I recently purchased a Mac Mini to use as my main work machine.

As a career-long MacBook Pro user, this is quite a departure from the lifestyle I’d cultivated: Always keeping opportunities for mobile work available if I ever wanted to work from the couch, in a different country, or the coffee shop up the road.

The turning point was a two-part realization:

1. I met up with some friends to work at a coffee shop (which hasn’t happened in a long time due to #2), and I got like 1/10th of my normal workload done. Partially because of the distractions, but mostly because I’m used to working on a larger monitor at home now! After making my ideal “work from home” setup in pandemic-times, I found it hard to get anything done.

2. After having a kid, the opportunities for travel and mobile work feel fewer and farther between (at least for now). In the luxurious event of traveling, I’d like to focus 100% of my attention on the experience, and not work.

I’ve loved traveling and laptop-ing in the past, and I’m sure I’ll own a laptop again in the future. But for now… a more powerful desktop machine as a dedicated “workstation” seems to be ideal for my lifestyle NOW. It’s helping me separate (and ironically, balance) work and life in a more clear-cut way, enabling me to become more productive when working, and happy when not.

The takeaway: Sometimes, what you believe about yourself via past experiences, and what’s actually true right now... are not the same thing. Reconciling that divide can bring peace to something you didn’t even realize harbored discomfort. Say “thank you” to your past self for their role in the journey — then move confidently forward in the life you’re building right now.