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Office Space: Why Your Work Area Matters · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Here on this podcast, we just concluded a series on clearing the digital and physical clutter from your work area.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're going to begin a short week-long series on why you might want to consider upgrading your home office or looking for an office outside your house.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: First, though, a little bit of background.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was a college professor for almost two decades before I became a ghostwriter, author, and writing coach.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And every day I commuted 25 minutes to school and 25 minutes back home in the afternoon.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: That commute, as well as having an office outside my house, was so baked into my life that I didn't realize how much I'd miss it when I started working in my business full time a couple of years ago.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Working from home was really fun at first.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I thought I'm saving money on gas.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I can work whenever I want.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I can work in my pajama pants if I choose.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Except, of course, for Zoom calls when I would frequently have a dress shirt on top and pajama pants on the bottom.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And don't give me that look, don't pretend like you didn't do the exact same thing.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: But over time, especially in the last six months, I started to feel like a prisoner in my own house.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Even introverts like me can only be cooped up for so long before you start to lose a sense of reality.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: I had been looking for an office outside the home for quite a while, and then a few weeks ago, I came across a listing on Facebook Marketplace for an office just down the road from my house.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was exactly what I'd been looking for, so I signed a lease and I moved in immediately.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got to tell you, since getting a separate office, I have felt a real breath of fresh air in my mental health, in my attitude, and my mindset.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: I've been more focused and productive, and I've been able to set better boundaries on my work time.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: So in this short series this week, I want to share my experience in getting an outside office, and I want to help you think through a few important factors to consider when upgrading your home office or thinking about getting one outside of your house.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, just so you know where I'm coming from, let me just shoot really straight with you.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think the idea of this bohemian quote unquote laptop lifestyle for writers is highly overrated.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, yes, you can skirt around to different coffee shops all day long, you can get a little bit of writing done here or there, you can try and squeeze into some random table at a restaurant or a coffee shop that you know you can barely fit into with people talking loudly on both sides of you and all that stuff.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: But let me just be straight with you, I don't think that's how real professionals work.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think you need to have a time and a place to write, as well as a routine to help you get your work done.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: After all, your writing doesn't happen in a vacuum.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Your writing has to take place in real time and space.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Your writing has to take place within the context of your busy life and as your life exists right now, today, as it is.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the area where you do your work, it matters a lot.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take place in some fantasy land where you're sitting on a beach and the wind is blowing in your cabana while you're getting a massage, and in three hours you come up with the great American novel.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's not how real writing typically works.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I don't know any professional writers who operate that way.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Real writers, real professional writers, that is, they have a time and a place to work, and they have an area that they have set aside to get their work done.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know any other way that it really happens.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So now that you know where I'm coming from with this series, I want you to stay tuned for tomorrow's episode where we're going to dive into the most obvious factor you need to consider when thinking about an office space.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's challenge.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself whether you're really content in your current writing space.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is it time to consider an upgrade or maybe even a move to an office outside the home?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, tune into the rest of this series this week and you will discover some factors and some things to ask as you're considering this.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining me on today's episode, and I'll see you next time.