Why Coworking Works
I hit a wall.
My Sunday Scaries were leeching into Mondays causing me to do anything I can to avoid it all (that’s how anxiety manifests for me). Part of my anxiety at the top of the week came from the daunting isolation I knew I was about to endure for the next 5 days.
Working from home, alone, began to affect how I felt about my work in general. My brain started to associate working with feeling isolated. And creativity in a vacuum cannot exist. You know, that’s why solitary confinement is the scariest punishment for prisoners… being alone in a room with artificial light for days on end is literal torture. So when work started to feel like that… I knew something had to change.
I figured, if I get a group of people to meet me at a coffee shop every Monday morning, then at least I’d be held accountable to facing the work week head-on without hesitation. 5 of my closest friends showed up and we worked, chatted, and drank coffee.
By the end of our little 2-hour coworking session, I felt more empowered and productive than at any other time during the week. Instantly, I knew this was the right move because, after that first Monday, everybody who had joined me was feeling the momentum. That’s why coworking is important.
For so many of us who work from home, our creative power is stifled by isolation, boredom, and a lack of communal accountability. Working alongside other people, even on our worst days, is more nourishing and inspiring than sitting in solitude willing ourselves to do the next productive thing.
A coworking community offers networking opportunities, emotional support, accountability, and builds work proficiency.
By working in an environment that is pleasant, our brains are able to create new, positive associations between work and joy!
If you’re in Austin and would like to join a coworking community, hit this link and join us every single Monday from 9-12 at Lazarus on Airport Blvd, and every Wednesday from 9-12 at Vuka on Monroe.
If you’re not in Austin, join us September 9-16th in Colombia for a week-long coworking retreat where we’ll be implementing new habits.
