Two Things You Need in a Coffee Shop to Really Get the Job Done

Changing your daily routine when you need to work or study is a good thing. Heck, I even recommended changing clothes to get into study mode. The more traditional approach to shaking things up is to head to a café to get something done, but there are a few things to consider when choosing a café (other than the coffee being decent and the Wi-Fi being fast).

Look for a slightly noisy coffee shop.

The first thing you want to pay attention to is just noise. When you’re trying to learn by memorization, noise is a no-no , but when you want to work on problems you understand and get your creative juices flowing, it’s… a yes-no.

Research shows that a little ambient noise is good for your brain if you get into a zone, so look for a place where there’s a little activity, but not too much. A Starbucks where customers scurry in and out from 7 to 9 a.m. isn’t ideal, but a place where employees always seem to be grinding beans or local moms are catching up at the next table is just right.

Be sure to bring headphones in case the noise level gets too high, but don’t be afraid to let the white noise of other people calm you down and force you to finally get through all your emails or work on your slides.

Stick to the same place

Although my Manhattan neighborhood is bustling, I live in the desert where there are cafes. There are about three tables at the local Starbucks. I’ve never been able to connect to Wi-Fi from any of my computers or my phone at the independent corner establishment, and the staff have been telling me for years that it’s just my problem because “no one else has a problem with it.” ” For a while there was a great coffee shop/bookstore two blocks away, but they inexplicably stopped providing Wi-Fi altogether, I was told, because they wanted to promote human connection (and reduce their daily income). Another place on the block closed last year, which devastated me and made sense at the same time since I was literally the only person there every time I went. I’ve tried them all – and that’s the problem.

Ideally, you want to find a place that you can visit frequently so that you become familiar with it and begin to associate it with getting work done. You want to get some human interaction, get into a consistent flow, and feel comfortable. While it’s good to get out of your home or office and work in a new place, it doesn’t have to be new every time . Even if you’re the complete opposite of me and have dozens of places to choose from, avoid the urge to go to a new place every day and instead focus on building a routine at the store that becomes a symbol of “work” in your mind. .