Simple really ! I wrote 20 blogs for $ 50 each for one of the University colleges. Here's the Blog Page. Thing is writing 20 blogs in two months isn't obvious when you're preparing exams, presentations, essays and talks. So you need a hack to enhance your productivity dramatically. And my productivity hack is called : Starbucks hopping. Here's the newly created Facebook Group. What follows explains why you should go Like that page :)
"Starbucks hopping" really consists of hopping from one Starbucks to another. Yes. It is that simple. And it is that effective. Here's how it goes:
1) Start your day in a Starbucks
2) Order your drink (green tea is better than coffee)
3) Sit down, connect to the internet if you need to
4) Don't start by checking your mail !
5) Rather start by your main task for the day (essay, reading, homework ...)
6) Sip your drink while working
7) Just before your mind starts getting tired (after 3 to 5 hours depending on your resistance), get up and leave
8) Walk around town for an hour (visit stuff, enjoy the sun/the stores ...)
9) Find another Starbucks, order a drink
10) Repeat
Why work at a Starbucks ? Why hop from one to another ? Why spend a day doing that ? Here are the 7 reasons why (the way it added up to 7 is ridiculously artificial as you'll see :) ) :
1) The brain is a muscle. A special muscle but a muscle nonetheless. If overused, it will end up letting you down just as a muscle will fail when over-trained
2) Hence, if productivity hackers had to get some inspiration from the best body hackers and body builders who know how to get the most out of their muscles, they should go for : High Intensity - Low Volume Workouts, Long Idle Rest Periods. What does this add up to for the brain ? Short periods of highly focused and intensive work followed by relaxed rest periods.
3) In the world of muscles, rest is as important as workout. Same here. This is why hopping from a Starbucks to another while walking and visiting the city in between two work sessions will condition your brain for maximum efficiency.
4) Now timing is very personal. Meaning : 5 hours in a Starbucks and 1 hour of walking around then 5 hours in another Starbucks or 3h / 0.5h / 3h / 0.5h / 3h ... it all depends on you really and the nature of your tasks but make sure the walks between work sessions do relax you and make you change ideas for a while.
5) It's also an incredible fact that some of us or even most of us are more productive in public spaces than in libraries (Here's the Lifehacker Article about it). You don't feel as if you were competing with your neighbor on the table near you in a coffee shop, or that he's beating you to that essay's or to that reading's end, do you?
6) Now why Starbucks ? Any coffee shop will do obviously. I like Starbucks because it actually has great Wi-Fi Internet and the same Internet connection IP address (if that makes sense) in all stores so it saves you the pain of setting up a different Internet connection each time. And: There are Starbucks everywhere ! It's like a library franchise with great internet with great personnel and not too bad drinks :) (when am I getting paid for all this advertisement ?)
7) Now why coffee shops? Go to a McDonald if you want. Mind your health though. The thing about coffee shops actually is that they're more relaxed. And the big idea here is that treating your most important work as if it was a coffee break is ultra-effective. Coffee breaks is when you're the most relaxed so using that time and space to a completely different purpose than just slacking around is liking tricking your brain into doing much more right when it's most likely to.
So that's that. Tell me what you think about it. Leave comments below : Shouts of anger, questions, protests, astonishment ... Surprise me :)