I have a dream.

One day, I would love to work from home. I would become my own employer, do my own fancy stuffs, and live the dream job. Or make one. I want to be one of those people who stay at home, get a fat six-figure income each year, and have time to do everything she wants.

But I don’t want to work from home.

Let me explain.

I am a total procrastinator who would get distracted by everything I have at home. Dishes, TV, kitchen, fridge, couch, bedroom, bed, TV, Internet, laptop, books, iPhone, Internet, TV, Internet, and Internet. And oh, do I mention Internet?

I have short attention span and I need the mood to get into the focus zone. If I want to read a book, I can’t just pick up a book and read it. No. I need a plan, two hours of free time down the road, and a cup of latte or green tea. And no Internet.

Maybe that’s why I suck at studying at home. Nothing goes to my brain and in the end, it would be a futile work.

But I hate the office setting. Gathering together in a very silent area where you would do, uh, work, looks alarmingly depressing and intimidating. And oh, not to mention the distractions of sitting beside someone you know and actually feeling awkward of not talking to them. Duh.

Lord, please tell me how to survive my employment next year.

In order to work, I need to be alone, and yet not utterly alone.Sounds weird and ironic? I thought so.

My number one place to work? Cafe. Not necessarily for caffeine, but just to buy the ‘alone’ time while seeing life happening around you. Seriously, it’s ecstatic.

Perhaps Mia Freedman in her book Mia Culpa said it best:

“When you’re in a cafe, however, especially one without wireless, you can only stuff around with your latte and a communal newspaper for so long. There are no children to attend to,no dinner to prepare, no T-shirt drawer to colour-code.

“The other thing I like about working in public is the noise. …I’ve never been the kind of writer who required silence. The opposite. I find the hum of background noise to be conducive to work.“

Oh please let everyone understands this principle.

You wouldn’t believe how many sinister glances I’ve got when saying that I go to a cafe to do my work. Especially from my Mom. She would growl and say her magical sentences, “How could you do work with such noise? You would never be able to concentrate!”

How can I explain that background noise actually helps me concentrate? It’s not logical, I know, just like turning a pen helps me think, but how can I explain that?

A trip to a cafe is not work. It’s pleasure. It’s entertainment. It’s a way to relax and enjoy life, perhaps to catch up with your friend over coffee.

But nah, not really. I fancy my coffee, but I get my work done. What’s wrong with that?

And you wouldn’t know how many distractions I have in a cafe. One. Which is my iPhone. Which I don’t really attend to except someone texts me.

In the past three hours, I have managed to finish a book, done a plan for my 1500-word essay, and written three 600-word blog posts. All of which needs a full day (or even two) if I decided to do them at home. Imagine that.

Moral of the story? If you have a short attention span, like me, tune down the distractions. Make some strategies. It may mean changing your pajamas to jeans and jumper and run away from your apartment. It may mean going to your local library, or pay for something.

Here’s another trick. I find spending $3.50 for coffee and not doing any work a failure.

Where do you work best? Do you fancy working from home, at the office, or in public space? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.