Starbucks
When I asked Voicenotes to describe the picture shown in today’s video, I wasn’t expecting so many details.
As you can see below, it got very few things wrong. For example, the “I❤️🐘🏠” (I love Evernote Home) was hilariously converted to “I ❤️ 🦛”. As for the chemical structure, it is indeed caffeine, but the sticker is on my tumbler, not the laptop.
As a side note, that is a goodbye photo. On that day, I was told that the Starbucks would be closing for a period of 18 months. Like what happened when I lived in Boston, it took me a few weeks to find the best Starbucks in Porto to take breaks from working at my office.
This one had a fairly evenly split number of local and international customers. It was never full of tourists, and, at the same time, that peaceful feeling of listening to people speak so many different languages was still present. Then there were the enjoyable conversations with many baristas who started talking to me because of the sticker with a caffeine molecule on my tumbler. One even asked me if I was a chemistry professor 😄
I’ll now have to go on a new quest to find another similar fun place. Maybe it’s the Universe’s way of reminding me that change can bring unexpected positive outcomes.
Have a lovely week, Vlad.
Getting away from the problem for a while often leads to new insights
Taking a break is as important as getting into the flow
It’s my belief most people come here for the free Wi-Fi. Not me. I have an office, that is also my studio, and even a comfortable home office. But I do my best to come to this Starbucks at least once a week to edit a video.
Why?
I call it my Coffee Office Day. And last Friday was a special one. The city streets are not empty anymore. On contrary, everything is getting back to normal. I’m hearing people speaking English, French, Spanish and some other languages I have no idea what they are.
Welcome back, Porto!
Randomness
Have you read The Click Moment, from Frans Johansson? One thing I’m looking for when I come here is getting away from my comfort zone.
You need to take time, even schedule time, to explore things that are not directly related to your immediate goal. You need to take your eyes off the ball in order to see and connect with the possibilities around you. —Frans Johansson
The Flow State
There’s more. When I’m here, I seldom ask for the Wi-Fi password, or connect my phone to the computer. My goal is to avoid online distractions, and, at the same time, enjoy people speaking a multitude of languages. I love to edit here. As soon as I sit down and open my computer, I enter the Flow State. It’s magical.
Flow is great, but one has to escape from it once in a while to avoid exhaustion and to break the blind alleys’ paralysis. At my office I have a different strategy, but here I do it by raising my head and looking around for a while. It never fails. In essence, this is how the Pomodoro Technique works.
During that moment, I try to guess what a person is doing. Is he working? Is she messaging a friend? Where are they from? I’ve seen it all. From job interviews to friends from different countries meeting accidentally.
It takes no more than a couple of minutes. Suddenly everything becomes background noise again, and I’m back to the computer.
Something tells me I developed this ability when I lived in Boston, back in 2015. But this is a story for another day.
Have a nice week!
Wow, what an amazing view!
She asked me for my name for the cup writing thing and said “Campos”. “That’s my family name,” she replied 🤭. I smiled and said it was in reality my family name too. We both laughed.
That was already a nice story for my journal, but when I sat down and looked out the window, there she was—the Sagrada Famlia church was right there in the corner.
Goodbye, Boston
I initially planned to work from home, but it didn’t take long for me to start experimenting with different coffee shops. After a few weeks, I picked this place next to my father’s office and began coming here regularly. I wrote many of my podcast scripts, blog posts, and chapters of my books at this Starbucks.
This is the third time I have lived in Boston. It is now time to leave. Again.
We are leaving soon, and it’s been hard to say goodbye. Part of my family lives here, and the city itself holds a special place in my heart.
Thank you, Boston!
