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Creating the right workspace

Schools
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A desk is more than just a piece of furniture: it is a functional workspace that can either facilitate industry and study, or inhibit it. When seated at your desk you should be able to enter a focused mindset, forgetting all other concerns extraneous to your work, giving the task at hand your undivided attention.

Most people find beginning their work to be the hardest part - once they get going the inertia of their activity helps keep them going, but getting started can be a particular problem. There are always a hundred distractions, a thousand reasons not to begin, but if you can try to set a rule that once you are seated at your desk, work is the only thing you will be undertaking, then you may find the first step is less difficult to take. After all, what could be easier than sitting down?

Many adults find working from home to be particularly hard, as they don`t naturally associate the homeplace with work. Certainly there will be many onerous chores that have to be completed (washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking) but sitting-down-at-a-desk kind of work may be something they associate with another location.

Students of course won`t have the luxury of making this distinction: they will have to study at home, though they may well find it hard to get their best work done there. The ideal solution would be a room at home dedicated to study, a place without a television or radio, that has no connotations to anything other than work. Of course most homes will not be commodious enough to accommodate a study or library, and as such most students will have to make do with a working in a room that is not specifically dedicated to academic work. For this reason attempts should be made to ensure the room is as congenial as possible to the student. It is likely that they will, over the course of their schooling, spend many many hours (perhaps hundreds) in there working.

Ideally they will have a desk of their own. This needn`t be a huge and expansive object, but it should be large enough that they can have books and stationary placed there (perhaps permanently), and have room for a laptop computer. Of course each student will have different working practices, but it may well be useful for them to have some kind of planner always on their desk. This will enable them to keep organised, and know which specific modules or tests they have upcoming. With such a busy schedule if can be incredibly handy to see the weeks and months broken down, and know which items of work they should be focusing on.

Another item that will probably be very useful is a bin which they can keep under their desk. This needn`t be an oversized receptacle, as it will probably only be used for discarded paper. The bin will actually provide a form of mental clarity, as it will prevent their desk becoming clogged up with sheets of paper, and keep out of sight failed attempts of work. It will also prevent them from interrupting their labours by making an excuse to leave the desk and use a bin in another room!
 
If possible the desk should only be used for work, and not be an area where they eat their evening meals, or sit watching videos. Of course this may not be possible in all situations, but it would be best if a clear distinction could be made. In this way subliminally the student will find it easier to work once they sit down at their desk, knowing that it is only used for that purpose.

It is very important that the student`s desk is not overrun with objects they do not need. Anything superfluous to their work will only serve as a distraction, while also potentially taking up space. They should attempt to adopt good working practices, cleaning up their desk at the end of every evening, clearing away any papers they have finished working on. Of course if a parent is confident their child is being productive, they should not be overly critical if their workspace is not perfectly tidy. Everyone has their own working methods, and some of the most industrious people have been notoriously messy. The great physicist Albert Einstein famously said:

`If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what then is an empty desk a sign?`

3 years ago
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