Effects Of The Environment On Your Work Habits

One thing that I am beginning to find out about my habits is that I cannot work at home. For example, the reason that I did not blog much in the last few days is not that I was busy. Quite the opposite, I had a lot of free time and I even managed to go through several seasons of Seinfeld. But for some reason, I did not feel like doing any work. But the second that I left my house, I managed to write several long posts that you will see published on this blog in the next few days. Even this post is being written from the confines of a couch at the Metrotown Public Library.

I am not sure what causes this phenomenon, but I am guessing that it might be a psychological effect. When I am in my home environment, I spend a lot of time relaxing. And so I subconsciously get into the relaxing mood the moment I enter the house. Any student should be familiar with this effect, because it is apparent during test taking too. For example, one performs much better on a test if they are in a room or context (ei: everything is quiet, no distractions, time pressure…) that they associate with the test environment. That is why it is a good idea to study under the same conditions that you will be taking your test in or do a bit of reviewing the material in the actual test room.

Now what do I plan to do about my home-slacking-off habit? Well, absolutely nothing! I have no reason to try to force myself to study at home, because I do all my assignments on campus. This way I do not procrastinate, because there is nothing to do. So why waste the effort and try to get some work done at home? After all, it is rare that I will be doing any work in that environment in the future.