This will be based upon my own experience as a digital nomad and my own self-made work profiles, so take the information with a grain of salt.
Disclaimer: There is always a fine line between “work” and “me time.”
I’m going to generalize a bit, so please don’t go hunting for the post office and deliver your child’s report card to me.
For the most part, I am perfectly okay with not working much when I’m traveling, but like most of you, I work just as much when I’m traveling as when I’m at home.
I know it is still business and productivity and all that jazz. This is mostly so that I can show that digital nomad doesn’t only mean “traveler.”
When you’re not traveling, or in any other stage of life that is not a digital nomad, there are three things that we tend to do the most.
Researching:
This is the biggest one. This is just because we are working smarter, not harder.
The easier things are for you to get and find (research), the more likely you are to want to do them.
Make it easy on yourself and research your site while you’re at work, then browse the Internet all you want when you’re out.
And, yes, I’m one of those people. It’s okay to know the home page of each company you work with.
I used to do this all the time. How am I feeling about those company’s stock now?
Think it over:
We tend to get home from work and start thinking about that day’s work, whatever it may be.
We decide what we’re going to be working on, we review our lists and make sure we have everything, then we go home to check it off and do it.
It’s a time where we think things through a bit more, review the notes we took from that meeting or phone call, go over any new skills we learned, and generally take the time to formulate our next move.
This is the exact opposite of “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do.”
Do it:
This is our most productive time of the day. These are the hours that we decide what to work on and get it done.
If we don’t have it in our calendars for tomorrow, then we do it today. It’s a matter of motivation; if you work on something that you don’t want to do, you’re much more likely to do it.
Why? Because you don’t really have much to lose. You’ll be more motivated to do it if you don’t get anything in return.
When it’s too easy to put it off, we put it off and things start to pile up and go undone.
So, there you have it. I’m sure you can think of many others.
Facebook:
Just because you aren’t working doesn’t mean you can’t be on Facebook. Facebook is about as passive as it gets.
For those of us that like to interact, get inspired, write, and send messages, we use Facebook every day.
Every day we take a break from the work world, but Facebook allows us to stay connected.
Make sure:
Whether you’re in a meeting or trying to squeeze a quick trip into the office, make sure you have important information that you need to get done that day or week.
Remember that even if you’re home and aren’t spending hours at a time at work, you’re still not working as much as you’d like.
Your co-workers are still putting in hours, so have something to show for your day.
It may be a 10-minute email about something that just came to your attention that you thought you could fit in.
Twitter:
Just because we aren’t working doesn’t mean we can’t use Twitter. We tweet about our lives, our dreams, and our goals, sometimes multiple times per day.
It’s how we keep everyone in the loop about what’s going on in our lives.
Twitter is also a great way to ask someone about their work, even if you have no idea how to go about talking to them.
Now, you can technically do all of these things while at work, but that would be illegal.
These don’t provide any benefit to your company, but they do provide a huge benefit to you.
By taking a break, you’re able to think clearer and focus your thoughts on the work that you do so that you can actually get a good amount done and actually be productive.
We’re all busy. We all get busy. That’s the nature of the work world.
Your employer will be understanding. If you’re having a really busy day, just take a few minutes to send a quick email.
You can talk about what you did, but don’t just write a 10-page report in one email and send it off.
If you aren’t getting a lot of work done while you’re at work, take a quick look at the following resources and change your strategy to deal with your current situation.
Then maybe get another work-out in, you’ll feel better for it.
