The "Is there something I can do to get myself into the right mental state?" section resonated with me, particularly where the author argues that specific environments can get you in the right mental state for different kinds of work.
The author references a study from the Journal of Consumer Research[2] that explores the relationship between ceiling height and thought processing. The gist of the study is higher ceilings help stimulate creative thinking processes while lower ceilings help stimulate thinking in terms of item-specific data.
I'm studying/cramming for finals now, so I'll test this hypothesis by studying for a memorization-heavy exam in a low-ceiling classroom while encouraging my classmates to study in a high-ceiling study hall :)
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4661747 [2] http://www.csom.umn.edu/assets/71190.pdf