My ADHD Makes Focusing Impossible: Here’s How Blinkist Changed That
I’m used to my ADHD getting in the way. At school, I couldn’t sit still in the classroom. At work, I struggle to focus in meetings. And in my personal life, I can’t stick to goals long enough to make any real progress.
I’ve tried everything to get my brain to focus: timers, white noise, fake deadlines. Nothing seemed to help and I’d still get distracted no matter what I was doing.
Enter, Focused Learning Sprints
While frantically Googling for things to help, I stumbled upon the Pomodoro Technique.
You set a timer for 25 minutes and work on one task — and one task only! — until the timer goes off. You then take a five-minute break before setting another 25-minute timer.
It sounds simple, but it works like magic.
Having these focused work sprints means I can get one task ticked off and then treat myself to a break, letting my brain run wild before focusing again. On days when I feel more scattered, I shorten the 25-minute sprints to 20 or even 15 minutes.
I started using the Pomodoro Technique at work before wondering what else it could help me achieve. I wanted to learn some new skills for my career and personal life, but taking long courses or reading full books never came easy to me. That’s when I found Blinkist.
The Bite-Sized Learning App
Blinkist is an app that takes key insights from nonfiction books and shares them in bite-sized explainers. The best bit? These explainers only take 15 to 20 minutes to read or listen to — ideal for one of my Pomodoro sprints.
The app has 6,500 titles across 27 categories, including productivity, psychology, and personal development. I dove in and started learning faster than ever.
Learn in 15-Minute Sprints
It can take the average reader days or weeks to get through one book, so you can imagine how long it takes me when I get distracted every 30 seconds.
On the Blinkist app, you can get all of the important messages from a book in about 15 minutes. It’s long enough to get the key insights, but not so long that my mind starts wandering off.
Plus, the key messages are repeated to help them stick — just in case you got distracted — and there are sometimes sound effects, which keep me engaged.
Learn On the Go Whenever the Urge Strikes
Sitting down to focus on one task can feel impossible some days. This is when I switch to listening to Blinkist’s explainers.
Explainers are available in text and audio form. I like to listen while out on a walk or run, so I can’t get pulled off track by other tasks.
–Hitha Palepu, entrepreneur and author.
One of the World’s Best Apps for Bite-Sized Learning
I’ve discovered I can do anything as long as I break it down into bite-sized sprints and then treat myself to a break afterwards. Using this method, I read or listen to a Blinkist explainer to learn for both work and fun.
I’ve listened to explainers of books I’ve always wanted to read, like Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens, built new healthy habits with James Clear’s Atomic Habits, and upgraded my morning routine with Robin Sharma’s The 5AM Club.
The Blinkist team adds 70 new books each month, so there’s plenty to keep my scattered brain happy.
28 Million Users Are Already Focusing on Learning
It’s not just those with ADHD that can benefit from Blinkist. The app is loved by 28 million users. It’s been covered by the New York Times and Forbes, it’s won awards from Google and the United Nations, and Apple named it one of the top 20 apps for lifelong learning.
I’m not the only one who gives it a glowing review, either. Users have given Blinkist 94,000 5-star ratings and some of them even have ADHD:
–5-star review.
–5-star review.
–5-star review.
Want to learn in focused sprints? Check out Blinkist to get started.
