November 16, 2013 by alunparry

It’s Not Just What You Do – It’s Where And Who You Do It With!

I’ve been feeling pretty purposeless of late – an unusual feeling for me. I typically wake up enthused by a to-do list waiting to be worked through, and projects to get done. Lately though, there’s a real sense of drift.

So why have I got nothing to do all of a sudden? Ah that’s the thing. I have things to do. I just can’t be bothered to do them.

Every task seems to be something that I need to do alone on the computer. I’m fed up of working alone.

I’m all soloed out.

It’s a timely reminder that, to be truly happy in our work, we need the right environment for our personality.

I’m a very sociable person and I thrive around switched on, creative people.

So what the hell am I doing working solo in my home office?

I’m convinced that if I had a place to go each day where other creatives worked, I’d get my stuff done happily.

I’m now looking for some shared studio space where I can be self-employed yet still have the social benefits of a work environment.

I’ve also noticed that there are some solo tasks I’d really rather do with a partner, even if sometimes that partner won’t need to contribute as much as I do. In fact, my preferred way of creating would be:

Stage one: the sounding board phase where I bounce ideas around with other creatives.

Stage two: doing the work – where I (guess what) go and do the work itself. This bit can often happily be solo.

Stage three: get feedback from my sounding board.

Feedback is a really key aspect of working life, but especially creative work.

When performing we have applause as feedback. When in a job we have the boss and our teammates.

When working alone? Nothing.

Those of us who find an extra surge of motivation from getting pats on the head – or get energised by constructive criticism – really need this feedback loop.

So while it’s been a bit of a morose day it’s been productive.

I’ve realised that I need a working environment that suits my sociable personality, and I need sounding board collaborators to bounce ideas off and give me feedback.

What kind of work environments fit your personality? And do you already have this environment or will you need to go out and create it?

#collaborate#creative#design your workplace#feedback#feedback loop#happy#partner#personality#purpose#shared studio#solo work#solopreneur#sounding board#work#working environment