When you sit down to study, the wrong habits can sabotage your focus even before you begin. According to a recent piece on NDTV, some everyday behaviours — like checking your phone every few minutes — steal your concentration and turn effort into excess time wasted. 

Studying in noisy surroundings, multitasking with music, chats or TV, skipping breaks, and even highlighting everything are all culprits. Your brain ends up switching attention instead of locking into a flow. 

Worse: attempting long study stints on an empty stomach or without a clear plan leaves you low-energy and directionless. 

What helps instead? Create a quiet, distraction-free study zone, use short focused sessions with planned breaks, eat healthy snacks and approach your targets with a clear schedule. These small changes rewind your focus and boost productivity far more effectively than just "study harder."