Get Focused Without Drugs – or – Adderall Eat Your Shirt

I’ve been reading recent press about illicit use of Adderall and other Class II stimulants on college campuses. Not surprisingly, this trend to use drugs to improve focus is not limited to the university student – it’s also the high school student’s golden ticket to better SAT scores, better grades, and entrance to a better college.

This is such a complex issue. Stimulants can definitely improve one’s ability to focus. And proper use of prescribed drugs can have a life-changing impact on a student’s academic success.

Yet improper and illegal use of these same stimulants can do wonders for improving most anyone’s cognitive function. Who wouldn’t wish to focus like Letterman and drive home superior grades each and every semester? But the drugs are also addictive. They can present horrific side effects. And they surreptitiously and artificially raise the bar for every student on campus.

If estimates are correct, one-third of university students are using Adderall and other Class II stimulants to improve their ability to focus. Even if these numbers are off, even off by lots, there is still a tremendous number of students counting out cash in dorms and libraries to buy their next smart pill.

So how does one succeed in this mind-bending academic environment? I guess it is a personal choice: Choose the drug (a felony, by the way) or choose to go another way.

We support the non-drug way.

Focus with us.

Here are some of my current focus mix favorites. You will find them by logging in to your account. They are in the Mix Browser under Community Mixes (unless, of course, one of these mixes is yours!).

Interesting and simple: An interesting and simple focus track.

Created By: Equus

Focus with Gonga: From Jeff. Through the drum. Unabashedly REI, the rhythms are clean and poignant.

Created By: Beth Strong