I’m earning a degree during active duty, any tips for creating a study space in my military housing in Jacksonville?

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Taking classes while active duty can feel like a lot but taking advantage of your military education benefits is incredibly effective at preparing you for a career post-military. To keep you focused on classwork while in your military housing in Jacksonville, we've compiled a few tips and tricks to creating a study space sure to help you ace those classes.

1. Think about your needs

Everyone has different study habits, so before you start staging the perfect study zone think about how you prefer to work or study.  Do you need a space completely devoid of distractions or do you focus better surrounded by paraphernalia and pads of paper for jotting down thoughts? If you aren't completely sure, experiment! Designate a sunny corner in your studio apartment or a whole room in your military housing if you can and strip the space of tempting distractions. Don't feel limited by a furnished apartment either, you can always rearrange furniture or add a new chair to switch things up.

2. Lighten up

As far as lighting your study space goes, natural lighting is best as florescent bulbs can strain your eyes. If possible, put your back to a large window to have sunlight cast over your desk or choose a spot where light reflects off of mirrors to add some vitality. If natural lighting is impossible, position a lamp behind you to light your textbooks over your shoulder. For more information on lighting your desk check out this article.

3. Get (sort of) comfy

Constantly re-adjusting in your chair and moving your lamp can derail a marathon study session. But on the flip side, getting too comfortable can keep you from focusing on the task at hand. A key component to your study time is your chair, so consider purchasing a nice ergonomic chair that allows you to adjust many components for optimal support. Other options include standing desks or exercise balls.

4. De-clutter

Cluttered workspaces only mean one thing: wasted time. Instead of working you'll find yourself shuffling through piles of papers looking for that one sticky note with a reminder. To keep your study time focused and efficient clear away anything unnecessary for the task at hand and set up a system for organizing your papers. In addition to physical clutter, declutter your digital study time by closing any unnecessary tabs and putting your phone away from you for a few hours. By making your study time more efficient you set up yourself up to have more free time in your military housing in Jacksonville.

5. Stock up

Don't cut your study time short by getting up and down to grab a stapler, fresh pen and glass of water every 15 minutes. Instead stock your study space up with anything you need beforehand to keep your time spent there focused.

6. Experiment

This space is a work-in-progress so try out a few different things. Then, once you find a system that works, stick to it. If you need to go Zen-mode in a quiet apartment to get through your textbooks, go for it. If clutter gets your creative wheels turning, all the power to you. The goal is to make your military housing in Jacksonville work for you, so go ahead and experiment!

These are the opinions of writers and not the opinions of RentJax.com or any of our advertising partners.