Yesterday, I took my computer to the park near my house and set up shop in one of my favourite spots: a little forest cathedral next to a big, wide, grassy field. It was almost funny how natural it felt to open my laptop, put in my earphones and get to work in such a gorgeous location – I didn’t want to leave and stayed for hours.
The lesson I learned here is not how lucky I am to be able to work from anywhere (though I never take that for granted), it’s that I am my own worst enemy when it comes to embracing my flexibility and independence. Left to my own devices, I’ll go to the same coffee shop every day or I’ll work from my home office. It either won’t cross my mind to do something differently, or otherwise I’ll make up excuses for why I can’t.
Last week I was walking through the park, talking to a friend about why I never work outside in the summer. Because I don’t have an internet key, I said. Because those data plans are expensive, I said. Did you know that in Korea they have the cheapest, fastest best internet keys?!, I said.
But afterwards I saw that I was being a hypocrite. I always encourage my clients to think about what solutions are right in front of them, what they could do tomorrow, and what tools they already have at their disposal. Stop trying to get fancy with it and be nimble. Be light. Figure it out as you go.
I saw that I wasn’t taking my own advice. I was researching expensive data plans for an internet key I don’t even want, all the while already having a phone with a generous data plan that I never use all of in a month. I know how to tether my phone’s internet to my computer. What was I waiting for? So without further ado, I took myself to the forest office and had a wonderful time.
This was an important lesson for me that more often than not, there are solutions right in front of me for having a better experience every single day. How can you use the resources and tools you already have, to create more of the life that you want?
