Living on-campus offers a great benefit - a short walk from all the libraries and endless studying spaces, and people who are always down to join you for a study session. Living off-campus looks different - you need to plan on studying ahead with friends and you need to plan the commute, and other things are taking up your time. Staying focused and productive becomes a necessity, not an amenity.
In my upper years of school I have always been employed, and spent more and more time outside of campus. In order to keep myself focused when I am not around the books, students, smell of coffee, and everything else that makes campus spaces feel like a studying hub, I take a couple steps:
- I learned what my patterns are regarding the distractions and background noise. For example, I write essays more productively with people around me talking and loud house music playing, but I cannot concentrate on reading under the same conditions. Now when I need to do the readings, I plan to do them at home when everyone is out, whereas I stay at a coffee shop I work at after my shift to finish my essays there.
- I used psychology to not only manipulate my friends into hanging out with me, but also to trick my own brain into productivity. I ‘created’ (i.e. imagined) allocated study spaces in my house. Our living room table is only for making notes, finishing work tasks, and preparing for exams. The chair in my room - for doing flashcards. I do not do any schoolwork on my bed ever. I try to only sleep or rest in my bed, so that I fall asleep faster and my brain does not think I need to be productive when in fact I need to sleep.
- I alternate between studying spaces. There are so many of them both on campus and in Kingston - endless coffee spots, city library, parks (when the weather allows and the laptop is charged), etc.
- I also rely on my Outlook calendar and phone clock. I allocate time slots in my schedule as if they were classes - 1-2 hours long, but instead these are specific time slots for my academic/professional work. Considering classes are important, I am similarly less likely to cancel that timeslot from my calendar.
Finally, it is important to know yourself best and try different tactics - there are endless techniques, both universal and particular to the program of study, that are designed for a more productive - Pomodoro, Eat the frog, etc. I recommend doing research on your own to figure out what works best personally, and applying it into your life as soon as possible!