{"id":92609,"date":"2023-02-08T13:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=92609"},"modified":"2023-02-20T11:45:28","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T15:45:28","slug":"ideal-workspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? How can you arrange and decorate your workspace to optimize your thinking? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Science writer Annie Murphy Paul claims that creating the ideal workspace is important because where you decide to work has a significant impact on the quality of your thinking. In <em>The Extended Mind<\/em>, she provides tips for creating a workspace that optimizes your brain&#8217;s productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to discover how to create the ideal workspace, according to Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-why-the-ideal-workspace-matters\">Why the Ideal Workspace Matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p> In <em>The Extended Mind<\/em>, Annie Murphy Paul argues that <strong>the setting in which you work has a significant impact on the quality of your thinking and thus, the work you do. <\/strong>According to Paul, optimal cognition isn\u2019t about withdrawing deeper into our minds\u2014it\u2019s about engaging more with the world outside of our heads. Intelligence has less to do with our neurobiology and more to do with how well we use the external world to enhance our thinking. In this article, we&#8217;ll explain Paul&#8217;s tips for creating the ideal workspace, based on her advice in <em>The Extended Mind<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Focus on Privacy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>First, your ideal workspace should be <em>private<\/em>. Biologically, the human brain isn\u2019t suited for abstract, conceptual work, so you need space to deeply focus when undertaking this challenging type of task. If, while you\u2019re working, you see movement, hear nearby conversations, or notice other environmental changes around you, it can easily derail your train of thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: In <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/hyperfocus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Hyperfocus<\/em><\/a>, Chris Bailey claims that our hunter-gatherer neurobiology not only explains why we\u2019re so easily distracted in the wrong workspace but also <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/hyperfocus\/part-1-chapter-1#3-we-love-to-task-shift\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">why we\u2019re so drawn to <em>multitasking<\/em><\/a>. Constantly noticing new stimuli in our environments helped keep our ancestors alive, so the brain rewards us with dopamine every time we start a new task. Thus, many of us like to constantly switch between multiple tasks while working. However, multitasking in this way makes each task take 50% more time than if it was our sole focus.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Create a Sense of Ownership<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, Paul recommends <strong>intentionally arranging and decorating your workspace according to your preferences.<\/strong> This improves your thinking in a few ways: Designing your workspace gives you a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-endowment-effect\/\">sense of ownership<\/a> and control over it, which research shows makes you more confident, more focused, and more successful at accomplishing your goals. Additionally, decorating your workspace in ways that reflect your personality and values serves as a continuous reminder of what kind of person you are. This connection to your identity keeps you comfortable and psychologically healthy, which provides a significant boost to your productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Just because Paul advocates decorating your ideal workspace with objects that reflect your identity doesn\u2019t mean you should keep <em>everything<\/em> you enjoy on your desk. Instead, intentionally select just a few personal items so you can keep your workspace tidy and organized. Experts say that just as choosing how your desk is arranged gives you a productive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/an-internal-locus-of-control\/\">sense of control<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2019\/03\/the-case-for-finally-cleaning-your-desk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">intentionally organizing your environment does, too<\/a>. This is why organization guru Marie Kondo describes tidying up as \u201ca life-changing art\u201d\u2014she claims that the tidying mindset of <em>imposing your values with intention<\/em> on the world <a href=\"https:\/\/shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-life-changing-magic-of-tidying-up\/chapter-1#why-should-i-tidy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">can improve all areas of your life<\/a>. Additionally, research shows that cluttered, disorganized environments actively drain your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/mental-energy\/\">mental energy<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Try to Incorporate Nature<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Third, Paul states that <strong>your ideal workspace should be as close to nature as possible.<\/strong> The brain interprets lush natural landscapes as safe and prosperous, so spending time in this kind of environment soothes and rejuvenates us. Aside from boosting your mood, spending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-benefits-of-time-in-nature\/\">time in nature<\/a> will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-avoid-distractions\/\">improve your focus<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-control-impulses\/\">impulse control<\/a>. Work within sight of lush greenery, if possible, whether that\u2019s next to a window or near indoor plants. Furthermore, occasionally taking time to walk through a natural environment will give you nature\u2019s psychological benefits for some time after you leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: In an ideal workspace, even artificial plants have a positive effect on employee health\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bobvila.com\/articles\/health-benefits-of-fake-plants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">visually, they\u2019re the same as real plants to the human brain<\/a>, so they provide many of the benefits Paul describes. They also require much less maintenance than real plants. Outside of work, researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/06\/13\/health\/nature-outdoors-health.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claim that spending two hours a week in nature is enough to experience its health-boosting benefits<\/a>. It doesn\u2019t matter how that time is split up throughout the week, and spending more time than this in nature doesn\u2019t seem to provide significant additional health benefits.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? How can you arrange and decorate your workspace to optimize your thinking? Science writer Annie Murphy Paul claims that creating the ideal workspace is important because where you decide to work has a significant impact on the quality of your thinking. In The Extended Mind, she provides tips for creating a workspace that optimizes your brain&#8217;s productivity. Keep reading to discover how to create the ideal workspace, according to Paul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":92621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,42,30],"tags":[907],"class_list":["post-92609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-motivation","category-work","tag-the-extended-mind","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? Science writer Annie Murphy Paul explains what makes a place the best for truly effective work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? Science writer Annie Murphy Paul explains what makes a place the best for truly effective work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-08T17:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-20T15:45:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1844\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1232\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emily Kitazawa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\"},\"headline\":\"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-08T17:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-20T15:45:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/\"},\"wordCount\":756,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Extended Mind\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Motivation\",\"Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/\",\"name\":\"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-08T17:56:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-20T15:45:28+00:00\",\"description\":\"What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? Science writer Annie Murphy Paul explains what makes a place the best for truly effective work.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg\",\"width\":1844,\"height\":1232},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb\",\"name\":\"Emily Kitazawa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emily Kitazawa\"},\"description\":\"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity - Shortform Books","description":"What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? Science writer Annie Murphy Paul explains what makes a place the best for truly effective work.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity","og_description":"What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? Science writer Annie Murphy Paul explains what makes a place the best for truly effective work.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-02-08T17:56:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-20T15:45:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1844,"height":1232,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emily Kitazawa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emily Kitazawa","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/"},"author":{"name":"Emily Kitazawa","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb"},"headline":"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity","datePublished":"2023-02-08T17:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-20T15:45:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/"},"wordCount":756,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg","keywords":["The Extended Mind"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle","Motivation","Work"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/","name":"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-08T17:56:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-20T15:45:28+00:00","description":"What are the qualities of an ideal workspace? Science writer Annie Murphy Paul explains what makes a place the best for truly effective work.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg","width":1844,"height":1232},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ideal-workspace\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Create the Ideal Workspace for Optimal Productivity"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e094024454c7d3334a149c0cf039bdeb","name":"Emily Kitazawa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f5c60fcdcf3b7cd02c2882334c15a3d02f74a69631c696c3bce47deb21dc9ac?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emily Kitazawa"},"description":"Emily found her love of reading and writing at a young age, learning to enjoy these activities thanks to being taught them by her mom\u2014Goodnight Moon will forever be a favorite. As a young adult, Emily graduated with her English degree, specializing in Creative Writing and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), from the University of Central Florida. She later earned her master\u2019s degree in Higher Education from Pennsylvania State University. Emily loves reading fiction, especially modern Japanese, historical, crime, and philosophical fiction. Her personal writing is inspired by observations of people and nature.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/emily-kitazawa\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/home-office-desk-laptop.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92609"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92735,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92609\/revisions\/92735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}