Office Cafe

Too Much Office, Not Enough Cafe

There exists a delicate balance in life: office time vs. cafe time.

I need time away from the office as much as I need time in the office (and by this I really am not talking about the amount of time, rather, just the need to get out of the office and into the cafe).

On the one hand, I have things that must be done in a particular place; for example, some of my work involves opening the mail and filing documents (and keeping them for a number of years). I don’t know about you, but this isn’t going to happen in a coffee shop.

On the other hand, bumping into someone that I haven’t seen in a while is most likely not going to happen in my office; especially not in my home office!

So there is that constant tension.

Unfortunately, this week the paperwork won. Remember the standardized or timed tests? How often did we hear, “Time’s up, please put your pencils down.” Well this week, nobody came to tell me to put my pencil down. And maybe somebody should have. At the very least, that somebody should have been me.

This week, I plan to be in the cafe more often. I plan to sit there to think of one new idea, refine an old idea, or bump into someone that I haven’t seen in a while. Marla talked about interruptions in her blog this week. Let’s just say that last week, I wasn’t there often enough to run the risk of being interrupted. And I’m afraid that I am the poorer because of it.

See you in the cafe.