Toast Note - 27 July 2017

Look, I get it. My home office is not fit for purpose. No heat and drafty windows (yes… this is a New Zealand house built in a previous century so that would be a given). My desk chair is one of those kneeling things which makes my back feel good and my knees ache like a Catholic nun who got caught stealing condoms. My keyboard is old and loud and the monitor is probably the only warm thing in the house and is likely giving me a sun burn. So technically, this isn’t actually a safe space. It probably doesn’t meet work health requirements.

OTOH, I am so happy here. I want tea? I’ve got tea. I want to go potty? This my potty and I can sit on the seat comfortably without worrying about someone walking in and hearing things I’d rather they didn’t. I want to get stuff done? Well let me tell you exactly how much I get done here. In fact, I’ve got no empathy for folks who say that they can’t work at home because it’s too distracting. Maybe because I’m such a people person, the lack of people at my house is a decided productivity booster. With no one to talk to, I just kick through item after item on my action list.

Maybe what’s really making this space so damn work friendly, however, is just that it’s not the same space I was yesterday. I feel like there is a temporary boost to be had simply from a change. I know we normally associate change with a drop in outputs, but I’d like to challenge that thinking. I remember back in college I would periodically change study locations. Maybe I’d go to a different café or over to the Law Library. Change the park area between classes or the study room in the dorm. Just the act of picking up all my stuff and shifting from a library to a café would jump start my thinking, particularly the bits of me required to tackle a new or particularly snarly idea.

So yesterday surrounded in all the comforts of work, I was challenged to complete a Single Thing. Today, I’m fizzling and popping with creative energy. Trust me, it isn’t this stupid kneeling chair.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” ~ George Bernard Shaw