Whatever your working space is used for, be it university or for a home business, you need to ensure it is working as hard as you are in order to achieve success. Of course, procrastination is natural to a point — but did you know that procrastination costs businesses around £76 billion annually? It not only taps your workplace’s wallet, but it also taps your potential.
Optimising your learning space can help to avoid this. Whether you’re honing old skills or picking up new ones, having the best learning space is crucial to success.
In this article, we’ll show you how to make the most out of your learning space.
Keep clutter at bay
A messy desk can really hamper your productivity. It’s not a coincidence that a clear desk can represent a clear mind. By ensuring that your workspace 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.
Bring some color to your desk
Having a little bit of color around your workspace can be beneficial. 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.
Personalise your space
It’s your space, so don’t be afraid to add some personal touches to make it more welcoming and comfortable for you. Family photos and postcards of your favorite quotes are both great visuals that can help get your creative juices flowing. Even having a cool personalised street signs hanging on your wall can make your space feel more familiar to you.
The benefits of plant life
Having greenery in your workspace can be highly beneficial. 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 really wanted a personal touch, you could even grow your own desk plants from seeds and watch them progress at your desk as you do!
Natural lighting
We spend so much of our working lives in front of a computer screen. 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.
A room brightly lit with natural light can help boost productivity and creativity.
The soundtrack to your working
This next one will be unique to you, depending on your musical tastes. 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.
Classical music is a good option. 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.
There are many ways to optimise your workspace perfectly to suit your needs. 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/
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/