Several lessons I have learnt after 1 year of being digital nomad.
Time
It takes time to settle down after traveling. For first few days you don't want to work. You will want to look around. Find a grocery. Visit interesting places around you or go swimming in the sea. It took me around 2-5 days to find some routine to fully focus on work after every relocation. Give yourself one week of vacation before the work. You wanted to travel at the first place, so don't feel guilty about it. That is one of the reasons it is good idea to stay at one place for at least three weeks.
Friends
Majority of digital nomads are traveling alone. Only few have a partner who can work remotely. One of the aspects of this lifestyle is that you are leaving your friends at home. I strongly recommend to stay in touch by some social media. Also don't hesitate to be friendly and make new intercultural friends. Without people around, you will feel lonely. New friendships are totally worth going out of the comfort zone so you are not alone on your dream journey.
Self-Discipline and Progress
You have to be your own boss. Especially if you have left your corporate job. There are no universal tips. Find habits that work for you. For me it's to do at least one thing on my project so I am one step closer towards my dream. Often when I start something, I continue for several hours, because of the enthusiasm and adrenaline, that my work gives me.
Internet connection and offline work
If you are digital nomad, good internet is a must. At least for few hours a day. However there are days, when you would like to travel to places without connection. That can be great to get uninterrupted period of time with pure focus on your work. You won't be tempted by mails or social networks, nor the online reading. What you need to know is that you really need to prepare beforehand. You need to plan what you will be doing to be sure you don't need to google something out or that you won't be stuck at some problem.
For example as a programmer when I am going to code some new features outside, I have backup plan to review and clean old code, in case I will be stuck without internet. In the end I have several hours of deep focus work.
Social requirements and minimalism
After several months of being digital nomad I had to fight urge to find a job. Recruiters are contacting me frequently. Every time I think, whether I should get back to well-paid fulltime job. One of the reasons is that at the beginning, startups are not earning a lot of money. I am developing android apps. For example Intermittent fasting. However with the huge market, it's difficult to earn a monthly income.
Social pressure of having a normal job, saving money for pension or family is unexpectedly strong. I didn't count with it before. I often feel like doing something bad. I feel guilty about working this way. Our society created urges like this in us. Our schools don't prepare us for real life. Schools didn't give us space to experiment with our own passions and project ideas, nor startups before leaving to real world jobs.
However, I just cannot give up on my project so soon. I would rather live with little money, than to know that I didn't try or gave up easily. After fully accepting my decision, it is now much easier to continue.
My determination to succeed with my project is one of the strong reasons I am such a passionate minimalist. Minimalism gave me a freedom and money to go after my dreams. It simplified my life so I have better progress on my goals.
If you would like to get inspired and read about minimalism and simplicity, you can check out my series Adventures Of Simplicity: https://steemit.com/@ladywoodi :)
Lovely post, it's so interesting to hear about other people's work lives!
I agree with you about trying to not give up despite the societal pressures to find a real job with all the included 'benefits'. There's plenty of time for that if you feel the need to do so in the future - even if you find a 'real job' at 50, you'll probably still be working till 70. I think it would be much harder to be a minimalist in that context as well!
Very inspiring :)
Thank you for nice and encouraging words. :-)
I just quit my full time job in order to mainly work for myself. I have a part time digital job that I can do from anywhere and then i have my own projects that I am developing , including the Minimalism consulting one that you read about. I am excited I found you , too because I have been struggling more than I thought I would be with these same things you mentioned. part of my problem is I have a few new startup things at once. It's been hard to tend to them all evenly, including Steemit. I have been addressing this feeling of being pulled in all directions by kind of having a theme for each day, and catching up on only those things that day, and not allowing myself to get distracted with the others. Your post is inspiring because I hope to travel a little this summer and try out the nomad lifestyle .
I wish you good luck with your plans. It's difficult and brave decision and there is so much work before us, but it so much worth it! :-)
I hope you will find time to travel too, it's awesome experience. The feeling of such a freedom.
Btw I have found out that minimalism can be used at work too and it can improve results greatly. :-) What do you think?
I certainly wish that the guilt wouldn't bother you :) I think it's great and responsible to choose a suitable career for yourself. Requires courage, for sure. I also think that variety, diversity is a good thing, and this applies to lifestyle as well. I explore minimalism (to some degree) myself, works great for me :) You can always earn the 'lost' money back, but you can never get back the time that has passed. I'm telling this from a perspective of someone who hasn't been travelling far for some time now- which is quite painful. Besides, I'm trying to learn a new attitude towards self-care, meaning- giving yourself right to relax, chillax, not work all the freaking time ;) and this works wonders for me ;D
Thank you for a very cool and thought-provoking read @ladywoodi!
All the best,
Klaudia
Hello Klaudia,
That is interesting comment. Thank you for encouragement. :-)
I wish you good luck with self time. I found out myself how important that is. :-)
Congratulations to your first year! So happy to run into more and more Travel Bloggers and Digital Nomads on Steemit. Take a look at our Steemit Traveler Group on Discord. Hope to to see you there!
Nice and very inspiring. I' d like to become a digital nomad one day :) Sounds perfect for me and my life preferences. But it seems to me that you need to build self-discipline first, to be somehow successful. What do you do to stay focused and continue everyday? What do you do not to loose your motivation?