I spend a great deal of time sat at my desk reading, and for a break I enjoy turning the 90 degrees required to see out of my window and watch people go by. During the six or so months that I have lived here (and due to the excessive amounts of time that I spend looking out of the window), I’ve come to recognise several people, now dubbed ‘Window People’. Without sounding too strange, it makes me happy to know that they seem to take the same route to and from wherever they are going, with seemingly little variance in their day to day activities.
The main reason I mention this is because it spurs me on with my work. Sometimes I become concerned that I’m very much stuck in a set of working habits, and rarely do I venture outside them. Maybe I should branch out, try working elsewhere- perhaps it would make those days where a book chapter just seems to go on forever pass by quicker? I occasionally try to vary where I work in an attempt to kick start some fresh ideas, but often I find myself spending more time staring at my new surroundings than I do working! At times like that, I think of the Window People and the seemingly repetitive nature with which they pass by. They reassure me that when a varied approach to working doesn’t pay off, maybe we just work best when we stick to established ways of doing things.
Of course I could be completely wrong. And I probably am. If we all stuck to our set routines, lots of important things probably wouldn’t have happened. Maybe the Window People should take a different route to wherever they are going. Maybe they’d be inspired by a new sight and develop an architectural masterpiece as a result. Maybe I should worry less about what people outside my window are doing and just do some work myself… Until then, I’m going to try and dig myself out of my repetitive working routine to see if it improves my day, safe in the knowledge that if it all goes wrong I can always fall back to watching the Window People to make myself feel better.
