People often seek out coworking spaces for the space. They need a peaceful, productive environment in which to get their work done, one more motivating than a lonely or chaotic home office, and with fewer distractions than the local coffee shops.
Becoming a part of a coworking community offers much more than just a space to work in, however. It has hidden benefits that not only improve your professional life, but can also improve your personal life as well. Here are five of the fantastic ways that joining a coworking community can improve your mental health.
Check it out for yourself! Book a tour of Cohere Coworking today!
Reduces Stress
Belonging to a coworking community can reduce stress on many fronts. The most immediate way that joining a coworking space reduces stress is by ensuring that you have what you need to get your work done. A well appointed coworking space will typically have all the basics most professionals need to be wildly productive—high-speed internet, coffee, roomy desks, and a pleasant and productive environment. Some, like Cohere Coworking, even offer extra amenities, like audio-visual equipment to use on site, sit-stand desks, and healthy snacks to keep you energized.
Promotes Resilience
Resilience is the ability to recover after difficulty. It is an essential trait for dealing with the ups and downs of entreprenuership and remote work. Being part of a space that fosters the coworking value of community means that you have a built in community to help you through the tough times. That can look like rehersing your presentation with a coworker, reaching out to find a new sitter, or ideas for dealing more effectively with clients and distant coworkers.
Having the resource of a strong community promotes resilience by giving you the tools you need to better predict obstacles and bounce back after a challenge.
Bolsters Optimism
Individuals who work largely on their own can easily fall into the trap of believing that they are somehow failing or falling short of other’s expectations, even when the opposite is true. Belonging to an open and accessible community of diverse professionals means that you have access to many different viewpoints.
Being able to see that other successful individuals often deal with many of the same problems helps to more clearly evaluate your own situation. In addition, the differing viewpoints inherant in a coworking space often mean that your coworkers may see a solution that wouldn’t be obvious to you, improving the outcome by turning difficult problems into small inconveniences.
Improves Confidence
Having confidence in yourself leads reduces indecision, leading to decisions that are both quicker and more beneficial in the long run. Having a community of likeminded collaborative professionals accessable gives you the advantage of having a plethora of resources available to you. Whether you are looking for suggestions on how to manage your time, ideas for how to deal with advertising, or a sticky client situation, you’ll go into it with the confidence of knowing that your coworking community has your back.
Enhances Balance
One of the biggest challenges with remote work, according to the annual State of Remote Work report by Buffer, is not being able to unplug. It can be hard to balance your work life with your home life when they are entwined. Having a separate office to go to can help to better reinforce the boundaries between work and home.
In addition, coworkers in a coworking space look out for one another. Coworkers might choose to take a walk together or visit one of the many restaurants in Old Town as a break, suggest a great family activity for you to do during your leisure time, or recommend a contractor so you can save time searching for one yourself.
Book a tour at Cohere Coworking today!
Joining a coworking space is about so much more than the space, no matter how wonderful the building is. It’s about the community, working together to achieve greater success and happiness for all of it’s members. Not only can it help bolster your business growth, it can improve how you feel about that growth, ensuring that your business and your life stay on the best path for you.
Penny Leigh Sebring is a Cohere member, experienced freelance writer, neophyte speculative fiction author, and gatherer of information and imaginary friends.
Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash