As the summer winds down and a new academic year begins, you might be wondering how to shift from summer mode to study mode, possibly while also juggling work and family responsibilities. As professionals who have been managing careers, families, and helping students for years (even decades!), we have a lot of experience with this! Here are our tips on creating a productive study space at home, managing your time effectively, and easing into the school year with confidence and clarity.
Create a Peaceful Study Space at Home
- Choose a consistent location. Having a designated work and study space at home, even if it's small, is important. You need a space where you can block out external distractions (at least to a reasonable extent) and focus. Even if you don't have a designated home office, a quiet corner can work. In other words, a noisy kitchen counter should be a no-go, but you could set up a folding table and chair in an extra bedroom. If you live in an area with a temperate climate, you could even set something up outside.
Use a white-noise app or calming background music. Even if the environment is calm and quiet, sometimes our minds are not. Our minds can be noisy and busy hives of activity that can't be shut down when we need to focus. That's where white-noise apps and calming music come in. White-noise apps play the sounds of rain, the ocean, a stream of water, the jungle, or many other calming sounds. You could also try calming music - many people find acoustic guitar, piano, classical, ambient, lo-fi, or downtempo music to be calming. The Calm app provides lots of options for this, but if you want something free, YouTube is full of great selections. Just search YouTube for study music or any of the more specific genres.- Declutter regularly. A clean and organized workspace helps a clean and organized mind. It'll be much easier to focus on classwork if you're not surrounded by yesterday's grocery list, your kid's homework, and a dirty coffee mug. I am extremely neat and organized myself, and it comes naturally to me, but if it doesn't come naturally to you, break it up into manageable chunks. Make decluttering your workspace a personal project the week before class starts, and then maintain it regularly throughout the day to prevent clutter from piling up. File folders and organizational trays can help with this.
- Find a comfortable chair and good lighting. Good lighting and a comfortable chair and desk that allow for good posture are very important. If the light in your work area is not bright enough, or too bright, you'll soon find yourself with a splitting headache before you even know what's happening (believe me, I know this from experience). Office ergonomics are also very important - your chair and desk should be at a height where you can sit with your feet flat on the floor, knees at the same level as your hips, and elbows at 90-degree angles when you're typing.
Manage Time Effectively
- Block off study time on a digital calendar. In my own job, I've learned that when I have a specific project due soon, it helps to block off time on my calendar to work specifically on that project. It helps me to stay organized and ensures I have enough time set aside to work on it. You can do the same thing for your classwork - set up a digital calendar with Microsoft Outlook, Google, or any other email/calendar service, and block off time in the evenings (or mornings or weekends, whenever works best for you) specifically for classwork. It also helps you to get in the right frame of mind if you know that those hours are always going to be study time.
- Try the Pomodoro technique. I have not tried the Pomodoro technique yet, but it might be something you'd want to consider implementing for bigger projects. It's basically a time management technique where you divide big projects into smaller chunks of time and take short breaks in between each chunk. This helps it feel more manageable and less overwhelming. Let's say you have a very long and dense article you need to read - it can help to think, “I only have to read this for 25 minutes, then I can take a 5-minute break.” You repeat the 25-minute work chunks and 5-minute breaks a few times, and before you know it, the article is read.
Use a reminder app or a task management app. I am a big fan of to-do lists because they help me stay organized and reassured, knowing I won't forget anything. I love the feeling of crossing things off the list once they're finished. You might also find this helpful for keeping track of readings and assignments that are due. For example, at the beginning of each week, you could make a to-do list for the week and divide it into different sections for readings, discussion board posts, assignments, etc. Fortunately, there are numerous apps available to assist you with this task. I recently discovered how great the Reminders app is on my iPhone, and now I have numerous lists set up for various tasks. Microsoft Outlook also has a similar To-Do list feature.
Transition from Summer Mode to Study Mode
- Prepare and organize ahead of time. Don't wait until the day before class starts to get organized. The week before class starts, set up your workspace so that you have plenty of time to declutter and get any supplies you might need. Consider which times of the week work best for your designated study hours and block them off on your calendar. Discuss your schedule with other household members and ensure they understand that you require privacy to focus during those hours.
- Reflect on what went well in the past and what could be improved. If this isn't your first course, reflect on what went well during past courses and what could be improved. Did you have a hard time with time management in your last course? Did you find it hard to focus? Was a cluttered work area distracting? Reflecting on these things now, before your next class begins, will help you start off on the right foot.
If you're feeling inspired and productive and want even more tips on how to start the school year strong, check out Mind Tools from the library. They offer numerous tutorials on topics such as time management, planning, presentations, self-motivation, and other “soft skills” that will benefit you both in classwork and your career. Good luck, and we look forward to helping you in the library this year!
Julia Reed is the systems librarian and focuses on technology development and maintenance. She's into graphic design, photography, and spending time outdoors in her free time.