Today’s blog post is in the form of a graphic essay. What the heck is that?

Not to brag, but my third grader could tell you. He recently stayed in from recess (his choice!) to work on his personal graphic narrative. In this case, graphic doesn’t mean gruesome or explicit. (Although I’m certain there was farting in my son’s story.) Graphic means pictures are involved. For Kam, this meant telling a story as a comic. It’s a real thing. I’m telling it true!

The great University of Wisconsin Madison defines it like this.

“A graphic essay uses text and images to explore a specific topic. Graphic essays often look like graphic novels, magazines or artist books, but like theory comix they generally convey nonfictional histories, cases and/or arguments.”

— University Of Wisconsin Design Lab

See? Thank you, UW Madison (and Kam’s teacher!) for realizing and giving value to this style of work. So here we go. Today’s blog post… in the form of a graphic essay.

One of the beauties of working for myself part time is that I get to pick where I get my work done. I choose to work from a wide variety of locations.

In real life, my work space might look like this...…

Or this...…

Choosing where to work is awesome. But the benefit that outweighs choice, for me, is that switching my work location is super helpful. Often times, when I switch tasks, I switch my location as well. Here’s why.

Switching locations helps me mentally switch gears. After I move to a new spot, I can better focus on a single project clearly without dwelling on the status of the one I left behind.

The Harvard Business Review recently published an article touting the benefits of switching your work location in this article. Check it out!

Moving gets the blood flowing and stimulates my brain. After I walk from one location to another, even if it is just upstairs, it keeps me from falling into an inefficient daze. Never is this truer that when I cross campus from the café to the library. It also helps me up my step count for the day, which increases my self-esteem… so double bonus!

You meet new people when you work in new places. As an entrepreneur this is a big one. I find that working at Barnes and Noble offers me a constant stream of people interested in books and writing. I will often strike up nice conversations with people near me (or after I ask them to watch my stuff while I run to the bathroom!). More times than not I hand them one of my business card bookmarks when I leave. Again, an added bonus!

So, there you have it. Feeling stuck? Unproductive? Need a change of scene? Switch it up, and then get back to work!

Where is your favorite place to write? Show us a picture in the comments below!

This blog post was made beautiful through Canva.