I Like My Public Workspaces Like I Like My Coffee...

...energizing, tasteful and a magnet for all walks of life

Anyone who follows my Instagram account knows that I like to work from coffee shops. In fact, if you were to take that account as an accurate representation of where I spend my time, you could be forgiven for assuming that I'm a transient with a Macbook, a camera and at least enough money to subsist on cold brew and chai lattés.

I'm happy to report that there is more to my life than that, but the fact remains: I spend a great deal of my free time in coffee shops. It's not because the WiFi at home is lacking, and it's not necessarily because of the lure of the brew (although that is often a compelling motivator). It's because I'm able to be my most creative and most productive self in coffee shops. 

As someone who stumbled upon this realization rather late in life (fun fact: I didn't really touch coffee, much less have a reason to spend any significant time in coffee shops, until grad school in my 30s), I've thought a lot about why this is the case. You could point to the science behind the effect of ambient noise on creativity, or how concentration can be contagious, and that's all completely valid in my experience, but I've chosen to explore the aspects of the space that inspire me to create.

The space itself, the space you create within the space, and the people with whom you share the space all have a way of impacting your head space. My Instagram account is an attempt to capture the sensation I get from working in these spaces, and this post is an attempt to explain what you're looking at when you look at a picture of a laptop at a cafe.

Their Space

Every coffee shop proprietor has gone to great lengths to provide a holistic cafe experience, from sourcing the right beans to designing the perfect logo. In that holistic sense, space isn't merely real estate; it's the floor plan, decor, scent, choice of glassware, outlet locations, soundtrack, barista wardrobe... basically an array of sensory elements. All of these elements contribute to your experience, and your experience informs your connection with the space, as well as the brand.

You can tell a lot about the sensory experience of a space just by looking at it. When I visit Cenote, the lush outdoor patio invites a sense of peace with its quaintly rustic chairs and well-tended greenery. Spokesman, on the other hand, carries a grittier creative charge, surrounding you with graffiti art and industrial fixtures. Then there's Houndstooth Coffee, where I sit as I write this article, with its bar and open seating, the vaulted ceilings and the glass windows exposing both the sunlight from the streets outside and the professional foot traffic of the high-rise lobby next door. 

These establishments each have their own unique vibe, but the undercurrent of "coffee-shop community" flows through them all. It's this undercurrent that galvanizes. The small touches that simultaneously encourage quiet productivity and interpersonal socialization are responsible for the inviting sense of belonging that encourages me to be my most creative and most productive self. In other words, the space my body is in determines the space to which my head goes. 

My Space

We all want to make our space our own, even if it's only temporary. Whether that means rearranging the glasses and stemware at a dining table to suit your particular habits, or decorating your office area to show off your personality, this ownership of space allows you to create the headspace you crave in that situation. 

Coffee shop productivity is a perfect example of this. What I love most about people-watching at coffee shops is seeing the wide variety of 'things' that people do while they're in a coffee shop. Very rarely are people content to sit down with a beverage and just 'be'. How each person distracts themselves, and how they set the scene to distract themselves, is fascinating.

Most commonly, patrons will whip out a smartphone and engage with the world on the other side of that touchscreen. When available, tabletop games serve to connect groups in one common, competitive pursuit. Sometimes, people even read physical books, newspapers, or magazines. However they choose to occupy themselves, they're really creating a personal space within the coffee shop.

I've learned to adjust my setup based on the type of experience I'm looking for. When I really need to tap into unfiltered thoughts, for example, I opt for a simple journal and pen. This not only minimizes distractions, but it cultivates the freedom of thought I need to effectively ideate. Conversely, when the laptop comes out, the watch comes off, and the headphones plug in: it's business time. There are myriad variations in between, but the point is that the space I create for myself doesn't simply accomplish the purpose of the things that occupy that space; it allows me to cultivate whatever mode of thought I need to be my most creative and most productive self that day.

Our Space

Of course, we're talking about public spaces here. Shared spaces. While we all show up and settle in to our own divergent spaces, we are collectively contributing to one unified space. The designer of a coffee shop has the ability to influence environment, but it's the denizens that really bring that environment to life. Think about the first things you notice when you step through the entry... if the general vibe of people in that space isn't at the top of the list, it's likely not far from the top.

The cool thing about this concept of collective space is that you get to be an active participant. Just as much as you can't help but notice what other people are doing, surely, at some point, people are noticing you. It's not good or bad; it's just something that happens in public spaces. But the idea that someone could be making a value judgment of the space based on how other people, myself included, are adapting actually means that just by being there and doing my own thing, I'm able to contribute to something bigger than myself. And not wanting to spread grumpiness or anxiety is enough to push me to be my most creative and most productive self.

You may look at my Instagram account and say to yourself: "there's a man who chose a motif with a limited lifespan". I don't see it that way. There are only so many coffee shops in the world, but there is no limit to the variety of spaces you find within those coffee shops. There isn't even a limit to the amount of spaces you can experience in any one coffee shop, and that's what I love about it. Because people are an integral part of the space, and people are never exactly the same from one moment to the next, I am confident that I will never be at a loss for a unique vantage to capture within a coffee shop, or any workspace for that matter. 

So what do you love about coffee shops? If coffee shops aren't your thing, do you have a proverbial coffee shop of some kind that resonates with this post? And how does space (physical, personal, or shared) influence your productivity?