So, how do you insulate yourself and give your brain the space it needs? It’s all about getting yourself back to basics. Here are a few recommendation.

You know this already, but it’s worth repeating: It’s hard to be productive when you’re checking your email or leaving yourself open to other digital distractions. “Turning off notifications on electronic devices and keeping email checking to a minimum can make a huge difference, to the extent it...

A space where you can control the noise and ideally close a door is what you’re looking for, and white noise makers that drown out noise from your environment can also help, he says.

This can be a difficult ask, but it’s necessary. When it comes time to really focus, pick the one task you are going to work on. Having other tasks that demand our attention is a common cause of struggling to focus, Bienvenu says, so it’s important to select on keep the others you have crowding y...

You can’t focus if you’re dog-tired, so make sure you’re getting enough sleep at night. O’Neill points out that not everybody needs a full 8 hours, but you should shoot for 7-9...

One surefire way to make your brain struggle is to starve it of the good stuff. O’Neill recommends all the standard things here — eating a balanced diet , drinking plenty of water, not drinking too much alcohol, and avo...

There’s a famous quote attributed to Desmond Tutu that asks: How do you eat an elephant? The answer: One bite at a time. In other words, piecing out one enormous task into smaller pieces is one of the simplest ways to make it seem less daunting. “This can be helpful in tackling big tasks that fee...

Go to the gym, go for a run, do some bodyweight exercises for 15 minutes in the morning — make time for whatever you can in your schedule. Exercise

This is the classic recommendation for helping kids do their homework, and the same goes for adults: Create a space away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of your house where you can sit down and get to work. Noise levels affect concentration, and that actually doesn’t just mean loud noise, ...

This problem is always present, but it’s worse now that so many of us are working from home, says Dr. Shannon O’Neill , a psychologist in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology at Mount Sinai Hospital. Working from home blurs the b...