Tips for Academics: Finding your third place
Find Your Third Place:
Why the Best Work Doesn't
Always Happen at Your Desk
A few of my favorite spots to grade, write, and think when the office walls close in.
Somewhere between your office and your couch, there is a third place. And if you haven't found yours yet, spring is the perfect time to start looking.
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term "third place" back in the 1980s to describe the informal gathering spots that exist outside of home and work. Cafes, barbershops, parks, bookstores. Places with low stakes and high energy. Places where people simply show up and belong.
For academics, third places take on a particular kind of magic. The ambient noise drowns out the internal critic. The change of scenery resets your focus. The ritual of ordering a coffee and settling in signals to your brain that real work is about to happen. If you've ever had a breakthrough idea scribbled on a napkin at your local coffee shop, you already know what I'm talking about.
I split my time between Nashville and the Upper Cumberland, which means I've had the good fortune of developing a rotation of go-to spots in both markets. Here are two that I keep coming back to.
Bongo Java
2007 Belmont Blvd · Nashville's Original Coffeehouse, Est. 1993
Bongo Java is one of those places that feels like it was built specifically for people who carry laptops and too many thoughts. Nashville's oldest coffeehouse, located right across from Belmont University in the Hillsboro Village neighborhood, has been a community gathering spot since 1993. The organic, fair-trade coffee is excellent. The atmosphere is lived-in and welcoming in the way that only decades of use can produce. I've graded papers here, worked through research ideas here, and had more than a few "aha" moments over a latte and a pastry. There's a reason faculty, students, and neighborhood regulars keep coming back. It feels a little bit like everyone's living room, and somehow, that makes the work feel lighter.
Poet's Coffee
230 E Broad St · On the Square, Est. 1994
If Bongo Java is Nashville's living room, then Poet's Coffee is the Upper Cumberland's town square in every sense of the phrase. Because it literally is on Cookeville's town square. Poet's has been part of this community since 1994, and it carries that history with it in the best possible way. The flagship location on East Broad Street has the kind of easy, unhurried energy that makes an hour feel like a gift. The coffee is roasted by Bongo Java, which tells you something about the quality. When spring hits and the weather cooperates, grabbing a sidewalk table at Poet's with a cup of something warm is about as good as a workday gets. I've drafted syllabi here. I've made phone calls here. I've sat here and done absolutely nothing except watched Cookeville go about its day. That counts too.
"The ambient noise drowns out the internal critic. The change of scenery resets your focus. And the ritual of ordering a coffee signals to your brain that real work is about to happen."
Why It Works: The Science Behind the Third Place
There is actual research behind this. Studies on environmental psychology suggest that moderate ambient noise, around the level you'd find in a coffee shop, can enhance creative cognition compared to both silence and loud environments. The slight distraction of background activity actually prevents the kind of deep, self-critical rumination that can stall writing and problem-solving. You stop overthinking and start producing.
Beyond the noise, the act of physically relocating your work creates what psychologists call "context-dependent memory." When you do certain types of thinking in certain places, your brain begins to associate that place with productivity. The coffee shop becomes a cue. Walk in, sit down, and your brain shifts into work mode almost automatically.
Spring makes all of this even better. Natural light, warmer temperatures, and the visual stimulation of a season in bloom are all associated with elevated mood and cognitive flexibility. If there was ever a time to take your grading stack to a park bench or your draft chapter to a corner table by the window, it's right now.
How to Make It Work for You
- Choose your task before you choose your spot. Deep writing benefits from places with a bit more quiet; grading can happen almost anywhere with decent wifi.
- Set a time boundary. Two focused hours at a coffee shop often outperforms a full fragmented day in the office. Give yourself a clear end time.
- Be a good guest. Buy something. Tip well. These places survive because people like you show up. They deserve your loyalty as much as your productivity.
- Leave your phone in your bag for the first 30 minutes. No scrolling before the work starts.
- Notice what you produce. If certain spots generate better output, keep going back. If a place isn't working, try another one. The right third place is personal.
The office will always be there. The perfect spring afternoon at a corner table with a great cup of coffee is a little more fleeting. Take it when you can.
I'll be at one of these two spots this week. Maybe I'll see you there.
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