Conversations With Strangers

Do you recognise these guys?  Perhaps a clue would help: collectively, they are named after the day of the week this newsletter (admittedly not very regularly..) goes out.  Still struggling?  I’ll let you know who they are at the end- but you have to promise to read on until you get there! 

There’s a reason by the way that I’m sharing my ‘lollipop stick pop stars’ with you today- and it’s not just in order to set you that cheerful poser.  It’s more to do with the hand-written label that came with them, when they were presented to me by a dear friend and ex-colleague, on the occasion of my leaving behind the employed world to embark on this venture into the unchartered waters of Freelanceland. Some new colleagues for you’- it read- for when life as a consultant gets a little lonely!’

That was a year ago today, near enough- and my Goodness, how my dear friend’s words have rung true!  Because- without the familiar environment of a company HQ to fall back on for 9-5 social engagement, I certainly do find myself these days spending more time beavering away here alone in the upstairs spare room.  And while my quintet of desktop mini-pals are lovely to have around- it must be admitted that conversation with them can prove a little on the one-way side.  And not for the want of effort on my part, I can assure you!

Conversations with Strangers

If my attempts to engage artfully-created thumbnail-sized newspaper-cut-outs of human faces in topical conversation may suggest a gradual descent into a particular form of ‘stir-craziness’, I can take some comfort from contemporary science-backed evidence suggesting that, in feeling sometimes lonesome, I am far from alone.  Indeed, for GP and wellbeing guru Dr Rangan Chatterjee, the day-to-day isolation experienced by many of us since pandemic times presents a significant threat to the health of each of us, and that of the nation.  Fortunately, via his popular podcast ‘Feel Better Live More’, he proposes a solution (29 mins 14 secs at the link)- in the form of regular visits to ‘The Social Gym’.  

There is more good news, in that membership of this establishment requires no monthly fee- and very little rigorous exercise!  Instead, the scientific evidence suggests that by simply building into our daily routines regular conversations with strangers, we can all bring about significant improvements to our wellbeing- and that this can in turn enhance our productivity in the workplace.

Too good to be true?  I thought so too.  However, the alternative workaday diversion of challenging the lollipop men to a coffee-break game of noughts and crosses had proved once again futile- so I figured I might as well give it a go. Here is what I have found out so far, from applying the ‘Social Gym’ philosophy to my own practice:

1… Walking Round the Block Before Work. 

The obvious place to start, as ever since COVID confined us to our spare rooms during hours of daylight, a brisk foot-tour of the neighbourhood has become a vital element of my morning routine.  Responding to the Good Doctor’s promptings, I’ve incorporated a series of friendly nods to the dog-walking neighbours, and have established a mutually-pleasing rhythm of passing repartee with the proprietor of the Pound Shop, built around complimentary references to the stock he’s generally engaged in spreading across the pavement round about opening time.  An example, from last Thursday: ‘Nice storage boxes you’ve got there, mate’.  ‘Ah yes- big delivery today!’.  Oscar Wilde, eat your heart out.

Scientifically-Evidenced Scores for Walking Round the Block Before Work:

• Positive effect on mental wellbeing:  Those brief street-side conversations do pack a surprisingly long-lasting beneficial effect- and you never know, I might one morning get offered a ‘mates-rates’ discount on a stack full of plantpots. 3 out of 5. 

• Positive effect on workaday productivity: On the one hand- the extra spring in my step tends to boost email production until mid-morning stroll-time, during which an impromptu football-fixture-based chat with the bloke at the coffee van can provide enough social fuel to get me comfortably through to lunchtime.  On the other hand- I’m in danger of spending so much of the working day on this particular health-hack that  ‘Walking Round the Block’ becomes my de-facto full-time occupation.  Which I’m pretty sure isn’t an intended step within the old career-plan.  2 out of 5. 

  
  

2.. Going to Work in the Café

Again- not a difficult one for me to embark on, since I need very little excuse to indulge in communal caffeine consumption quite regardless of expense, and would at this this point in the proceedings consider myself the town’s foremost expert on the suitability for our present purposes of the office-hours ambiences particular to every one of its branches of Costa, all of its sprawling supermarket caféteria-floorspaces, and a selection of its more refined independent continental-style brasseries.  Hell, I even found myself one afternoon attempting to log into the Guest Wireless account of a ten-pin bowling alley (don’t ask).  My conclusions from this comprehensive peregrination are as follows:

• Positive effect on mental wellbeing:  This very much depends on the café.  At the right venue, on a good day, your social interaction may be pleasingly limited to a few seconds of chit-chat with the friendly barista, and asking the bloke at the next table to keep an eye on your laptop while you nip to the bathroom.  At the wrong venue, during an inopportune interval?  Well put it this way- when Jean-Paul Sartre offered the view that ‘Hell Is Other People’, I suspect he had just spent the afternoon attempting to complete the first draft of an existential novel in the café at Cheadle Heath Morrissons, during the first week of the school summer holidays.  2.5 out of 5. 

• Positive effect on workaday productivity: This very much depends on everything above- as well as on the reliability of your chosen establishment’s internet connection. Regardless of branch, Costa Coffee in my experience scores near-impeccably. Starbucks in the train station is a non-starter (and they want to know your name before they’ll serve you an Americano, so an extra point away)  At Morrisons, you can get online no problem, but if you want to send an email, you’re going to end up in tears (and that’s before encountering the seething humanity- see again above). 1.5 out of 5.

  
  

3… ‘Hot-desking’ at a ‘Shared Office Space’

Now here’s one that I am relatively new to.  Having finally admitted defeat in my half-decade-long quest for the Holy Grail of the perfect café-working environment, I bit the bullet just a few weeks ago- and a little Googling around led me to signing up for a ‘trial day’ at SebSpace-  an industrial warehouse twenty minutes’ drive away from my front door, which has been converted into a Shared Working Space, complete with plentiful desks, free all-day coffee, and (get this!) an American-style pool table.  I’ve been back half-a-dozen times since.  My conclusions to date:

• Positive effect on mental wellbeing: The rooms are airy and spacious; there is generally a choice of desks where you can spread yourself out while remaining in the vicinity of busily-beavering human beings, and the walls are colourfully decorated with cartoon pictures of jungle animals.  Did I also mention there was free coffee, and a pool table (mysteriously underused by the regular clientele; I on the other hand have to strictly ration myself to one frame every six emails).  Also there is the option to hang about by the coffee-machine, thereby entering into social intercourse with fellow work-spacers, possibly (but by no means obiligatorily) involving the exchange of business cards.  4 out of 5 (just the point taken off for the temptation to drink too much free coffee).    

• Positive effect on workaday productivity:  Crucially, the internet works without fail- and there is something (for me, anyway) about operating among a throng of humans likewise engaged in click-a-long knowledge-based labour that gets my own productive juices flowing.  I’ve begun to save my most ‘concentration-heavy’ tasks for Sebspace days- and at £12 for a 9-5 ‘Daypass’ (cheaper if you sign up for a monthly membership), the price affords value.  Worth taking a look around wherever you may be based, I’d say- and see what is on offer ‘Shared-Space-Wise’ locally.  A firm 5 out of 5.

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So there you have it.  A clear win on an overall score of 9.5 out of 10 in the good Dr Chatterjee’s ‘Social Gym’ Category for ‘Hot-Desking at a Shared Office Space’ (with the slight caveat that I’ve only been to one, and suspect I’ve hit very lucky first time!).  I’d be very interested to know your own strategies for the avoidance of home-working-induced stir-craziness- and generally love to get replies (I am a social animal, we may have established this..)- so please do email! Oh but before we go-

Three Things For Us All Right Now:

1… Funder of the week: Do we like trees?  Well of course we do!  Do we like them enough to design a community project around them, and then apply for some money to pay for their planting?  If so- then the funding currently available from The arborially-minded folks at The Tree Council may be worth a look.  Grants of between £250 and £2500 on offer, eligible liberally across not-profit structures, for projects combining winter-season planting of trees with effective community engagement.  Deadline December 1st.

2… Thought for the week: ‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.  If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you’.  The Bible; Gospel of Thomas. Listen, I’m just going to leave that one out there.  It’s kind of why I do these newsletters/do the work I do.  What have you got within you that needs to come out? There is something. I promise you there is something.

3… The identity of Our lollipop-stick men.  Did you read all the way through to get to this point? Swear on St Thomas/ the Barista at your favourite coffee-shop/ your chosen diety?  OK then.  They are of course… The Stone Roses.   Only joking (sorry, Fay!).  The Happy Mondays.  Well done if you guessed/observed correctly!

Which Salford-based quizzery seems a very good place to end by saying… Happy Mondays to all, from me and my not-quite-imaginary lollipop-stick friends.  See you all next time!