This is my space. There are many spaces like it but this one is mine.

When I was producing my first book I found it was really helpful to go to the caribou coffee close by. The coffee tasted good, the wifi was faster there, and my friends didn't frequent it. That last point was a huge plus. At that time I was living in the fraternity house and putting together a book with 29 other people constantly buzzing around isn't the ideal environment.

So whenever I got an idea I would pack up my stuff and head over to caribou. I would pop in my headphones and write/concept/execute for hours at a time. It had become my de facto office. I joked with my friends that I paid caribou $40 a month for the space - which is honestly a great deal for the number of hours I spent there.

(here's a picture of my 'office' grainy cell phone edition)

Using Caribou as an office taught me two important lessons. The first is the imporatnce of finding the space you like to execute. Something about being there and sipping drinking coffee put me in the perfect grove for writing. I'm sure this wouldn't work for everyone because everyone's process is slightly different. Spend some time trying to figure out what space works for you and your process, some place that won't get in the way of your work.

More interestingly I found out that ideas seldom came to me when I was at caribou. Ideas like headlines and taglines came fine but those big honkin ideas would never come when I was just sitting there at the table. They would come when I was driving my car. Or in class day dreaming. Or when I was talking to a friend. To make sure I could always capture these thoughts I carry around a little black notebook, not moleskine, and jot down any idea that comes. Then of course I would head to Caribou to develop it further.

My advice is two fold. Get out into the world and get inspired, then find the space where you can work for hours at a time. It helped me put together the book that got my internship last summer, maybe it'll help you too.