Our learning environment can support our productivity or cause interruptions and stress. Removing the most common sources of disturbances and arranging all the necessary pieces of equipment readily available can nudge you in the right direction. A pleasant learning environment invites you to spend more time in the right things and therefore helps to progress towards the goals.

• It is important to arrange the workspace in a way that the most commonly used tools are instantly available, and the possible sources for interruptions are either hidden or removed. If you are using a home computer for work or studies, it may be useful to create a separate user account for work and a different for personal use and to have easy access only to those programs you use for work in your work account.
• While working and studying, it is useful to use silent mode in your smartphone and to hide all notifications from the apps. Find a quiet place for studies and let your colleagues know that you available for emails and meetings only in the time slots agreed beforehand.
• In a healthy working environment, the temperature, lights, and sounds are at a pleasant level, and the furniture is suitable for the work. If day after day passes sitting down in the same chair in front of the same table, it makes sense to check the ergonomics and to change the position now and then if possible.
• Make things that inspire and motivate you visible - and hide ones that cause distractions. It can be useful to set visible cues to nudge your mind towards work. These may be a project schedule or a list of tasks for the day. You can also use motivational images or texts to remind you of why you are working on these tasks and what can be achieved with the hard work.

Designing your learning environment well, and paying attention to the ergonomics has an impact on both productivity and health. With small adjustements in a daily work environment, the long term effect can be remarkable.

How could you bring your sources of motivation visible to your learning environment?

What sources or distractions your team should eliminate?