small things that have made it a joy to work
List • 464 Words • Living Better, 2026 • 08/29/2026 • View in graph
a desk (a dedicated place to work) + writing on scratchpaper
There are 502 words in this article, and it will probably take you less than 3 minutes to read it.
This article was published 2026-08-29 00:00:00 -0400, which makes this post and me old when I published it.
a desk (a dedicated place to work) + writing on scratchpaper
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when i was in my old apartment in northern virginia before i moved to dc i didn’t have space for a desk, so i usually worked at my breakfast bar (never my dining room table for some reason). more often than not i was just splayed out on my bed or couch with my laptop on top of me though
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i bought a six foot long desk basically as soon as i moved into my new place and i’ve used it every day since. having a dedicated space where i can jot things down on paper right next to my computer and keep notes on index cards/printer paper out for quick reference has helped me think a lot better
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index cards are great for grocery lists, movie watchlist, how many times i’ve used my razor, short-to-long-term reminders
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for any diagrams/“spatially” related thinking i’ll use printer paper
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an espresso machine
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it’s a fun sensory experience to pour your beans into a dosing cup while weighing it, smelling the coffee as you hear the grinder softly whine, and hear the machine spitting out your delicious hot coffee
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i was never a coffee drinker or even really a partaker of caffeine until i entered the workforce full-time, and i unfortunately don’t think i’ll ever to go back to a caffeine-free lifestyle
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i thought i was going to be more of an optimization freak kind of gearhead, but i really just found generally agreed upon good enough starter equipment (breville bambino + df54) to start out with and so far i’ve been very pleased
working in the mornings
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i never really thought of myself as a morning person, but once i stopped working out as soon as i woke up, i realized that i get some of my best thinking done in the morning after i’ve drunk a cup of coffee
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i try to stay off tiktok/twitter/substack if i can so that my thoughts aren’t bogged down by other things that i have seen
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i typically am able to get an ninety minute to three hour block of working before i half to take a break; sometimes i won’t even produce anymore good work that day, but that’s fine with me
jumping between things while working
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if i need a break, i’ll go fold some laundry, wash a dish, take out the trash; i feel like there’s always something that i can do around the house to briefly take my mind off something
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if i’m blocked/waiting on something, or honestly just get bored of something i’ll switch to a different tab or thing on my computer/desk. of course i always try to at least get some amount of progress on each thing before switching to prevent thrashing