How To Create A Productive Work Environment in Grad School

Environmental structuring is one of the most rewarding strategies to use to regulate motivation in grad school. Environmental structuring is when you reduce the possibility of off-task behaviour by reducing distractions and intensity of distractions in your work environment (Wolters, 2003).

For example, this could be having a dedicated workspace at home (e.g., even a small corner of your bedroom) or working in a specific computer lab on campus. This could be wearing noise cancelling headphones, installing app blockers on your phone/computer, disconnecting your internet, or anything else you use to reduce environmental distractions.

One thing to keep in mind is that the environment in which you work may change during grad school. When I was in grad school, going to coffee shops to do my readings worked very well. Then at some point, it stopped working so I designated a chair in my living room as my reading chair. When that stopped working, I moved to a space in the library on the quite floor. I was regulating my motivation by noticing when I couldn’t be productive in certain spaces and made changes as necessary.

Students who use environmental structuring may also experiment with adding drinks or food, taking breaks, listening to music, or anything else in their environment to increase their motivation to study (Wolters, 2003).

However, you may not be able to change your environment depending on your individual circumstances. This means you may need to be creative with the environments in which you can work to optimize them for your specific stage in grad school. This is where talking to other grad students can help you come up with ideas that are affordable and feasible.

If you’re curious about environmental structuring, you can start by reflecting on the environments in which you do work well and see if you can identify any patterns that make those environments more motivating and productive for you. I think this is a great strategy to mix up your physical environment, especially when you may notice that you’re not as productive as you’d like to be (or need to be).