Work Hard, Play Hard, or Work Smart/Hard, Play hard, I prefer the latter. There is easily a large amount of disruption that can occur when working with technology or in the industry itself while networking, visiting the local coffee shop definitely would bring this to the forefront of anyone’s mind, it provides a place to relax, reflect, and meet other like minded individuals.
Early today, I was chalked down to speak and meet a few people, and start a new project. Now, given that my organization skills are based on my ability to acquire certain resources, this may seem daunting. However, I do not recommend this to anyone who has real goals in mind. In the past, I would spend evenings reading and sipping on mochas, chai teas, and coffee. My hope was that if I lived my work I could accomplish more naturally by simply becoming the entity from which my work was born from. Despite enjoying what I was doing, this led me to be lost between life, work and relaxation. Some how I could no longer distinguish the difference, and assumed if I lived the hustle, that what I wanted or needed would come to me.
With that said, the coffee will keep you going, unfortunately the crash from it will not. Often times we will notice that a café is a staple when comes to technological thought, coffee is the great accommodation to the opening of a laptop in the soft palettes of the trendy though hip architecture. Plastered along the walls are posters for local events, organization events, historical pictures, and with some of these coffee shops are outside patios to even further our introspection. Watching webcasts, especially for Microsoft, I often see a developer with cup of coffee next to their laptop. This has always shown me how much respect I have for those that are so accomplished. That little coffee cup next to a laptop means success to me, hard work, and knowledge. I will discuss why coffee fits in to the hustle in a moment, though is important to note the connection between coffee shops and hustling.
What is great about the building a community is that you are often surrounded with like-minded individuals who enjoy the hustle, though probably do not embellish it. There is a reality that there is never enough coffee to comfort us. In the end, are bodies become restless, and the coffee is no longer fueling our productivity. I do not want to lament on how bittersweet it is to have coffee considered the aphrodisiac for creative and productive processes in technology. I just want to express my perception of how closely integrated it is within the software community and it is part in the hustle. Even when we are performing at our best there is always ways to improve, and places like coffee shops provide an glance into what our lives would be like with constant reminders of true freedom. There is strong sense of freedom of being able to break away to a different environment, enjoy a cup of Joe, and leave feeling accomplished. In some ways, coffee is a bonus to those hard working hustlers out there.
The belief that technology is so fast-pace, so overloaded, so indistinguishable leads us often to places of comfort. I do not see there being a lessening in use of technology to help manage our ability to hustle every now and then, though as a catalyst for ideas within a stable environment. I believe we all want a sense of control within a work/life that is well-balanced, clear and scalable. So my suggestion is to remain in the moment, value the accommodations we have with some realism, because without moments of clarity we may end up like Sisyphus, pushing the boulder up the hill for eternity.
