Motivate Yourself to Study by Revamping Your Workspace - Finals Week Prep
Wednesday, December 9, 2009 by Chris Lesinski 
Sitting in front of the TV between two piles of empty beer cans with a binder on your lap is no way to study. If your desk is submerged in eight-and-a-half-by-eleven or your favorite nook in the student union is swamped these days, that's definitely not improving your chances of getting down to work.
Spend a few minutes piecing together an exciting new place to study. It'll get you amped about writing that paper or hitting the books. Try these:
Clean your desk. It might be that layer of papers across your desk that you're procrastinating about -- not the studying. No sweat. Take everything and put it in one big pile to go through later, GTD-inbox-style.
Redesign your workspace. On HackCollege, we've shown you a few awesome dorm desk spaces. Lifehacker features them too. Build your own study-fort and I bet you'll be ready for business. (And don't forget to send it to us.)
Find a new coffee shop. You'll wake up without snoozing if you know you've got a 5-stars-on-Yelp coffee shop to check out this morning. Spots like that fill up quick -- so you better get there early.
Check out the public library. During finals week, you won't find a spot to hunker down in the library -- it's packed. Luckily, the public library can be your back-up. Try your "downtown" library if you're in a big-ish city. Those are legit.
Bars. Students tend to compartmentalize their social lives and and their school-work lives. It's totally understandable, but too many people think that means you can't go to a bar with a textbook or a laptop. Give it a try. Writing a paper with a pint of draft beer at your side is very motivating.
[Image via bandita]
Reader Comments (2)
i agree with the beer portion! some of my best papers for finals have been written when i was slam drunk!!
Having written articles that require this much work, I commend you for your service to the future bloggers. I’m sure they will appreciate it! Great job.