I’ve been working at a coffee shop a lot recently. I seem to fluctuate between feeling more productive at home and craving the atmosphere of being around other people. So, I pack up and work for the first half of the day at my favorite coffee shop, Ritual Cafe.

Everything I need for a day of work fits in my backpack, and today I thought it would be fun to give you a mental snapshot of what those things are.

First off and most importantly is my laptop, and the charger to go along with that. I have a 2015 13” MacBook Pro that I adore. You can read this post about how I thought I ruined it on the way to Sri Lanka, and this post about how it magically came back to life when we got home. My laptop is such a necessity and the center of everything I do.

From there a crucial part of my work productivity, regardless of where I am, is my bullet journal which I use as my planner. I use a Rhodia dot journal, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to a standard planner. I have my calendar, my ideas, my to-do’s, everything in here.

I normally also always have my personal journal with me. It’s just something I love having on hand because you never know when the mood is going to strike where you’re like “I need to write about this!” It’s a great way to document life as well as work through thoughts. It's not necessarily a must-have for work, but if something is floating around my head, distracting me, it helps to have a place to put in into writing so I can get back to work.

Lately, I’ve also been carrying around a plain lined notebook. I like making lists, taking notes, and such in here instead of on my computer or in my bullet journal. I really like physically writing some stuff out, and it’s great to have paper on hand for when you need to do that.

Because of these three paper notebooks I carry around I always have my pencil pouch with me, and while it only has a single mechanical pencil in it I keep other important bits in there:

+ Headphones (a must when you’re working outside the home whether it’s for editing videos or needing to listening to music)

+ Foray StyleMark Fine 0.5 mm in black (my main bullet journal pen)

+ Papermate Flair Medium (an unnecessary pen I use to create my fake calligraphy in my bullet journal)

+ Frixion Ball Slim in blue and orange (my favorite pens to journal and write with)

+ small clear ruler (use it to fill out my bullet journal)

+ Chapstick (who doesn’t travel with this?)

I normally have my Seagate 1TB external hard drive in my bag. This is where I keep old video footage as well as important documents. It’s nice to have it if I’m editing a video where I reference back to something I have footage of. (I need to get a second external hard drive because my current one is just about full.)

I almost always have my Canon g7x for me for filming when I’m out and about. I’m awful when it comes to filming in public, but if the mood strikes I want to have my camera on hand. Oh, and I guess it’s worth mentioning that I have my phone, keys, and wallet with me at all times, but that’s pretty much a given for everyone.

I also bring my travel coffee mug with me for working from the coffee shop because even though I’m going to sit there and drink it, I find that it stays warmer longer with the lid, and if I don’t finish it I can bring it with me. (But this rarely happens).

What are your work must haves? At minimum, it’s obviously my laptop, but I’m pretty much unstoppable with these few things I talked about today. And it all fits easily into my backpack.