Hot Spots and Not Spots: Where are your ideal creative and relaxation spaces?
Where do you do your best work? How about places purely for relaxing?
I listened to a great podcast episode (on the Good Life Project) at the weekend – a conversation with Laura Mae Martin, author of Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing.
Sometimes, productivity gurus aggravate me, with the unspoken assumption that we should be forever squeezing more, more, more into our days, not “wasting” time, wellbeing be damned.
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But so much of what Laura said resonated with me, especially her take on productivity vs. wellbeing; namely that they aren’t in competition: productivity applies to all areas of life, including wellbeing.
From Laura’s perspective, if your intention is to relax with a book for an afternoon, and you achieve that, you’ve been fully productive with your time. I love that way of looking at it.
And of course, Laura made the point (that deep down, we all know well), that you can’t perform at your best at work if you don’t look after yourself. Now if only we could all stop seeing it as a trade-off…
So many of Laura’s points struck a chord, but in the spirit of brevity and respecting your precious reading time, I’ll home in on one idea that really stuck with me.
Hot Spots and Not Spots
I’m one of those people (like podcast host Jonathan Fields) who for some reason find a café the perfect environment for getting in the zone on writing. (For me it also works for tackling dreaded admin tasks like my tax return…!)
Some who prefer peace and solitude might think we’re crazy, that the buzz and background chatter are distracting. For them, a quiet and cosy spot at home is ideal.
To each their own, we all know what works best for us as individuals.
Laura coined the term “hot spots” to define the places where we perform at our best, arguing that we should try to ring-fence them for specific tasks.
By routinely doing only those activities in those locations, we establish associations in our brains (be it the smell of coffee or the comfy sofa) that tell it “I always write/do emails/paint/study here”, which help us quickly get into the zone.
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Laura also explained her concept of “not spots” – locations for relaxation, where you never do certain things. For example, never working in bed, never using a laptop in your reading nook, never checking your phone on a hike.
In the same way as hot spots support productivity, not spots prime your brain that these aren’t places you’re expected to accomplish something, allowing it to switch off immediately and relax.
We each naturally have these tendencies towards certain environments, but Laura suggests we can level-up our productivity and wellbeing by proactively separating spaces into hot spots and not spots, and consistently sticking to it.
I’m not sure I can manage 100% on cafés (they are for social fun too!) but it did get me thinking about where I can apply this concept (or already do) in some areas of life.
Hot Spots
I enjoy writing in cafés, but I think it’s the co-working aspect I love as much as the buzz. So aiming to cut my chai latte intake (and save pennies), I’ve been experimenting with other free spots full of people working – like the British Library. Good results so far.
I love working outdoors in the fresh air. I adore the buzz in Bois de la Cambre (a big park near me in Brussels) and Tooting Common (my London local green spot).
My (Brussels) sofa. Employer-provided and really not comfy enough for lounging (too small to stretch out on, even for midget me). So okay for work, definitely not a chilling “not zone”.
My balcony! I bought a great lounge set (a million times comfier than the sofa), so I can even be found out there some winters bundled in a blanket. I’m not so good at differentiating between hot vs. not zone here as I can happily get in the writing zone or chill with my Kindle. Maybe I can be ambidextrous with this spot?
In the spirit of wellbeing as productivity, I’d define my meditation cushions as hot spots rather than not spots – my brain knows this is where the zen happens.
Equally my yoga mat for yoga. Or body scan meditations - no point doing these in bed as I will just drift off into sleep (Yes! Not Spot achieved!)
Not Spots
I think these are harder in some ways. I need to make more of a conscious effort not to allow other activities (devices!) to invade these spaces.
My (London) sofa: Truly comfy spot for luxuriating with my Kindle or a book.
My bedroom: Work in progress. I used to have a bad habit of working in bed, but quit that last year, and my sleep has improved – another win! I’m a bit naughty still with streaming on my iPad (I haven’t owned a TV for years), but I’ve cut back on phone scrolling. I love to read in bed and do sleep meditations too.
Forest-bathing: Ambidextrous? I love strolling or hiking in the woods. It relaxes me and I enjoy the mindfulness of focusing on nature. But sometimes I listen to podcasts. I seem to get inspiration from both. So, this one is partly a hot spot too.
Commuting: B+? I’m trying to make this a work-email-free zone for “me time”, whether that’s mindful walking, meditating on the bus or listening to a podcast, but it’s not always an option depending on the day ahead (or if I slept in, oops…)
Date nights/seeing friends: A-! I’ve gotten much better at not checking my phone, even if I’m waiting for friends to arrive or sitting solo while my boyfriend is in the bathroom. Mindfulness means I can now happily just sit and be, not needing the constant stimulation of my iPhone.
Questions for self-reflection or journalling
How about you? What do you think of the Hot Spots and Not Spots concept?
What are your current/favourite/potential hot spots?
What about your current/favourite/potential not spots?
Can you ring-fence them?
Do you need more hot spots? Or more not spots?
I’d also love to hear your views on wellbeing as a form of productivity – does this resonate with you? Personally, I love this concept. 💖
Let’s have a conversation in the comments, or feel free to drop me a DM. 💬
Have a sublime Saturday, friends! 🌞
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I think it is a great concept, thank you for sharing, I think it will be one to mull over. For me hot spots are absolutely NOT busy places, I need quiet, soft music, space. Not my day job haha! My Not Spots need work too. I agree about ambidextrous space though. I prefer, when in nature, to immerse in nature. However when out on a shoot a while ago I was spending a lot of time waiting and I was up on the moor on a glorious day so put on some of my 'transformative' music which I find inspiring and it almost felt like it took me to another level with my creativity!
Love this! My coworking space is a hot spot for getting work done in short-ish blocks of time. I used to sit here all day long, but I recently decided that I should come for 4 - 5 hours maximum (I better leave for the day soon!). Hot spot for my creative (just for fun) writing seems to be my eating table at home... but still experimenting. Not spot for using my phone is in the bed. In fact, I generally don't bring my phone into my bedroom unless I need the alarm and then it's always on airplane mode. Unfortunately, my home office has become a not spot for getting client work done. I think because my brain now associates my coworking space with work, so I can't focus anymore in my home office. I would like to make a sofa (particularly while enjoying a romcom) a not spot for my phone, but working on it.