{"id":527,"date":"2018-05-29T12:02:18","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T12:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog3.canny.io\/wordpress\/?p=527"},"modified":"2023-12-15T18:30:40","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T23:30:40","slug":"productive-without-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canny.io\/blog\/productive-without-office\/","title":{"rendered":"How to be productive without an office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you’re starting a startup, or working remotely for one, you probably don’t have an office. That’s a good thing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offices are expensive \u2013 you may as well be paying rent twice. In the early-stage, you just don’t need one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past year we’ve grown our startup to be ramen profitable and hired our first remote teammates. Still growing. Still no office. Still no plans on changing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re also traveling the world. We’ve visited and worked full-time from 20 cities in 14 countries and 3 continents. We work from work-friendly cafes or whichever Airbnb we’re staying at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before that we lived in San Francisco, also working from cafes. Whether you’re living in a big city, traveling, or something in between, you don\u2019t need an office to be productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell your brain it’s work time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hey Brain, it’s work time, so let’s get some work done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’ll work just about as well as “Hey Brain, it’s exercise time, so let’s go to the gym!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes it works, but sometimes your brain says “I’m tired” and decides staying on the couch is a better idea. More often than not, your brain is actually the one telling you what to feel and do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are some tricks you can use to get yourself into work mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Namely, your brain associates places with activities. That’s why working from bed is a terrible idea. It’ll tell your brain that your bed is for working and sleeping. This leads to sleepy work sessions and stressful sleep sessions. Nobody wants that.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bed is for sleep and watching The Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Find a specific room or desk at home and only use it for working. Then your brain will associate being there with being productive. If you get distracted, leave your productive space. This way you don’t let your brain associate it with unproductiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough about brains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Go to work”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Working from home is definitely a luxury. You don’t have to commute. You can spend more time with your family. You get to work from the comfort of your own home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But be careful you don’t get too comfortable. Don’t just roll out of bed and hop on your laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I mean by this is, mentally, you still have to “go to work”. Take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. Whatever your morning routine is for going into the office, do that for working at home too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Otherwise, your sleepy morning and productive work session meld together. This makes for an unproductive, stressful mess. Find that separation. Do your morning routine. Mentally go to work. In this case, that means your productive space at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Get out of the house<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you don’t have a space you can dedicate to productivity, or home doesn’t work for you, it’s no problem. Get out of the house!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily there are about a million work-friendly cafes out there. It’s totally normal and appropriate to spend several hours working at a cafe. Many of them specifically have Wi-Fi and outlets to encourage workers to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Some even have cute cat friends (Yaboo Cafe, Taipei)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There’s definitely unwritten etiquette though. Most of it is straightforward if you aren’t a jerk. For starters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n