Professionally Lonely-ish
Since I can remember, I have been a big fan of workplace flexibility. The whole idea of 9-5, 40h per week, locked in behind my desk has always been somewhat suboptimal in my mind. Let’s not even talk about workplace uniforms. There has been a time I needed to show up in shirt & tie - goodness did I not like that. (even though looking probably really sharp)
Thankfully the workplace in general has transformed quite a bit over the last few years, especially the location aspect of it all was majorly shaken up by Covid.
For those of you who know me well - you know how much of a WFH fanatic I am. I just love the flexibility, autonomy and incentives to work effective and efficient.
Fast forward to April 2023 - I am now self employed and have total control over my time, pace and location - AMAZING!
So I setup the ultimate home office in my basement. It’s a dedicated room with it’s own door to the outside, with some natural light, a roomy standing desk and elaborate monitor setup, a carpet, a bookshelf, my guitar, an Xbox- yes, even the neighbours cat would show up from time to time and sit on my lap.
Actually quite perfect, isn’t it!?
Now in my 3rd month of self employment and working mostly in this space, I am starting to notice something missing. It started to show up initially as feeling a bit less motivated and focused, then as a wandering mind and ultimately with this urge to spend more time outside. It feels a bit lonely.
Luckily it was spring and the weather has been beautiful. So I started working on the porch. I even wrote an Ode to Remote
Then, a few weeks ago, I had a catchup call with a friend. Chris, who recently started his own company in the innovation space and when we chatted he was sitting in his fancy new CoWorking office in Amsterdam. My mind immediately went into judge-mode “Pfff, waste of money, that’ll just shorten his runway, he could just WFH"..
Somehow the idea stuck with me. Could I benefit from that? Why would I even pay for this? What could be some positive outcomes? Hmmmm…
After some more thinking, I started to research and reminded myself to stay open minded to all possibilities. After the research, I spoke to a few more people about their experience with CoWorking, narrowed down my options and ultimately decided to give WeWork a try for the month of June.
Now I have been working out of WeWork environments before. It never felt good for me, I had always been kinda distracted, had trouble truly focusing and actually getting things done.
Oh well, let’s give this another shot!
Now I am 2 weeks into the experiment and here are a few things I am starting to notice:
Separation: There is a much more defined start and end to my day. I am actually looking forward to the 45min commute on most days. I do this on my Vespa, sometimes listening to a podcast. Being entertained and getting 2-wheel time. Win/Win.
Flexibility: The WeWork All Access Membership allows me to work in any of their global locations. My default place is the one closest to home in Berlin’s Ku’damm area. Today I had a lunch catchup with a friend in a different part of town. No problem, there is a WeWork nearby, I’ll just work from there for the day. Have a coaching call? No problem, there are phone booths for that. There is also always the option to just work for home on some days.
Productivity: There is something about working in a space where other people are working. It’s best described as a wave or aura of productivity that carries me along. I feel more focused, more eager to work on things and ultimately more productive. It’s different than in previous roles though. There seems to be a really strong correlation to how much I want to work on the things I am working on. Now that almost all things I work on are chosen by me in service of building my business, I find MUCH MORE joy and energy in them. This stands in contrast to previous roles where I saw many tasks as a chore and CoWorking did not help with that.
Connection: Since I am in central Berlin most days of the week now, it’s much easier to have coffee or lunch meetings with people. This makes me more connected, more social and overall happier. Also, the people I meet are people I want to meet, which contributes to overall more positive energy and often leads to even more connections. What I am still hoping for is to build more connections with fellow Co-CoWorkers. They seems mostly just intensely focused on their screens.
Simplicity: I realize that I don’t need much to work effectively. I have a Macbook as my main workhorse, an iPad as a secondary screen (via Sidecar), Airpods for calls and Sony Over-the ear headphones to really get in the zone. WeWork provides a clean desk, comfortable seat, air-conditioned office with loads of daylight, coffee and water (and beer after 5) on tap, stable and fast Wifi. That’s it. The membership is flexible and can be cancelled from month to month. The cost is a business expense and can be offset in my tax return. Simple.
Now while this sounds like a marketing post for WeWork (anybody know anybody there who wants to pay me for this?), this is likely very similar in any other CoWorking setup or 3rd Place (
wrote an excellent post about those)In reflection, this is also a great lesson for myself to always to always reconsider my assumptions and decisions. What might not work well one day, might work like wonders on another day with a tiny tweak in parameters.
Cheers to flexibility, options and self determination! Cheers to Chris for inspiring me!
<3 Ben
