How to be Productive as a Digital Nomad (Part 1)

When most people think of what they would like to do in an exotic location, working at their computer is probably pretty low on the list. But digital nomads are not “most people”! Still, being productive and focused can be a real challenge. Many have learned to be productive when in a workplace, surrounded by coworkers. Removed from that environment it can be all to easy to be distracted. Add to the mix living in a far off, exotic vacation locale and sitting at a computer working can seem like the last thing you want to do. Here are a few tips I have found helpful.

Environment

This can take many forms. When far from my home country I always try to have a dedicated office space. It doesn’t have to be an entire room - but a desk or table that is ‘where I work’. We humans are funny creatures of habit. Going to our office, in whatever form it takes, can be enough to trigger the work subroutines in our brains. It helps me if the workspace is reasonably tidy.

Sometimes though what is needed is a little distraction. There are days when as soon as I sit down to my computer I can’t get anything done. I tell myself I will just do a little browsing on Reddit, and before I know it half the day is gone. On days like this I often need a little distraction. This is when I head to either a coworking space or a café with good wifi.

It is difficult to explain, but sometimes a little distraction helps. The noise of the other customers, the visual distraction, it all helps me to focus on work. This is usually not the best when I have something very complex to work on, but for more routine tasks, it is gold.

It works. I don’t know why, but it works.

Dress / Grooming

This one isn’t my favorite, but I mention it because so many swear by it. When I left my corporate job, one of the small joys was not putting on a suit to go to work. There are days I am in my pajamas until noon, even if I started working at 5am. Many tell me though, that making themselves presentable makes all the difference. Not many digital nomads suit up to work from home, but long pants, a decent shirt, and combed hair seem to put many in the right frame of mind for work.

On Zoom, nobody can see your pants.

Might have to give this one a try.

Deadlines

It seems like pulling some aspects of the traditional workspace into remote work actually does help with productivity. One of the most important for me is having a deadline. For some tasks this is easy - the deadlines are set by the client or some other process. But other tasks might not have a hard deadline.

You know what is one of the hardest tasks for me to focus on? Invoicing. It should be easy - the work is done, and now all I have to do is do up an invoice and I get paid. Easy, right? For some reason this is that hardest thing to focus on. The work itself can often be almost consuming; once in a flow state it is easy to get lost in the work. But the much less complex task of making an invoice and sending it out - that can be almost impossible to focus on.

So I set deadlines. I invoice on the last working day of the month. (Interesting - I just realized that is when I used to get paid). Having that deadline in mind gives me the motivation to get the invoice out. Extra special bonus tip - communicate the deadline. Tell the client you bill on a certain day, and you will be extra motivated to follow through.

Those are the first three tips. Three more in the next post.