I have spoken about college study spaces vs social spaces at length throughout this blog and with my online tutoring program. I think finding a solid study space is probably the best thing any student can do to focus their study methodology and get ahead of the daily workload college demands. With that in mind here is a quick review of the fundamentals of college study spaces.
Location, location, location
The same thing they say about real-estate is true in college study spaces, location is EVERYTHING! I’ve had a few great study spaces throughout my undergrad and graduate degrees which have served me very well, all those places had excellent location in common. Here are the fundamental things I look for:
- Ideally you should be more than 10 minutes away from a social space. This is important because you don’t want to tempt yourself with a visit to a friends place or a beer that’s only 5 minutes away.
- Internet should be restricted or unavailable. I worked in a Teaching Assistant office which had thick cement walls which made wifi impossible. This was a blessing in disguise as it required me to walk out of my office and get files/do research out in the hallway. I would focus my time on the work I needed to do with the wifi in the hall then I would go back to my office work. No facebook or instant messenger bugging me. I currently work in coffee shops which are also great as my shop restricts me to 2 hours of wifi. I get on, do what I need to do and get off.
- Make sure there aren’t any distractions at your particular study space. I like music and the white noise of random chatting which is why I like coffee shops. If you require absolute silence, go check out a library, wherever you go just make sure your location isn’t overly distracting. Only you can really make the call as to whether a space is overly distracting, but if you can’t concentrate or are interrupted every 10 minutes, I’d choose another spot.
Have a predefined goal in mind when you go to your study space
When I go to my study space I’m there to work, so that means no distractions like facebook, phone calls or instant messages. However, this is easier said than done. Without a predefined goal in mind the demon of procrastination will inevitable raise its ugly head as you won’t have a predefined set of goals. I’m a big time proponent of goals as many of my readers already know. Without a goal in mind you have nothing to work towards. I also suggest small goals, always aim for less than you’re truly capable of. So as an example instead of telling yourself you’re going to write 20 pages for your upcoming history paper instead make a specific smaller goal of writing 3 rough pages this hour and then after that define a new goal. This way you always stay motivated and always feel like you’ve accomplished what you’ve set out to do.
Make a STRICT division between your study spaces and social spaces
I’ve already touched on this above but it’s so important that I’m going to reiterate it here. It’s crucially important that you divide your study spaces and social spaces. This is important because if you infect your study space with socialization you’ll become socialized to that behaviour. As an example, the same concept can be applied to exercise; you wouldn’t eat a chocolate bar on a treadmill would you?
Here are some stereotypical distractions that can infect your social space and specific strategies to avoid them:
- People approaching you in your study space: This happens to me constantly in my social space (it just happened about 5 minutes ago). One way to nip this in the bud is with ear buds. You can pretend not to hear strangers and with friends you can pull out one bud, quickly return a response and replace your ear bud. After a couple interruptions friends get the message that you’re there to study.
- People having loud conversations beside you: This happens a lot in coffee shops but can be found anywhere (I once watched a screaming match between a couple in a library for 15 minutes, entertaining but not productive). Easiest way to stop this from happening is to turn on some music and tune them out. Noise cancelling earphones are another good option which I know a few of my students use.
- An important call/email/instant message that is coming in soon: This is a personal demon of mine, if I have a specific person I want to hear back from I sometimes fall into the habit of constantly checking my phone/email until it finally arrives. One way I’ve cut down on this is by employing a bit of a mental mind shift through the realization that checking will not make it arrive any faster. Trust me, no matter how many times you check your messages you’ll never be able to make that email or phone call arrive faster. So just sit back, relax and focus on the task at hand.
What will creating a study space do for your college career?
Very simply, everything… Creating a space in which you focus on a specific goal without the distractions of everyday life will completely revolutionize your study methodology. I suggest you try out a study space for 2 weeks as an experiment and see what it can do for you. I force each of my vtamethod students to do this and most see amazing results.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
This may sound stupid but it has been shown that people are much less willing to bother someone who has their tongue sticking out slightly. It’s a signal for concentration. Combined with earphones, it works well. Experiment with it sometime.
The real task of educating one doesn’t end with getting him just the degrees. The most important part of the task is getting into him with the spark of excellence in doing things with utmost dynamism.
It is so important to separate your spaces and designate a study space. You will find you will be much more effective than trying to study in your “social” space!
Studying can be very easy if you have good study methodology (learning techniques and schedules). You see, the thing is that you must have time for studies and also time for social activities. Just balance the two for effective study.
This is a comprehensive article! I especially like the idea of cutting off internet access. This is impossible for me to do completely, as I use the web a lot for research, but I do use a program called Self Control (it’s free) that blocks specific trouble-makers like twitter, email, etc.
There has also been studies that students who study while sitting/lying in bed have a hard time concentrating since their bodies are triggered to fall asleep when entering the bed!
@Warren You cannot cut the internet access for studying, much of the studying involves internet but you can block access to sites that may tempt you while you are studying.
Over all it is a good idea to have designated area for studying, make a lot of difference.
thanks for post You see, the thing is that you must have time for studies and also time for social activities. Just balance the two for effective study.
“will inevitable raise its ugly head”