Are you interested in learning more efficiently? Here are our top 5 tips for organizing your learning space.
1. Get rid of any distractions
A TV in the background might create a cozy atmosphere, most are already familiar with turning it on and leaving it when you scroll on your phone. But while learning your attention should be focused solely on your learning process. It is best to avoid rooms with TVs or at least remove devices, such as remote control, that would allow easy access to distractions. The same goes for learning spaces that contain food, such as a kitchen. When faced with a challenge you might be tempted to explore the contents of the fridge (even if you have done that recently) and not be able to focus on learning. If the kitchen (or other rooms with food storage) are the only available or suitable places, try turning your back to places of storage, cabinets, shelves, in order to avoid temptation. If possible, do not choose rooms with these items and instead go to a learning space that would allow for you to focus.
2. Accomodate your needs
As it was already mentioned, while it would be best to avoid such distractions as a fridge, tv, or other, having a drink and a snack by your side might have great benefits. By preparing a glass of water and a learning space appropriate snack such as an apple beforehand you are making sure to have your full attention focused on your learning process rather than your basic human needs such as hunger and thirst as they would already be satisfied.Designate a place for your drinks and snacks so you could easily reach them and devote all of your planned time for learning.
3. Adapt to your learning style
Your needs may vary depending on the type of learning style you tend to employ. If you are a visual learner, you are much more likely to benefit from an organized desk space with a large screen in the middle than an auditory learner, whose needs would be met by a big comfy chair and a great pair of headphones. Perusal learners should seek to have easily accessible book storage space and appropriate lighting, while kinaesthetic learners are not as depending for their placement as much as for access to wider spaces for activities and a variety of objects that they can touch and learn through that. To find out your learning style, take a sorting test at sciencebird.org/sorting-quiz.
4. Make it enjoyable
Think about what you like to do, probably sitting in a chair crouching, staring at a screen of a computing device for several hours at a time is not the ideal scenario. Even if technologies have made their way into our life and we do in fact spend days attached to them, especially during a pandemic, does not mean you have to keep up the tendencies that exhaust you to your learning space. Instead make sure you are at a desk of appropriate height, in a comfortable chair that is meant for desk work and your laptop, phone or other device is at your eye level so you do not have to crouch. You may use boxes for too small of a table or pillows to heighten a chair that’s too low for you to keep your posture straight.
5. Separate it from your leisure
While learning, languages or any subject, does not have to and should not be a chore, that being said it is also not exactly meant for leisure. It goes back to the distractions but in the form of a comfy bed, piles of pillows and similar. You should devote at least a little bit of your devoted attention to the exact learning process that is happening instead of having an option of lying down and relaxing. It is important to not forget to rest and not to push yourself over the edge, but if you seek to achieve any meaningful results, then 20-30 minutes at an organized space meant for learning should not do you any harm. In fact, you will learn much more efficiently this way instead of extending the process to several hours with bigger unplanned breaks (planned breaks are totally fine and should be encouraged!). Therefore try to organize your learning space looking away from a comfortable spot of relaxation, like a bed, and instead try and have a window in front of you for best results.