One of my goals for the new semester is to create times and environments where I am in the right physical and mental space to be productive and studios. I am a person who tends to get distracted easily or to procrastinate what I need to be doing, but I find that I'm a lot better about getting down to work, and staying focused when I am in the right space. So I thought I would share with all of you some of the organizing and focus tools that have been most helpful to me, particularly when we are all spending even more time than usual doing work online instead of in person.
I know this might not be the case for everyone, but I have decided I must be seated at a desk or table to do most of my work. If I find myself trying to reply to email while curled up on the couch, it's just too easy to click over to youtube or twitter and relax a little (or doomscroll the news and pretend to relax). Sitting at a desk doesn't take away all urges to procrastinate, but it feels more professional, and I know when I'm sitting down at my desk it's for a purpose. So, find the environment that is most conducive to your focus.
Once you know where works best for you, make sure it's set up to minimize distractions and help your workflow. For me, this means keeping a very clean desk with only the essentials and a few small pieces of decor. For you that might mean photos of family and lots of sticky notes and books sitting at your finger tips, just find what works for you!
If you can, invest in whatever material or tech that will help you. I recently got a new monitor that is very large and good resolution because I wear contacts and I tend to strain my eyes on a smaller screen. To go with the monitor, I got a free standing keyboard and track pad. These were definitely investments, but with spending so much time online, it felt very worth it.
Organize your digital environment too
On google calendar I make sure to have all of my classes and recurring meetings, and I also add weekly reminders to myself like "do laundry" every sunday, and "turn in reading reflection" at the beginning of one of my classes that requires a daily assignment.
For my google drive, I make a folder for each of my classes, one for work related stuff, and folders for archived work and miscellaneous stuff. The only documents not put away in folders are those that I am currently working on like an upcoming essay or a powerpoint. This makes it so that the only thing I see when I log in is what I need to be working on.
I also make sure to update my bookmarked websites at the beginning of each semester with the class websites I will need to visit regularly. This makes it very simple to find all the information I need quickly. I recommend using the google chrome extension Tab for A Cause because it runs small adds and donates money to charity, and is a great way to visualize bookmarks.
Google keep has been great for creating and organizing to do lists in various categories. I try to keep this updates to that I don't forgot anything or get overwhelmed by my workload. It's also great because you can share lists with people, and open google keep as a side bar in google drive, email, and calendar, so your to do list is in the applications you use on chrome.
