Boosting your productivity: the role of space and place

Anthony Haynes writes: On this podcast we often explore grey literature from the perspective of creators - the authors, editors, designers, and publishers.

We focus both on the genres of grey literature and the processes of creation and production. This episode is one of the latter.

Productivity hacks typically focus, sometimes exclusively, on use of time. Here, in contrast, Dr Engy Moussa and I focus on the ways in which use of space and place can contribute to personal productivity.

Further listening

We hope you enjoy this episode. If so, you might find the following episodes of interest:

• How meetings work: a constructive approach: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10743611-how-meetings-work-a-constructive-approach
• Writing emails effectively: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10664828-writing-emails-effectively

References and links

An example of Professor Mark Moss's research on the influence of aroma is available here: 'Halfway to Scarborough Fair?' = https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/26947/.

The study mentioned in our discussion of the effects of working in cafés is Emily G. Nielsen, 'The coffee shop effect': https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4789&context=etd. A further study of the relationship between ambient noise and creativity is 'Is noise always bad?' by Ravi Mehta & Rui Juliet Zhu: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276290360_Is_Noise_Always_Bad_Exploring_the_Effects_of_Ambient_Noise_on_Creative_Cognition.

A study of the (positive) effect of music is 'Effects of music listening' by Katherine E. Eskine: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329190379_Effects_of_music_listening_on_creative_cognition_and_semantic_memory_retrieval. A sceptical view is found in 'Background music stints creativity' by Emma Threadgold et al.: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/acp.3532.

A practical guide to ergonomics is 'Creating the perfect ergonomic workspace' (Ergonomic Trends): https://ergonomictrends.com/creating-perfect-ergonomic-workspace-ultimate-guide/.

Credits

• Sound production: Bart Hallmark
• Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra