4 Ways to Be Productive While Studying Remotely

The year of pandemic has made the entire world stuck at home to work and study in unwanted conditions. Learning from home might sound appealing at first: no more early mornings, long commuting, and heavy bags. But along with all advantages, it can also be quite challenging in terms of productivity and concentration. It can get really hard to achieve both of these objectives from the comfort of the sofas.

You might have already come up with ideas to study more productively remotely. But since you’re reading this article, it means that procrastination and distractions are still bothering you. Let’s get straight to the tips to help you out and make the best of online learning.

Make a Realistic Schedule

As there’s no more teacher or professor to monitor your productivity in class, it is now up to you to manage your time. To avoid feeling guilty for not completing the task or simply forgetting about it, a realistic schedule is a must. Realistic stands for a schedule, which is feasible enough. Estimate your abilities objectively and don’t put a bunch of big tasks on a to-do list at once.

Instead, dividing a big task into smaller chunks would be an option. This brings the feeling of an achieved aim and motivates you to work further. If you feel pressed for time with all the due assignments and exams coming up, leave your worries to the essaywritingservice.com. This service is there to help you out with writing papers and make your remote studying less overwhelming.

Create a Learning Space

Unlike a college, where classes and libraries were particularly created for studying, your home isn’t dedicated to that. This factor can’t be overlooked and proper work space is crucial to your productivity.

A perfect space should be created considering several essential steps:

• Use a desk, chair and a laptop;
• Remove distractions;
• Put the phone in a different room or at least put it on airplane mode;
• Set background noise or music.

The first point may be quite obvious; however, many neglect working behind a desk in favor of a comfy bed or a sofa. This is a critical mistake as the latter pieces of furniture are designed for rest. Your brain knows about it, don’t try to fool it, it is cleverer than you think.

On the contrary, when you sit behind your desk and open a laptop, adjust your posture, the brain gets a signal that it’s time to work and generate ideas.

The other two points are also very often overlooked. As a result, instead of writing an assignment many end up scrolling the newsfeed on social media, or decide that it’s a perfect time to reorganize their cabinets.

To avoid such temptations, the important step on the way to better learning is getting rid of all distractions. Ideally, the desk and a chair should be placed in a separate room with the window, so nothing could catch your eye.

The last point is purely up to your preference. Depending on your learning habits, one may choose the background noise that would work for them. Some need complete silence, and it is quite understandable. But others turn the music on and claim that it motivates them and keep on track.

The research has shown that music without lyrics can enhance concentration. You may choose any type of instrumental music or the one, that was created to help you stay focused. There are tons of them on YouTube and Spotify.

One more alternative to music is ambient sounds. How does it work? Let’s say that you’re used to studying in a coffee shop, you’re into the hustle and bustle, and get the work done quickly there.

So, you may easily create such an atmosphere at your home and find an ambient sound that simulates a coffee shop noise. Or you’ve always dreamed of studying at the beach by the ocean, then turn to that sound. Your imagination is the limit, choose the one that will help you stay productive.

Mind Your Appearance

Since you’re studying from home, why bother, right? Comfortable and cozy pajamas are something that you don’t want to take off. Yet, it is also something that prevents you from getting the work done. When you go to college, the routine might look like the following:

• taking a shower;
• having breakfast;
• getting dressed;
• perhaps putting on make-up.

After doing these steps, the way back to bed seems barely possible, so you are decreasing the chances of procrastinating. Now, if your morning is simply getting up and having breakfast, you’re more likely to go back to lying in bed or a sofa immediately after. That’s why the way we look, even at home, has a big impact on our ability to study. Opt for clothes that make you feel like learning, and not sleeping.

Take Breaks

This is a less expected point in achieving better productivity. It may sound a bit puzzling, but your performance depends on your rest. Even though distractions prevent you from focusing and mostly demotivate, they can also improve concentration and work.

If one continuously stays focused and studies without breaks, they will ultimately lose productivity, and studying behind a desk will turn into just sitting behind it. An hour is an average time recommended for learning, after which taking a 5-10 minute break is ideal. During this time, it is crucial to get out of the workspace and spend time doing something different.

Better alternatives to “social media breaks” are:

• Have a coffee or any other drink;
• Do a short exercise;
• Play a musical instrument;
• Draw;
• Chat with a neighbor;
• Water the plants;
• Grab a snack.

Any of these activities stimulate other parts of the brain and help you distract from learning. Ultimately, changing the task actually increases the performance.

Final Words

Although many hope to go back to college and normal life, it is important to face the current circumstances and make use of them. Being able to adapt to remote learning indicates your resilience and broadens your opportunities. Hope you’ve found ideas in this article insightful, and good luck!