Concentraitin’ at The Coffeehouse
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 | General, School
I never was the person to sit and gaze over a laptop or textbook for hours at the coffeehouse, but I’m starting to become one.
With the consistency of distractions that are at my every turn at home, I’ve decided I need to be somewhere, where I can truly concentrate with minimal distractions.
Last week it worked wonders at World Cup Coffeehouse in NW Portland. I was able to finish up the Business plan due last week.
To explain, this MBA class consists not only of a ton of reading and papers due every Monday of the class, but the creation of an entire business plan from scratch. I work with a team of three on our particular plan and we each choose an area to write about. Last week was the marketing strategy, this week it’s a whole lot more.
We’ve got summarization of our organizational strategy, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and more on marketing strategy. It almost feels redundant at this point, but it’s got to get done and today with 2 hours here at Concordia Coffeehouse, I got 50% done with my portion.
I love it here because they have free wi-fi, good coffee, good atmosphere with jazz playing delicately in the background to fill the space comfortably. Conversations ensue and I can still manage to focus on what I need to get done, with just a few checks on my e-mail and my Google Reader, so I am ready at the touch of a button to find out the latest news or announcement from all the blogs I’m subscribed to… which is a lot.
So, it looks like more coffeehouse visits are in the cards, who would have thought, I certainly didn’t and now I do!
2 Comments to Concentraitin’ at The Coffeehouse
I’ve found EXACTLY the same thing, with other spaces. There’s something about being removed from the home environment -and/or the buzzing office hive- that’s freeing.
Po Bronson is a (non-fiction) writer that I like, and he (and some friends) decided one day to rent a house together to use as office space. Everybody got a single room. He found that having a dedicated workspace, away from home, was very useful. You enter the space, you know it’s time to work and focus.
Sitting at home, something else always comes up. Cats, laundry, tv, chores, whatever. At the private office, nothing comes up. Just the work.
Some people thrive in multi-focused environments (do the laundry/dishes/pull weeds/write a paper all at once), but I’m not one of those people (neither is Bronson). I always get distracted. ADD!
Hopefully my little writing shed will insulate me enough 
Nice, snooks!
Thanks for sharing. I wish I’d realized this earlier on in unemployment and when I had to get moving on MBA stuff.
Po Bronson is obviously a genius and we can all learn from that.
Good luck with the Shed, I know it continues to challenge you, but it will be perfect and with that new shnazzy typewriter, you’ll be unstoppable!
Thanks Man.
February 6, 2008