This afternoon there was a tweet in my Twitter stream that made me particularly happy. Not surprisingly it had to do with working in a café and how it can boost creativity.
Anyone who knows me or have read enough of my posts knows about my love for cafés as a place to work. In my post this week about Why we should move away from a one size fits all in the office I mentioned that cafés are one of the places where I do my best work and where I’m the happiest. Hence my joy to see this tweet pop up in my stream:
How the Hum of a Coffee Shop Can Boost Creativity http://t.co/cMOhVioIm6 Something @chrisatcoffice wrote a book about http://t.co/Aw9EdtxDre
— hugh garry (@huey) June 21, 2013
Despite the research that backs up the argument for flexible working and how the office isn’t always the best place to work, I do at times feel like a hippie going on about “we-should-be-freeee“, favouring that we go to a café and work instead of being sat in the office. So to see more research, press and publications about this matter makes me really happy. I’d like nothing more than to see more work places make flexibility around when and where we carry out our work to be a given. Just as it today is a given that work should be carried out in the office.
The article mentioned in the tweet references Coffitivity, a site that delivers the sound of a coffee shop to your desktop with the aim to make you more creative. It’s based on recent research that shows that…
…the whoosh of espresso machines and caffeinated chatter typical of most coffee shops creates just the right level of background noise to stimulate creativity.
– New York Times, How the Hum of a Coffee Shop Can Boost Creativity
For me it’s not just the noise of a café that makes me more creative and happy. It’s the environment, the smells and the people that go in and out. It’s the constant change in my surroundings. The ability to see life going on around me and the feeling of being free and unbound to an office chair. I love the sense of luxury that a fresh cup of coffee brings. And I love to be in the middle of it where things happen and unexpected conversations take place. It’s all those little aspects that combined makes me more relaxed and happy. And with that everything falls into place and my work just flows.
As for the book – Out of office – also mentioned in the tweet, I’ve just bought it and can’t wait to read it. No doubt from a café.
Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/kfisto/319220426
