The Cure for Home Office Doldrums-The Coffitivity App

I’ve talked about breaking the monotony of working from home by visiting a local coffee shop before.  It works great for those of us with a coffee shop close by.  But what about those people who would have to travel an hour or more just to sip coffee (or tea!) and do a little work with some background hustle and bustle?  It’s probably not worth the cost of gas, unless the silence in your home office is really driving you nuts.  Even though I have a coffee shop nearby, I still don’t always want to pack up the laptop and take down the ponytail to schlep there to work.  In the past, I’ve let HGTV drone in the background, but that can be dangerous if a particular show catches your attention.  Enter my latest discovery.

Coffitivity gives you all the sounds of a busy coffee shop without needing to put on makeup. On their website they state that research shows that silence isn’t good for creativity, but that a loud workplace can be so distracting that getting stuff done can be a challenge.  They point out that the semi-hushed atmosphere of a coffee shop is proven to be the perfect fit for getting your creative juices flowing.  And they are giving us that coffee shop experience no matter where we may be.

With recordings entitled “Morning Murmur” or “University Undertones” you get that perfect blend of background activity noise and calm, soothing atmosphere.  And it’s available as an app for iPhone, iPad and Mac or for everyone via their browser.  Since my iPhone external speaker is currently on the fritz (woe is me!), I use the web version, opening a separate window just for Coffitivity and choosing which ‘place’ I want to visit.  Today, the scholarly sounds of the University café were just what I needed to not only finish up my second learning course for Virtual Assistant Survival School in 5 days, but to also write this blog post.

I’d say it works pretty well for me. Let me know how it works for you.