Productivity beyond the chair

Productivity is not about where you sit. It is about what you do and how you think.

Motivation, clear goals and an uncluttered head do far more for output than any object you can buy. J.K. Rowling wrote much of Harry Potter in a café. Roald Dahl worked from a shed at the bottom of the garden with a board across his lap. Neither of them was chair-dependent. They had ideas, ambition and the persistence to keep going.

My most productive moments happened nowhere near a desk

On a busy train. At a kitchen table. On a park bench.

Less about the physical space, more about the mental one.

How I worked out I could be a Virtual Assistant

I was cooking. One of those meals that takes hours — my famous pondu, cassava leaves for the uninitiated. Only those who have tasted it know what I am talking about.

So the pondu is simmering, I am adding ingredients, and my best friend rings. He needs help with a document.

My first reaction was the ordinary one: I am in the kitchen, I cannot help. I was not joking.

He screamed. He deployed his usual charm — "It's a question of life and death! Please help me or I may lose my job!"

So I told him to get me on Teams and I would have a look. I put my laptop on the sink. Knife in one hand, onion in the other, reading the Excel file he was sharing. A few of his formulas were wrong. Problem solved.

The point is not the scene, entertaining as it was. The point is that the work was possible at all — in that place, at that moment, with an onion in my hand.

A few years earlier, without the connectivity we now take for granted, I would have told him to wait until I was back at the office, properly settled, and could look at it then.

Does that ring a bell?

To be clear: this is not an argument against good chairs

Do not misunderstand me. I am not telling anyone to abandon the desk and the ergonomic chair.

If you know you are at your best in a comfortable office, invest in a proper chair and a proper table. I use a standing desk myself — one of the ones that raises and lowers so you can stand up and get the blood moving. That is my favourite, and it genuinely helps my energy and focus.

Good equipment is not the enemy of this argument. Believing that good equipment is the source of productivity is.

Four things that travel better than furniture

Embrace flexibility. Change the scenery occasionally. A new location can shake something loose.

Work from home properly. Not as a compromise — as a real option. As a Virtual Assistant, I can confirm it works.

Set clear goals. Know what you are trying to finish, then stay pointed at it.

Cultivate the mindset. Mindfulness, meditation, or simply ten minutes of not looking at a screen. A clear head is the actual tool.

The bit worth remembering

At the end of the day it is not the chair or the desk. It is your mindset, your goals, and how you approach the work in front of you.

Shift the focus from the objects around you to the drivers inside you, and rather more becomes possible.

Productivity's secret lies within you, not beneath you.

A quick note from us. The insights shared here are based on our team's honest opinions and experiences, presented in good faith to help you along the way. This isn't formal legal, financial, or tax advice, and we always recommend consulting a certified local professional to make sure you're fully compliant with your specific regional rules. We can't accept liability for any errors or omissions in these briefings.