How Co-Working Can Help You Live Your Best Life

Living my best life in adulthood

Hi, my name is Josephine and although I am writing this blog upon request (lol), I am speaking on a topic that I have come to discover to be very important for me as someone who has recently entered adulthood and is struggling to find the balance between living in my best life and working, so stay tuned.

Mental Flow refers to the sense of fluidity between your body and mind, where your sense of focus is unwavering and beyond the point of distraction. With the definition out of the way, mental flow sounds like a dream. With a mind like mine where finding focus seems impossible, unrealistic even, then adding ‘living my best life’ on top of the statement seems as though you’re asking too much of one individual. Not sure about you, but when thinking about ‘living my best life’ work is not my immediate thought. I equate living my best life to free-flowing, unstructured activities, feeling accomplished or that I have achieved a goal, spontaneous holidays, adventures with friends and family, celebrating those around me, with a cheeky strawberry daiquiri. Whereas with work, as much as it is exciting and presents something new every day, like writing this blog, it presents less of living my best life and more making the means to live my best life. To expand, we use work to fund the flexibility we desire in life, therefore we could be working in a role that no longer serves us simply for monetary reward to live the life we believe to be our ‘best life’.

Then I pose the question, how can I combine living my best life and being a full-time employee? And my answer is Co-Working. Although a new concept for me, co-working has been an existing phenomenon that has resurfaced post-pandemic. Co-working is an arrangement in which workers of different companies, professions, agendas and so on share an office space, allowing cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures. So see it as a corporate social environment at times a mixture of business and banter, the perfect social working environment.

Working from co-working spaces

On the matter of living your best life at work, recently I have discovered that the focus achieved during work doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive to living your best life. In my experience, I found it beneficial to work in an environment that is different from my home environment. Whether that be my rough-and-ready home office, the library, or a workspace, in spaces that I know are conditioned to make me more productive and efficient. I’ve usually done my best pieces of work in such environments because my mind was set on the task and what I could achieve in the time I was there for.

For example, when I travelled to FBC Clerkenwell, a co-working space in London, it was like entering an ecosystem of inspiration. Every element within the shared office space is created to ignite your flow, for individuals, businesses and hybrid teams enabling you to leave the space knowing you have done your best work. I was able to take pictures, and videos and edit them all within the 2 hours I was there for. From the reception to the view from the terrace, I was able to experience flow. That sense of undisrupted focus, and with a view that they have I honestly left feeling as though I took the best location image ever.

Working in various environments awakens an element of understanding, inspiration and determination that working from home didn’t. Being made aware of environments that help you to unlock new ways of thinking and working not only makes you a more efficient employee it also energises you to continue to find ways to reshape your working day.

Holiday from home

Each space has its character, personality, people and aesthetic. What one space offers in terms of creativity and idea creation another provides in collaboration and socialisation.

Discovering the beauty of leaving my home and working in a co-working office space evokes that sense of ‘working but not work’. Yes, this can sound very confusing but stay with me here. FlowSpace allows me to go to different co-working offices and work from them. Each space has its character, personality, people and aesthetic. What one space offers in terms of creativity and idea creation another provides in collaboration and socialisation. Which made me think… going to work doesn’t have to be boring, being in a state of mental flow doesn’t have to feel far removed from holidays or being with friends because a lot of spaces provide us with the flexibility to indulge in both. And with those spaces come the location they’re situated in, the people that make up that city and the culture of the town which when combined gives an experience like no other. So, imagine that trip you wanted to take to Jamaica so you can regroup and channel your focus can be done in a location 20 minutes away from you in a space created to help you ignite that sense of clarity and concentration.

Advantages of co-working

So, I’ve spoken so highly about co-working but let me give reasons as to why it is a great way to create a good work-life balance and why I’m not over exaggerating.

Collaboration

Whenever I have worked in one of FlowSpace’s partnered spaces I have encountered a plethora of personalities who inspire me, make me laugh, and give me insight! An experience that was undeniable at Mainyard Studios Hackney Wick. On Wednesdays, the members eat lunch together giving room for one another to meet their peers and foster a family-like culture within the workspace. With that, I met a lot of creatives, filmmakers and distributors who had a lot to share about their work and career journey. This can seem like a taboo when working however the hour spent in conversation gave me the human element of working which can be denied when working from home.

You get to explore

Being from the suburbs of Essex you tend to be cooped up in the area you are from, you have all you need at a max of 15 minutes distance. However, when being given access to 60+ spaces across London it breaks the cycle. Co-working has allowed me to see areas of London I have never seen before i.e Hammersmith. I have loved seeing the infrastructures, architecture and culture of each location. It is a huge eye-opener!

Increased Productivity

On a much more work-related note. Co-working spaces help you to be productive. Because of the flexible approach to work, there is a level of control over your job and tasks. With the 2-hour,4-hour,6-hour, full-day options FlowSpace provide, you can pick the hours you want to work triggering a switch in one’s head that channels your focus. In addition, Co-working spaces consist of an array of individuals from different backgrounds, companies and job titles reducing the pressure of company culture and the need to ‘fit’ in. This increases morale and concentration amongst employees.

Closing remarks

Life is to be lived unhinged, where you don’t feel capped, where one element of what makes human existence great is compromised for another thing i.e. social life being compromised for work when there are co-working spaces offered across London by FlowSpace that can help you do your best work with your friends, teammates, colleagues and bosses, while you experience a new town, its culture and food… yum.

Live your life harmoniously and you will be smiling like Ieva in this picture ☺.