How to Reclaim Years of Your Life by Becoming a Digital Nomad
The staggering amount of time you can save by working remotely.
As the next few years tick by, a new reality will become strikingly clear:
digital nomads and remote workers have significant advantages over location-based knowledge workers.
Make no mistake — digital nomads already have an edge when it comes to:
- Earning Potential
- Saving Money and Building Wealth
- Entrepreneurial Opportunities
- Career Development
- Innovation and Capturing Insights
- Creative Endeavors
- Enhanced Work-Life Balance
- Better Health and Fitness
- Growing A Professional & Personal Network
- Higher Quality Sleep
- Greater Travel Opportunities
- Other Perks Across Life Domains
Why? How is this so?
Well, there are many reasons, but for the purposes of this article I’m going to highlight one of the most important ones:
more time.
We all know that time is the great equalizer. Everyone has the same amount.
Or do we? ⏳
It’s true — we all have 24 hours in a day, but digital nomads have the opportunity to recover time that’s usually spent on generally-accepted but low-value activities. Until society rejects the industrial model of commuting to a central place of work on a mass scale, those working from home will have an edge.
Marginal Gains In Time Make a Big Difference
According to the theory of marginal gains, the aggregation of tiny, continuous improvements each day can add up to big results. If you had just 1% more time to dedicate towards your goals every day, it would have a significant effect on the outcome.
But what if you had 10, 20, or 30% more time every year to invest in your business or personal development?
What kind of difference would that make in your life?
What kind of impact could you have in the world?
For remote workers, that slight edge can morph into a horizon of endless possibilities.
Time — when used wisely — can mean the difference between success and mediocrity.
According to my calculations, location-independent professionals can save 150–200 hours per month, which represents sunk time to traditional employees. With 730 hours in a month, that’s about a 20% gain.
Imagine the compound effect of an extra 1,000 or 2,000 hours per year over 10 years. According to Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule, that’s plenty of time to achieve expert status in a couple of new fields. Or maybe even change the world.
As a long-time digital nomad, I’ve witnessed this dynamic first hand. While that doesn’t mean remote workers always use their time wisely, it does mean they have more options.
Where Do Digital Nomads Save Time?
Here are a few ways working from home can help you recover time that was previously lost to seemingly non-negotiable, everyday activities.
- Eliminating the daily commute (200–500 hours per year)
Avoiding rush hour is an obvious timesaver. The typical US employee spends an average of 30 minutes commuting to and from work each day. It goes up from there. When you’re remote, you choose where you work — whether it’s at home, a nearby co-working space, or your local coffee shop. Crisis averted.
“Having a group of people come together in an office [is] not worth the commute. The idea of losing three or four hours a day on a bus or in a car is just mind blowing. Life is too short.” — Kevin Casey of New Avenue Homes, a fully-distributed architecture firm in California
- Never going to meetings (250–500 hours per year)
Another doozy. There’s not too much to say here other than most of us agree that meetings are a giant waste of time. As a remote worker, you’re largely excluded from the black hole of daily or weekly meetings. That being said, you might have some extra video conferencing calls, emails, or Slack messages to attend to. No big deal.
“Meetings are toxic.” — Basecamp
- Not having to “get ready” for work (100+ hours per year)
I think people underestimate the amount of time they spend getting ready for work, putting on make-up, shopping for business attire, and so on. When you work remotely, you can save considerable time and money in this arena.
- Getting rid of office distractions and busy work (750 hours per year)
The average office worker loses three hours per day to interruptions. Sure, it’s possible to get distracted at home, too. People can be their own worst enemies when it comes to getting things done. But working remotely dramatically increases your opportunities for engaging in deep, focused work. You can end up getting much more done in less time. Plus, there’s no need to “pretend” to work because you’re on the clock until 5pm. Office distractions cost companies billions of dollars annually. Until companies replace open offices with flexible work policies, there’s no end in sight to this type of unnecessary waste.
- Outsourcing or batching household tasks (450–800 hours per year)
Time-saving perks like having a private chef, maid, or assistant are no longer reserved for the wealthiest in society.
These days, many remote workers are taking advantage of being able to live anywhere in the world by engaging in a type of “geo-arbitrage,” where they earn a western income while living in a developing country. Because there’s a wide enough spread between their income and cost-of-living, they can afford to outsource everyday tasks like household chores.
For example, here are the typical costs of basic services in a country like Argentina or Bulgaria:
- Wash/dry/fold laundry is $2–3 per load (Many establishments also offer free delivery!)
- Maids are $10–20 per day
- Private chefs are $20–30 per day plus the cost of food
Add a virtual assistant into the mix, and you’ve freed up more time than you could have ever imagined.
So, let’s add it up:
Total Potential Time Savings: 1,750–2,650 hours per year = 20–30% of 8,760 total hours in a year
What Can You Use Your Newfound Free Time For?
Anything you want! —
- Working on your side hustle
- Spending time with family or friends
- Playing games
- Sleeping
- Reading
- Relaxing
- Traveling
- Writing
- Exercising
- Practicing sports
- Creating content
- Picking up a new hobby
- Engaging in deliberate practice
As I mentioned in the introduction, having more time + fewer distractions can create a ripple effect of positive benefits that spill over into other areas of life — from sleep quality to fitness level to creativity and innovation.
Keep this in mind the next time you’re stuck in traffic, cramped in the subway, or struggling to stay awake during a staff meeting. Going remote could solve your problems. If you need some help, check out the below article.
Are there downsides to working from home?
Sure — here are six of them. Nothing is perfect. But the benefits to a remote lifestyle are undeniable.
The future belongs to the digital nomads.
What would you do with >1,000 more hours per year? Let’s discuss in the comments.
Kristin Wilson has spent nearly half of her life living and working in foreign countries. When she’s not traveling, snowboarding, or running her relocation company online, she spends most of her free time researching and writing about the digital nomad lifestyle and remote work revolution. You can catch up with her on Medium, YouTube, and Instagram.
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