Adventure and work usually do not mix well together. Separating the two with a travel lifestyle can become much more complicated, so how to work productively as a remote working mama while traveling around the world?
Well, in theory, it should be easier, right? How so?
After all you have chosen this life for yourself because it gives you more freedom and control over your life. You now decide how your day should go for the most part.
Well this is only part of the reality because there are a few major barriers to focusing on the work at hand, starting with your work structure. As an employee working remotely the day may look significantly more rigid than as a remote freelancer or remote business owner.
Let’s start by saying that successful remote working while traveling, is much dependent on your discipline, flexibility, adaptability, self-awareness and ability to balance pleasure of adventure and focused work execution.
So, travel mama…Let’s dive right into the topic of how to make you a productive remote working soldier during your travel journey.
1. CREATE A “Remote Workspace” conducive FOR productivity in Each OF YOUR TRAVEL ACCOMODATIONS
Your environment impacts so much of your behavior and we want a remote workspace that is enticing to get work done even with existing constraints.
You have just arrived in your new destination, your family is settling in, excited to discover the new “home” for the next few weeks or months.
Setting up Your Physical space while remote working
You want to be claiming the most inspirational seat in the house, the one that intuitively makes you either want to get to work right now or feels like an invitation to escape, relax and recharge solo. Of course, this implies it is also a space that can be made practical to get work done for a few hours in a day and where connectivity to WIFI is reliable.
Overall, this space must help you disconnect from distraction around you as much as possible, and give enough room to express your creativity on a seat that allow your body to surrender into the “get shit done” mode.
What does this mean for you, near a window? facing a wall? small desk? large desk? closed door? open setting?
Another choice like co-working spaces?
Setting up Your Mental Space while remote working
Being in a great mental place means you are also understanding the power of the mind and the worth to dedicate time to nurture your thoughts.
This is most likely a new environment you are dealing with, it takes time for the brain to find its mark. You want to set routines and systems that serve your ability to ignore distractions, compartmentalize attention to personal vs. professional endeavors.
And if the work at hand is not the most motivating at the time maybe because this is just a temporary side hustle or one task in your business you hate doing, focus on the fact that this is still valuable time to sharpen your skills and it will not be like this forever.
2. Select the Best Gears for Effective remote working
Needless to say, whether you are working from an office or in remote “workspaces” while traveling, gears are always a necessity to support the execution of your tasks.
Your gears should make your life easier! Working hours on that 10-inch tablet is not going to cut it. You need the best gears to boost your productivity AND protect your body for optimal result.
Prioritizing Ergonomics while remote working
Your gears should bring comfort to your body and sustain it in the best condition for focus and ease to enable your most creative work.
For me, it meant an extra portable screen I could hook to my laptop, a noise cancelling headset, a special pillow to add comfort to a regular chair, a back adjuster that I could strap onto myself to sit straight, a lightweight yoga mat to stretch multiple times during a working session and a pair of blue light glasses for staring at a screen for so long.
Those have been my basics to work for extended length of time. Then, based on your individual needs and preferences, these gears will look different.
Besides gears the comfort will highly depend on the type of place you book during your stay and what price you are willing to put on “office” comfort. This may very well be a co-working space to simplify but this comes with an additional cost.
Without the right setting, your mind will shift back and forth between ease and dis-ease, messing with your flow repeatedly, making you less productive and motivated to get work done. Your body will thank you!
Prioritizing Productivity tools while remote working
Productivity tools (material and digital) should help you optimize task completion. They help you prioritize, plan, collaborate and create. Once you have nailed your own work system, they can serve as your “second brain” from which you can retrieve record of past work, start again right where you left of and get the flexibility to manipulate and take the magic of a project further.
Your productivity tools should make decision-making a smoother process and your overall day more effortless.
Unfortunately, with so many options out there you can fall into the trap of acquiring too many tools competing for your attention that both work against each other and against you.
With a travel lifestyle, focusing on travel friendly tools, even so digital tools is your wisest decision. My digital tools look more like a timer, Calendar, Communication tools, Project/Task Handler, Brainstorming tool and a Note taking/Doodling tool.
Those are very personal preferences which should respond to your true needs and including what you can handle without feeling overwhelmed. That may mean a simple white page you jot down notes on and there is nothing wrong with that. I still do this first prior to digitizing my data for some brain intensive tasks. The magic of a pen and a paper!
3. Strategic Scheduling to Win Your REMOTE WORKING Day
You are very well aware that working at different hours in a day grant different levels of productivity. You mind may be more open to grasp more data at a certain period of the day more than another. This is where chasing productivity becomes the game of knowing thy self.
Managing Internal clock & changing Time zone while remote working
We know it, the oddest hours often make for the cheapest fares. And to the thought that traveling should enable you reaching your goals and not be an obstacle, it is always best to anticipate the consequences of an odd flight if work is due around your travel transition to another time zone.
And of course you could wing it, but you also have children to manage, jetlag and work so giving yourself the best shot to a smoother transition has its merit. Changing time zones will affect your performance at work, home and impact how you show up to your own self-care committments.
Find your own great practices to make these transitions as seamless as possible. You could always ensure to take a day or 2 off work to get you and your family situated from going to arriving to our new destination. You could also prioritize “admin/housekeeping” tasks on those adjusting days so work is still getting done.
There is no perfection. And you may not always nail this down but again, small steps always due help.
Work hours and strategic tweak while remote working
You are either an employee or a business owner/freelancer. Each of these work profiles have their own levels of rigidity. Regardless, there are always ways to switch things up a bit.
You may have a say around when you are willing to accept meeting invite or client appointments, not the first 2 hours of the morning or maybe avoid any in the afternoon. Leaving the rest of the work day for some deep work, unbothered. And of course, because you may be working as a team, some days require your flexibility for important conversations to happen. But not all the days or parts of the days are out of your control.
All that matters is your discipline being at its peak so that work is being completed within deadlines.
In the end this ability to understand what are your peak times to get work done effectively also will be rooted in your ability to know thy self and demonstrate those developing great leadership skills of yours.
4. Make Nourishment Your Essential “Food for Thoughts”
Yes, nutrition is one of the key factors in staying healthy and having more control over your energy throughout the day. Not a surprise, what you put in greatly impact your output, therefore having some control over what you eat is so very much important. But wait. It does not stop there because feeding your mind is also important.
Empowering nourishment is not an “every once in a while” practice on days you decide to put your healthy hat on. Continuous healthy choices will give you a continuous feelings of wellness.
A travel lifestyle can throw out those good practices very quickly but what can you do to lay favorable ground?
Home cooked meals & Food prep while remote working
Having to figure out what to eat each day on the fly is wasted thought, time….and costly. Can we agree on this?
A level of planning is needed from you. Remote working with a travel lifestyle means hardly ever the same fridge and pantry. It means hunting the grocery store for your staple items which you may not find and satisfice on something more convenient and maybe not as healthy.
Do you have an understanding of what food helps you perform at your best and what food slows you down? IIs it wise to have a heavy lunch when you are about to be seating at a computer for hours? You may already know the disaster of a body painfully digesting while trying to focus on your computer….
Does eating later in the morning work best for you? 3 larger meals or more frequent lighter meals? Dairy or not? Wheat or not? Meat or not? The right formula is only yours to figure out.
Mental food & Nourishment while remote working
There is such a thing as mental nourishment…unrelated to food.
Indeed, what you tell yourself, listen to, read, believe in will make you or break you. With a life constantly on-the-go, the overwhelm can grow on you exponentially.
If all you do is accumulating experiences, without pausing, reflecting, decluttering your mind, you will as anybody else reach burnout, including getting your work done.
Learn to understand your optimal pace and cadence maintaining flow and control of yourself, whatever that means for you.
Your mind and thoughts should be at your service and support your growth and development as a great human, not work against you.
5. Master Your Breaks and LeAVE ROOM FOR AdventurE
Taking energizing work breaks while remote working
The power is in the break!
And in your case, those breaks can be even more exciting! You are in a remote location, this new destination for the next few months, unknown territory baby! How exciting! This is where you can rip the benefits of remote working the most.
In no way, these breaks should be treated as if you were in “your regular home” nor “in your regular office”. Anywhere you are, plan for a 15 or 30-min walk around the neighborhood on your lunch break to enjoy the area. Meet a neighbor.
In the city? visit a cafe around the block and enjoy yourself a cup of coffee watching the locals. Close to the beach? Go for a quick swim or wet your feet and smell that fresh air. In the middle of nowhere, very rustic place? meditate or bring your lunch outside and enjoy the untouched scenery, far from the noise.
Very short break? Make reservations for activities you want to do later in the day/week, build your itinerary to see around town. Making your stay unique requires your intention.
Managing time outside of work
It is not all about work, far from it. And this is why you have dedicated so much energy into building your little oasis, this lifestyle that is beyond boundaries.
“Work breaks” are essential and, knowing to fully “break away” from work is however the most difficult thing for you to do. From where you are sitting, life and work have been so intertwined. You may have forgotten, even, the feeling of not thinking about work…and such feeling was actually the trigger to this major life change.
Ensuring you have a formal system to separate yourself from your work duties, things like, doing a last run of your emails, actually logging off, and shutting down your computer!
You have amazing plans to explore this new home, the culture and its people and being mentally available to receive this experience is the most intentional and rewarding decision you are making for yourself.
Here you have it! How to Become a Productive Location Independent Remote Worker? As usual this post would not be complete without your input! What do you think would make anyone a more productive remote worker? What are your tips, learnings? Loving your comments, as always!
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