From time to time it’s a good thing to work at different places than your grey, airconditioned office. It is refreshing to work in a new environment. To be at it’s most creative, your brain needs variation. In space, in light, in people. Working from home every once in a while is a starter, but you’ll probably get more work done when you work from a public workspace or from a coffee shop.

We’ve collected 5 tips to create the most productive workday at a coffee bar.

1. Treat yourself

Since you’re not working from the office, you don’t have to suck in tasteless office coffee. Yay! Order yourself a nice spicy pumpkin latte, a special blend filter coffee or some other hipsterisch drink. Also, treat yourself with a good snack like a brownie, piece of banana bread or muffin. And don’t forget to order something for lunch that you can’t get at the office. You deserve it!

2. Find a spot with a power-point nearby

You’ll probably spend a few hours there, so you better find the best spot to sit in the coffee bar. Make sure the seat is comfortable and find a table with enough space for your laptop, a notebook and your coffee. Also, make sure there is a power-point next to the table so you can charge your laptop when you need to.

3. Blend in

Don’t be bothered by the sound of tinkling cups and spoons, waiters, people talking and soft background music. In fact, research at the University of Chicago shows that “a moderate level of ambient noise is conducive to creative cognition”. In other words: these noises (when not too loud) can boost your creativity and help you focus. There are even apps available, like Coffitivity, that provide recorded coffee shop sounds.

4. Find a coffee shop where other people are working

Study shows that concentration is contagious. Being around people who are working hard seems to make us work harder ourselves. It is not clear how this happens, but it probably has something to do with subtle things as breathing, typing and body language. So besides soft ambient sounds, good caffeine and a creative environment, you might also thank the other workers around you whenever you find yourself being super productive at a coffee shop.

5. Make sure you can exclude sound

Some jobs, however, just ask for complete silence to focus from time to time. And as a coffee bar doesn’t seem the right place for that, it still could be. With Knops we can provide that complete silence for you. Absolute distraction from surrounding sounds, but still the opportunity to turn up the volume. Even at a coffee shop!