Working from a Neutral Location
Do you ever decide to pick up your laptop and head to a “neutral†location to do your work? This is something that many freelance writers strongly believe in. Personally, I have never done this but realize that there are some benefits of doing so.
Those who I have asked about this tell me that working from a neutral location helps them to “break the boredom†of their home office. I can totally see where they are coming from because it is very easy to get bored when you work at home, day in and day out, with nobody around.
My question would be this: how hard do you find it to concentrate when working from a location other than your home base? This could be anything from a coffee shop to a local internet café. I like to have all my essentials close by. Obviously, when working from a neutral location you don’t have the ability to take your entire desk. I guess you could take everything you need, stapler and all, but this would not make much sense from a convenience point of view.
Even though I often times get the urge to try this out, it is one of those things that I never get around to. I would love to hear input on the pros and cons of doing this, as well as how you finally decided to take the leap. Feel free to leave a comment for everybody to read, or send me a quick email if you want to talk one-on-one.Â
March 27th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I make working from a neutral location a regular part of my routine. I take my laptop to the park for 1-2 hours about 3 times a week. This accomplishes a number of things for me. It gets me out of the house, gets me a good healthy dose of fresh air, breaks up the work day, and sometimes even inspires a new idea for a blog post, article or marketing idea. Sometimes I’ll use it as a reward where I can only go if I get a certain amount of other work done or a task that I’ve been procrastinating for awhile.
You are correct in that you can’t take your whole desk with you, so when I head out I know that I’ll only be working on actual writing and not any administration or “on paper” projects or tasks. It also eliminates the distractions from home including the internet because where I go there is no wifi. Some find that annoying, but I find it helpful because I can’t even distract myself by convincing myself that I need to catch up on blog or forum reading… all I can do is write and sometimes that’s what needs to be done.
I highly recommend it.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I love working in neutral locations! I find some days the distractions are a bit much, and other days I welcome them. It all depends on my mood and exactly what I’m working on. Editing I can do with a lot of background noise, but writing is often more challenging.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Funny you should ask…we just bought a laptop for this purpose. Well, sort of. My husband & I find that we get way too distracted with email, mindless web surfing, and other non-productive stuff when we’re in the comfort zone of our office. So, the laptop just has the essential work-related stuff on it. When we really want to get down to business, we’ll use the laptop in a different room. Haven’t tried going out anywhere with it, yet.
March 27th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
It looks like a lot of people are packing up and working somewhere other than their office. This is definitely something to consider. I have not received one negative comment or email about working in this capacity!
March 29th, 2009 at 1:55 am
I usually pack up and go to the coffee shop about once a week to get some work done. I really only need to pack up the bare essentials (my laptop, a notepad, a pen), because it’s not a permanent relocation.
By choosing not to include my laptop’s power supply, I intentionally limit the length of my visit. This way, it seems easier to stay on task and not get distracted, despite there being more distractions at Starbucks than at home. The change of scenery helps tremendously, because it breaks the routine.
I wouldn’t recommend doing it every day, but once or twice a week for a couple hours at a time seems to work for me.
March 29th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Michael – I like that trick! Leave the power cord at home so you can only stay for a few hours at the most. Nice tip!
April 18th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Thank goodness for neutral locations because there are times when the home office make me feel stifled. That’s when I grab the mobile office and head for the car.
I’ve been tracking what other writers put in their bug out bag and it’s interesting that many of them feel they spend too long if they take all of the essentials. I like Michael’s idea of dumping the power cord. I’ll post this with appropriate credit to Michael because none of us thought of this discipline in the past.
Thanks, Michael.