TMD 013 : 9 Annoying Distractions For Digital Nomads and “The Riot in India” with Boom Shikha

LT: So, first off, the first question I do have to ask is, how do I say your name properly? Because, having an English accent, I’m probably going to say it wrong.

BS: It’s Shikha. So there’s an emphasis on the “kha”, like, “Sonikha”. So Shikha is my name; my real name. Boom Shikha is just my nickname online; that’s what I use everywhere online. So you can call me Boom, if that’s easier, but Boom Shikha is what I use online.

LT: So Shikha.

BS: Yeah.

LT: Perfect. Cool.

BS: That’s perfect. That’s perfect, yeah.

LT: So, Shikha, welcome to the show. I know you were recently in Korea, but you’re now back in Thailand, if that’s correct?

BS: Yes, in Chiang Mai.

LT: Perfect. So how are you finding Chiang Mai right now?

BS: It’s such an interesting culture here. I’ve been raised and brought up in a lot of different countries. My parents moved around a lot when I was young, so I’m kind of used to being in different cultures. But Chiang Mai itself has a really, really interesting aura around it. I really like being in this energy field. I know I’m going to say a lot of words that might seem very hokey-pokey to you guys, but that’s how I look at the world so I hope that it makes sense. So the energy here is actually amazing. The people here are so kind; really, really generous with their time; with their money; with whatever you might think. And I just love being in the community here, even if the country itself is a little dirty obviously, which is expected; you know, it’s a third world country. And also there’s a lot of air pollution, so it’s hard to breathe sometimes. Besides all of those things, I love Chiang Mai; I really do.

LT: Yeah. Chiang Mai is somewhere that I haven’t been to yet in Thailand; I never really went north of Bangkok. But it’s high on my list as, like, the next place to go to after Canada, for sure.

BS: I absolutely recommend it. It’s one of those places where you might hear a lot of things about it, but you have to actually live here to actually experience it. Just like most countries, I believe.

LT: Yeah. True. So I did give you a bit of an introduction during the intro to this episode, but if you would like to introduce yourself to the audience; you know, give a little bit of background who you are and sort of, like, how you ended up being in Thailand.

BS: I am actually a major corporate person. I used to work in a 9 to 5 field for about nine or 10 years before I decided that it wasn’t for me. The funny thing is that I think I realised this, like, a billion years ago. When I was first born, I think I was a gypsy right out of the gate. I have stories of me running away from home when I was a three or four years old. So I think I was always like this. But, I mean, I wanted to please my parents; you know, I wanted to be that quintessential successful person. I wanted to have that home, you know; that family; that two and a half kids, whatever it might be. And so I decided I was going to follow the path that everyone follows. I went to university; I got a masters; I did my business school; and I worked in a corporate field. But I wouldn’t say I hated it, because I’m lucky and I had great bosses. But I was dissatisfied. There was always something that was kind of pulling me towards doing more or being more, and I always felt restless.

And just last year I decided, you know, maybe there’s a reason for this; maybe I should start my own business. And the thing that tipped me over was reading the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. If you haven’t read it, I totally, totally recommend it. Amazing book. And in that – one line specifically stood out for me. It said, “If you are afraid of doing something, it means it’s necessary for the evolution of your soul.” And I realised that I was afraid of starting my own online business; I was afraid of becoming a DN, a digital nomad; and I was afraid of quitting my job because I knew that it was the next step in the evolution of my journey, in my – whatever you want to call it; my enlightenment or whatever it is. And so I decided I was going to do it, freaking out the whole time. My heart was pounding like crazy and I was sweating like a pig, but I finally decided to do it. I told my boss, “I’m leaving.” And she said, “It took you long enough.” I mean, it was coming and she could see it; everyone around me could see it. It was just I couldn’t see it myself.

And so I quit. And a few months later I started meeting a lot of people from Chiang Mai online, and I think – it was kind of like a sign from the universe, you know. You’re doing good enough, you’re already doing a lot of work, but you need to start getting moving again because that’s when I get more creative and I am moving and travelling. That’s when the juices flow better for me. I think I need to keep on moving throughout my life; that’s just who I am. So I decided to move to Chiang Mai, just for six months, and I moved here October 1st. At first I was doing a coaching business and I was doing a lot of meditation and things like that, and slowly but surely a lot of people started asking me, “Can you teach us how to become a DN?” And because I’d been doing this and I was able to relate to these people because I was still in the beginning stages of my journey, a lot of people I was able to coach them through their own beginnings as well, to help them start their DN journey, their digital nomad journey. And so I’ve been doing coaching on the side; I’ve been doing creativity workshops; I’ve been doing a lot of other things as well. And that’s how I’m making my money while I’m travelling. I’m obviously still in the negative, just to be transparent, but I am not really worried about it. I have savings and I’m going to keep on moving and working. But in my mind, there’s one thing that I’m never going back to which is a 9 to 5, no matter what I have to do. I will clean toilets; I will – I don’t care what the hell I have to do, but I am not going to back to a 9 to 5. And that is a promise I made to myself as soon as I quit. I’m not going back. No matter what – I will do anything else that’s required of me, but I’m not going back.

LT: I definitely feel you there, for sure. So, like, the last thing I want to do is to go back to England. So, like, for myself, I’ve been sort of, like, making the most of working holiday visas whilst I’ve been, like, building my business up whilst I’ve been travelling. Because originally I wasn’t helping digital nomads out; I started off doing, like, personal training online. So, yeah, I’ve been making the most of working holiday visas. So, like, if, for whatever reason, like, the income isn’t quite high enough that month, then I can, you know, find, like, a part-time job or something, you know, just to bring yourself out of the red and into the black. So I definitely feel that desire not to go back to a regular 9 to 5.

BS: I can imagine. I think most people are like that, but what happens is that I think we use it as a backup plan. And whenever I feel like you have a backup plan, you’re less likely to be more passionate or more enthusiastic about your plan A. You know, you’re like, “Oh well, you know, if it doesn’t work out, I’m just going to go to my plan B.” Well, you’re not going to really put all of your eggs in your basket; you’re going to put all of your effort into your plan A if you feel like, “Okay, I can just go back to a 9 to 5.” So, for me, that’s the reason I tell myself, “No, you’re not going back to a 9 to 5.” Because if I have that as a second option, I won’t work as hard as I do right now. You know, I won’t wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to work on my business; I’ll just sleep in till 10, if I could.

LT: Yeah. That is definitely very good motivation to, like, get shit done and make sure that, yeah, you don’t have to go back to the life that you clearly hated beforehand so you can make sure that you stay in this new lifestyle that you’ve created for yourself. So they’re definitely good reasons. And this is one of the reasons why I also wanted to, like, get you on and help me co-host this show because, like you said before, you are sort of, like, new to, like, this nomad lifestyle and, you know, you’re now living in Chiang Mai helping other people do the same thing. So, yeah, like I said, this is the reason I wanted to get you on, to talk about our topic today, which we’re going to talk about the nine things that always cause distractions for digital nomads. So we went away. So we went away and we took some notes each. You know, you took five notes; I took four, because I struggled to come up with five myself. So the original plan was to do 10, but I was useless and ended up just getting four, so we changed it to nine.

RB: Don’t say useless. Positive thinking. Positive words. You were just distracted.

LT: Distracted, yeah. That could’ve been my number 10, thinking I’m useless; that’s distraction number 10.

RB: Exactly.

LT: Cool. So you want to kick things off with your first point, and then we’ll just go back and forth.

RB: Of course, yeah. So my first point, my first distraction, from actually working on my business, has always been travel. And it’s not just working on my business right now, but it’s even in my 9 to 5. I love, love to travel. I love to see new cultures, new places. I’m always looking for when is my next trip. I’m always looking forward to that. So right now, being in Asia, which – the flights here are so cheap that it makes me want to cry sometimes that I’m actually in Chiang Mai only. Obviously I’m here focusing on my business and I love it. I’m loving it when I’m here, but a lot of times I’ll have this feeling, “Oh my god, it’s only $100 to go to Malaysia. Oh my goodness.” I have to go. I have to go. I mean, come on, I’m doing myself a disservice and my future self a disservice, and my past self a disservice, if I don’t go to Malaysia for $100 when it costs $1500 to $2000 to come to Malaysia from Toronto, which is where I’m originally from, right. So thinking that way, there’s so many places here that are so cheap to go to that I’m always thinking I want to go travel. But then when I’m travelling – and I mean the kind of travel where I’m moving around from place to place, sightseeing, etcetera – there’s not a lot of time really to do work. I will get maybe a couple of hours in the morning, if I get up really early, but I’m so exhausted all the time because physically travelling and mentally, you know, is exhausting; it’s tiring. So I know that - - -

LT: Yeah, I’ve - - -

RB: Sorry, go on.

LT: I was about to say, you know, I felt the same when I was in Australia and Fiji scuba diving every day.

RB: Yes.

LT: You know, doing all that cool shit and then trying to do work on your business afterwards.

RB: Yeah.

LT: Yeah, it’s near on possible. So, yeah, you do have to sort of, like, restrain yourself a little bit from doing some of the cool travel things.

RB: It’s tiring, yeah. Definitely. And so how I’ve kind of taken care of that is that I work for three weeks of the month and then I travel for a week, and that’s how I’m setting up my life here so that I get my travel time as well and I get my work time. And also when I come back from my travel, I’m so motivated to go back to work that I spend maybe 12 or 15 hours a day working on my business because I’m just so excited to be back. And so that actually kind of negates all the time that I took off from it. So maybe this would work for some people; I don’t know if it works for you, but that’s what I’ve been doing.

LT: No, that is quite, like, a decent sort of, like, split actually; three weeks working, one week off. And then still – like, when you read, say, like Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Work Week, he talks about taking sort of, like, mini-vacations.

RB: True, true. Yeah, he does.

LT: Or a bit more, like, mini, like, retirement breaks. You know, this is like the perfect example of it. And like you said, once you do get back, you are, like, energised and refreshed that, you know, you can go back to do some of those, like, 12-hour work days without feeling like your business has become sort of, like, a drain on you.

RB: Right, right. Exactly. And I just want to add onto this that, for me, travel is the reason I’m becoming a digital nomad. I’m not becoming a DN because I want to – I love my business and I love what I’m doing, but travel is a major part of the reason I became a DN. So I don’t want to completely get away from that either. So, for me, one of my major values is travel. For other people, it might not be. So you have to decide what is important to you, and you have to figure out how you’re going to integrate that into your life. As DNs, we’re basically engineering our own lives the way we want it to be. So I want everyone to kind of think about that; like, what does engineering your life mean to you. And that’s what I tell my coaching clients as well: how do you want your life to look like, ideally, and how are you going to make that happen. Because it is possible; anything is possible, really.

LT: Yeah. And especially if you’re in a location like Chiang Mai where everything is a little bit cheaper – well, not a little bit cheaper; it’s a lot cheaper compared to, like, somewhere, like, the Western countries, you know. You don’t need to be making so much money to be able to live this sort of lifestyle either.

RB: Exactly. Exactly.

LT: Fantastic. So the point I would like to bring up is socialising too much. So something that I struggled with a lot in the early days, especially when I was in Thailand, and is one of the reasons why my first business failed was that I partied too much. I ended up – well, I went from being, like, the shy, quiet guy, you know, that probably went out three times a year for, like, birthdays to being in Thailand for 27 days and drinking and partying for 25 of them. So, yeah.

RB: Amazing. That sounds like a lot of fun, though.

LT: It was absolutely incredible for stories and, you know, enjoying Thailand whilst I was there.

RB: Yeah.

LT: But it was detrimental to my business.

RB: I can imagine.

LT: It ended up, yeah, like – I pretty much ended up running it into the ground. Not whilst I was in Thailand, but, you know, that was just the start of it.

RB: Right.

LT: So, you know, either partying too much or, you know, even just, like, going out and socialising with people that you meet in different countries too much, it’s going to take you away from, like, doing the work in your business that’s actually supporting this lifestyle of yours. You know, like you said, you know, you like to do three weeks of work and then taking that one week, like, vacation or one week of travelling. You know, you need to, you know, figure out, like, a routine or whatever so, you know, you are doing work in your business so you can continue to support this lifestyle. So even though I am a big fan of partying, you know, you need to, like, limit yourself. 25 days out of 27 is probably a little bit too much.

RB: It’s funny you mention that because I walk around a lot around Chiang Mai and I’ll see some people who start drinking at 10 am in the morning, and I’m just thinking to myself, “What are you guys doing?” I mean, I know alcohol is cheap here but, for god’s sake, it’s 10 o’clock in the morning. It’s insane to me. I just can’t believe it.

LT: Yeah. The only thing that I would recommend that you do go and party hard in, if you can do it, is if you went to the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan. That was absolutely insane.

RB: Yes. And I am doing that.

LT: Yeah.

RB: Yeah, for sure. No, those are my favourite parties. I love them. So I’m going to Koh Phangan for the New Year’s Full Moon Party, definitely. Yeah.

LT: Perfect.

RB: Yeah.

LT: So yeah. So don’t socialise too much, but socialise enough that you can enjoy yourself. But make sure you’re getting shit done in your business too.

RB: Definitely. Definitely. I agree completely.

LT: Awesome. So your next point is?

RB: So I think this is a point that’s valid for all entrepreneurs, all people in general I think, not just DNs, but shiny object syndrome. This is something that bothered me or affected me even when I was back in Toronto. I wanted to take every single course I came through; Facebook; I wanted to, you know, grab every single software that I came across that was good for my business. I wanted to just grab on every shiny object that came across me. Like, it doesn’t even have to be related to my business; it could be just related to life in general. But it was really distracting because instead of actually doing the work, I was looking for that magic bullet. So I was looking for maybe that course will transform my business or that piece of software will transform my business, where in reality, like in real fact, all that is going to help my business is real work every single day, consistently, slow and steady, all the time. That’s the only thing that was going to move me forward, but obviously I am thinking, “No, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that. I’m going to do this.” And so I really, really, really right now I’ve cut off all subscriptions on my email; I have, like, Facebook, all the ads have been turned off for me. I make sure I don’t see any ads and I see no emails from other entrepreneurs selling stuff because if I do, I’m going to want to buy everything. And really what I need to do right now is focus on content creation, creating my podcast, talking to people like you, etcetera.

LT: Yeah. I mean, that was definitely something that I, like, struggled with in the beginning. I probably purchased probably about three or four different sort of, like, start an online business, like, courses before I actually got started. And, yeah, like you said, it’s more to do with, like, the work that you put in. You’re going to learn a lot more, like, actually trying things out and, like, putting what you’re learning into practice, rather than keep on, like, reading and, you know, wasting your money on these things that you think’s going to take you to the next level, when really it’s just putting the work in that’s going to take you to the next level.

RB: Exactly. Exactly. And knowledge doesn’t really equate to action or success; it doesn’t mean that if you have this additional knowledge in your head that you’re actually going to put into action. And action is the only thing that’s actually going to create success. I know so many people who have so much knowledge about online business in their head, they watch so many videos and they’ve taken all these courses; they don’t even have a website yet. They haven’t actually done any real work yet for their business. They talk about it all the time, but they don’t do anything. Whereas me, I haven’t taken any courses, really – I’ve taken a couple maybe – but what I’m actually really good at it is action. And so I think that’s the reason I’m a little bit more successful in that regard than them, because what I think is most important is doing the work. And it’s so hard to actually just sit down and do the work; I totally get it. But that’s the one thing that’s going to help you. No shiny objects.

LT: Exactly. And that actually takes me onto one of the points that I’ve written down, and that is information overload.

RB: Yes.

LT: You know, that is, like, wasting time learning about things that you’re not ready to use yet in your business. You know, like the example that you said, you know, you don’t have a website up yet so you should not be looking up, like, sales funnels and Facebook ads and all that sort of stuff; you should be focused on learning what you need to learn to get your website up.

RB: Exactly.

LT: So, you know, there’s that thing called just-in-time learning. So you just, like, learn the things that you need to know right now and worry about everything else when it gets to it. You know, learn about Facebook ads when you need to start using Facebook ads; learn about sales funnels when you need to start building sales funnels. Don’t worry about anything else right now until you’ve learnt what you need to learn to get yourself to the next step.

RB: I actually like that a lot, just-in-time learning. I’ve never heard that term before, but that’s exactly how I do - - -

LT: Really?

RB: Yeah, that’s how I do everything; I just didn’t know there was a term associated with it. Awesome.

LT: Yeah. And I think that is one of the big distractions for people, for sure.

RB: Exactly, yeah. And there is – because, I mean, I love the internet. I love it. I mean, you’re in Canada; I’m in Thailand. We’re chatting as if we’re right next to each other. So I love the internet, but the internet can also be a big drain on our time and our energy because we can spend hours and hours and hours and hours and hours on it without realising that we’re not actually doing anything real; we’re just busying ourselves in learning. You know what I’m saying?

LT: Yeah.

RB: Yeah.

LT: Like, the same thing with one of your points about social media.

RB: Yes. Exactly. So, yeah, one of my points definitely is social media. And I think people are just sick of hearing about it, but it’s just so important. I see so many people – I mean, I stay at a lot of hostels and I’ll feel – I’ll wake up in the morning, I’ll be doing my morning pages which is something I do every morning, my journaling, and I’ll look around and everyone is in bed but they’re all on their phones on Facebook. So no one’s making a noise; no one’s talking to each other; and everyone’s quiet but they’re all in their beds on Facebook. And I just get so surprised because I always feel like, “I shouldn’t be making a noise.” But everyone is awake and on Facebook. So it’s such a waste of your time. Most of these people, instead of spending those two or three hours a day which we are spending on Facebook, if they could do something with it, they could literally start a successful business that’ll help them travel for eternity if they spent that time instead of, you know, being on Facebook.

I’m not saying that, you know, don’t spend any time on social media at all; obviously we need to be connected. I love social media because I have friends all over the world now and I want to stay in touch with them. I would never be able to get in contact with you, for example, if I didn’t have Facebook. So I love Facebook. But, you know, think about maybe limiting the amount of time that you spend on social media every single day, otherwise it’s really going to drain you, not only mentally but physically. It’s tiring.

LT: For sure. I mean, I just googled, like, how much, like, the average person, like, spends a day on just Facebook alone.

RB: Yeah.

LT: And according to the New York Times in May 2016, the average user spends roughly 50 minutes a day on Facebook.

RB: Wow. And I think that’s actually very low – on the low end of the scale, don’t you think?

LT: Well, based on my own personal usage, I’d probably say that’s about right. But, yeah, like you said, you know, people sit in bed for hours, especially if they end up getting into the whole of watching video after video after video on Facebook. Same with, like, YouTube too, you know.

RB: Yeah.

LT: I’m probably more known for getting into the YouTube hole.

RB: Yes.

LT: But, yeah, social media, you know, you do need to limit yourself. You know, I know people who, like, they turn all their notifications off on their phone and, like, off on their computer as well so, you know, they don’t have that distraction whilst they’re, like, doing work.

RB: Exactly.

LT: And, yeah, I agree. Social media, especially for people who are travelling, because, you know, you want to keep in contact with people back home, you know, you’re posting pictures online and all that sort of stuff, you do really need to be careful that you don’t fall into the hole of, like, spending too much time on social media that’s actually being, like, detrimental to the movement in your business, you know, making your business move forward.

RB: I love the fact that you said notifications because I think I read a stat somewhere that once you get distracted from a task that you’re doing, it takes you 50 minutes to go back to the level of productivity that you were at before the distraction. So every single time you get distracted, we are basically digging ourselves into a deeper and deeper and deeper hole. So cutting off notifications of Facebook or email or whatever it might be is such a great idea because you’re not focusing on getting distracted every single time; you’re just focused on the job that you’re doing.

LT: Definitely. And have you heard of the Pomodoro technique?

RB: No, I haven’t actually.

LT: So the Pomodoro technique is good for, like, people that get easily distracted. So basically – you know, you can get apps for this sort of stuff. But basically what it is is that you spend – I think it’s – I can’t remember if it’s 20 or 25 minutes, but you spend 20, 25 minutes sort of, like, head down doing work and then you take a five-minute break. And so that’s, like, classed as one cycle. And then so you do four cycles and then you take a 30-minute break. So, you know, you have these bouts of, like, extremely focused work and then you give yourself five minutes to, you know, be distracted. So instead of being distracted and, like you said, lose 50 minutes of your day, you’re only using five minutes and then, bang, straight back into doing what you’re doing because you know in 20, 25 minutes’ time you can, you know, go back and, you know, do all those things that could be more interesting than what you’re actually doing.

RB: Interesting. Okay. I’ll definitely look into that. Awesome.

LT: Yeah. I have an app on my phone that – I know you can get some for, like, Macs as well. But I’ve got one on my iPhone that I can sort of, like, adjust the working times. So I’ve found, like, a really good, like, breakdown for me is 45 minutes focus and then either 10 or 15 minutes, like, break.

RB: Yeah.

LT: And then, yeah, I do sort of, like, four of those which takes probably about four and a half hours.

RB: Yeah.

LT: And then I take a 45-minute break and then do it all over again, and then that’s, like, one solid work day done right there.

RB: Wow. That’s a lot of work in one day, though. I mean, do you do this every single day or are you taking a couple of days off in the week?

LT: I probably do, like, two days a week like that and then I’d probably do, like, two or three sort of, like, I just go through, like, one bout of that. So I do, like, four, like, 45-minute blocks.

RB: I see.

LT: But, yeah, when I want to spend, like, a full day doing something, then that’s generally what I do. I don’t do that all the time, but, you know, when I’ve got, like, a big task that I want to get done, then I do that just so I know I can eliminate the distractions as much as I can.

RB: That’s really, really cool. I have actually – since I’ve started, I mean, this business, I haven’t worked nine or 10-hour days at all. But, you know, I was thinking about that; I do sometimes end up working 14-hour days but it doesn’t feel like it, just because, you know, I’m just – the stuff that we’re working on is so much fun.

LT: Definitely.

RB: And also, like, we’ll have breaks in between to do yoga and then I’ll go out and go to a street food stall or things like that. So it doesn’t really feel like I’m really doing such long day works – work hour days.

LT: No. And, like, one of the points I want to bring up too is, like, doing things in your business that’s not moving the needle.

RB: Yes.

LT: So by that I mean, like, you’re doing “work” on your business but it’s not doing anything that’s really – you know, it doesn’t really matter at the moment. So, you know, you could be messing around with logos or graphics or going over the top with editing of videos, podcasts, blog posts – I said podcasts, didn’t it? I thought I said “blogcasts”.

RB: You said podcasts, yeah.

LT: Okay. Cool. So, you know, any of those three, you know, you’re spending too much time, you know, going through all of that stuff being, like, nit-picky. And I find this happens a lot with people who are sort of, like, perfectionists.

RB: Yes.

LT: You know, good and published is better than perfect and not published. So, you know, good enough is good enough. So you can get that ticked off and move on to the next thing; don’t waste your time thinking you’re working on something that isn’t important, like a logo. Don’t worry about that; just get something nice and simple up if, like, you’re just getting started, because later on you can, you know, pay someone $50 to create a decent logo for you. So, you know.

RB: That’s so true. That is so true. It’s so funny because most people will spend so much freaking time worrying about what their website name should be, and they’ll never actually begin or have a website because they’re afraid of what the name should be. And I’m just thinking to myself, “Just start. It doesn’t really matter. Like, no one’s going to care about your name; they’re going to care about the content.” So, sorry I interrupted you, but that’s so, so good. That’s a good point that you’ve put down.

LT: No. That is probably one of the biggest things, and that’s sort of, like, what stops people from getting started is because they think they need to come up with, like, the perfect name before they can launch their business.

RB: Yes.

LT: No, fuck that. You can go and change it later on. It does not matter.

RB: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. You can do, like, a forward or whatever; it doesn’t matter. Like, you’ll figure it out. And no one will care about your name; really, no one cares.

LT: Exactly.

RB: Yeah.

LT: So just focus on the things that’s actually going to make a difference and don’t worry about the stupid little things, because it feels like you’re working on your business but you’re not really doing anything that’s actually, you know, making a difference in your business.

RB: Yep, yep.

LT: Cool. So do you want to talk about – like, one of the points I remember you talking about was about meeting new people.

RB: Yes.

LT: I know I sort of covered that with, like, the socialising sort of thing, but I was really talking more about, like, the partying side of things.

RB: Yes. Yeah. And the partying thing is actually really interesting because in Chiang Mai there aren’t – for me, at least, because I don’t drink, there are not a lot of parties that I go to here. I love to dance, so I’ll dance like a crazy person forever; that’s why I love the Full Moon parties. But because I don’t drink, it doesn’t really matter to me when I’m going out here. I can, you know, go out at night and still be able to wake up in the morning and do work; I’m not hungover or anything. But over here, Chiang Mai is very distracting because there’s such a big community of digital nomads and expats here, and there are so many meetups. So you could do, like, a lunch on Monday; you could do a lunch on Wednesday; you could a lunch on Friday. I mean, every single day there is a set group of people that meet to talk about business, talk about life, talk about everything else they’re doing.

And in this way, in the beginning when I first came here, I was actually going to a meetup every single day. So instead of actually doing work on my business, I was talking about doing work with a billion people. And that can be really distracting. It was a good thing, because I met a lot of people and those are now some of my best friends here, but I need to stop doing that eventually and start getting back to actually doing work instead of just talking about it. So I’m glad that you brought that up, because if you guys move to Chiang Mai – if anyone does – if you do as well, Luke – then you’re going to have to be really careful because you’re obviously an extrovert and people are going to love you and they’re going to want to talk to you and they’re going to hang out with you and they’re going to invite you to all of these different things and you’re going to have to say, “No, I need to work on my business.” So, yeah.

LT: Yeah. And that’s also true with, like, online as well, not just, like, people that you meet in person.

RB: Yes.

LT: You know, it sort of comes under, like, the social media sort of thing where, like, you know, the online world is, like, distracting you. But, you know, you could, like, meet people in, like, Facebook groups or if you have, like, mastermind groups or, you know, you’re a part of, like, another online community. You could spend so much time just, like, talking to people inside of these communities, rather than doing work that you should be doing instead.

RB: Yes.

LT: And it’s, like, the similar sort of feeling. Like, you feel like you’re doing work for your business because you’re talking about business, but really you’re not.

RB: Yeah. Talking is not the same thing as actually doing, for sure. For sure.

LT: Yep. So, yeah, just make sure, like, you’re not falling into that trap online, just like you are – well, you’re not doing it, you know, but people listening, you know, make sure you’re not falling into that trap, like, offline as well. You know, for myself, like, I went to San Diego back in – I think it was October. It wasn’t long ago, but I still can’t remember exactly when it was.

RB: Amazing.

LT: I’m pretty sure it was, like, the middle of October. And that was sort of, like, the first sort of, like, in-person conference that I, like, went to. And it was like the weirdest feeling for me because it was, like, the first time, you know, in, like, three, four years that I’ve been travelling now that I’ve actually been able to sit down with, like, a group of people talking about online business, rather than just, like, the odd person that I’ve, like, met on my travels so far.

RB: Right.

LT: And I remember when I first landed I went to, like, a dinner. Like, people had, like, already got there earlier on. I met them at the restaurant that we went to, and I sit down and I hear some people to the side of me talking about Facebook ads and then I’ve got other people to the other side of me talking about, like, people in their membership website. And it was the weirdest feeling, hearing all of this stuff being spoken about in person, rather than just online, which is what I had been used.

RB: That is so funny. That’s so interesting. And I think that’s the reason I totally recommend Chiang Mai to you because these kind of meetups, talking about business, happen every single day here. So you learn a lot because there are people, you know, who are ahead of the curve and people who are behind you in the curve and, like, there’s so much that you can learn from everyone around here. They also have these nomad coffee club meetups every Friday where people give free talks on, you know, opening up a drop shipping store or Amazon fulfilment or how to open up a health wellness business online, etcetera. There’s so many different topics every single week, and everything for free. So it’s an amazing community to be part of; you learn so much.

LT: Yeah. And that is one of the reasons why Chiang Mai is, like, on the top of my list right now. Well, sort of along lines with, like, Spain or Portugal, because I know they’re, like, quite big.

RB: Yes. Barcelona.

LT: I’m probably thinking more, like, one of the islands. But Barcelona will probably where I’ll go to first, spend a little bit of time and then – I don’t know. I could end up being in Barcelona for a while. But seeing as sort of, like, before this Brexit crap kicks in and I have to start worrying about visas, I’m sort of, like – I’m torn between, like, Chiang Mai or, you know, checking out somewhere in Europe where at the moment I don’t have to worry about visas.

RB: Yep. I totally agree. Those are the two places I actually – I mean, there’s four different places that I looked at when I first decided to move to Chiang Mai. There was obviously Chiang Mai; and then I looked at Medellin, Columbia; Budapest, Hungary; and Barcelona, Spain. So those were the four different places that I looked at. Barcelona, Spain I kind of kicked out immediately because it’s so freaking expensive. It’s like €1200 for one apartment there, and I just could not afford it at the point. But the rest of the three I kept on the list because all three of them have the same kind of expenses. And that was a main priority for me at that point; I wanted to cut down my expenses from Toronto. But obviously I decided on Chiang Mai because of the community and the Facebook groups and all the different people that were already messaging me and already a part of my life, so.

LT: Yeah. Chiang Mai is definitely, like, the biggest, like, expat and, like, digital nomad community, for sure.

RB: Yeah. And also, as a newbie DN – I mean, obviously you’re not a newbie, but for newbies I always recommend Chiang Mai because it’s such a easy place to move into and to transition into. Once you kind of get your DN, you know, feet wet, then you can kind of go on to other places which are a little bit harder to move into and a little bit harder to kind of adjust to.

LT: That’s true. So time is getting on and we still have, like, one more point each left to make. And these are pretty similar.

RB: Yes.

LT: These are sort of, like – both of these are sort of, like, massive distractions that, like, depending on the type of person, they could fall into. So I know your one is about reading and my one is more, like, gaming. Like, gaming on your phone or gaming on, like, your laptop.

RB: Yes. Yeah.

LT: You know, it’s what you sort of use to sort of, like, chill out for the day, but it could also be a huge distraction at the same time.

RB: Yep. No, I absolutely agree. Because I’m a major reader and I love to read. I’m not just talking about blog posts online, which is what most people think, but I love to read books and self-help books and fiction and mystery novels, etcetera. So I spend a lot of time reading. The unfortunate thing is – or the fortunate thing – is that once I get into a book, I want to finish it right away. So maybe I’ll start a book at 9 pm after my day’s work is done and I’ll start reading it and I’ll want to finish it and I’ll be up at 5 am still reading the book. And that means the rest of the next morning or the rest of the next day is completely shot. I can’t actually do any work anymore because I’ll be sleeping through it or I’ll be too tired to actually get anything done. So that is for me a major distraction. I think the gaming thing works similarly for you or for people in general, right?

LT: Yeah. I do both. I’ve got, like, two or three games on my iPhone that I can fall into for a little while. Not for, like, hours at a time, but, you know, I could waste, like, 30 minutes playing a game on my phone.

RB: Yeah.

LT: And, like, same with, like, reading as well. Not quite to the extent that, like, I’ll be up till 5 in the morning reading, but, yeah, I definitely, you know, could waste a lot of my time reading if I wanted to as well. So depending on the type of person you are, either of those could end up being a huge distraction for you too.

RB: Definitely. I mean, in these whodunit kind of mystery novels you need to know who killed that person, so I have to stay up and find out. It’s just what it is.

LT: And when it is a good book, it is worth staying up till 5. Maybe.

RB: You know what, have you read the Harry Potter books? I’ve stayed up till 5 every single day reading those books. I love them.

LT: I, like, read up to number four and, like, the last time I read those was before the fifth one even came out. So it was, like, that long ago that I read them.

RB: Wow.

LT: Yeah.

RB: Love those books. Love them.

LT: I’m not a Harry Potter fan myself. I’m probably going to get a lot of hate now in the comments for this episode, but I’m not a massive Harry Potter fan even though I am English.

RB: No, but it doesn’t have to be everyone’s thing, obviously, come on. So, yeah, no, it totally makes sense that you’re not into it.

LT: Awesome.

RB: I love fantasy, so I think that’s why. I’m like an imaginary, live-in-the-clouds kind of person, so I love, love Harry Potter for that.

LT: Well, I did enjoy the books when I was a kid, like, reading the first few. But then they just got so ridiculously big and I think I sort of, like, grew out of that type of, like, fantasy thing.

RB: Yeah.

LT: I’m more of a - - -

RB: Lord of the Rings?

LT: I do like Lord of the Rings, but the books that I like reading the most are – books like Dan Brown, sort of, like, Da Vinci Code. I’m not a fan of The Da Vinci Code, but, you know, sort of, like, the mystery ones that sort have of, like, a religious sort of, like, twist to them.

RB: Interesting.

LT: I love those ones. Like, my favourite book is a book called The Double Eagle. I cannot remember who the author is, but it’s one of those sort of, like, mystery, crime sort of books. Yeah.

RB: That’s so cool. Awesome.

LT: They’re the ones that I can, like, get myself lost in, for sure.

RB: I love books in general, though. I am a writer myself; I’ve been writing a book right now for NaNoWriMo and I love, love the idea of actually catching someone’s attention so that they can’t put my book down. And my ultimate goal is to write a book like that where people tell me that, you know, “I could not put your book down.” So let’s see if that happens.

LT: Yeah. I do have, like, a book in the works at the moment that I’m hoping to self-publish next year, but that’s an entire other podcast episode.

RB: Yeah. Definitely. Definitely.

LT: Cool. So, Shikha, thank you so much for coming on. This was a great conversation, and hopefully the TMD audience learnt a lot and know what sort of distractions to look out for when they go travelling. But before you go, are you ready for your rapid-fire questions?

RB: Yes. Yes, I am.

LT: Awesome. So just the very first answer that comes to your head, say it.

RB: Okay.

LT: Cool. So question number one: what is your favourite country that you’ve been to so far?

RB: Definitely have to be Thailand, and specifically Koh Phangan.

LT: Good choice. What is the last YouTube video or movie that you’ve watched?

RB: The last one I watched actually is The Secret. I’m rewatching it because I love rewatching it every few months, and it’s such a great watch.

LT: What is the weirdest thing that you’ve eaten?

RB: Weirdest thing that I’ve eaten has been scorpions, but I don’t know if it’s weird or just scary-looking. But that’s the weirdest one.

LT: Now, this next question probably won’t apply to you, but if you do have an answer that’d be great. What is your favourite drinking game?

RB: Beer pong is the only game I’ve played, and I did it with water. So I actually cheated. I know.

LT: Beer pong is, like, the game that I hate the most. It’s just so boring. Who is the one person that you would like to meet, living or dead?

RB: You’ve mentioned him already, but Timothy Ferriss is definitely one person I’d like to meet.

LT: He’s been popular. Like, everybody’s mentioned him in every single episode so far.

RB: It’s because of his podcast. I didn’t like him much before, but once I started listening to his podcast I really feel like he’s a different personality and I’d really like to meet him. Obviously Elon Musk must be another one, but you only asked for one, so.

LT: It is a good one too.

RB: Yeah.

LT: What is the one book that you would recommend everybody should read?

RB: I’ve already done this, but I’m going to recommend it again. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It is a must-read for every single person on this planet if they want to live a life of potential. You know, it has to be the book that you have to read.

LT: What is your go-to song that you listen to to get in the mood to get shit done?

RB: There is a SoundCloud house music video that I listen to. Right now I’m actually listening to Game of Thrones, the soundtrack, but that’s just a very random choice right now because I’m doing a lot of writing. But normally I listen to house music.

LT: Quick side note: did you ever listen to the Game of Thrones song – there was, like, a – it wasn’t really a parody, but someone did, like, a 90s remix of it. Did you ever listen to that?

RB: No, I haven’t.

LT: Okay. You’ll have to go listen to the Game of Thrones 90s remix. It is so good.

RB: Okay.

LT: So, so good.

RB: Okay.

LT: What is your favourite swearword that you’ve learnt in another language?

RB: It’s called “fuck your head” and it’s in Romanian and I can’t actually remember it right now for the life of me, but it’s the one that I use – “futu tanka”. Yeah, that’s what it is. And I don’t know how I know it, but I had a lot of Romanian friends as developers when I was in the software industry and they would always use this word. And, like, I just started saying it; I didn’t know what it meant. And I said it once out loud and a person’s like, “Do you know what you just said?” I’m like, “No, it’s just a swearword but I don’t know what it means.” So, yeah, that’s mine.

LT: I like it. What is your favourite podcast, apart from this one?

RB: The one that I listen to – the only one I listen to – because, like I said, I’m on a low information diet. But I’ve already said; I listen to the Tim Ferriss podcast. And I’ve only listened to one or two real episodes in the past two or three years, but the ones I did listen to I really liked.

LT: Awesome. And can you give me your best travel story that you have in under five minutes.

RB: This is a hard question because there’s so many stories that I actually want to share. But there was one when I was in India, I was backpacking and I was at this railway station, Bihar, and I wanted to take a train to Nepal. I was actually crossing the border at that point, but there was a riot outside and so everything was closed off; all the trains, all the buses. Everyone was in the railway station. I had basically camped out in the station overnight. Obviously, though, I was a single female and there were a lot of males around. So there was a bit of harassment going on and I was part of it, and so what happened was that the cops had to round up all the females in the station, which were maybe 10 or 15 of us, and put them into this special room where they had guards outside and they wouldn’t let any of the men come inside; they only had females inside.

And the guards had to be rotated all throughout the night to make sure that, you know, they stayed awake. Because there was seriously craziness going on in the station, right. And I think people get antsy when there’s riots outside and they really, really want to get frisky. But, anyways, so that was my story. And I was in that room, and there was no washroom. People were just pooing in the corner somewhere; people were cleaning it. It was just madness, and I think of it right now and I’m just baffled that I actually lived those moments. I think it might have been a dream, but it actually happened in reality. I don’t think I could do that right now as a 33-year-old. At that point I was 25, so it was different.

LT: People were going to the bathroom in the corner of the room?

RB: Yes. And I know it seems crazy, but it seriously was going on. It was just, like, poop everywhere. I’m just like oh my goodness. I could not. I could not. I was like no way am I doing this in front of everyone; I don’t care what the hell happens to me. So, yeah, madness.

LT: That is crazy. And this is why I love to ask everybody this question, because I’m always surprised by the answers.

RB: That’s what I love about travel in general, though. I mean, oh my goodness. Now that I think about all these things, I’m like who was this person who lived like this. Even right now, like, who am I? Who is this person who’s doing these things? I’m just so much more brave when I travel; I don’t know what it is.

LT: Yeah. Well, this is the thing that I like most about travelling is that, you know, you have to step outside of your comfort zone and you sort of, like, become the person, like, you’re supposed to be.

RB: Yes.

LT: Like I said earlier on, like, before I went travelling, I was, like, the shyest person you could, like, probably meet and, you know, I wouldn’t talk to anybody. But now I’m, like, this extrovert that’s happy to talk to absolutely anybody, you know, talk about anything. You know, I don’t care anymore because, you know, once you get to talk to these people or talk to anybody, you know, and you learn a bit about their life and, like, the stories that they have to tell, you know, a lot of the people in this world are extremely interesting people.

RB: Oh my god. There are so many cool people in the world, and I love it. Love it.

LT: Well, thank you very, very much, Shikha, for coming on the show. If people wanted to reach out to you online, where could they find you?

RB: My main website is themillionairehippie.com, and that’s my brand as well, The Millionaire Hippie. If you guys want to find me, everything that I have is on that site. So you’ll be able to find my Instagram, my blog, my everything. So go on there if you want to get in contact with me.

LT: Perfect. And I will put a link to your website in the show notes for today’s episode. So, again, thank you very, very much for coming on the show and hopefully I get to speak to you again soon.

RB: Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

LT: You are welcome. Take care.

RB: Bye.

LT: Bye-bye.

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