You know, it’s not uncommon for me to get a question every now and then, how do I really find peace to work at a coffeeshop and at the same time stay concentrated? It’s not a problem for me, because I’m focused on my tasks and to-do’s. In this post I will give you some good reasons on why coffeeshops and public places can be good spots for work, and also on how to find your mojo.
Your variation and freedom
Don’t you think the variation and freedom is part of the beauty of working either freelance, having your own business or maybe at least flexi-time. I really couldn’t picture this lifestyle without having changes, flexibility and enjoying some air under my wings.
This is actually a big part of having a flow of inspiration coming up. Like, I always have a lot of new motivation, ideas and inspiration every time I go to England in the summer. Traveling create energy in motion. This motion effect stimulates your inner driving force. Would you instead choose to be stuck at home? A crystal clear analogy of this would be to drink dead, still-water from a musty pond instead of sparkling fresh water from a running mountain stream.
There are many people having erotic fantasies about how nice it would be to choose your own work time. To work when you want, where you want. But when this opportunity shows up, often they barricade themselves at home in their usual environment without feeding the motion and freedom. And when the evening comes, they are still home. So to get some reset or change and juggle the work/freedom energy, they have to go out at night instead.
If you have your own dedicated office at home, it would of course be easier to swap between work-mode and chill. But, to keep having both your biggest life arenas all within the 4 wall of your house, sounds suffocating to me.
You define your self as a freelancer
We are all our own representatives of our existence. Something you actually have control over, whether you are conscious of it or not.
It’s like how you dress and show the world who you are and what you stand for. Your standards. In the same way, going out doing your work as a freelancer you will have the chance to set your standards and tell the world what you are and claim your space. (in a positive way hopefully). So either you sit there in a John Deere tractors suit with buddy boots, punching on an old Windows computer with a loud fan, or wearing something nice you enjoy and making love to your Mac. You signal out yourself to the world. (there’s a reason why Mac users “love” their products).
In fact, it’s been many times I have been getting in touch with nice and interesting people while working out. And pretty often it also turns out to give me a new project to work on. Ah, the magic of synchronicity!…
You get inspiration and feeling of having control
One of the most important ingredients in us freelancers and business owners life is inspiration in the work we do, no matter what our goals are. I do know for my part that to keep my energy flow and creativity I need small excursions and variations in my work environment regularly. You can actually find inspiration in the experience itself of having the freedom to choose when and where to work. Ideas can pop up like little sparks of light just by sitting and observing the world and people around you.
And the fact that inspiration ties together with freedom, it might be a good plan to try to visit more open and public workspace.
Another important aspect is the feeling of having control of your life. That you are out staying busy in your work towards your own goals and dreams that you yourself have defined and planned for.
Alright, cool…
But how do you find the peace to work publicly?
Focus on your goals (end goals)
You can learn a lot about productivity, effective workflow of magical awesome cool to-do lists and apps. But if your end goals is kind of blurry, you might have a hard time knowing which tasks to work on and why.
With that said, what’s left now is your ability to stay focused on your to-do list and just let the world around you play out its scenes without highjacking your attention. Usually there will no doubt be a lot going on around you while working in a public place, especially in a coffeeshop. But for my part, this only works as an inspiration. Its about motion again, not having a world around you that’s standing still.
## Block out the audible surroundings with earplugs!
At times, there will be some noisy cafés around. And the way I handle this is by using my [Sony SBH80 headset]. Very often I will listen to a mixed blend of work-music that will boost my energy. And one important note here is that this is ear plugs “plugging” your ear and blocks the sound out. Not just those simple ones, like original iPhone headsets or other mobile headsets.
I’m totally encapsulated and in my mojo zone…
Another feature of wearing earplugs, especially white ones is that people and maybe someone you might know will stay away and not keep nagging at you. In many of my usual coffeeshops I go to, regular guests will often stop and want to talk. Something I’m not always interested in doing that. When you are stuffing your ears with chords, no matter if you listen to something or not, people will stay away.
This works almost like a mosquito spray!
Choose the right atmosphere and environment for you
It’s really important to hang around in the right kind of energy. Sure, so what does this right “energy” mean you might ask?
Well thank you for asking. I will answer.
To me it’s essential that I find a place to work that will have the right feeling of both the interior, lighting, music, what kind of guest hang out there and in fact, the energy of the place. Yeah, that’s how I function. Not that I can’t stand regular people, but you know. I wouldn’t sit in a basement brown bar with smelly people crying about life and drinking up their last money. Bless them, but it’s not my source of energy. Where do you think the term Feng Shui comes from? Read about it and be enlightened.
Also, in my business. It’s also a good thing if the cafe got wireless connection, unless I use my iPhone.
There is a huge difference in what to visit as a work place in all towns and local areas. Everything from open, noisy sheep-herd cafés to more comfy, branded and exciting coffeeshops where you really can sit down and you feel, “Damn! This feels like a good place, I think I might get some stuff done here!”
You know, it’s not really so different from the feeling of how you dress. It is just as important to feel well in the ENVIRONMENT you dress your self in! Especially the atmosphere and people in your closest proximity.
Rather have this freedom than a costly office space
Through the years as long as I have been able to work when I want and where I want, a lot of people comment: You should get yourself an office to have a regular place to work!
No thank you, I should not! For me, the whole concept of work freedom is to NOT have this monthly expense. Just to stay locked up in a small office space day in and out, feeling I would have to use it, since I paid for it. I’ll rather have my varied costs of roaming around choosing my office for the day then being stuck in one spot.
Maybe an open office space environment is something that could work for you. And actually, there are more and more offers of this kind of social open work places for daily rent. This is something that can be a good thing for many people, at least in a startup.
Sharing some photos form my favorite places
I have been around. So I share some photos with you from different places I have been visiting, and still go to regularly. These places really suit my lifestyle.
May you find joy, peace and productivity in your work and towards your goals. No matter where you may sit down for work.
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Sip a coffee. Cheers!…