Find Your Spot and Make it Yours

When it comes to studying and doing homework for classes, it is very important to stick to a familiar location. When I was in high school, that location was my living room table. When I to JCC, I did most of my homework in the living room of my apartment. Now, that I’m at UB, my study spot is this cozy little corner in my bedroom. It’s secluded enough that I can really focus on my work, but homey enough that I still feel comfortable. The only problem I have with working in my bedroom is that I just throw things wherever and end up becoming very unorganized, like in this picture.

Now, I’ve talked about organization in my blog posts before, but to me this is completely different. Though I can let myself get pretty messy, I do like to think of myself as an organized person. When my room looks messy, it is so incredibly hard for me to focus on the task I’m trying to accomplish. This ends up causing me so much stress and distraction that I normally end up cleaning my whole room before I get anything actually done.
In order to cut down on this stress, you should take 5–10 minutes every day to tidy up your area, especially if you study in it. If my mom knew I was writing this right now, she would probably faint. This is what she told me my whole childhood! If you keep your space consistently clean, then you don’t have to waste hours cleaning it all at once! Duh!! So, I started my 5–10 minutes on my desk area today, and this is what my study spot looks like now.

Clearing this space for me to work was like clearing a huge mind block I had. I now have a clean looking area that is big enough for my laptop and a journal, where I can comfortably sprawl out and tackle my assignments. I know it seems like such a simple step, but de-cluttering your area really can help wipe away stress. Before I even try to start my homework now, I take 5–10, sometimes 15 minutes to organize my area. I make sure everything is neat and tidy so that the only thing I have to focus on is my assignments.