In creative projects—no matter how low-key or high-key, and regardless of how soft or hard-tech they were—a pattern began to emerge when coworking them versus going at it alone away from everyone else in the world. I'm not talking teamwork here. Open work spaces, where people are not necessarily working on the same things, has never been a productive work environment for me. The fabled synergy coworking purportedly can bring about never materialized. Instead, inevitable distractions in coworking environments negatively impacted the creative process. Too many interruptions for too many unrelated (and often inconsequential) reasons shattered concentrated threads of thought, causing unrecoverable breakeage which would never have happened while working in isolation.
I call it Virga Syndrome.
Much like virga appearing with promise of rainfall for thirsty life anchored to long-parched earth, inspirational thoughts promise enhancement of emerging creative works. Unfavorable atmospheric conditions cause falling moisture of virga to sublimate before making contact with ground. Not all inspirations pan out to become creative enhancements and certainly can't if working environment conditions introduce too many unbidden distractions, interrupting such priceless thoughts too fleeting and ephemeral to survive severing of focused attention.
Loss of these inspirations is costly, especially when they are never recovered, which is usually the case. Maximum creative capacity is only achieved working solo, separate from everything else going on.
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