5 Takeaways from Being a Digital Nomad
So, you want to give the digital nomad life a try? Well, let me warn you, it might just be the best thing you ever do for yourself. Especially if you go by yourself. There’s a lot you can learn by spending months on the road traveling by yourself.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the option to work remotely is now widely available to millions of people in nearly every industry. And while most remote workers take this new privilege as an opportunity to work from home, a smaller cohort of brave souls hit the roads and airwaves to take their work…anywhere and everywhere. Which is exactly what I did.
I spent the majority of the pandemic holed up in an NYC apartment working under the shelter of a loft bed in a 120-square foot room. By the end of 2021 I was ready to leave. And not just leave, but go in search of a view offering more than the roof of the neighborhood supermarket.
So, in November of 2021 I moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area, saved up for a car, and on May 21, 2022, embarked on a road trip for a yet-to-be-determined length and time. It was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made. Few other periods of my life offered as much growth and opportunities to learn — about others and about myself.
Here are the 5 most valuable things I learned by spending 5.5 months living as a digital nomad:
1. You’ll learn how to optimize your daily routine
Digital nomad life is a balancing act. In addition to your normal daily chores (toiletries, working, eating, and sleeping), you need to make time for traveling and exploring. Whether you’re driving or flying, you have to get from point A to point B somehow. And after you arrive, you want to make the most of your time there.
In some ways, this task is not so difficult. You already have a job that lets you work from anywhere, and there is usually a work-friendly cafe walking distance from interesting places to explore. I found this to be the case near places like:
- DuPont Circle, D.C.
- The lakefront in Milwaukee
- The lakefront in Chicago
- A lake that was technically a pond in Maine
(Can you tell I like lakes?)
Then again, some activities will require more planning. The U.S. is packed full of scenic parks and hiking trails. It’s worth setting aside a few hours each week to get some steps on new ground. This, of course, requires planning ahead.
I found that in order for me to make the most of my time at any destination, I needed 1–2 extra days per week. And since adding days to the calendar was out, the challenge was instead to get hyper focused on my work days.
Working ahead and staying ahead is doable if you do it regularly. I recognize some jobs have less flexible work hours, but any job that lets you work remotely is not totally inflexible. You can probably already set your own hours.
And the best part: when you’re out on your own, there are little to no distractions. No neighbors knocking at your door, no cluttered desks begging for your attention, and no housemates playing that same damn 70’s Greatest Hits album on repeat. Just you, your laptop, and maybe some strangers. The result? Work takes half the time, and it’s usually higher quality!
If this sounds too good to be true, don’t just take my word for it. Check out some of these books to learn about maximizing your productivity. That way you can spend less time staring at a computer screen and more time staring down your opponents (and soon-to-be friends) at the DuPont Chess Tables.
- Hyperfocus, by Chris Bailey
- Willpower Doesn’t Work, by Benjamin Hardy, PhD
- The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield
2. You’ll master the art of first impressions
When you’re constantly on the move as a digital nomad, meeting new people is a near daily occurrence. This fact alone gives you plenty of opportunities to practice first impressions, whether you want to or not. However, if you are intentional, you can learn a lot from these first impressions.
The people you meet as a digital nomad are not your average strangers. Yes, you will probably become the master of cafe barista chatter. And yes, you may learn how to appease the questioning first glances of divey bartenders. But, by nature of your travel, you will regularly find yourself running into people who are accustomed to meeting strangers. It is these interactions that can teach you the most.
If you choose to Airbnb-skip across the country like I did, then let your hosts be your teachers. After a handful of check-ins, you will learn what you like when you arrive at a new location.
- Are they quick and to the point, or do they take time to make sure I’m settled in?
- Do they ask questions about my travels, or do they rant about their rotation of guests?
- Are they forthcoming with recommendations, or do they simply say, “consult the Guest Guide”?
If you’re paying attention, you’ll know that the time and attention they take to make you feel welcome pays relational dividends for your entire stay.
Even if you find yourself in a total ghosttown, you can use a practiced first impression to get some excellent travel recommendations.
Early in my trip I stayed at a city-that-shall-not-be-named (yet) in Iowa. Friends and family members discouraged me from going there. And yet, one of the best interactions from my whole journey took place in that little city. It happened when I stepped inside a family-run bookstore.
As soon as I entered the bookstore, the owner identified me as an out-of-towner. “Can I help you?” she asked in a half-curious, half-threatening way. In situations like these, I’ve learned the most helpful (and entertaining) thing to do is to share one of my Rules of Travel (stay tuned for the whole list). They tend to be disarming.
“Hi! Oh, I just can’t walk by a bookstore and not go inside.”
Instantaneous relief flashed across the woman’s face, followed by an understanding smile. She waved her hand. “I know what you mean. Make yourself at home.”
After that it’s all compliments and questions: “I love the way you’ve decorated these bookshelves!”
“Oh, thank you. My daughter does all the artwork.”
“Is this your family business?”
“Yes, my mother started it in Cedar Rapids before she moved to LA and we moved the store up here.”
“Very cool! I just drove from California myself.”
“Drove!?”
Twenty minutes later I had a list of three places to check out in Cedar Rapids, three places to check out in Los Angeles, and one more recommendation that I take the California Zephyr train the next time I come to the midwest.
These kinds of run-ins with strangers can happen every day, and they only enhance your digital nomad journey.
3. You’ll become familiar with the pros & cons of being a stranger
One fact of digital nomad life is that, for varying periods of time, you will be in places where you are a complete and total stranger. A practiced first impression can alleviate some of the discomfort of this dynamic. But the more you travel the more you will realize there are some unavoidable pros and cons to being a stranger everywhere you go.
One pro to being a stranger is that there are little-to-no consequences for a bad first impression. Let’s face it, sometimes you botch the pre-coffee meet-n-great with the new Airbnb housemate. And other times you simply misread someone and say something silly. Regardless, remember this time-tested nomadic motto: Don’t worry, you’ll probably never see them again.
Another pro to being a stranger is that you always have something interesting to add to a conversation. Just think of the last place you visited. Grand Canyon? Niagara Falls? The National Mall? Literally anywhere in Maine? That right there is an instant conversation enhancer, so share the nuggets of your travel wisdom at will.
However, as exciting as it can be to meet new people, there are a couple downsides to being a stranger. The first is that people tend to be less invested in getting to know you. When one of the first things people learn about you is that you’re driving around the country exploring, the initial reaction might be excitement. And that might be followed by curiosity. But unless you manage to connect with people on a deeper level, don’t expect anyone to be forward with extending invitations. Because in the back of their mind they’ve also registered that, after you leave, they too will probably never see you again.
The other major con of being a total stranger is that people are naturally more suspicious of you. I don’t mean this in a cautious manner — although one time a lady did challenge me and ask what the heck I was doing by myself at a carnival light show. Hint: telling the truth and explaining that you’re a digital nomad checking the show out on the recommendation of your Airbnb hosts doesn’t go over so well when people are afraid you might be a stalker of some sorts…Opt for the white lie. “You see, ma’am, my girlfriend flaked on me, and, well, I wasn’t about to let my ticket go to waste.”
The more common reason people tend to be suspicious of you is because you simply don’t fit in. Never ordered at Culver’s before? What the frick is wrong with you? You pay with a SoFi credit card? Where the hell are you from? Oh, and my personal favorite… Don’t know any friends or family in St. Thomas, Canada? Then what in God’s good and holy name are you doing here? There’s no getting around these moments. You just have to accept that they’re all part of the journey.
4. You’ll learn how comfortable you are (or aren’t) with your own thoughts
How much time do you normally spend in peace and quiet? Do you know what it’s like to be by yourself for hours on the road? What about going to sleep alone in bed night after night? How many days can you go without talking to someone you know?
I don’t want to put too much weight on this one, but it can’t be ignored. When you choose a lifestyle that provides a lot of freedom, you have to be open to the conditions that kind of freedom comes with. There is no right, wrong, good, or bad answer here. But, depending on your response to those questions, you can learn a lot about yourself. And that can be a valuable lesson worth the discomfort.
Now, at risk of sounding like a post-new-age woo-woo guru who thinks he knows what he’s talking about because he had a lot of time to himself, let me expand on this.
Your level of comfort with your own thoughts isn’t precisely quantitative, but if there were ever a time to quantify your level of comfort, your time on the road is the time! Every hour of every day is a data point of sorts if you simply let yourself entertain the question: Am I comfortable with my thoughts right now?
Are you blasting old Metallica albums because you’re in the mood for some headbangers? Or because you don’t want to sit in silence?
Are you listening to the first hundred episodes of No Such Thing As A Fish because you want to learn some funny new facts? Or because you’re afraid of being bored?
Are you calling your third college roommate because you’re genuinely curious about how he’s doing? Or because you don’t want to think about all the friends you left behind when you moved?
I’m not here to offer solutions (sorry, I’m not actually a post-new-age digital nomad woo-woo guru…yet), but the more I honestly reflected on why I was avoiding silence, the easier it was for me to embrace silence. Which I’m thankful for, because there is a ton of silence on the road. And the road is a lot more fun when you can enjoy all it has to offer — including solitary silence.
Ok, enough about being alone and by yourself and probably a little sad at times. It’s time to talk about the best reason to go on a digital nomad adventure by yourself!
5. You’ll learn what you really want in life
Ok, I admit, now I definitely sound like a post-new-age digital nomad woo-woo guru. We’re gonna need an acronym for this…How about “a PNA DG woo-woo”?…Nah, I’m not buying it, but I’m open to ideas!
Let’s start with some basic observations:
One. By hitting the road you are, for a time, willing to depart from your permanent residence and explore places where you have little-to-no roots.
Two. By going by yourself you are, for a time, willing to live without an immediate sense of relational security.
Three. By working remotely you are taking full responsibility for your time.
When you have nearly full control of your schedule, the world is your oyster, and nobody is there to micromanage you…what are you going to do?
Speaking personally, the first thing I did was throw a ton of my free time to the wind! This freedom is disorienting, and it’s easier to distract yourself from the fact that you have such freedom than to actually explore it. So, how much time did I throw at amping my ELO score on chess.com? Unquantifiable. (But my score did go up!)
The only reason I broke the cycle of disconcerting time-wasting was because of a lucky encounter. One month of my journey was in Silver Spring, MD, just outside of Washington D.C. And one of my eight Airbnb housemates happened to play chess, too. (Yes, eight! Too many if you ask me.)
He didn’t just play chess, but he immersed himself in the chess community. As soon as he found out that chess was how I “spent” my free time, he practically dragged me to DuPont Circle where — unbeknownst to me — one of the greatest public chess communities in the USA resides. Suddenly, I had no excuse for keeping my chess play indoors.
A couple things happened when I played chess with the wonderful people at DuPont Circle. First, I had fun (surprise!). Second, I got a sense for what my life could be like if I continued to seek out chess communities in person. And third, I realized that I didn’t actually want to be in a chess community.
When I knew that in-person chess wasn’t for me, my desire to keep playing the game online lessened. I still loved the game (and I still love it today), but I couldn’t ignore the fact that chess wasn’t the context I wanted for friendships. This meant I had to ask myself, What kind of friendships DO I want?
In your non-nomadic life, you don’t have many opportunities to ask yourself this question. In all likelihood you have hobbies and friendships, and hopefully you are content with them. But when you are neck deep in digital nomad life, everything is fluid — even hobbies and friendships. And the sooner you realize this, the sooner you can get to exploring the kinds of hobbies and friendships you DO want in your life.
For me, I accepted the fact that I wanted a romantic relationship more than I had ever given myself credit for (we’ll unpack this in some future articles), I wanted to read more, and I wanted to write more. I spent the rest of my road trip reorienting my time around pursuing these desires. It was one of the best transformations I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to be discontent when you spend most of your time doing what you actually want to do and with people you actually want to be with.
There are more opportunities today than ever before to combine work and travel. I did it by myself on the road. You can do it in the air with a friend (four-legged or otherwise).
If you have the chance, I recommend seeing the country by yourself. You will learn so much about yourself, and you will almost certainly be a better person for it. If nothing else, you’ll have tons of stories to share. Who knows, you might start a blog!
You might even choose to write a book. (More on that below…)
I love exploring the country and having new experiences, but not as much as I love writing. For me, writing is one of the greatest joys in life, which is why I’m so thankful to work for a company like Write it Great.
At Write it Great, I work with a team of top-calibre writers to help get other people’s ideas out into the world. I do this by ghostwriting books.
Thoughtful, well-written books have the power to change the world. At Write it Great we take pride in producing as many books for positive change as humanly possible.
If you have an idea that you think can change the world, we’d love to hear about it! Connect with us at hello@writeitgreat.com, and we’ll tell you how we can ghostwrite your book in 25 weeks! You can also visit our website to learn more.
