I'm trying to change my relationship with my desk

(This post was written and published as an exercise during a meeting of IndieWebClub Bangalore.)

My physical space determines the kind of creative work I’m able to do. This is both a blessing and a curse.

For example, the moment I sit down at my dinner table with a cup of chai, my mind automatically shifts into journaling mode. I don’t have to make an effort, it just happens. I can write thousands of words from that specific spot in my house.

Sitting in the comfortable chair in my home office, with my 27” monitor and external keyboard, I get in the mood for writing code. I’ve worked from this particular configuration of this particular desk for nearly a decade. It’s so strongly associated with technical work in my mind that I don’t have to try consciously to think about code when I’m in that space. My mind automatically shifts gears and puts me in the mood for programming.

But having these strong associations with certain spaces in my house means it can be difficult to use them for other tasks. I’ve been trying to write short fiction over the last few months, and the only place in my house that’s comfortable enough for long hours of work is my home office—the same home office that I use for working on my software projects. Every time I try to use this space for creative writing, I have to fight the urge to work on a programming side-project instead.

If I had the space, I’d set up another desk in a different room dedicated to creative writing, but my house is not large enough for that. This desk setup is all I have. I have no option but to change the strong mental association I’ve built with my work desk.

I’ve found one solution that’s yielded positive results: instead of changing the location where I write fiction, what if I change my state of mind instead?

One way to change my state of mind when I sit down at my desk is to change my pre-work ritual. When I’m working on a programming project, I usually begin my day after I’ve taken a bath, had chai and breakfast, and spent some time catching up on news. Changing this ritual should theoretically put me in a different headspace while keeping my workspace exactly the same. This shift might allow me to form new mental associations with my desk.

To test my theory, I’ve been following a different schedule for the last few days: I wake up earlier than usual, make myself a cup of chai, and immediately begin my first writing session of the day. I do this before checking the news, responding to texts, or letting the world intrude on my thoughts in any other way. So far, this has been working well. I’ve been able to write about five hundred words a day for the past few days, which is an uncharacteristically large amount of writing for me.

I’ve only been doing this for a few days now, so it might just be the novelty that’s keeping me going. But I don’t want to jinx myself by questioning a process that’s producing results. I’ve almost finished writing a short story I’ve been struggling to finish for a few months, and that counts for something. Right?

Nothing can save us forever, but a lot of things can save us right now. When my new strategy stops working, I’ll try something else.