I have always lived and worked in the Twin Cities.  During my professional career I have had various cubes and offices in commercial space or warehouse buildings.  They were traditional and useful and worked for me just fine.

My current office is a lovely spot in Eden Prairie, overlooking 9-mile creek and the interesting biological distractions that woods and wetlands can possibly create.  I enjoy my colleagues and coworkers and feel very productive.

But Thursdays, oh Thursdays I am different.  I am lucky enough to work for a company that has an interest in real estate in Downtown St. Paul.  One of our tenants is a Coworking business called Wellworth.  On Thursdays I visit with our real estate management team to discuss all of the properties, their leasing and renovation and financing.  We meet at Wellworth in one of the conference rooms or even outside on the patio last fall when the weather was lovely.  We go about an hour and a half.

The rest of the time on Thursdays I do my work there.  I sit in the open coworking space with some other pretty busy but friendly folks.  I stand at the desk, or sit in a pod, or use the phone room for calls.  And I think I get more done there than in my office.  Fewer distractions yes.  People don’t just drop in, sit down and eat time.  I think differently.  I get more stuff done. 

When I move to the café area and become open to conversation I learn from new people with new perspectives.  There are consultants, small business people or small offices of larger companies.  All have something to add to the gumbo of business.  These are people who are working hard to carve out meaning in their business lives.  You root for them.  You think of ways to get them on your team.  Creativity happens.  Whoa. 

So, I am a perfectly reasonable corporate stooge the rest of the time.  I am effective, work with and for people I like and have a nice place to do it.  But Thursdays I am different.  And it makes the rest of the week even better.

Written by John Exline