So, your student room may not be the grandest of places. But, with a little planning and some diligence, you can turn your student space into productivity central. Now that exams and essays are mostly over, this is probably a good shout for all of those job and internship applications you need to get round to.
1. Create a dedicated work area
No, not your bed. No, not the sofa. Certainly no, absolutely nowhere near your 50-inch flat screen TV. It isn’t enough to whack out your laptop and get to work. You have to create a space that’s super-conducive to your productivity.
Think of it as the terminal for turning on the ‘work mode’ in your brain. Once you’ve set up your work space to your needs, your mind will find it easier to slide into that state. If you don’t have space for a work desk, fret not. You can get a collapsible laptop stand, or even a dining table and chair will do.
Make that space your own. We love looking at the #BufferSpaces hashtag for some serious work space inspiration, if you’re stuck for ideas.
2. Keep that work area free from clutter and mess
Yeah, you heard us. No old kebab takeaway boxes, choccy bar wrappers or old energy drink cans allowed. Look, we’re not judging. Sometimes stuff like that piles up. Our reason for nagging is a little more practical than that.
When you’re trying to work, your mind is doing literally all it can do to stop you. This means, if there’s mess to clean, you bet your bottom dollar you’ll suddenly want to tidy it up before you get started on your essay.
If you’re really good about keep your work space tidy, there’ll simply be no big mess to procrastinate over. Plus, it’s just nice to settle down in a minimalist, neat space.
3. Make a big, beautiful work schedule and stick it somewhere visible
This is where you can get a little crafty! Grab a big sheet of coloured paper, a couple of Sharpies, a ruler, and some washi tape. (If you’ve not heard of washi tape before, it’s Japanese decorative tape you can use to mark borders.) Divide your work schedule into the days of the week, then your chosen hours of work. Fill it in to the best of your ability, the more detail the better.
After that, stick it right in front of your work area. Having a work schedule somewhere visible is super important. It helps to keep you accountable for the time you’re spending. If it says you have to work for an hour at 11am, you’ll probably feel a little more guilty if you’re not actually doing it.
Bonus points if you get a mini whiteboard for your work schedule. This way, you can change up your routine without wasting a whole bunch of paper. Productive, and good for the environment.
4. Work in a space with lots of natural light
According to a variety of studies, natural light is key to your well-being and productivity. A study by Cohere even claims that work spaces with good daylight can have up to a 40% increase in productivity.
Work next to an open window if you can. If the sunlight gets too bright, get some cheap gauze curtains to reduce the glare.
Burning the midnight oil with no natural light in sight? Make sure you do best not to strain your eyes. Install f.lux on your laptop, phone and computer so your screens can emulate a natural light setting. Your eyes will thank you later.
5. Get stocked up on some stationary
We’re all digital natives here. However, sometimes there’s nothing better than making notes on good, old-fashioned pen and paper.
Grab some good-quality paper. Treat yourself to glitter pens. Anything that’ll give your notes some pop and colour! Treating your work process with respect and love will help you enjoy working even more.
Plus, it’s an excuse to personalise your work area even more. Buy a corkboard and pin all of your favourite sticky notes. Get a functional stationery holder for your favourite pens. There are so many ways to personalise your stationery. You do you.
6. Purchase a standing desk
You’ve probably heard all of the scary stories about how sitting sedentary for hours will probably kill you. It’s probably not as dramatic as all that. However, long hours of sitting is pretty bad for your health. It’s time to do something about that.
Get a cardboard standing desk for your work space. It’ll help you curb high-blood pressure and high-blood sugar, and, apparently decrease anxiety. If this is not in your budget, set occasional phone reminders to stand up and take a 2-3 minute walkabout. It’ll do wonders for ya, we promise.
7. Light some scented candles
Before you scoff at this, hear us out. According to the BBC, the aroma of rosemary will help you achieve better scores in memory tests. In fact, it’ll improve by 5 to 7%.
Rosemary candles seem like the way to go then, it seems. However, other scents that could help are lavender for its calming effect, or lemon, which promotes concentration.
8. Get a tomato timer
Have you heard of the pomodoro method? Pomodoro is ‘tomato’ in Italian, and just so happens to be one of the most productive study methods ever created. Essentially, you break up your work time into ‘work periods’ and ‘break periods’, usually 25 minutes of work with a compulsory 5 minute break. Apparently, taking those breaks are key to productivity.
You can stick with the iconic bright red tomato timer to do this. Of course, your phone’s clock app could do, but we reckon it’ll give your work space some added personality.
9. Make sure your study space has a stretching space
Your student room may not be super spacious. Having said that, the space between your bed and your desk, for example, is the perfect place to lay down a comfortable rug or a yoga mat. No matter what space you have, make sure you have a little room to stretch it out a little.
Doing occasional yoga stretching will help reduce back-ache, and help re-energise you during those long working hours. Plus, since you’re in the comfort of your own room, you won’t need to feel silly about doing these in front of other people.
There you have it. We wish you the best of luck in all of your work endeavours. What are you waiting for? Those job applications won’t write themselves.
This post was written by Brenda Wong, social and community manager for graduate recruitment app, Debut.