Whenever I have work to be done, and am having trouble focusing on getting it done I will go to my local Starbucks and sit done, and before I know it, I am done or very near done. There is just something about Starbucks and being surrounded by other patrons and a non-static environment that just really allows me to focus my mind and body on what needs to be done. It is also very relaxing for me, with very little stress, which is critical for me. As I sit right now at a table right outside Starbucks writing this, I cannot help but realize just how important the place has been for me not only with me getting anything I have at any given time done, but also as one of my greatest thought/idea generator for my writing.

I know I am not the only one that enjoys doing his work at Starbucks. I see others doing so all the time when I come in and when I finally leave. But what is it exactly that makes Starbucks not only an attractive place to work, but an effective one. Is it the community feel of the place, and the people that are in it; or is it the food and beverages that are sold that make Starbucks good for working in/at? Perhaps it is the locations of some Starbucks that offer great outside places to enjoy in good/great weather?

These reasons and more make Starbucks a great and effective place to do one’s work at/in, and I am sure for each person who does so regularly, each has his/her own reasons. But for me what really makes Starbucks “my office” is that it provides an easy reliable place that while still “orderly” is never dull and static. I have always found it hard to work, read, and write in “control” environments.

While I can do so, I work best in environments that have people in it. But not just people, but “activity” in it; a little noise here and there, from the quite talking going on around me, or when I am sitting outside the Starbucks; the wind blowing and the occasional car going by, birds chirping and so forth.  In other words, what I need to make me work at my best is “life.”

When I am working, I need to be a part of the world and in it, not separated from it. Being at Starbucks, does that for me; thus, that is why it is my second office. Starbucks, as  my seconed office gives me more than just a place to do and get work done it provides “atmosphere.” What are some of your thoughs on the subject? Do you use Starbucks as an office? If so why, and if not why not?