How to Lock In Fast for Work, School or Studying

If you want to know how to lock in, the short version is this. Get the phone out of the room, pick one task, set a timer, and start the same way every time so your brain learns the cue.

Merriam-Webster added "lock in" to its slang pages with a plain definition: "to enter a state of deep focus." The phrase spread through sports and gaming streams before it took over study and work content, and it now shows up in Google next to "how to lock in on studying" and "how to lock in for school". People searching it want a way to get there on demand.

How to lock in, step by step

1. Put your phone in another room. Not face down on the desk, not in your pocket.
2. Write down the one task you're doing, and the very next physical action (open the doc, read page 41, write the first line of the email).
3. Close every tab and app that isn't that task.
4. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
5. Run your start cue, then begin before you've had time to think about it.

Your phone has to leave the room

In 2017 Adrian Ward and colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin tested nearly 800 smartphone users on tasks that measure available brainpower. Some had their phone on the desk, some had it in a pocket or bag, and some left it in another room. Every phone was on silent. The people whose phones were in the other room scored significantly better than the desk group and slightly better than the pocket group. Turning the phone off or flipping it face down made no difference. In the university's words, "the mere presence of their smartphone was enough to reduce their cognitive capacity."

The drawer and the bag at your feet don't count. Walk it to the kitchen.

One task, and a note about the last one

Sophie Leroy, a business professor at the University of Washington Bothell, coined the term "attention residue" for the part of your mind that stays stuck on the previous task after you switch. Her research found it's worst when the last task was left unfinished or you expect to rush back to it, and it leaves less attention for the work in front of you.

The fix is boring. Before you start, spend 30 seconds writing where you left the other thing and what you'll do next on it. Then it's on paper and off your mind.

Use a timer, and decide the start in advance

Francesco Cirillo came up with the Pomodoro Technique as a university student in the late 1980s, using a tomato-shaped kitchen timer. The standard version is 25 minutes of work, a 5 to 10 minute break, and a longer break of 20 to 30 minutes after four rounds. Twenty-five minutes is short enough that starting doesn't feel like a big commitment.

Pair the timer with an if-then plan. Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran pooled 94 independent tests of these "implementation intentions" in a 2006 meta-analysis and found a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals (d = 0.65). Written down, it looks like this: "When I sit down at my desk after lunch, I put the phone in the kitchen and open the report." The decision is made before the moment arrives.

How to lock in at work

Gloria Mark at the University of California, Irvine shadowed office workers and found they spent about 3 minutes and 5 seconds on a single task before switching or being interrupted. Once pulled away, it took an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the original work, usually after two other tasks in between. About 44% of those interruptions were self-started.

At work that means blocking time on your calendar, closing email and Slack for the length of the timer, and treating your own urge to check something as an interruption too. We cover the rest of the workday in how to stay focused at work.

How to lock in for school, or on studying

On r/study, the tips that get repeated are practical. Commit to a fixed block, set a phone timer, and don't touch the phone until it rings. One commenter described "phone jail": texting friends when you start studying and asking them to check in at a set time, and using the phone only as a calculator until then.

The start ritual is what makes it repeatable

Athletes have a pre-shot routine. Streamers have a song they open with. The point is a cue your brain links with "this is when the work starts", done the same way every time, right before you begin. We like a cue you can feel, because a physical signal is harder to drift past than a thought.

Our start ritual is one spray of Dragon Breath. It's chilcuague root (Heliopsis longipes), also called golden root, from Central Mexico, in a 50 ml mouth spray. Spray once into your mouth. For a second it's earthy and a little peppery. Then, within about 10 seconds, a bright electric buzz spreads across your tongue and mouth, your mouth floods, and a clean fresh feeling hangs on after. You come out of those few seconds switched on, present, in the zone and ready for whatever is on the desk.

Use it as the last thing before work, at the point where you'd otherwise reach for the phone: timer set, task written down, one spray, go. Save it for the start of the block that counts, whether that's a deep work session, the first page of revision or the hour before a deadline.

One customer filmed their first spray. Moments after it hit, they said: "Definitely energized."

The spray format suits a ritual you repeat several times a day. The bottle lives in your pocket or pencil case, one spray is all it takes, and there are 250+ sprays per bottle. The extract stays sealed in Miron violet glass, away from air and light, so it keeps its strength from the first spray to the last. If you want to know more about the plant itself, our guide to chilcuague covers the root, where it grows and how it's made.

The root is wild-harvested from growth zones the Mara team selects with the help of local elders, then dual-extracted in organic solutions. Dragon Breath is vegan, gluten free, sugar free and non-GMO. Start with one spray. Once you know the feeling, you can go up to five.

Dragon Breath considerations

Our recommendation: if you're pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or allergic to plants in the daisy family, ask your doctor before using it.

Questions people ask

What does lock in mean?

Merriam-Webster defines it as "to enter a state of deep focus." It's slang for being fully switched on for a task, with distractions shut out.

How long should a lock-in session be?

Twenty-five minutes is a good first block, the length Francesco Cirillo set for the Pomodoro Technique. Take a 5 to 10 minute break, and a longer one after four rounds.

Is it enough to put my phone on silent?

No. In Adrian Ward's 2017 study, silent phones on the desk still cost people performance, and face down or switched off made no difference. The phone in another room was the condition that scored best.

What does Dragon Breath feel like?

Earthy and a little peppery for a second, then a bright electric buzz across your tongue and mouth within about 10 seconds. Your mouth waters fast and a clean fresh feeling lingers afterwards.