Today’s Office

Before Covid, remote working lacked legitimacy. Although there were a lot of people working remotely, running online businesses, making a living, and traveling at the same time until Covid most people couldn’t really wrap their minds around how this all worked. 

Since Covid forced almost everyone to stay at home, doing their 9-5, they had to find new ways to work. A lot of people struggled with this, because work, study, and home were strictly separated in the minds of many. I was a freelancer before Covid, and I was very happy with my work. It gave me the flexibility to work from basically anywhere, at any time, and however much I wanted. Of course, I took this to my advantage and traveled as much as I could. 

From what I can track off social media, most people are on board with remote working and even the term “today’s office” have been popularized due to this change in our working habits. Naturally, there is backlash and criticism of this as well. Some people claim it is harmful to work-life balance and in the leftist discourse it is also mentioned that capitalists will exploit this situation. I personally disagree. 

Freedom did for me what rules could never do

When growing up, I wasn’t very fond of school. I just didn’t get it. I do understand the value of higher academic education but for primary school, it just doesn’t sit well with me. Apart from that, I never liked studying at school, libraries, or workspaces. It felt uncomfortable. On the contrary, most of my peers suffered from the opposite. They weren’t able to concentrate on anything at home. They needed to be in school or in a library. I guess these are the same people who also love working at offices. 

After Covid, I was very hyped up about seeing people again and I wanted to have as much human contact as possible. I would even consider being on-site all the time. My enthusiasm was short-lived. I quickly reverted back to my original structure, which was the most productive for me. 

Then again, this is no judgment for people who prefer structure and who prefer to work in teams and possibly on location. It is just about bringing out the best in everybody, and it is not for me. 

Being able to work from anywhere – and I mean anywhere – in the world connects me to what I do in a very deep way because there is no trade-off between what I want to do and where I want to be. I might as well be in a cafe in Manhattan or on a beach in Bali. As a matter of fact, half of this post was written on the beaches of Kos, and the other half on a train going from my home in Germany to the Netherlands. 

Working, or doing anything in this manner gives me unlimited energy but I do understand the concern people raise due to it having a troubling effect on work-life balance. 

Best Place To Work

We talked about remote work, which I’m all for but the essence of this post is how to find the best places to work. At first, working from your bed, in your pj’s might be very tempting but it will mess with your boundaries very quickly. I highly suggest finding locations that make you feel both displaced from your home environment but also comfortable. 

After seven years of freelancing, I did develop an eye to spot all these cool locations. 

1. Co-Work, Wework, etc.

For most, the obvious choice is shared working spaces. Some companies even have contracts with them and offer their employees to work at those locations for free. Unfortunately, I’m not very fond of these arrangements. These places usually lack authenticity and they are built for work. Sensing this gives me the same feeling as offices, schools, and libraries. 

2. Starbucks & Coffee Shops

Starbucks is the obvious choice in most cases. Affordable prices, usually decent wi-fi, a place to charge your laptop or iPad, and being able to sit for 8 hours straight with having one coffee. I probably worked from over 200+ different Starbucks locations at this point and they do hold a standard. However, if you are a coffee enthusiast such as myself, you might also be interested in other coffee shops. Especially in cities like Istanbul, New York, Lisbon, St. Petersburg, and Berlin, it is quite easy to find coffee shops with working spaces. They are most often more expensive than Starbucks, but you can easily become regular and establish a relationship with the staff. Also, better coffee. 

3. Local Cafes

With big cities like Istanbul or Paris, it is rather easy to find good locations but what if you are on a tropical island? (I hope you are!)

When this happens, you can think of experimenting a bit. Usually, they won’t have good coffee, so I would suggest bringing your coffee with you and getting some snacks. Of course, before sitting down, ask about wi-fi and check for a seat where you can charge your laptop. 

I would suggest avoiding places that look very shabby and going for places with cleaner and more modern decorations. (This is a rule for off-beaten paths, and smaller towns, for cities it doesn’t apply) 

      4)Anywhere Else

After a while, I ended up being able to work from basically anywhere. On trains, on beaches, on camps… This doesn’t mean you have to be the same way too. Make sure to get what you need for comfort and accessibility such as portable wi-fi and or very good power banks, but don’t force yourself to work from places you don’t feel comfortable. It just won’t do good, and not everything has to be an adventure. 

Pro tip: Museum Cafe’s are usually quite clean and have fast Wi-Fi. If you can’t find anything else just search for the nearest Modern Art Museum.