After a summer of travel, socialising and looser schedules, fall naturally brings a return to routine. But if your brain has gotten used to a steady stream of stimulation, you may find that your attention span needs time to catch up. To help you settle back into a more structured season of school and deeper work, mental health experts break down how to give your attention span a reset and make the most of the final stretch of the year.

How much should you really be able to focus?

Contrary to what many of us might think, healthy attention and concentration don't mean staying perfectly focused all day. "It means being able to direct your attention to what matters, stay with a task or conversation for a reasonable stretch, notice when your mind wanders, and bring it back," says Erin Clifford, JD, MA, LPC, corporate wellness consultant and coach. "You can take a break or respond to an interruption without losing the thread entirely." She adds that the length of that stretch will vary with the task, your environment, and how rested or stressed you are.

Still, you might feel like your attention span isn't quite what it used to be as we transition from summer to fall, after spending the past few months vacationing, socialising more, staying up later, and taking a break from our usual work or school routines. "Clients often tell me their focus feels broken this time of year, but it's usually just out of practice," says Rod Mitchell, founder and registered psychologist at Emotions Therapy Calgary. "Routines do a lot of the focusing for you. The same desk, coffee, and start time signal your brain to settle in." He adds that summer scrambles those cues, so focus can take more effort for a few weeks.

These habits could be sabotaging your focus

One thing Mitchell says can sabotage our attention is when we have the urge to fill every little gap. "If you go to your phone in pauses like the coffee line or the elevator, your brain forgets how to sit with a little boredom," he says. "Most tasks that need focus have dull stretches."

Another culprit is switching tasks the moment things start to feel tedious, like checking a text or opening your inbox while you're working on something else. Mitchell says this usually serves as an escape from a small uncomfortable feeling, like boredom or not knowing where to start. "Those escapes teach your brain that discomfort means stop," he says.

How to tell if your attention span is struggling

Certain types of tasks can make attention difficulties more obvious, especially those that require sustained thought without much stimulation, like reading a longer article, writing, planning a project, or working through a decision, according to Clifford. "Listening can reveal it, too. If you keep losing the thread of a conversation because you're checking a notification or thinking about the next thing, that's useful information," she says.

Clifford adds that another sign of a shortened attention span to watch for is finding yourself listening to respond rather than listening to understand during conversations. "Listening to understand is a skill to practice, and it's not an automatic thing," she says, adding that simply practicing listening during conversations without trying to fix anything can help build focus and attention. Before judging yourself for a lack of discipline, Clifford suggests considering what else might be going on first. "Stress, poor sleep, and an overloaded schedule can all affect concentration," she says.

Make your environment more focus-friendly

Setting up your environment to make focusing easier can go a long way. One simple strategy is to make distractions physically harder to access by creating more friction around them, suggests Anne Welsh, PhD, PMH-C, PCC, clinical psychologist and executive coach. "Put your phone in the other room. Close out your email rather than just telling yourself not to check it. Use timers," she says. "When we have to put more effort into the things that distract us, we are that much less likely to use them."

It can also help to create positive associations between your environment and focusing, whether that's a particular playlist, a beverage you sip while working, or a specific spot where you like to get things done. "Anything that might tell your brain, 'this is where we focus on this thing' in a repeated way can help," Welsh says. Clearing your mental environment is helpful, too. "Dump all of the things taking up mental space," Welsh says, pointing to jotting thoughts down onto to-do lists and grocery lists. "The less extra stuff you're trying to hold in your brain while you focus on a task, the better."

Try these exercises to strengthen your focus

To gradually increase the amount of time you can focus, Welsh suggests starting smaller than you might think. "So often we sit down and say 'Great, I now have three hours to write' and end up wasting all of it because that feels too long," she says, adding to start with something more doable, even if it's five or 10 minutes at first. "Smaller goals are more achievable. You get that dopamine hit of success and are more likely to do it again and again." She suggests gradually increasing the time from there, building your focus much like a muscle over time.

Mitchell also recommends waiting out the itch to switch tasks. "Any time you feel the urge to check your phone or switch tasks, say to yourself, 'There's the itch,' and keep going one more minute," he says. "The urge tends to fade faster than you expect." Once waiting a minute feels easy, try two, then five.

Finally, Welsh suggests borrowing a technique from mindfulness: noticing when your attention wanders and returning to the task without judging yourself for losing focus. "In mindfulness practice, the goal isn't an empty mind, but returning to the present moment over and over again," she says, adding that we can do this with our focus too. If you're writing a presentation and get distracted, simply notice it and return to the presentation. "No need to waste additional energy and time shaming yourself," she says. "Returning will get easier and easier over time."

The bottom line

Rebuilding your attention span after a stimulating summer isn't about willpower or discipline. It's about creating the right environment, starting small, and practising the return to focus without self-judgment. Reduce friction around distractions, create cues that signal focus, clear your mental clutter, and gradually increase the time you spend on a single task. Notice when your mind wanders and gently bring it back, again and again. Like a muscle, attention grows with consistent practice. This fall is the perfect time to start.