying ask yourself: why I am doing this? Is it to learn valuable skills? Is it to help someone or make the world a better place? Is it to make your parents proud?

If you dig deep enough you can definitely find a good reason. And if your why is strong enough you can concentrate better and achieve almost anything you put your mind to ( there is a good TED talk on the power of WHY by Simon Sinek).

But if you still find it difficult to come up with a good reason for concentrating on your studies, then I would propose to conduct a brutal thought experiment. Imagine that there is a psychopath holding a gun to your head (a guy like Tyler Durden from Fight Club) and if you do not sit down, concentrate and do a good job studying that psychopath is going to pull the trigger. I know that that sounds rather crazy, but I have to admit this has helped me several times to concentrate and reduce the clutter in my head when nothing else worked.

Additionally, you can watch some motivational speeches or read some inspiring quotes if you need to pump yourself up. I personally really love to watch good commencement speeches (e.g. the one by Steve Jobs or J.K. Rowling ). Of course, while these speeches inspire me, they may not necessarily inspire you – you need to find something that will work for you. 

Furthermore, motivation does not have to be intangible. A study has shown that if people were promised a large reward after a successful well-timed study session they were more alert and focused on the task. Thus, promise yourself a small reward such as eating a tasty cake or going to the cinema at the end of your study session. You deserve it!

4. Study in chunks and take breaks

Oftentimes, people find it difficult to concentrate because they do not have a clear study plan with specific goals and break periods. As such, you should have a clear study plan with study and break periods. Famous efficient learning experts such as Barbara Oakley have recommended using the Pomodoro technique – studying in 25 minute periods, with 5-minute breaks in between and one larger break of 15 minutes after three 25 minute periods.

Furthermore, for each of the study sessions set a goal and write it down (e.g. to read 5 pages and to summarize key takeaways in 5 bullet points). At first, doing this might be a bit difficult, but from my own experience, I know that it really works and can help. In fact, I love studying in this way so much that I even built a custom timer exactly for this purpose (see www.kaizentimer.com ). Of course, there are other good apps out there such as www.tomatotimer.com .

Lastly, do not forget to take breaks . Breaks are important since they allow your mind to rest and, as a consequence, make you more productive and concentrated. Also, you should allow your mind to wander during the breaks since according to psychologist Paul Seli of Harvard University it will be easier to focus during your study sessions.

“If you say to yourself, now I’m going to think about something unrelated, maybe problem-solve something else that is on your mind, and then come back to your task. That can definitely be beneficial” – Paul Seli.

5. Use the distraction sheet technique 

Some thoughts just seem to be stuck in your head or maybe you are afraid of forgetting something and you just keep thinking about it over and over. For instance, sometimes I keep reminding myself that I need to do a certain chore like doing the laundry or writing some sort of email. A good method for getting rid of these thoughts is writing them down a sheet of paper . This is called the distraction sheet technique. It essentially allows you to offload all of the thoughts from your head onto a piece of paper and, as a consequence, to reduce the clutter in your mind.  

6. Label your thoughts

Labeling is a similar method to the distraction sheet technique, but rather than writing down your thoughts it involves labeling them. Every time you notice that your mind has wandered off, you label your emotion (e.g. you can say this is “planning” or this is “anxiety”) and once you label it you just go back to your studies.

Such a technique has been shown by studies to calm you down and make your thoughts more bearable. To better understand how labeling works you can read more about it here . From my own experience, this technique works better than the distraction sheet, but it takes a longer time to master it.

Also, you can combine labeling with the distraction sheet. Use a distraction sheet for thoughts that you do not want to forget and labeling for thoughts or feelings that are just interfering with your studies and can be forgotten.

7. Give a your mind a bit more to do

Research by Nilli Lavie and Sophie Foster has shown that creating deliberate distractions such as playing jazz music in the background can make you less distracted. According to Nilli, attention is a finite resource, so if you use up all of the attention slots in your mind, it is less likely that you will wander off. This is so because if your mind is fully occupied, you will be just physically incapable to pay attention to one more thing.

Thus, adding additional distractions such as listening to calm music without words could help you to concentrate. With that being said, it might take some time for you to find a balance between having too many and too little distractions.

8. Take notes, mindmap or doodle

Another good method for stopping your mind from wandering off is taking notes. Taking notes, which summarize what you study, will force you to pay more attention to what you are studying (since you cannot take proper notes if you do not pay attention).

Furthermore, make sure that you are not just blindly writing down what’s written in the study material. You can do that without thinking that much and as a result, your mind will have more opportunities to wander off. Instead, make sure to summarize the material in your own words . Doing that will force you to think more and, as a result, you will learn more actively and concentrate on the material more.

Moreover, doodling and mind mapping are other good ways that enable you to concentrate more. One study has shown that doodling about something that is related to what you are studying will allow you to concentrate better . Of course, if you concentrate on doodling too much this might not work and could even make you even more distracted – so be careful and see whether it works for you.

I personally recommend to mind map instead of doodling. Mind mapping could be described as a hybrid of taking notes and doodling. It involves mapping out your ideas in branch-like structures and then adding colors and drawings next to those branches. To gain a better understanding of this technique sees the video below. This technique h as done wonders for many people and I use it all the time. So I recommend you try it out!

Final thoughts

Our mind and ability to concentrate are impacted by numerous things that we cannot control. With that being said, there are things that we can control, such as where and how we study.

While I have provided numerous actionable ideas on how to increase your ability to concentrate, you do not have to do them all at the same time. Start small – implement one suggestion at a time. Experiment – see what works and what does not – find what works the best for you!

Danielius Korsakas

Has a BSc in Economics and currently is pursuing a double master's degree in very fluffy but interesting subjects. Loves learning and building stuff.

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7 ways to tame your wandering mind and achieve better focus

By Caroline Williams

17 May 2017

“I never knew that helped concentration!”

Laura Kate Bradley/Getty

Mind wandering has long been thought of as the enemy of concentration, but that’s not always true – the right kind of daydreaming can actually help you focus (see “How to daydream your way to better learning and concentration”) . Read on to discover how to take control of your wandering mind, and other simple ways to stay sharp when deadlines are looming.

How to win at work

Make your work work better for you – from dealing with pesky colleagues to taking the perfect break and doing less for more money, 1. give your mind more to do.

Give your mind more to do: Research by Nilli Lavie at University College London has found that adding deliberate distractions – a jazzy border on a page or a bit of background noise – actually reduces distractibility . Her “load theory” proposes this works because attention is a limited resource, so if you fill all the attentional “slots” in your mind, it leaves no room for other distractions.

2. Bribe yourself

The prospect of a treat can keep people focused , but only when it is well-timed, studies show. Offering people small rewards throughout a boring task didn’t stop them from losing focus, but the promise of a larger reward that they would receive at the end of the task kept them alert. This approach probably works best with an accomplice to keep you from caving early, says Michael Esterman , at the Boston Attention and Learning Laboratory, who did the research. “It’s hard to fool yourself.”

Read more: State of unrest – Can fidgeting really help you concentrate?

3. test yourself.

We’re currently finding that there’s more than one way your mind can wander, and that knowing how to navigate your daydreams could save you come exam time. One trick is to make sure your mind is wandering about the stuff you need to learn . To do that, test yourself often. People retained more of a boring lecture if they paused to test what they remembered every 5 minutes. Their minds still wandered, but wandered on topic, rather than anything but .

4. Daydream during breaks

Stopping every now and again to give your mind a chance to wander can invigorate focus, says psychologist Paul Seli of Harvard University. “If you say to yourself, now I’m going to think about something unrelated, maybe problem-solve something else that is on your mind, and then come back to your task. That can definitely be beneficial,” he says.

5. De-stress

You might think that an adrenaline boost would focus the mind, but stress actually stimulates the release of hormones, including noradrenaline, which bind to receptors in the cognitive control circuits. This in turn makes it harder for them to keep tabs on mind wandering.

6. Get some zeds

A lack of sleep hammers mental performance in general, and reduces our ability to resist both internal and external distractions. And there’s an added bonus – sleep is also important for memory consolidation. In fact, recent research suggests that if you have an hour spare before an exam, a nap could be a more effective use of your time than spending it revising.

In one study, people forced to listen to a boring voice recording were able to remember more afterwards if they were allowed to doodle. But content is important. Doodling about something related to what you are trying to remember is more likely to qualify as intentional mind wandering, which can help you focus on the task at hand. Don’t be too elaborate, however – if your doodles become too engaging, the whole thing might backfire.

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How to Stop Unwanted Thoughts While Studying (For Better Focus)

What reduces focus and concentration whilst doing work? Distractions. What is a notable source of distractions? Your own thoughts.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to stop these unwanted thoughts (while studying) from. How? By getting them out of your head then onto paper or whatever other storage medium is most convenient.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here; I haven’t exactly specified what these distracting, unwanted thoughts are.

insert_link What is Mind Wandering and Distracting Thoughts?

I like to think of the concept of “pop-up” ideas, which are essentially spontaneous thoughts. To clarify, these are the random thoughts that pop into your mind throughout the day.

And it’s distracting.

Whether it’s a task for later, a revolutionary new idea, or what you’re having for dinner tonight, a thought can come from anywhere. Anytime.

Also, because these thoughts are seldom relevant to the current context, they are often unwanted. (Heart-breaking, no?)

As a consequence of an unpredictable and uncontrollable flow of ideas to your head, “mind wandering” enters the scene.

For you see, while you desperately try to maintain focus whilst studying, your mind keeps wandering off. Although, from a rational perspective, you don’t really want to be thinking about dinner as you calculate 2+2.

So, the consequence: why must productive people stop unwanted thoughts while studying (or doing other things)?

insert_link The Impact of Unwanted Thoughts on Your Studying Mind

The aforementioned “pop-up” ideas are detrimental in numerous ways.

Tips on willpower and meditation: 9 Self Control and Discipline Strategies: Break Free Now!

insert_link You Can’t Stop Unwanted Thoughts; You Can’t Stop Mind Wandering

Granted, the title may seem to imply that you can stop having unwanted thought, albeit this is not true.

If you’ve delved into the practice of meditation, you would have come across the concept of a “monkey mind”. In other words, our minds wander off totally naturally—and you can’t do anything stop it.

Nonetheless, I do recommend a mindfulness meditation practice; it does, in fact, help you focus, meanwhile, avoiding distractions. Additionally, it will lend you more control over your mind, hence your thoughts.

With this in mind, how badly can unwanted thoughts distract you whilst studying?

insert_link With No Way Out, Thoughts Repeat, Over and Over…

Well, the problem is, once a thought gets into your head, it might be hard to get it out of your head.

For example, let’s say you’ve just remembered that you need to clean the dishes after your work session. It needs to get done, no question. Accordingly, your mind is going to cling onto this idea due to its perceived importance.

Thus, your mind—distracted from the true purpose of your session—wanders off.

What is more, since there’s no outlet, repeating thoughts will distract you over and over again. With nothing to let them out, your own thoughts and ideas will rob you of your mental concentration.

After all, would you want to stop thinking about something important even if you could? But even the most trivial of ideas can have the potential to keep your mind out of focus.

So, the first thing you must accept: you can’t stop having these distracting thoughts.

However, you can stop these thoughts from distracting you.

insert_link But Spontaneous Thoughts Are Good

At this point, you might have the conception that you need to stop your mind wandering and clear your mind of thoughts. Wrong!

As I briefly alluded to earlier, most thoughts are actually valuable in some way or another. Therefore, it rarely serves any advantage to clear your mind of them completely. (Even if you could.)

Why is this so? It is because your wandering mind—alongside its spontaneous ideas—is a result of your creativity.

As such, many of your thoughts and ideas are, in some way or another, useful for the context they relate to. Cleverly disguised as murderers of productivity, you actually wouldn’t want to forget them.

So, not only can you not stop your mind from wandering off, but you shouldn’t want to either!

That being said, my following piece of advice will bring you back to your work (studying etc).

Breaks—the formula for success: Is It Possible for You to Be Productive All the Time? (Hint: Yes!)

insert_link The Solution: Get Unwanted Thoughts Out of Your Head

Next, the bit where we truly get to clear your mind of “unwanted” thoughts. However, they’re only unwanted in the current context but still wanted for future use.

The best way to avoid distractions as a result of your own thoughts is to record them: get them out of your head!

Whether it’s on a paper notepad, in a to-do list, or on a sticky note—that doesn’t matter. Conversely, what does matter is that that once distracting thought is out of your head.

For you see, as soon as it is out of your head, you have cleared your mind; you have avoided mind wandering because you can think about whatever it is later, not now.

If you stop unwanted thoughts whilst studying by physically recording them, you’ll keep your mind focused. Now you can direct 100% of your attention towards what really matters at the time.

Also, done properly, this technique reduces that risk that you will accidentally fall into the trap of doing a completely different task altogether!

This often happens when a pop-up task comes to mind that seems small, but it’s really not. Alternatively, a small immediate task can draw you into a whole new roller-coaster of other useless tasks.

Not to mention the simple fact that this distraction breaks up your attention hence begets inefficiency.

You can always complete a task later—delay it!

Stop the bad momentum: How to Stop Getting Carried Away in a Task and Delay It

insert_link Take Note of Your Ideas in a Safe, Trusted Place

Note the use of the word, “trusted”.

To confidently allow yourself to temporarily forget about the spontaneous idea, you must have faith. In other words, if you do not believe you will pick the thought back up later, you will continue to be distracted by it.

The effect of clearing your mind comes from relief and self-assurance, knowing that you’re not going to forget the idea. Then—and only then—can you embrace a sense of calmness.

In order to prove to yourself that noting down an idea is effective, it is essential that you form a new habit.

Above all, you don’t want to go from thinking about dirty dishes to thinking about where you’ve recorded a to-do; the latter part should be sufficiently obvious such that your mind can truly stop thinking about it.

Note: in the following sections I will use the cleverly chosen terminology used by Graham Allcott in Productivity Ninja .

insert_link Implement a Capture Habit and Trust Your Collection Points

So, make way for the capture habit: a system designed to capture all of your unwanted thoughts during any activity throughout the day.

Moreover, this entails storing your ideas in a single, safe, unified place (or a few thereof). Let’s call these collection points.

Carefully designed to avoid confusion and maximise simplicity, these should be well-determined and scarce . In addition, you’ll need to be able to access a collection point at any time of the day to ensure the system’s robustness.

Seeing that the purpose of the capture habit is to clear your head as quickly as possible, capturing should be as frictionless as possible:

• Firstly, the system should be swift and simple. So, sometimes the good taste of pen and paper beats tech when it comes down to sheer speed.
• Secondly, you should account for all locations. For example, at home, you could keep an omnipresent notebook, conveniently adjacent to a pen. Whilst out and about, you could appropriately configure a to-do or notetaking app on your smartphone. Don’t be afraid to mix and match paper and technology.
• Thirdly, maintain as few collection points as possible. If you have over fifty places to note down your spontaneous ideas, you will fail: due to an unnecessary excess of lists, you will be overwhelmed, and processing them will steal your time like an armed looter.

insert_link My (Current) Implementation of the Capture Habit

Even though my current productivity system is due an overhaul, you may still be interested as to how I capture my thoughts.

At my workstation, I keep a notepad and pen, since I can use it regardless of whether my computer is switched on. As far as the outside world goes, I have a rather interesting contraption consisting of another notepad and pen.

Also, I rarely use my phone, and doing so is quite impractical.

My implementation of a phone: 7 Things I Liked About Windows 10 Mobile (Before it Died)

insert_link Implement an Organise Habit for Processing Your Collection Points

The second step in stopping unwanted thoughts while studying involves periodically getting on top of your collection points. This is the part which creates trust, thus allowing you to get your thoughts out of your head effectively.

While the capture habit is triggered by spontaneous, new, distraction-causing ideas, the organising habit is a routine.

Take a look at your typical day and see if, at the end of it, there’s any time to implement the habit. If not, find the time. Once you do, commit to your organise habit (or routine)—every day.

This involves checking all of your collection points for ideas you’ve had during the day. Subsequently, you will transfer your ideas from this temporary place to where the idea/task really belongs. Finally, tick it off if you use something like a notepad for a collection point.

For example, a particular random insight might be transferred to Evernote whilst a to-do is put into your project management system.

insert_link The 2-Minute Rule

David Allen, author of the infamous productivity book, Getting Things Done , formulated the “2-minute rule”. Furthermore, this can be applied to the organise-habit described here

Essentially, if a task takes less than two minutes to complete, you might as well complete it here and now; especially if organising said task in your productivity system exceeds two minutes.

However, be careful that the task doesn’t spiral out of control, either leading to additional unwanted tasks or by taking longer than expected to complete. So, be vigilant!

insert_link My implementation

At the end of my working hours, when I come to relax a bit more, I have a “shutdown” routine. As a part of it, I “load” up my spontaneous to-dos to wherever they must be.

insert_link But What About Random Daydreaming?

“While that seems fine for specific ideas or actionable tasks, what about random daydreaming?”

Perhaps your mind keeps wandering off because you can’t stop getting distracted by more abstract thoughts.

For instance, I know the temptation of fantasising about rockets to colonise Mars. You may get distracted during studying to think about the eye-piercingly beautiful edge of the MacBook Air’s durable aluminium body.

You, too, can change the world: Future of the Space Industry: Why Should You Be Excited?

Regardless, how do you deal with these situations? You could, maybe, describe your obsession for Tesla’s cars in a few succinct paragraphs. Though, that seems counterproductive.

Sketch a few blueprints of a few methane-powered, aerospike rockets? Perhaps not.

This illustrates how, occasionally, note-taking doesn’t do it all, and other methods will better stop your mind wandering. Therefore, I recommend a full lifestyle change (outside the scope of this article) to help keep your mind focused at all times. For instance:

• Mindfulness meditation
• Get more, higher quality sleep
• Optimise your diet (e.g. eat low GI foods)
• Get ample physical exercise
• Don’t forget to allocate long periods of rest as well as frequent breaks

If I end up making (or have made) articles on these topics, use the search bar on the Cryptic Butter website.

insert_link Conclusion

So, in order to keep mentally focused and avoid distracting, unwanted thoughts, be sure not to forget them: take them out of your head, thus allowing you to give 100% focused attention to your work.

Although, remember that this capture method is only effective when it involves minimal friction. Make it quick!

As a result of stopping your mind from wandering away, you will also save time. For instance, you might have a thought or idea that, with time, you realise is worthless and no use following up.

Furthermore, it is imperative that this strategy is used whilst studying, but the capture habit prevails throughout the day!

Especially when trying to get to bed, you might want to note down all your thoughts in a bed-side notepad to clear your mind for sleep. Equally, you could try this tactic when you wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about life problems and tomorrow’s agenda.

Therefore, capturing ideas is an invaluable time management strategy to, firstly, get more done in less time and, secondly, help stick to the schedule .

And with this in mind, let’s not forget that mediation, the right diet, exercise, as well as ample sleep are equally significant in taking control of your thoughts. (If not more important!)

Related goodness: How to Organise Your Time for Studying (with Compartmentalisation)

insert_link Recommended Book of The Week

In this article, we discussed the capture habit and the organise habit, which you can also read about in this useful book:

How to Be a Productivity Ninja: Worry Less, Achieve More and Love What You Do

(Also, if you do like the look of it, I recommend the Audible audiobook.)

Then, please share your answer to the following question in the comments:

What techniques have been useful for you in preventing mind-wandering and maintaining concentration?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Spread the butter on Twitter!

Share your thoughts with @CrypticButter and follow for updates

About the author

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How to Avoid Daydreaming While Studying: Tips for Concentration

• Post author: Master Student
• Post last modified: June 15, 2022
• Post category: Study Tips

Daydreaming is one of the biggest distractions while studying. It can be hard to focus on the task at hand when your mind keeps wandering off. However, with a little bit of effort, you can train yourself to stay focused and get more out of your study sessions. In this blog post, we will discuss some tips that can help you avoid daydreaming and improve your concentration while studying!

5+ Ways to Avoid Daydreaming While Studying

• Be aware of why you daydream
• Create a study schedule
• Use a timer
• Constantly keep your mind active
• Practice meditation and mindfulness
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Be Aware of Why You Daydream

The first step to avoiding daydreaming is to be aware of why you do it. Do you daydream because you’re bored? Or because you’re trying to avoid work?

If you daydream because you’re bored, try to find ways to make your studies more interesting. If you daydream because you’re trying to avoid work, make a commitment to yourself to focus on your studies for a certain amount of time. Once you find the root of the problem, you can begin to work on a solution.

Create a Study Schedule

One of the best ways to avoid daydreaming while studying is to create a study schedule. When you have a set time for when you will study, it can help to keep your mind focused on the task at hand. Make sure to give yourself breaks in between studies, using spaced repetition techniques , so that you don’t get too overwhelmed or tired. It is also important to find a study environment that works for you . Some people prefer to study in silence, while others like to have background noise. Find what works best for you and stick to it!

Use a Timer

If you find it difficult to focus for long periods of time, try using a timer. Set the timer for a certain amount of time, and then focus on your studies until the timer goes off. This is known as the Pomodoro Technique . Once the timer goes off, you can take a break before starting again. This technique can help to break up your study session and make it more manageable.

Constantly Keep Your Mind Active

Another tip for avoiding daydreaming is to keep your mind active while you study. This can be done by reading out loud, taking notes, or listening to audio recordings of the material. When your mind is actively engaged in the material, it is less likely to wander off and start daydreaming. Additionally, try to avoid studying for long periods of time without a break. If you feel yourself starting to lose focus, take a quick walk or grab a snack.

Practice Meditation and Mindfulness

One of the most important things you can do to avoid daydreaming while studying is to practice meditation and mindfulness. Meditation can help to clear your mind and allow you to focus on the present moment. When you are aware of your thoughts and surroundings, it becomes easier to keep your mind from wandering off into a daydream.

Seek Help from a Professional

If you find that you are struggling to focus and avoid daydreaming, seek help from a professional. Although daydreaming is not yet identified as a mental health disorder, it may be related to other mental health disorders. A therapist can help you to identify the root of the problem and work on solutions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you feel like you are struggling.

What are the Signs of Excessive Daydreaming

While daydreaming is normal and can be helpful in some cases, excessive daydreaming can be a sign of an underlying problem. If you find that you are spending most of your time daydreaming, or if your daydreams are impacting your daily life, it is important to seek help from a professional. Some signs of excessive daydreaming include:

• Intense, vivid daydreams with a narrative and characters
• Having vivid daydreams that last for a few hours
• A strong or uncontrollable urge to keep daydreaming
• Daydreams that cause difficulty focusing and completing daily activities
• Sleeping difficulties
• Real-world occurrences trigger daydreams
• During daydreaming, having uncontrolled facial expressions, repetitive body motions, or vocalizing or murmuring out loud

Looking for More Study Tips?

If you’re looking for more tips on how to improve your studies, check out our blog post on study habits for college students! We cover everything from how to create a study schedule to how to find a study method that works for you. College can be tough, but we’re here to help you succeed!

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Mind Wandering: How to keep your mind focused

Written by Kerstin Lakits, Jun 23, 2022

You’re sitting at your desk writing your paper or studying for the upcoming exam and suddenly you’re contemplating the purpose of your life and what you will have for dinner today. Does that sound familiar? Distracting thoughts , also called mind wandering, are an everyday phenomenon that haunts students. You’ll discover why our mind wanders and what you can do against it in this article.

What is mind wandering?

Mind wandering is nothing bad per se. If our minds never left the known realm and started wandering around, then our lives would be boring, monotonous and not very creative.

Mind wandering describes thoughts that are not related to your present exercise. Neurologists define them as thoughts that are not tied to the immediate environment .

Example: Mind wandering is suddenly thinking about the birthday party of your friend while you’re working on your seminar paper. Your thoughts are not related to your task, they wandered elsewhere.

Typical forms of mind wandering include ruminating , daydreaming and worrying . Everybody knows this: You’re studying with concentration for the upcoming exam and suddenly thoughts such as „What if…” come up. Your concentration is gone and your brain is following this new train of thoughts.

Root of the problem

The default setting of our brain is scattering , not concentrating. Generally our thoughts are random, incoherent and quick. We can consciously influence them to some extent; however, we can’t manage them all of the time. This feature is a result of our evolutionary history:

• When we were constantly confronted with deadly dangers such as wild animals, our brains had to be on the lookout for new dangers.
• Therefore, our brain checks new stimuli and information for potential dangers.
• This search feature has kept us alive, but is distracting when we have tasks that require our full attention.

Our brain is prone to jumping to new thoughts if the information is new and interesting . That’s why daydreaming is so seductive. These thoughts are much more interesting than our study material. Furthermore, mind wandering happens so quickly and automatically that we only notice it when we’re already in the depths of it.

Negative consequences

Mind wandering has a bad influence on tasks that require a lot of concentration and attention. While it’s only “annoying“, when you’re studying, it can have dire consequences in different situations (e.g. driving your car).

• Concentration : Mind wandering destroys our concentration and demands a lot of energy and effort to get it back.
• Motivation : If we are interrupted all of the time and have the feeling that we don’t get anything done, then we lose motivation quickly. This is annoying and can, in the worst case, lead to procrastination . Check out our general tips for motivation for students to avoid that.
• Productivity : Our productivity also suffers from mind wandering because we need more time for our tasks, work less efficiently and end up with worse results.
• Losing time : We lose a lot of time to mind wandering because we interrupt our work process repeatedly and therefore have to get back to it again.
• Worse performance : In the end, mind wandering leads to worse results in your work: Your seminar paper has weak passages, you don’t know the study material 100% and there are mistakes in your homework.
• Mental capacities : Our brain has to invest tons of energy to interrupt your wandering mind and get back to the task at hand. Over time, this is exhausting and tiring.

Tips for mind wandering: How to stay focused

Fortunately, there are some tips and tricks to control your hyperactive brain.

1. Acceptance

These distracting thought processes are a natural feature that has served us and secured our survival. Therefore, you can’t simply turn off a habit that has helped you for thousands of years. Moreover, every single human suffers from this. So, don’t beat yourself up and get angry at your brain cells.

2. Clear goals

If you can convince your brain that your present task is incredibly important (for your survival) and interesting , then this activity has a higher priority . The more important your task is, the more likely your brain will stick with it. Therefore, set clear , motivating and positive goals . That works best with the SMART method !

3. Meditation

Research has shown that people who meditate a lot can control their thoughts and especially their wandering mind better. They know where their focus is and can keep it where they want it. Similar to mindfulness training, meditating helps you to practice calming down, focusing on one thing (usually your breath) and viewing everything from a spectator’s perspective . If you want more information on this topic, check out our blog “ Tips for meditation ”!

4. Mindfulness training

Since mind wandering is a subconscious and automatic behaviour, we often don’t even notice it, but you can change that. During mindfulness training you practice to focus on the present moment . This is a helpful skill, especially in our multitasking oriented and digital society. There are tons of inspiration and information online about mindfulness training.

The easiest exercise that you can do anywhere is consciously shifting your focus onto your breath . Pay attention to your inhalations and exhalations and see how they affect your body. As soon as you notice that your mind has wandered, bring your attention back to your breath. Soon you’ll realise that the interruptions are fewer.

5. Mental coping mechanisms

Distracting thoughts pop up suddenly and immediately pull you away from your task. Therefore, you need a quick and powerful defence. Create your own mental coping mechanisms. Look for a motivating and positive affirmation that you can use against mind wandering. This affirmation will bring you back to your task.

If your brain is tired and exhausted, it’s harder to focus on your task. Therefore, study breaks are extremely important to allow your brain a moment of rest, so that it can continue to work with focus.

7. Reduce distractions

Even without distractions your mind can start wandering around. However, every distraction increases the likelihood that your brain finds more interesting and new information. Therefore, you should get rid of potential distractions (e.g. smartphone, toys…) and turn off disruptive features (e.g. push notifications).

What is a mind wandering meditation?

A mind wandering meditation has a special focus on mindfulness and mind wandering. On the one hand, you develop the skill to notice distracted thoughts and to bring your focus back. On the other hand, you get the opportunity to consciously let your mind wander during the meditation.

How can I study with concentration and avoid mind wandering?

Get rid of distractions in your study environment, set motivating goals and train your brain with mindfulness training and meditation.

Why does my mind wander all of the time?

It’s completely normal that your brain is constantly on the lookout for new information. This used to protect us from predators and other dangers. Today we find this feature annoying when we’re trying to study and work. However, it also makes our lives interesting, exciting, creative and innovative.

Mind wandering is sometimes annoying, but completely normal. These tips will surely help you to avoid distracting thoughts while studying and working with concentration. Here are more tips for effective studying ! This prepares you well for your next exam!

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How to Stop Your Mind from Wandering

Last Updated: August 6, 2021 References

This article was co-authored by Ni-Cheng Liang, MD . Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang is a board certified Pulmonologist and the Director of Pulmonary Integrative Medicine at Coastal Pulmonary Associates affiliated with the Scripps Health Network in San Diego, California. She also serves as a Voluntary Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine while volunteering for the UCSD Medical Student-Run Free Clinic for uninsured patients. With over 15 years of experience, Dr. Liang specializes in pulmonary and respiratory medical concerns, mindfulness teaching, physician wellness, and integrative medicine. Dr. Liang received her Doctor of Medicine (MD) from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Liang was voted as a San Diego Top Doctor in 2017 and 2019. She was also awarded the 2019 American Lung Association San Diego Lung Health Provider of the Year. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 28,617 times.

It’s normal for the human mind to wander. There are so many different things filling your mind and pulling your thoughts in different directions. This isn’t always a bad thing, either. If you’re a creative person, a wandering mind can spark a new creative project. However, wandering thoughts can also prevent you from getting things done, keep you up at night, or hurt your mental health if you spend your whole day thinking anxious thoughts. Luckily, with some practice and the right techniques, you can learn to focus your mind on the present and control your thoughts to keep them from racing all over the place when you don’t want them to!

Doing Exercises and Activities

• You can also look up different breathing exercises , such as yogic breathing or deep throat breathing, and try those out to find something that works for you.

• For example, if you work in an office and you get 15 minute breaks, you could go outside and go for a 10 minute walk around the block to clear your head.
• If you work from home, you could take a 15-30 minute break and clean and organize your home office space. A clean workspace can also help you focus!

• Try combining this period of doing nothing with slow breathing or another type of breathing exercise. This can help keep your mind from wandering for these 10-15 minutes and calm your thoughts down.
• For example, if you work at home and find that you can’t concentrate, take a break and go sit on your balcony or lay down on your bed, away from your laptop and work things. Do nothing for at least 10 minutes and see how it affects your racing thoughts.

Tip : Stay off your phone and other electronics during this time. If you spend the time on social media, for example, you're not giving your mind a rest. Truly try to do nothing at all other than just sit or lay there.

• For example, if you’re feeling stressed, you could use a simple phrase like “everything is OK” or “life is beautiful.”
• Single word mantras you can try include “strong,” “calm,” and “finish.” These could work well if you’re trying to power through something like a run or a chore without getting distracted.

• You can search online for meditation techniques or download something like a mindfulness app to help you if you’re totally new to meditating. Meditation takes practice, but stick with it and you might find that you really benefit from it!
• The classic mantra for focusing on meditation is just “om.” You could try repeating this out loud or in your head while you meditate.

Controlling Anxious Thoughts

• This can also help you organize your anxious thoughts, so you can address their causes later on.
• For example, if you’re having trouble sleeping because you can’t stop thinking about everything you have to do tomorrow, try writing down a to-do list to get the thoughts out of your head and help you get to sleep.

• For example, if you are worried about turning a project in to your boss, think about ways it could help your career if your boss really loves your work.
• Say you’re studying for a test in a topic that you find difficult and you keep thinking about what will happen if you fail the test, so it’s hard to focus on studying. Instead, try thinking about how great you can do on the test and how it will boost your grade if you study hard.

• For example, you might be avoiding putting a big report together at work because it’s slow and tedious, but you find your mind wandering to this task that’s hanging over you. Set aside time in each day to work on the report, so you make progress instead of just dreading it.

• For example, if you can’t seem to focus on anything because all you’re thinking about is your ongoing divorce, maybe seeing a therapist to talk about it would help you control those thoughts.
• If your mind is wandering because you’re frustrated about something at work, maybe getting a coffee with a coworker you trust and talking to them about whatever the issue is will help calm your mind.

Tip : If you think you might have clinical-level anxiety, it’s always best to talk to a professional about it. They can provide you with a professional treatment to help you get it under control.

• For instance, say you’re having trouble focusing on being present with your family over a long weekend because you’re worried about something at work. Try to accept that in this particular moment you can’t do anything about your work tasks and focus on enjoying the family time.

• For example, if your mind is continuously thinking about what it would be like to work in a different job, it might be time to consider a career change and start looking for another position.
• If you keep thinking about a conflict with a colleague you’re having at work, it might help calm your thoughts to sit down with them and talk about it.

Focusing on Tasks

• Any activities you do throughout your day can be considered tasks. For instance, when you’re eating your lunch, try to focus just on your lunch. Don’t try to multitask and work or study while you eat.
• If you’re talking to someone, try to focus 100% on the conversation and not let yourself get distracted by noises or other people around you. After the conversation is over, move on to your next task.
• If you need to put together a presentation for a work meeting, focus on getting the presentation totally done before you move onto another task like checking your email or looking at data.

Tip : Training your brain to focus on 1 thing is just like training your body. It can be hard at first, but with practice you can learn to control your mind and focus it on the task at hand.

• For example, if you work in an office with a bunch of other people around, it can be tempting to look around the room to find the culprit any time someone coughs or sneezes. Don’t let yourself do this!
• If you have to sit next to a window and there is something going on outside that distracts you, such as a building under construction, practice not looking out the window every time a crane moves.
• You can also try removing distractions in settings like classrooms and offices by closing drapes or blinds to block your view or putting in headphones to block out noise.

• For example, you could give yourself a free thinking period from 5:30-6:00 every day. During this time, don’t try to work, study, or get any other tasks done. For these 30 minutes, let yourself think about any worries you have or do any planning you need to do.
• Say you keep thinking about an upcoming vacation and all the things you still need to do to get ready. Instead of letting your mind wander to it all day, designate a time block during which you can do things like making a packing list or researching sites you want to visit, then refocus on your other tasks.

Expert Q&A

• Mini-interactions with nature can help you feel more calm and focus on the present. For example, if you go for a walk to try and calm your thoughts, try walking barefoot across some grass or touching some trees and leaves in a park. [19] X Research source Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 0
• Everyone has days during which their mind wanders more than normal and it feels impossible to get things done. It’s OK to take a day off work and stay home to help relieve stress, calm your mind, and stay healthy mentally. Thanks Helpful 2 Not Helpful 2

• Persistent anxious thoughts can be a sign of a bigger mental disorder. If you can’t get your anxiety under control on your own, see a licensed therapist who can help you develop a treatment plan. [20] X Research source Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Ni-Cheng Liang, MD. Board Certified Pulmonologist. Expert Interview. 18 June 2021.
• ↑ https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/mindful_breathing
• ↑ https://rachelfintzy.com/20-tips-to-stop-your-mind-from-wandering-and-overthinking/
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-s-mental-health-matters/201604/5-ways-stop-your-racing-thoughts
• ↑ https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_focus_a_wandering_mind
• ↑ https://www.fastcompany.com/90300162/ask-yourself-these-four-questions-when-your-mind-starts-to-wander
• ↑ https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/self-care/
• ↑ https://adaa.org/tips
• ↑ https://www.successconsciousness.com/blog/concentration-mind-power/how-to-keep-your-mind-from-wandering/
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-work/200910/easily-distracted
• ↑ https://www.k-state.edu/counseling/topics/career/concentr.html
• ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2017/11/08/7-ways-to-pull-your-wandering-mind-back-into-the-present-moment/#785965da3314

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How mind-wandering may be good for you, new research suggests that mind-wandering can serve important functions for our performance and well-being..

When writing a song or a piece of prose, I often choose to let my mind wander, hoping the muse will strike. If it does, it not only moves my work along but feels great, too!

That’s why I was troubled by studies that found an association between mind-wandering and problems like unhappiness and depression —and even a shorter life expectancy . This research suggests that focusing one’s thoughts on the present moment is linked to well-being, while spacing out—which I personally love to do—is not.

Now, new studies are bringing nuance to this science. Whether or not mind-wandering is a negative depends on a lot of factors—like whether it’s purposeful or spontaneous, the content of your musings, and what kind of mood you are in. In some cases, a wandering mind can lead to creativity, better moods, greater productivity, and more concrete goals.

Here is what some recent research says about the upsides of a meandering mind.

Mind-wandering can make you more creative

It’s probably not a big surprise that mind-wandering augments creativity—particularly “divergent thinking,” or being able to come up with novel ideas.

In one study , researchers gave participants a creativity test called the Unusual Uses Task that asks you to dream up novel uses for an everyday item, like a paperclip or a newspaper. Between the first and second stages, participants either engaged in an undemanding task to encourage mind-wandering or a demanding task that took all of their concentration; or they were given a resting period or no rest. Those participants who engaged in mind-wandering during the undemanding task improved their performance much more than any of the other groups. Taking their focus off of the task and mind-wandering, instead, were critical to success.


“The findings reported here provide arguably the most direct evidence to date that conditions that favor mind-wandering also enhance creativity,” write the authors. In fact, they add, mind-wandering may “serve as a foundation for creative inspiration.”

As a more recent study found, mind-wandering improved people’s creativity above and beyond the positive effects of their reading ability or fluid intelligence, the general ability to solve problems or puzzles.

Mind-wandering seems to involve the default network of the brain, which is known to be active when we are not engaged directly in tasks and is also related to creativity.

So perhaps I’m right to let my focus wander while writing: It helps my mind put together information in novel and potentially compelling ways without my realizing it. It’s no wonder that my best inspirations seem to come when I’m in the shower or hiking for miles on end.

Mind-wandering can make you happier…depending on the content

The relationship between mind-wandering and mood may be more complicated than we thought.

In one study , researchers pinged participants on a regular basis to see what they were doing, whether or not their minds were wandering, and how they were feeling. As in an earlier experiment , people tended to be in a negative mood when they were mind-wandering. But when researchers examined the content of people’s thoughts during mind-wandering, they found an interesting caveat: If participants’ minds were engaged in interesting, off-task musings, their moods became more positive rather than more negative.

As the authors conclude, “Those of us who regularly find our minds in the clouds—musing about the topics that most engage us—can take solace in knowing that at least this form of mind-wandering is associated with elevated mood.”

It may be that mood affects mind-wandering more than the other way around . In a similar study , researchers concluded that feeling sad or being in a bad mood tended to lead to unhappy mind-wandering, but that mind-wandering itself didn’t lead to later bad moods. Earlier experiments may have conflated mind-wandering with rumination—an unhealthy preoccupation with past failures that is tied to depression.

“This study suggests that mind-wandering is not something that is inherently bad for our happiness,” write the authors. Instead, “Sadness is likely to lead the mind to wander and that mind-wandering is likely to be [emotionally] negative.”

A review of the research on mind-wandering came to a similar conclusion: Mind-wandering is distinct from rumination and therefore has a different relationship to mood.


Compassion Meditation

Strengthen feelings of concern for the suffering of others

Can we actually direct our mind-wandering toward more positive thoughts and away from rumination? It turns out that we can! One study found that people who engaged in compassion-focused meditation practices had more positive mind-wandering. As an added bonus, people with more positive mind-wandering were also more caring toward themselves and others, which itself is tied to happiness.

Mind-wandering may improve job performance

Taking a break from work can be a good thing—perhaps because our minds are freer to wander.

Mind-wandering is particularly useful when work is mind-numbing. In one study , participants reported on their mind-wandering during a repetitive task. Participants who engaged in more mind-wandering performed better and faster, decreasing their response times significantly. The researchers speculated that mind-wandering allowed people to go off-task briefly, reset, and see data with fresh eyes—so that they didn’t miss sudden changes.

In another study , researchers aimed to figure out what parts of the brain were implicated in mind-wandering and discovered something unexpected. When their frontal lobes were stimulated with a small electrical current to boost mind-wandering, people’s performance on an attention task slightly improved.

Of course, not every job calls for mind-wandering. A surgeon or a driver should stay focused on the task at hand, since mind-wandering could be detrimental to both . On the other hand, even for them it might be rejuvenating to take a mind-wandering break after their workday is over, leading to more focused attention the next time around.

Mind-wandering may help us with goal-setting

It seems like mind-wandering would be detrimental when it comes to planning for the future. In fact, some research suggests mind-wandering can improve goal-setting.

In a recent neuroscience experiment , participants did an undemanding task and reported on the content of their thoughts as researchers scanned their brains with fMRI. Afterwards, they wrote for 15 minutes about personal goals or TV programs (the control group). Then, they repeated these two tasks—the undemanding one and writing about goals or TV.

More on Mind-Wandering

Explore whether mind wandering makes you unhappy or less caring .

Discover how to focus a wandering mind .

Read Rick Hanson’s seven tips for paying attention .

Read a skeptical scientist’s take on the relationship between mindfulness and mind-wandering .

Analyzers unaware of the study’s purpose were asked to assess the concreteness of participants’ goal-setting and TV program descriptions. The result? People with wandering minds—who probably started musing about what they really wanted in life after the first writing session—ultimately came up with more concrete and higher-quality goal descriptions in the second session. Over the course of the experiment, their brains also showed an increase in connectivity between the hippocampus and the pre-frontal cortex—areas implicated in goal-setting.

Research has also found that, the more people engage in mind-wandering during a task, the more they are willing to wait for a reward afterwards. According to the researchers, this suggests that mind-wandering helps delay gratification and “engages processes associated with the successful management of long-term goals.”

On the other hand, some research suggests mind-wandering makes us less “gritty”—or less able to stay focused on our goals to completion—especially if it is spontaneous rather than deliberate. So, it may be important to consider where you are in the process of goal creation before deciding mind-wandering would be a good idea.

None of this suggests that mind-wandering is better for us than being focused. More likely, both aspects of cognition serve a purpose. Under the right circumstances, a wandering mind may actually benefit us and possibly those around us. The trick is to know when to set your mind free.

About the Author

Jill Suttie

Jill Suttie, Psy.D. , is Greater Good ’s former book review editor and now serves as a staff writer and contributing editor for the magazine. She received her doctorate of psychology from the University of San Francisco in 1998 and was a psychologist in private practice before coming to Greater Good .

You May Also Enjoy

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Why Do Our Minds Wander?

A scientist says mind-wandering or daydreaming help prepare us for the future

Tim Vernimmen, Knowable Magazine

When psychologist Jonathan Smallwood set out to study mind-wandering about 25 years ago, few of his peers thought that was a very good idea. How could one hope to investigate these spontaneous and unpredictable thoughts that crop up when people stop paying attention to their surroundings and the task at hand? Thoughts that couldn’t be linked to any measurable outward behavior?

But Smallwood, now at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, forged ahead. He used as his tool a downright tedious computer task that was intended to reproduce the kinds of lapses of attention that cause us to pour milk into someone’s cup when they asked for black coffee. And he started out by asking study participants a few basic questions to gain insight into when and why minds tend to wander, and what subjects they tend to wander toward. After a while, he began to scan participants’ brains as well, to catch a glimpse of what was going on in there during mind-wandering.

Smallwood learned that unhappy minds tend to wander in the past, while happy minds often ponder the future . He also became convinced that wandering among our memories is crucial to help prepare us for what is yet to come. Though some kinds of mind-wandering — such as dwelling on problems that can’t be fixed — may be associated with depression , Smallwood now believes mind-wandering is rarely a waste of time. It is merely our brain trying to get a bit of work done when it is under the impression that there isn’t much else going on.

Smallwood, who coauthored an influential 2015 overview of mind-wandering research in the Annual Review of Psychology, is the first to admit that many questions remain to be answered.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Is mind-wandering the same thing as daydreaming, or would you say those are different?

I think it’s a similar process used in a different context. When you’re on holiday, and you’ve got lots of free time, you might say you’re daydreaming about what you’d like to do next. But when you’re under pressure to perform, you’d experience the same thoughts as mind-wandering.

I think it is more helpful to talk about the underlying processes: spontaneous thought, or the decoupling of attention from perception, which is what happens when our thoughts separate from our perception of the environment. Both these processes take place during mind-wandering and daydreaming.

It often takes us a while to catch ourselves mind-wandering. How can you catch it to study it in other people?

In the beginning, we gave people experimental tasks that were really boring, so that mind-wandering would happen a lot. We would just ask from time to time, “Are you mind-wandering?” while recording the brain’s activity in an fMRI scanner.

But what I’ve realized, after doing studies like that for a long time, is that if we want to know how thinking works in the real world, where people are doing things like watching TV or going for a run, most of the data we have are never going to tell us very much.

So we are now trying to study these situations . And instead of doing experiments where we just ask, “Are you mind-wandering?” we are now asking people a lot of different questions, like: “Are your thoughts detailed? Are they positive? Are they distracting you?”

How and why did you decide to study mind-wandering?

I started studying mind-wandering at the start of my career, when I was young and naive.

I didn’t really understand at the time why nobody was studying it. Psychology was focused on measurable, outward behavior then. I thought to myself: That’s not what I want to understand about my thoughts. What I want to know is: Why do they come, where do they come from, and why do they persist even if they interfere with attention to the here and now?

Around the same time, brain imaging techniques were developing, and they were telling neuroscientists that something happens in the brain even when it isn’t occupied with a behavioral task. Large regions of the brain, now called the default mode network , did the opposite: If you gave people a task, the activity in these areas went down.

When scientists made this link between brain activity and mind-wandering, it became fashionable. I’ve been very lucky, because I hadn’t anticipated any of that when I started my PhD, at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. But I’ve seen it all pan out.

Would you say, then, that mind-wandering is the default mode for our brains?

It turns out to be more complicated than that. Initially, researchers were very sure that the default mode network rarely increased its activity during tasks. But these tasks were all externally focused — they involved doing something in the outside world. When researchers later asked people to do a task that doesn’t require them to interact with their environment — like think about the future — that activated the default mode network as well.

More recently, we have identified much simpler tasks that also activate the default mode network. If you let people watch a series of shapes like triangles or squares on a screen, and every so often you surprise them and ask something — like, “In the last trial, which side was the triangle on?”— regions within the default mode network increase activity when they’re making that decision . That’s a challenging observation if you think the default mode network is just a mind-wandering system.

But what both situations have in common is the person is using information from memory. I now think the default mode network is necessary for any thinking based on information from memory — and that includes mind-wandering.

Would it be possible to demonstrate that this is indeed the case?

In a recent study, instead of asking people whether they were paying attention, we went one step further . People were in a scanner reading short factual sentences on a screen. Occasionally, we’d show them a prompt that said, “Remember,” followed by an item from a list of things from their past that they’d provided earlier. So then, instead of reading, they’d remember the thing we showed them. We could cause them to remember.

What we find is that the brain scans in this experiment look remarkably similar to mind-wandering. That is important: It gives us more control over the pattern of thinking than when it occurs spontaneously, like in naturally occurring mind-wandering. Of course, that is a weakness as well, because it’s not spontaneous. But we’ve already done lots of spontaneous studies.

When we make people remember things from the list, we recapitulate quite a lot of what we saw in spontaneous mind-wandering. This suggests that at least some of the activity we see when minds wander is indeed associated with the retrieval of memories. We now think the decoupling between attention and perception happens because people are remembering.

Have you asked people what their minds are wandering toward?

The past and future seem to really dominate people’s thinking . I think things like mind-wandering are attempts by the brain to make sense of what has happened, so that we can behave better in the future. I think this type of thinking is a really ingrained part of how our species has conquered the world. Almost nothing we’re doing at any moment in time can be pinpointed as only mattering then.

That’s a defining difference. By that, I don’t mean that other animals can’t imagine the future, but that our world is built upon our ability to do so, and to learn from the past to build a better future. I think animals that focused only on the present were outcompeted by others that remembered things from the past and could focus on future goals, for millions of years — until you got humans, a species that’s obsessed with taking things that happened and using them to gain added value for future behavior.

People are also, very often, mind-wandering about social situations . This makes sense, because we have to work with other people to achieve almost all of our goals, and other people are much more unpredictable than the Sun rising in the morning.

Though it is clearly useful, isn’t it also very depressing to keep returning to issues from the past?

It certainly can be. We have found that mind-wandering about the past tends to be associated with negative mood.

Let me give you an example of what I think may be happening. For a scientist like me, coming up with creative solutions to scientific problems through mind-wandering is very rewarding. But you can imagine that if my situation changes and I end up with a set of problems I can’t fix, the habit of going over the past may become difficult to break. My brain will keep activating the problem-solving system, even if it can’t do anything to fix the problem, because now my problems are things like getting divorced and my partner doesn’t want any more to do with me. If such a thing happens and all I’ve got is an imaginative problem-solving system, it’s not going to help me, it’s just going to be upsetting. I just have to let it go.

That’s where I think mindfulness could be useful, because the idea of mindfulness is to bring your attention to the moment. So if I’d be more mindful, I’d be going into problem-solving mode less often.

If you spend long enough practicing being in the moment, maybe that becomes a habit. It’s about being able to control your mind-wandering. Cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, which aims to help people change how they think and behave, is another way to reduce harmful mind-wandering.

Nowadays, it seems that many of the idle moments in which our minds would previously have wandered are now spent scrolling our phones. How do you think that might change how our brain functions?

The interesting thing about social media and mind-wandering, I think, is that they may have similar motivations. Mind-wandering is very social. In our studies , we’re locking people in small booths and making them do these tasks and they keep coming out and saying, “I’m thinking about my friends.” That’s telling us that keeping up with others is very important to people.

Social groups are so important to us as a species that we spend most of our time trying to anticipate what others are going to do, and I think social media is filling part of the gap that mind-wandering is trying to fill. It’s like mainlining social information: You can try to imagine what your friend is doing, or you can just find out online. Though, of course, there is an important difference: When you’re mind-wandering, you’re ordering your own thoughts. Scrolling social media is more passive.

Could there be a way for us to suppress mind-wandering in situations where it might be dangerous?

Mind-wandering can be a benefit and a curse, but I wouldn’t be confident that we know yet when it would be a good idea to stop it. In our studies at the moment, we are trying to map how people think across a range of different types of tasks. We hope this approach will help us identify when mind-wandering is likely to be useful or not — and when we should try to control it and when we shouldn’t.

For example, in our studies, people who are more intelligent don’t mind wander so often when the task is hard but can do it more when tasks are easy . It is possible that they are using the idle time when the external world is not demanding their attention to think about other important matters. This highlights the uncertainty about whether mind wandering is always a bad thing, because this sort of result implies it is likely to be useful under some circumstances.

This map — of how people think in different situations — has become very important in our research. This is the work I’m going to focus on now, probably for the rest of my career.

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How to Tame Your Wandering Mind

Learn to take steps to deal with distraction..

Posted April 24, 2022 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

• Understanding Attention
• Find a therapist to help with ADHD
• We can tame our mind-wandering.
• Three tips can help you use mind-wandering to your advantage.
• These include making time to mind-wander and controlling your response to it.

Researchers believe that when a task isn’t sufficiently rewarding, our brains search for something more interesting to think about.

You have a big deadline looming, and it’s time to hunker down. But every time you start working, you find that, for some reason, your mind drifts off before you can get any real work done. What gives? What is this cruel trick our brains play on us, and what do we do about it?

Thankfully, by understanding why our mind wanders and taking steps to deal with distraction, we can stay on track. But first, let’s understand the root of the problem.

Why do our minds wander?

Unintentional mind-wandering occurs when our thoughts are not tied to the task at hand. Researchers believe our minds wander when the thing we’re supposed to be doing is not sufficiently rewarding, so our brains look for something more interesting to think about.

We’ve all experienced it from time to time, but it’s important to note that some people struggle with chronic mind-wandering : Though studies estimate ADHD afflicts less than 3% of the global adult population, it can be a serious problem and may require medical intervention.

For the vast majority of people, mind-wandering is something we can tame on our own—that is, if we know what to do about it. In fact, according to Professor Ethan Kross, director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan and author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It , mind-wandering is perfectly normal.

“We spend between a third to a half of our waking hours not focused on the present,” he told me in an email. “Some neuroscience research refers to our tendency to mind-wander as our ‘default state.’”

So why do we do it?

“Mind-wandering serves several valuable functions. It helps us simulate and plan for the future and learn from our past, and it facilitates creative problem-solving,” Kross explained. “Mind-wandering often gets a bad rep, but it’s a psychological process that evolved to provide us with a competitive advantage. Imagine not being able to plan for the future or learn from your past mistakes.”

Is mind-wandering bad for you?

“Like any psychological tool, however, mind-wandering can be harmful if used in the wrong context (i.e., when you’re trying to focus on a task) or inappropriately (i.e., when you worry or ruminate too much),” according to Kross. In other words, mind-wandering is a problem when it becomes a distraction. A distraction is any action that pulls you away from what you planned to do.

If, for instance, you intended to work on a big project, such as writing a blog post or finishing a proposal, but instead find yourself doing something else, you’re distracted.

The good news is that we can use mind-wandering to our advantage if we follow a few simple steps:

1. Make time to mind-wander

Mind-wandering isn’t always a distraction. If we plan for it, we can turn mind-wandering into traction. Unlike a distraction , which by definition is a bad thing, a diversion is simply a refocusing of attention and isn’t always harmful.

There’s nothing wrong with deciding to refocus your attention for a while. In fact, we often enjoy all kinds of diversions and pay for the privilege.

A movie or a good book, for instance, diverts our attention away from real life for a while so we can get into the story and escape reality for a bit.

Similarly, if you make time to allow your mind to drift and explore whatever it likes, that’s a healthy diversion, not a distraction.

The first step to mastering mind-wandering is to plan time for it. Use a schedule maker and block off time in your day to let your thoughts flow freely. You’ll likely find that a few minutes spent in contemplation can help you work through unresolved issues and lead to breakthroughs. Scheduling mind-wandering also lets you relax because you know you have time to think about whatever is on your mind instead of believing you need to act on every passing thought.

It’s helpful to know that time to think is on your calendar so you don’t have to interrupt your mind-wandering process or risk getting distracted later.

2. Catch the action

One of the difficulties surrounding mind-wandering is that by the time you notice you’re doing it, you’ve already done it. It’s an unconscious process so you can’t prevent it from happening.

The good news is that while you can’t stop your mind from wandering, you can control what you do when it happens.

Many people never learn that they are not their thoughts. They believe the voice in their head is somehow a special part of them, like their soul speaking out their inner desires and true self. When random thoughts cross their mind, they think those thoughts must be speaking some important truth.

Not true. That voice in your head is not your soul talking, nor do you have to believe everything you think.

When we assign undue importance to the chatter in our heads, we risk listening to half-baked ideas, feeling shame for intrusive thoughts, or acting impulsively against our best interests.

A much healthier way to view mind-wandering is as brain static. Just as the random radio frequencies you tune through don’t reveal the inner desires of your car’s soul, the thoughts you have while mind-wandering don’t mean much—unless, that is, you act upon them.

Though it can throw us off track, mind-wandering generally only lasts a few seconds, maybe minutes. However, when we let mind-wandering turn into other distractions, such as social-media scrolling, television-channel surfing, or news-headline checking, that’s when we risk wasting hours rather than mere minutes.

If you do find yourself mentally drifting off in the middle of a task, the important thing is to not allow that to become an unintended action, and therefore a distraction.

An intrusive thought is not your fault. It can’t be controlled. What matters is how you respond to it—hence the word respon-sibility.

Do you let the thought go and stay on task? Or do you allow yourself to escape what you’re doing by letting it lead you toward an action you’ll later regret?

3. Note and refocus

Can we keep the helpful aspects of mind-wandering while doing away with the bad? For the most part, yes, we can.

According to Kross, “Mind-wandering can easily shift into dysfunctional worry and rumination. When that happens, the options are to refocus on the present or to implement tools that help people mind-wander more effectively.”

One of the best ways to harness the power of mind-wandering while doing an important task is to quickly note the thought you don’t want to lose on a piece of paper. It’s a simple tactic anyone can use but few bother to do. Note that I didn’t recommend an app or sending yourself an email. Tech tools are full of external triggers that can tempt us to just check “one quick thing,” and before we know it, we’re distracted.

Rather, a pen and Post-it note or a notepad are the ideal tools to get ideas out of your head without the temptations that may lead you away from what you planned to do.

Then, you can collect your thoughts and check back on them later during the time you’ve planned in your day to chew on your ideas. If you give your thoughts a little time, you’ll often find that those super important ideas aren’t so important after all.

If you had acted on them at the moment, they would have wasted your time. But by writing them down and revisiting them when you’ve planned to do so, they have time to marinate and may become less relevant.

However, once in a while, an idea you collected will turn out to be a gem. With the time you planned to chew on the thought, you may discover that mind-wandering spurred you to a great insight you can explore later.

By following the three steps above, you’ll be able to master mind-wandering rather than letting it become your master.

Nir Eyal, who has lectured at Stanford's Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, is the author of Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

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