In fact, more often than not, on the drive home, I tend to solve a problem that I may have been having all day long.  Even though I do bring my PC home with me, I may not even turn it on while I am at home.  Simply the process of leaving the office, and getting away from the workplace environment, stirs something within my mind that allows me to figure things out.

Where do you find is the best place for solving work problems?

Of course, dating a coworker can seriously backfire because if you break up, you’ll still have to see them every single day. And if you’re dating a superior (or your company has a strict anti-fraternization policy), that introduces a whole other can of worms!

I’ve never dated someone in my office, and it’s unlikely that I will in the future; I now work from home at an office of one (even when I reported to an office, I didn’t have much exposure to potential boyfriends, my coworkers were predominantly female). But I’d be interested in your take on this topic.

Have you had an office romance? Or are you strictly against it?

“Glycemic index” is a measure of how fast your food is digested for energy. Sugary foods like danishes, candy and soda have sky-high glycemic indexes. Proteins and complex carbohydrates like yogurt, apples or peanuts are much slower-burning fuels, and thus have much lower glycemic indexes. At first, high glycemic indexes might seem like the sign of ideal fuel, but they can leave you exhausted when they burn out too quickly. Quick-burning fuel is great for a rocketship doing a 30-second burst, but you’re dealing with an 8-hour workday it just won’t work.

So if you can’t seem to find a full workday’s worth of energy and focus in your food, consider different fuel sources. And think twice before picking “hi-octane” fuel – it just won’t go the distance.

What songs do you find yourself turning up in the car or on your iPod as you head into the office to start the week? Maybe Elvis Costello’s “Welcome to the Working Week”, “Let’s Go” by the Cars or “Manic Monday” by the Bangles? How about the classic R.E.M. tunes “Get Up” or “Finest Worksong”? Does Iggy Pop help you rock out and find a “Lust for Life”?

Maybe you need to throw yourself a dance party to really get motivated—a little Lady Gaga, M.I.A. or Justin Timberlake, perhaps? Or maybe you seek productivity inspiration from that inveterate hustler, Jay-Z.

(By the way, we already know you listen to MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” to get pumped for a big presentation. Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone.)

What songs get you motivated for the workweek?

This list contains some of my top web comics for adults, especially geek adults. My love for all things tech is reflected in this list too.

1. The Joy Of Tech

The Joy Of Tech is a popular web comic based on pop culture and sarcastic technology jokes. The comic mainly targets Apple products, their culture and the fanboys. It’s usually a hilarious read.

2. Indexed

Indexed is not exactly a web comic. It primarily publishes charts, graphs and diagrams that portray weird, and often sensible but funny statistics. An innovative venture, no doubt.

3. Xkcd

It’d be blasphemous to not include Xkcd in this list, especially when I’ve already said that most of the comics in the list are geared towards tech jokes and satire. And this one doesn’t need an introduction, does it?

4. Dilbert

Dilbert’s online version is something I have to read everyday. It’s too funny to ignore. Office humor at its best.

5. PHD – Piled Higher And Deeper

If you are a student, you’d love PHD or Piled Higher And Deeper. It’s mainly about student life hassles and fun.

What are your favorite comic strips on the web?

I’ve asked this of many people and some swear there’s no such thing as cultural differences when it comes to being on time. Others argued that everyone knows that everyone else will be 15 minutes late so, in fact, everyone is on time.  In today’s increasingly diverse workplaces these differences can create some tension – and make some team members feel they’re being taken advantage of.

Do you deal with this cultural difference in your workplace? What approach do you take?

Businesses seek a good bit of overlap in skills. Shared proficiencies increase collaboration and help us communicate with our peers. In areas ripe with arcane terminology like marketing or I.T., shared backgrounds are an absolute necessity for proper teamwork.

Similar skills and experiences are great for camaraderie, communication, and getting things done in general. But, they can also blur the line between colleagues and competitors, especially when someone asks you this:

“Hey, you’re the only one who knows how to run that system, right? Would you mind showing me how to use it? You know… just in case you get hit by the proverbial bus…”

Some don’t give a comment like this another thought, but others might wonder if the “proverbial bus” is really a “proverbial pink slip.”

Are you dealing with coworkers who are colleagues or competitors?

To address this issue, coworking facilities are popping up in many cities. These are spaces where freelancers, remote workers and other independent professionals can come to work in a shared office space and take advantage of resources such as internet access, conference rooms, fax machines and, of course, coffee makers. One coworking center may cater to professionals in a specific field, such as designers. Another may double as startup incubator. Most are set up to accommodate a general range of professionals.

I corresponded with Evona Niewiadomska, marketing manager for WorkBar Boston, to get a better sense of what coworking is all about.

Is coworking more about providing a remote worker with professional resources or breeding a sense of community among professionals?

Coworking, at it’s very core, provides an environment to work in, however, it is the unique environment that differentiates the coworking experience. The presence of a community is a crucial part of the experience. The main reason people join coworking spaces is to get out of the house and be around other professionals because they lack a community atmosphere and interaction. Being around other professionals allows for cross pollination of ideas, a shared knowledge resource and the ability to learn from people working in various fields. Community is the “co” in coworking – without which it would just be “working.”

What do you hear from patrons about what they get most out of coworking?

Our members are most appreciative of the fact that we have such a wide range of companies working in our space. We have people in marketing, legal, graphic design, software development and even bio tech. This broad range of industries gives our members the opportunity to interact with all sorts of people working on a variety of projects, which often leads to business relationships. We encourage our members to communicate by offering an open workspace environment which enables communication and the exchange of ideas in order to foster relationship building. We also hold member events such as group lunches and happy hours to introduce new members and get everyone talking.

What would you concede is one thing coworking environments cannot provide?

Coworking is not for the introvert worker who wants to keep to himself/herself.  Interaction and being around other people is the key to a successful coworking environment. People that are looking for isolation will have a hard time filling their needs at a coworking space.

Does coworking breed collaboration or partnerships?

Both! We’ve seen our members collaborate, form relationships as well as barter for their services. Collaboration and partnership are both a natural response when a group of people with different skills, strengths, and industry focuses work around each other. In a friendly and social environment these are the benefits that result from the coworking environment where you see and get to know the people working around you.

Every employee and every job are different. How does a coworking facility aim to meet the needs of many?

There is no set formula that a coworking space must adhere to, which is what differentiates one space from another.  However, there are a few key elements that are consistent and which include; workspace, meeting space and phone areas.  How these elements are arranged will vary.

One thing WorkBar has found to be successful is to provide various styles of workspace and meeting space. Our space has individual desks, multi tables, smaller cafe tables as well as a work bar. We’re learned over time by observing that each of these workstations has a draw to them. Various members have shown a preference to one style over another, which results in an overall equal use of the workspace. This is just one example of how varying a key element in a coworking space can fill the needs of many.

Pricing structures and what they are based on is also an important factor. We base our memberships on access – daytime, night time, weekends and 24/7 – all of which outline when a person might need workspace the most, based on their work schedule.

One thing to remember is that a coworking space will never meet the needs of everyone but it can meet the needs of others, very well.

For many years I worked on a team of introverts sandwiched between two of my company’s most extroverted teams. Sitting out in the open with lots going on around me made it tough to be productive.

Here are some ways I coped with cubicle hell, and some new methods I’ve discovered since. Hopefully these will help you too.

1. Earplugs are your friend

I invested in some heavy-duty earplugs. They didn’t block noise completely but they definitely took the edge off. Tip: wear earplugs and headphones. The earplugs drown out surrounding chatter but you’ll still be able to hear the music. Try it! And remember, earplugs take a while to get used to, so definitely stick with them for a week or so.

2. Build a social wall with headphones

Besides the obvious benefit of listening to music, headphones say “I’m working don’t bother me”. Wear them even when you’re not listening to music. You’ll find people are less prone to interrupt you for no good reason. I found very visible headphones worked well as a social wall and were best at blocking external sounds.

3. Use calming noises to mask sound

Sometimes listening to music can be too distracting. Fans, desktop water fountains, and listening to flowing water sounds on your headphones are all great ways to take the edge off. Try Rainymood.com, a free website that plays the soothing sound of rain.

4. Cancel noise all together

I’ve never tried noise-cancelling headphones, but if I still worked in a cube, I definitely would. They can be very expensive though, so if you can, test them out before buying. Here are some great noise-cancelling headphone reviews from CNET.

5. Draw the line with neighbors

It’s important to be friendly and social in the office but draw the line with overly chatty neighbors. “I have to work right now”, “Talk to you later”, and “OK Bye” are all appropriate responses while you turn your back and get back to work. They may keep talking for a while, but if you don’t interact, they will eventually get the message.

6. Be strategic about seating

If you can control the location of your desk, be strategic. Don’t sit near benches or sofas where people can gather, outside the doors of meeting rooms or with your back to an aisle. All these locations make you a target for interruptions.

7. Work at non-peak times

Do your really crunchy work at the end of the day, early in the morning, or over lunch when people aren’t around. At non-peak times the office is quieter and you’ll naturally get more done. Once in a while I’d work late on a Thursday night so my Friday wouldn’t be so stressful. Then I’d leave early.

8. Work from home

This goes without saying. Try and strike a deal to work one day a week at home. Mid-week is best. Mondays and Fridays are already quiet because people like to take those days off.

9. Beware of the machines

Don’t sit near the coffee maker or the copy machine. The mechanically-challenged will continually ask for your help. If you’re forced to sit near the kitchen or a copier, my condolences. Besides self-medicating on toner fumes, use body language and headphones that say, “I’m working, don’t bug me.”

10. Work in a meeting room

Book out the time and the space in advance, so it’ll pop up on your calendar. Set up your laptop and put a bunch of papers across from you. You’ll have the meeting room to yourself and it’ll look like someone else is in there, so the odds of getting kicked out are reduced.

11. Talk to your boss

Don’t suffer in silence if your office is really noisy. Speak to your boss about it. Mine definitely understood the toll taken by noise and helped plan seating arrangements accordingly. In my case, things could have been much worse.

Have another tip? Feel free to leave them in the comments.

LFT is a peculiar form of self-defeating behavior. By habitually avoiding short-term frustrations, unaddressed issues and unfinished work grow into much bigger, much more stressful problems. As a sufferer of LFT continues to dodge small, tedious tasks, they inadvertently grow them into large, dreadful problems. Once the problems are bigger, the aversion to the work is greater, building an ever-growing mountain of work to be done (and an ever-growing mountain of stress to match).

Low Frustration Tolerance (LFT)

Seeking immediate pleasure or avoidance of pain at the cost of long-term stress and defeatism.

Short-term psychological hedonism.

(Albert Ellis also jokingly called it “can’t-stand-it-itis,” as in “I just can’t stand it!”)

High Frustration Tolerance (HFT), on the other hand, is a much better trait for productivity, not to mention mental health. Those with HFT can tolerate the frustration-filled tasks required to do their work and meet their long-term goals. While they’re not delighted with the short-term tedium, they have much bigger things to be happy about in the end.

What is your frustration tolerance? Have you run into “can’t-stand-it-itis” at work?