AD | If you’re looking to achieve great things in life, having the right learning space available to you is necessary. In the UK, procrastination costs businesses approximately £76 billion each year. Crazy, right? And procrastinating is a key reason we don’t learn to the best of our ability as well.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to learn new skills or putting old ones to good use, being in the right environment can go a long way to successfully complete your objective. What should you be looking for?
An intimate space
Although you’ve probably considered this, you may not have implemented it. It’s important to add a few home touches to any working environment, as undoubtedly, you’ll feel more at home! Family photos and postcards of your favourite quotes are both great visuals that can help get your creative juices flowing.
Bringing the outdoors indoors
Adding a pop of green in your office can be helpful. Flowering plants are great ways to increase our concentration levels and lower the sensation of stress. The likes of ferns clean our air space, while the snake plant also cleans up toxins. Succulents such as a cactus are also a useful addition to your space for decoration purposes as they don’t take a lot of looking after. If you’re a lover of flowers, you should also start planting those autumn flowering bulbs!
Never enough light
Most of us will be directly working on computers. Natural light is an amazing way to counteract any effects of sitting in front of an artificially-lit computer screen. It is also known to enhance our mood by increasing our happiness. This is because natural sunlight is a great source of vitamin D. Without this, some people experience seasonal affective disorder. By being exposed to natural sunlight, you will also have a sense of contentment thanks to the production of vitamin D.
Becoming more organised
If you want to be productive, you can’t have disorder on your desk. It’s not a coincidence that a clear desk can represent a clear mind. By ensuring that your work-space is free of unnecessary distractions, you are more likely to remain focused on the task at hand. You can do this by having a bin within reach, setting up a physical inbox for your papers, and scheduling regular cleaning times.
Brighten up your attire
Red has been linked to boost how alert we are. It’s looked upon as the ‘colour of passion’. Elsewhere, blue can help us generate ideas and keeps us focused on the task at hand, while green helps avoid eye fatigue and stay efficient. If you were looking to keep stress levels to a minimum, you should look to include white or beige as this can have a calming effect.
Opt for the right soundtrack
While some people work best in silence, others prefer a bit of background noise. Everyone benefits in their own way. Either way, a good set of headphones could be the ideal solution as they can either block out the tones around you or provide the tunes/podcasts best suited to keeping you productive. Other low-level noise could distract you from your studying or work and have a negative effect.
Considered playing some classic tunes? Italian researchers found that this genre can significantly enhance your working memory performance, while research in the Journal of Consumer Research also found that a moderate level of ambient noise can benefit our creative senses.
In the end, each of us learns in a different way, but by following the above steps, you will set yourself up nicely to succeed in your end goal and boost your productivity levels.
Sources
https://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/workplace-procrastination-costs-british-businesses-76-billion-a-year/
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/blog/2015/02/08/top-5-tips-create-productive-study-space/
http://www.alithehappyva.com/the-home-office-makeover-plants
http://www.signatureglassandwindows.com/4-ways-natural-light-will-boost-your-mood/
https://timemanagementninja.com/2014/02/10-tips-to-keep-your-desk-clean-organized-productive/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243749
https://signeteducation.com/blog/how-the-right-space-can-optimize-learning
https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/optimize-environment-better-learning/
Great tips. I find it really hard to work at home sometimes or in clutter. So I’ll definitely try to incorporate these tips
Fantastic advice, especially since we’re in Summer time now! Gotta make the best of the sunshine 😀
I should try more light. I always tend to opt for darker places.
One thing that really works for me is tidying my space day before. The cleaner the better as then I have less things to play around with and be distracted. Have a lovely day, Iga https://www.igaberry.com
These are some great tips, I heard somewhere that listening to Mozart (well classical music) is great for memory and concentration since I can’t study in silence.
Great tips!! I do find it hard to work at home sometimes so this helps 🙂
Brianna | https://briannamarielifestyle.com