It’s first thing in the morning and I just opened our coworking space. Turned on the lights, opened the blinds, turned on the tunes, started the coffee brewing, and plugged in my Air. I’ve got a list of things to do today on my calendar, a few post-it notes stuck to my desk, and a few things floating around in my head that I really want to get started, but…I’m just not feeling very inspired. So far everything just looks like a chore that I don’t want to do. In fact, when I’m working alone, everything I had wanted to do when I scheduled it or scribbled it on that post-it note is quickly ruined by this vague feeling of, “I don’t wanna.”

Then my first coworker of the day walks in the door. After a, “good morning!” and a bit of catching up over the coffee pot, I sit back down at my computer and realize: I just got smarter. I’m starting to feel energized, motivated, inspired. As I’m getting to work, my second, third, fourth coworker comes in, some greetings fly around, a couple of them start working together on a project they’re collaborating on…and I get even smarter. Now I’m really digging in and starting to get excited about one of the big projects I have schedule for later in the day, I just have to knock out some maintenance stuff, updating event postings, responding to a few emails, some renewal billing…boring stuff, but I get it done fast and move on to the fun stuff. I have a new idea about the project that I hadn’t had before that is juicy enough for me to turn around to my nearest coworker and share. They love it! They say, “Oooh! And you could add….” And the idea gets better. I’m in the zone. I feel brilliant; I am brilliant.

By the time I’m done, my eyes are starting to water and my head is starting to hurt, and I am no longer a reliable proofreader or judge of my own work. I need another pair of eyes, eyes I trust. I look around, see who doesn’t have their noise-cancelling headphones on, and call on one of my coworkers who is particularly good at editing to ask if she has a few minutes to take a look. She does, and after her review, I’ve corrected a few typos (one would have been particularly ugly had it gone out; I misspelled my own company name) and feel confident posting it to the world.

Whew! A job well done. Damn, am I smart. Now I can go grab some lunch with some coworkers who I can hear are in the kitchen brainstorming about a new title for one of their newsletters, and I can feel it coming on: I’m about to get even smarter.

Get smarter. Cowork.