Success Starts in your Dorm Room
Your mom was right.
You really should have cleaned up your room.
Recent research shows that clutter can affect your cognitive abilities—even overly decorated classrooms can be problematic.
Socratica Friends, my bedroom was a mess when I was a kid. I didn't have a place to study. I either hunched up in bed or laid everything out on the floor.
Papers got crumpled up and misplaced.
I had a little bookbag I took to school, and that was the limit of my organization: pulling things in and out of my bookbag.
Did I learn my lesson when I went to college? No!
My dorm room was just as big of a mess—more, probably, because I had a roommate.
It's no surprise, really, that when I look back at that time it felt like chaos. Every morning I woke up in chaos, and every evening I tried to study in chaos.
We might laugh off messiness as a youthful indiscretion, but it turns out it really does cause increased stress hormones like cortisol.
Are you doing this to yourself?
Think about what kind of environment you are creating for yourself in your dorm room (or your bedroom at home).
Have you made a study nook?
Start there. Pick a corner of your room and put a table and chair there.
Keep it cleaned off, except for what you are using to study.
You don't need much:
Bookends to prop up your books and notebooks (1 for each class)
An organizer for your office supplies (sticky notes, pens, highlighters)
A great reading lamp
Everything else? Put it away out of sight!
Give yourself the gift of one little corner of your room that is simple, peaceful, and dedicated to study.
Watch our video with more advice on how to get organized here:
If you're looking for more tips to become a Great Student, I literally wrote the book: How To Be a Great Student, now available as an ebook or paperback.
(If you actually get inspired to create a clean, well-lit place to study, tag us with a photo @socratica on your favourite social medias. )
KHH
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