Comment by mark_l_watson

I share the author’s preference to being outside. I have comfortable chairs outside on both the eastern and western sides of our house so that I can sit in the shade and work or read most of the day. I use a flat E&M shield to put my laptop on, with a small flat pillow under the E&M shield. Low ceremony and works well for me. Even though I have a great home office, sitting outside, or at our kitchen table, or at the library adds variety when I am working or consulting.

I am fortunate to live in Sedona in the mountains of Central Arizona with a trail head 100 meters from my front door. I spend a lot of time reading and very often I will do a 20 minute “mini hike” to one of two places where I have shade, comfortable red rock formations to sit on, and pine trees. This does add 40 minutes of “wasted time” walking when I want to site down and read for an hour, but that is OK.

I have always liked to vary my work environment. I had my office in La Jolla California for about 12 years over looking the ocean and La Jolla Cove. I put pressure on co-workers to hold business discussions while walking around town or on the cliffs by the ocean. A small time overhead, but conducive to good conversations. For every company that I have worked at, I always went (when weather allowed) for two 20 minute walks a day, which is good thinking time.