When we think of monks, we think of holiness, peace, and quiet solitude. We imagine them shutting out the world’s noise to find their center and get in touch with their true selves.

Think about how a monk lives:

• They wake up early in the morning to pray and meditate.
• They spend most of their time reading scriptures and learning from wise teachers.
• They live an effortless life, including few possessions and an almost entirely vegan diet.

We can learn a lot from monks, but today we will be learning how to hone our focus skills.

Everyone suffers from attention deficit these days. But there is a better way to live: learning to concentrate on the few essentials and mastering your ability to do things one at a time. When you focus on the right things, your life will become more peaceful and stress-free.

The truth is, that most of us are suffering from an epidemic of distraction. We are constantly bombarded with new information, notifications, and advertisements. There are so many distractions in the modern world that it’s almost impossible to stay focused.

In fact, statistics show that the “average person is distracted or interrupted every 40 seconds when working in front of a computer.” That’s insane.

This means that the average worker might be distracted hundreds of times on any given day. It’s no wonder that the ability to focus has become such a rare commodity. For some people, focusing on one task at a time is second nature. For others, focusing is more of a struggle.

The question is: how do you protect yourself from the many internal and external distractions when you want to get things done?

The true measure of success is how long you starve your distractions to get more things done.

There are ways you can drown out the noise of everyday stressors and refocus your brain to work at peak performance again.

The secret lies in understanding how distraction affects you, identifying when you need to refocus and developing strategies for regaining your focus again quickly.

Everyone has different things that work for them, but some general principles can apply to anyone who wants to stay focused and be more productive.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to staying focused and getting stuff done, but there are a number of habits that can help you achieve impeccable focus.

• Train your brain to ignore distractions. It’s easier said than done. Monks train for years to master the human mind. You can start by planning time alone to think, get clarity, and practice mindfulness. Schedule distraction time to “give in to feed your distractions” for a few minutes at a time, and then when you start to do “focus work,” starve those distractions. This is also one of the reasons they practice intermittent fasting, which is believed to promote mental clarity and spiritual growth. By restricting their food intake to specific periods, they become able to avoid the distraction of food and maintain a sense of discipline.
• Schedule tasks around your energy level. Focus fluctuates. Everyone’s focus skill is different. You can measure how you work and do more of what’s working. “To understand your own ultradian rhythm, record your levels of focus, enthusiasm, and energy at the same times each day at hourly intervals,” writes Anthony Bartlett of Evernote. Knowledge of your focus level can help you work with your body to improve your skills.
• Set realistic goals. It’s easy to start a new project or goal with the best of intentions. Still, it can be hard to stay motivated if you set yourself up for failure by making unrealistic expectations about how much you can get done in a given period of time. Instead of trying to do everything at once, focus on one or two tasks at a time and set realistic expectations for what you can accomplish in a given timeframe.
• Strictly block off time for high-value tasks. If you’re having trouble staying focused, there’s a good chance that you’re always working on something new and jumping from task to task without taking any time to step back and look at the big picture. To avoid this problem, create dedicated time each day to work on the most essential tasks to get you closer to your larger goals.
• For every task on your to-do list, set hyper-focus time for it. If you don’t take that time, there’s always a chance that something else will come up that will distract you. The more time you give yourself, the better chance you have of being productive.
• Work in long stretches of an hour at most and take quality breaks between focused sessions. And most importantly, prepare your environment to work for you, not against you. Make it a habit to mute notifications, block distracting sites, or wear noise-cancellation headphones before you dive into work mode. Take a break when you need one, and don’t stress if you have to start over. You can always keep trying!
• Prep your environment for monk mode. External distractions (your phone, social media, websites, other people, or noises around you) can make it incredibly difficult to get things done. Minimize these distractions when you start deep work. Make it a common practice to clear your desk, hide your phone and block sites when you want to focus. The right environment can reset your brain to focus on your task.
• Get enough sleep. A lack of sleep can make it hard to stay focused, so make sure you’re getting enough rest each night to wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day ahead.

This article originally appeared in Medium.