How a dedicated workspace is critical for
getting things done without going insane

Yesterday, I shared three reasons why I refuse to use WiFi (passing up the opportunity to write novels on a laptop while while slouching on the couch).

There’s a fourth reason, however, and it’s a big one:

I get my best work done if I have a dedicated workspace — whether I’m crafting a story, balancing my bookkeeping, answering emails or creating another to-do list.

The importance of a workstation was cemented for me after reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity many years ago. Here’s what he says:

“You’ll need a physical location to serve as a central cockpit of control…. If you don’t already have a dedicated workspace and in-basket, get them now. That goes for students, homemakers, and retirees, too. Everyone must have a physical locus of control from which to deal with everything else….

“If I had to set up an emergency workstation in just a few minutes, I would buy a door, put it on top of two two-drawer filing cabinets (one at each end), place three stack baskets on it, and add a legal pad and pen. That would be my home base (if I had time to sit down, I’d also buy a stool!). Believe it or not, I’ve been in several executive offices that wouldn’t be as functional.

“You must have a focused workspace…. you’ll find a weekend spent setting up a home workstation can make a revolutionary change in your ability to organize your life.”

He's right. For me, having a dedicated workspace feels like the calm eye in the centre of life’s hurricane.

John C.A. Manley

PS For more on the “art of stress-free productivity,” I highly recommend David Allen’s Getting Things Done.

PPS And for the other three reasons I refuse to use WiFry, head on over here.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/