Coffee shop coworking was a scam for me until I found a real space last month

I used to think I was being productive at Starbucks but realized I was spending $12 a day on coffee and getting maybe an hour of real work done. Switched to a proper coworking spot in Austin that costs $150 a month and now I actually finish my bids before lunch. Has anyone else found that the ambient noise at cafes just wrecked their focus?

3 comments

3 Comments

emma_lee228d ago

My coworking spot has this one guy who sits near the door every morning and eats the loudest bagel I've ever heard. Crunch crunch crunch for a solid 10 minutes straight. I told him about it once and he just shrugged and said "crispy bagel energy." Since then I've started bringing noise cancelling earbuds like @the_riley mentioned. They were like 30 bucks at Target and they block out everything except the emergency alerts on my phone.

jamesc798d ago

I read somewhere that the noise level at coffee shops hits around 70-80 decibels which is actually the worst zone for focus. Too loud for quiet work but not loud enough to fully block out distractions. My coworking spot in Austin has these soundproof phone booths that saved me when I need to take calls without hearing 10 different conversations at once.

the_riley8d ago

Yeah @jamesc79 is spot on about those 70-80 decibels being the worst. It's like the coffee shop is giving you just enough noise to be annoying but not enough to actually drown out the guy slurping his latte two tables over. I swear those soundproof booths are the only reason coworking spaces haven't turned into a full-on chaos zone.