About motivation and concentration
Maintaining focus and motivation while studying can be challenging. This page provides tips and strategies to help you stay concentrated and motivated.
How can you best learn and work?
The trick is to bring ‘rhythm’ into your day that will help you maintain your motivation. That includes getting up and going to bed at normal times, putting on clothes, eating at “normal” times. Exercise is also part of it, and also make sure you don’t sit in a chair all day! If possible, set up your workplace so that you can occasionally stand for a while while working.
- Make a daily schedule. What do you want to accomplish today?
- Be disciplined. This sounds logical; after all, you need discipline for almost everything you do in life. When it comes to learning and work, that applies squarely. In short: be disciplined, stick to the daily schedule you set.
- Communicate clearly with each other or teammates! Ambiguity and frustration can arise when communication is unclear. Therefore, communication is key. Clear communication can be as simple as keeping your calendar well up to date so that it is clear where you are and what you are working on. Keep appointments and deadlines.
- You can also call this “the duty of transparency”. You can wait until someone asks you to give a project update, or indicate why you prioritize certain things over others, or what your expectation and deadlines are. But you can also do all this proactively.
- Eliminate distractions. Mute your smartphone and put Windows in silent mode when you get started. You really can’t learn and work and read all your notifications at the same time.
- Take plenty of breaks. Eat, drink and exercise during these breaks.
What are characteristics of a good workspace?
- Tailored: Being able to sit comfortably is requirement number one. So a properly adjusted desk, a chair you can adjust and an ergonomic keyboard and mouse are the foundation of your workspace.
- Light: It has been proven that you become more productive if you work in daylight because it maintains your biorhythms.
- Temperature: A study by the University of Helsinki shows that we become less productive when the temperature is below 15 degrees. If the temperature rises above 25 degrees, we become drowsy. “The best temperature is about 21 degrees,” said Karin Verkuijlen, occupational hygienist at Arbo Unie (arbounie.nl).
- Connection: Make sure you have a good Internet connection and can connect your laptop to the power network in a timely manner.
Need help?
Are you finding it difficult to cope or having trouble focusing on your studies? Then contact your semester coach. He has a listening ear for your situation.
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