How to Make the Most of Being a Digital Nomad
You did it (whew!) — you’re a digital nomad, living the dream. It’s the holy grail in 2018. The epitome of Yolo. So now what?
Uh, don’t blow it, basically.
But how do you go about seizing the proverbial day and literal opportunity of living anywhere you want in the world, doing what you want for work?
After about 15 years of experiencing this type of lifestyle, I have a few ideas on how you can make the most of your new life. Let’s take a look.
Establish Why You Chose This Lifestyle and Remind Yourself Often
Knowing why you became a digital nomad will serve you well along your journey. If you don’t establish a clear why for your life and lifestyle, at some point you will arrive at the digital nomad version of the quarter/mid-life/existential crisis where you have no idea what you’re doing or why.
Recognizing why you wanted this lifestyle in the first place will help you stay on your path and be able to identify when it’s time for a change. This is important because you will evolve — greatly — and possibly at a more rapid pace than your peers, friends or family members who are living within the traditional status quo.
Go get lost in the world but don’t lose yourself in the process.
Work. Hard.
If you don’t put in enough work, you will run out of money, and your nomadic journey will come to an anticlimactic end — or at least a lengthy pause while you go back home to try to start over. It doesn’t just happen to disillusioned travel bloggers either.
There are plenty of nomads living paycheck-to-paycheck, and that’s possible as well, although it’s not ideal. I regularly meet digital nomads with less than $300 to their names. This is risky, stressful and wholly preventable with some planning, organization and hard work.
If you slack off for too long, you will find limitation in where and how you can live. You’ll never be able to shake off that creeping anxiety about money. Inevitably, you’ll begin to lose your sense of purpose and motivation because you aren’t applying yourself or training your mental muscle.
The point of going nomadic is to be able to work on your terms, not stop working completely. Dial in your daily routine, put systems in place that work for you, and get shit done.
Take Care of Yourself
There is a tendency to over-indulge when traveling, and this is amplified exponentially when you travel full-time.
On the flip side, if you operate from a single home base, you could end up working too many hours per day. Without the built-in structure and rhythm of commuting to a separate work space you can lose your work-life balance.
Keep your health in check when it comes to nutrition, exercise and mental well-being.
Be Part of a Community
There’s no way around it — we are genetically predisposed to co-exist in tribes or communities and lean on others throughout life to survive and be fulfilled. Isolating yourself in an Airbnb in some corner of the world is viable for a while, but eventually, you will need to find your tribe.
How do you do this? There are infinite ways to connect with others. You can connect around hobbies and common interests, lifestyle, career, or by geographic location. You can connect virtually or in-person. You can join a coworking space, one of the thousands of meetup groups or start your own.
For a shortcut to get started, check out my list of “15 Top Digital Nomad Communities for Networking.”
Help Others
Have you ever said you wanted to help people or work with people? For whatever reason, that’s a thing humans say they want to do, but few of us do it without expecting something in return.
We know that money doesn’t buy happiness and that greater fulfillment comes from giving back and helping others, so try it — especially now that you have complete control over your time.
Be Creative and Think Big About What You’re Doing and Where You’re Living
In our day and age, you can go almost anywhere and do almost anything — so what do you do? This is a fascinating dilemma — one which never ceases to humble and amaze me.
First of all, try to fight the urge to go to the top trending places for nomads. You know what I’m talking about: Chiang Mai, Portugal, etc. Nomad hotspots are typically popular for a reason — they provide low cost of living, fast internet, good weather, coworking, social or networking opportunities.
However, before you make a snap decision to buy a one-way ticket to Bali, make sure you like tropical weather, surfing, yoga, or some of the other features that location has to offer.
Would you be happier somewhere else?
Is there anything you’ve always wanted to learn or do?
Maybe you should check out a silent meditation retreat in Northern California, join a programming boot camp in Amsterdam, get certified in smart cars from Germany, volunteer to save the rhinos in Africa, or learn Russian in St. Petersburg. What’s on your bucket list?
Make sure your ideas are your own rather than peeled of the pages of Nomad List or Reddit.
For some of my favorite underrated destinations for digital nomads, check out:
Read 📚 7 Digital Nomad Destinations for 2018
Watch 🎥 Why Costa Rica Makes a Good Digital Nomad Destination
And below: Europe Off the Beaten Path 💻
Get to Know Yourself Really Well
When you temporarily — or permanently — leave your former job, home and the people who know you best, you are also shedding some part of your identity. Your sense of self may begin to waver, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as you can drop habits and situations that don’t truly serve you.
The longer you are out traveling or working for yourself, the more free time and permission you will have to get to know yourself without being as clouded by others’ opinions. You can reinvent yourself, meditate more, read, blend in with the crowd in a new city or just figure out what you like to do when you aren’t influenced by a romantic partner or childhood friends.
It’s common for societal elders to remark on how the trade-off with getting older isn’t so bad because you figure out what you like, and you don’t care what people think anymore. Being a digital nomad is like skipping a few decades and coming to that realization a lot sooner. Embrace the opportunity!
Conclusion
The opportunity to design your lifestyle and work for yourself (or remotely) from anywhere in the world is a recent and wonderful phenomenon — one we should all be deeply grateful for.
So, get creative, work hard, give back, get to know and love yourself, and always remember to seize the day!
