It’s a simple as this: getting out of the office once in a while to work from a cafe or library helps me focus on the task at hand. At my desk, I either know where everything I need for a project is, or at least know that I will be able to find it in short order. If I’m going out, I need to make sure that I have whatever I need on the laptop or in my Dropbox account, that I have whatever books or papers I need with me (or scanned into a PDF doc on the hard drive or Dropbox account), that I know what I need to accomplish, who I may need to contact, and so on. It forces me to think about the project, where I am on it, where I need to be, and to decided if I need any course correction.
There is also the idea that breaking out of routines, getting away from the mundane distractions, and experiencing a change of scenery boosts productivity. Even when I’m theoretically losing time traveling to a different workspace, I end up writing more words when I’m out because there are no cats, no books, no toys, no housework to be done. I also feel the need to justify the time out, to myself and no one else, so that I don’t feel like I’ve waste time going out, which results in a higher word count.
Of course, I can’t do this every day. I’ve had to do it, when the internet was down at the house, and it sucked. You need to be able to return to the comfort of your own space, your own habits and rituals. It’s a balance; shake things up as needed.
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