Recent global events have forced a lot of us to adapt to studying and working at home. Before you celebrate having the ability to work in your pajamas all day, keep in mind that studying from home comes with a whole host of issues. For example, good luck finding a quiet spot to sit and study if you’ve got a full house.
We’ve put together a definitive list of how you can optimize studying from home.
Study area
Designate yourself a study area. If you can, try to keep it away from other areas in your home that you use for different activities. For example, don’t study in your bed. Your brain will start to associate lying down in bed with study time, potentially making it trickier to fall asleep at night.
Your study area doesn’t have to be a permanent fixture in your home. So long as it’s a space you can set up with relative ease with all your study materials, it will do. You can also decorate your space with a couple of personal items to really make it your own.
Condense your larger projects
Is one of your massive university projects lingering over your head and exacerbating your anxiety? Break that significant task down into a selection of smaller, more manageable tasks. While the sound of writing a 10,000-word project may seem positively stomach-turning to a lot of people, if you break that task up into writing 1,000 words a day on a subtopic in your project, the situation will seem a lot more manageable.
Take frequent breaks
When you’re at home and don’t have your classmates or teachers reminding you what time it is, it’s easy to lose track of time and yourself. If you’re working on something time-consuming, it will help both the quality of your work and your mental health to step away from your studies a few times a day.
Got a burst of motivation and worked long into the night? Get a good night’s sleep and double-check that work the next day. You’ll see errors, solutions, or issues that weren’t so obvious when scanned with your tired eyes. Take a break and refresh — don’t burn yourself out.
Keep your workspace tidy
Less visual distractions around your immediate studying vicinity can help you focus on the task at hand. If your space is a mess, take 5 minutes out of your day to organize, tidy, and keep things neat.
Many people equate keeping their workspace organized to keeping their mind organized – a tidy space is a tidy mind. Less time spent looking for a much-needed book or a set of notes in a heap of study materials means more time working.
Don’t forget there’s a world outside your home
It’s easy to lose yourself in your world when studying. Don’t become an emotional shut-in. Remember that most people are in the same situation as you. Sharing how you feel about your studies, or even just talking about your day to someone, will help contribute to a class community where everyone is looking out for each other’s well-being. Don’t be afraid to speak to your teacher if you’re struggling — you won’t be the only one.
Take advantage of all the tools at your disposal
Technology, when applied correctly, can enhance your studies tenfold. Struggling to study in a noisy household? Invest in some noise-cancelling headphones to drown out any distractions. And if your home Wi-Fi doesn’t quite reach your study area, a Wi-Fi booster will sort that issue out instantly.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) like NordVPN can also help you out. If multiple people are now continually draining your Wi-Fi data allowance at home, investing in a VPN is a no-brainer that can save you money and also guarantee speedy internet for everyone.
Once you’re connected to a NordVPN server, your traffic is completely hidden from your internet service provider (ISP). This means they can’t choose to throttle your bandwidth based on the overuse of the connection.
Let’s not forget about the security benefits of a VPN. It ensures privacy and safety when browsing the web. No one will be able to spy on your behaviour, and NordVPN’s CyberSec feature will save you from malware-ridden websites if it detects you’re about to stumble onto one.
Stay organized, stay safe, stay protected
Keep yourself organized, compartmentalize the more significant tasks into smaller ones, take advantage of all the tools available to you, and stay safe online. Keep these tenets in mind, and studying from home will be a breeze.
