I am fortunate enough to have SOME flexibility in my work schedule. But just don’t confuse flexibility with time off. I put in a lot of work hours 7 days a week and rarely have an actual day off. However, flexibility also sometimes comes with complacency. I do have a home office where I work to film, edit and write articles and scripts for these videos. But sometimes, I need a change of scenery to help inspire me with more creativity. That’s when I take the show on the road and bring my laptop to a coffee shop nearby and get some work done from there.
My laptop bag.
Now, I don’t work remote every day, but when I do, I bring my laptop bag. It’s got some items in it that you might find interesting, so let’s dive into my laptop bag and see what I’m carrying. Let’s start with the bag itself. I’m using the MAHI messenger bag and they are sponsoring today’s post. I own several other MAHI Leather bags and I’m happy to help promote them because I love everything I have from them. I also love the fact that they donate proceeds from every sale to help support clean water efforts in India. They also inspect their workshop and leather tannery on a regular basis to ensure impeccable working conditions and an eco-responsible approach to leather preparation.
This bag is made from soft, 100% full grain leather with 100% cotton lining on the inside. It takes a 15” laptop, it has an interior pocket and also two exterior pockets to keep small items, and it uses brass fittings and YKK zippers. I’ve talked about MAHI products before and I highly recommend them. I’m gonna put a link right here along with this discount code: 40FASHIONJUNE so you can get 10% off anything you like from MAHI.
My laptop.
Okay, on to what’s inside. If you didn’t already know, I’m a PC guy and have been forever. I’m happy with my PC’s and don’t see the need to switch, at least at this point. My laptop is from Dell. It’s running Windows 8 with a Solid State Drive, so it’s super-fast and it has a touch screen so it can be used as a tablet as well as a traditional laptop. I’ve also got the cord to keep it charged up.
Sunglasses.
The next thing I carry are sunglasses. It’s always pretty sunny here in southern California and my eyes are sensitive to light. If it’s too bright, my eyes start to water a lot, so if I’m outside or driving, you’ll always see me wearing sunglasses. Right now I’m testing these out from Enemy, but my other go-to sunnies are these from Persol.
Car key fob.
Next are my car keys, or at least in this case, key fob. I’ve never liked carrying a key ring with a bunch of keys on it, so if I can get away with carrying just my car key, I’m happy. My house has a smart lock, so if I go through the front door, my phone unlocks it.
My iPhone.
Speaking of my phone, I have an iPhone 11. I just got this one a few weeks ago and I upgraded from the iPhone 8. That phone still worked fine and I didn’t really NEED to get a new phone, but I wanted the new cameras and I just felt like it was time to upgrade. It took a few days to get used to not having a home button, and I thought I was going to struggle without it, but now I don’t even miss it.
Water bottle.
I also carry a refillable water bottle. It usually has water in it, but I have been known to put a little White Claw in there, don’t tell anyone. However, I do like the idea of reusing a water bottle over and over instead of wasting all those plastic water bottles. Just my $.02.
Breath mints.
Since I’m at a coffee shop, I’m most likely drinking coffee which can lead to coffee mouth, so I’m always carrying breath mints. I prefer the little Listerine pocket packs. They work great for quickly freshening up your breath without chewing on gum all the time or having a hard, chunky mint candy in your mouth. If you haven’t tried these, I recommend definitely recommend them.
Lip balm.
Along with having fresh breath, I don’t like when my lips get chapped, so I’m always carrying Vaseline lip balm. This is the best stuff I’ve used for repairing chapped lips and keeping them from getting chapped. Maybe it’s just me, but regular chap stick is nice when it first goes on, but you have to keep using it over and over because it doesn’t repair chapped lips. It’s like it has stuff in it that dries out your lips on purpose, so you have to keep using it. Especially the medicated stuff. Vaseline doesn’t do that.
Snacks.
Next, and this one is kind of hit or miss for me, but I always TRY to have some sort of snack. I like to chew on stuff and fidget with my hands a lot, so when I’m typing, I like to crunch on trail mix a lot and I also like these Protein bars because they’re chewy, delicious and it fills me up, especially if I’m having it with a coffee.
Content calendar notebook.
I also carry my content calendar and note tablet. This is a 15 month calendar I think I got from Target, and it has all my video dates written in. Two pages make up one whole month, so I can easily make notes on specific dates that might relate to that specific project. I also keep a Google calendar which is essentially a copy of this. But I like the physical written calendar and it’s my number one method of keeping myself on track.
I also have the mandatory pen, because I can’t make notes in my calendar without a pen. It’s not a fancy Mont Blanc or anything, but it get’s the job done. I also carry my wallet, and if you’ve seen some of my other videos where I talk about slim wallets, you’ve seen this one before. I’ve tried a lot of slim wallets, but I keep coming back to this old one. I’ve had it for years and it’s gonna take a pretty special wallet to make me give this one up.
Bluetooth earbuds.
Lastly, I carry my ear buds. I got these from Amazon and they’re awesome. There’s even an app for your phone that let’s you adjust and customize EQ levels, pretty cool. I don’t always have them in, but sometimes there’s a loud table nearby or just general loud ambient noise that’s distracting when I’m trying to write. So I pop these in, and find a chill station and get back to work.
Gentlemen, I’ll see you in just a few days for a brand new post, but until then, live well and I’ll see you soon.
