I used to be glued to my computer in a perfectly optimized home office. Great when I was cranking out 12-hour coding marathons in 2019. But after years of that, I wanted real human interaction, fresh air, and the freedom to roam. So in 2020 I shoved all my stuff into my 2018 Honda Civic and drove across the country. That trip taught me how to work and take meetings from coffee shops, parking lots, and my car.
That change opened up something I didn't expect: the creative spark you only get from new people, places, and experiences. Suddenly, I could park myself in a café for 4-6 hours and code with more energy than ever. For two years I lived out of a backpack with just my laptop, headphones, and a reliable internet connection. Gone was the sit-stand desk and 4K monitor setup I was "used to" and I loved it.
Eventually, I drifted back to my apartment and its "ideal" desk setup. To keep the creativity flowing, I forced myself to work from random coffee shops, restaurants, or my brother's auto shop. It helped, but I still missed that sense of adventure and the creative boost of the unknown.
Then AI crept into my routine. Over the last 20 months I've leaned on it for everything: drafting emails, planning my van conversion, brainstorming business strategies, and speeding up my coding. It's been a game-changer, but it also pulled me back into hours of screen time. I felt tied to my desk again, worried I'd lose momentum if I stepped away from the AI tools.
And then Codex UI landed. I'd dabbled with other coding bots (v0, Cursor), but early access to Codex fit right into my workflow. Now, wherever I am (beach, trail, coffee line) I can fire up ChatGPT, point it at my project branch, and spin up a task in seconds. Eighty percent of the work is done before I even touch my keyboard. If the feature is small and well-defined, it's basically ready to test and merge.
This is what coding on the go actually looks like now. I can brainstorm a feature mid-hike, feed it into Codex, and drop the stress of remembering it. Then I get to be present in my own life again. There's some setup and a cost (I still think ChatGPT Pro at $250/month is worth it), but the payoff is time. I can finally align my work with the life I want.
If you're interested in the tools I use, here's a list of my favorite AI tools:
- Codex UI - coding on the go
- Cursor - IDE AI agent
- ChatGPT - general purpose AI
- Claude code - CLI AI agent
- ElevenLabs - text to speech & audio generation
- Google Flow - AI agent for video generation
Need help setting up your own AI workflow? Reach out.