There was a time when the professional man had but one look, and when he was dressed for work, things were clear. Along with the suit and topcoat, there was the standard briefcase - the hard, angular, leather box, with bright, shiny metallic accents.
Now, with the traditional office dissolving and the 9-5 work week being constantly reimagined, it's time for a new briefcase: one that will still look professional, just not like Gordon… read more
In our elementary school days, packing your bag was easy: books, folders, pencil, lunch bag, done. But, as grown-ups, especially for those who work in a non-traditional office setting, making sure you have all the goodies you need for the day or a work trip can be tough - do you have all the right power and syncing… read more
Time management is unbelievably important essential for any man trying to be his best. That doesn't mean you have to fill your day with as many tasks as you can or build out your schedule with nothing but hustle. It means that in order to be the guy, the husband, the friend, the father, the boyfriend, the employee, the maker, the athlete, the citizen, the artst, the buisness owner, the scholar, the volunteer, the brother (you get where I'm going...), you've got to create the balance that allows you to fit in all the tasks and roles you've incorportated into your life.
And a great way to create that balance? Be… read more
I never set out to write a craft book--or, for that matter, to write business columns, or reference materials, or textbooks on teen sex and Chernobyl, or basically anything that's paid the bills over the last five years. I'd written for years, but it had been an after-hours art: Essays about technology and sexuality and Detroit's decay; stories about clockwork robots, haunted dogs, monster wives, and giant squid--the kind of stuff you gut out after dark; the kind of stuff you write for the consuming love of finding how to say it. The kind of stuff that's hard to sell.
I've always been a crackerjack essayist… read more
I'm typing these very words at a local bookstore/coffee shop. Whenever I have "just-computer" work to do, I try to get out of the house/workshop as much as I can, and often, those days are my most productive of the week. (Provided the wi-fi is reliable). For me, working in public provides just enough distraction: the low din of coffee grinding, the unique and often boring conversations, moms trying to keep their kids from screaming or getting them to eat lunch.
Turns out, there are lots of folks just like me. The Atlantic reports that while telecommuting is a relatively new phenomenon, the need to write and get work done away from the office is not. The author states,
There is... a long history of people - especially writers - working from a favorite coffee shop or cafe rather than an office. Today we tend to associate the phenomenon with the Paris of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, or the coffeehouses of Vienna at the turn of the 20th Century. The poet Peter Altenberg was even known to have mail delivered to his… read more