Lynne has been travelling all over the world (and you’ll see some of the cool places she’s been to in the images below!) and she helps others plan their travelling adventures and their “Personal Travel Planner.” <– That’s a sweet job title right there.
Lynne posts once per week over on her blog talking about all things related to travel, so if you’re looking for a bit of travel inspiration, I’d recommend you check that out..
In the post today, Lynne is going to go through why discipline is even more important as a digital nomad compared to any other online entrepreneur. We all enjoy travelling and exploring the places we are in, but it’s also important that we do what needs to be done in our businesses. Lynne is here to help with that.
So without further adue… Here is Lynne Nieman!
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So you want to be a digital nomad. You dream of working on your laptop while sitting on the beach in Thailand sipping a cold drink. You fantasize of relaxing in a cafe along the streets of Paris with a glass of French wine, laptop happily next to that tasty glass of wine. You picture yourself sitting in a teahouse in the medina of Fez, Skyping with clients halfway across the world.
But you also dream of parties on that Thai beach. You fantasize about long dinners with fabulous food and wine in Paris. You picture yourself wandering the maze of streets in Fez exploring all the nooks and crannies.
View across sundeck to Aegean Sea, Bozburun, Turkey
The world is enticing. And you want to run a business from this enticing world with your laptop so you can experience all that this big, beautiful planet has to offer. Do you really think you can handle this?
Let me ask you a question. When you say you’re going to do something, do you follow through? Do you actually do it? If you say, “I’m going to go the gym every morning to workout so I can get in better shape”, do you actually go to the gym? Or do you blow it off and say, “l’ll do it tomorrow.” And then tomorrow becomes the next day and the next day becomes the next week.
Cause, you see, being a digital nomad, while having the benefit of having loads of flexibility and you as the boss, also requires a certain something from you: Discipline. And there’s no one else looking over your shoulder asking if you did something that was supposed to be done. It’s all on you. And it takes discipline, especially when you are traveling to these amazing destinations that are begging you to explore them. That are filled with new friends to make.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to kill your dreams. I just want you to be realistic about them. There’s a way to be disciplined and still have a fabulous time. It simply takes the right mindset. It takes some planning and organization. And it’s going to take some tough love. And you have to be the one to give yourself that tough love.
So do you have what it takes?
Dedicated Mindset
How badly do you want this? If you want to be a digital nomad, then you have to keep your eyes on the prize. You know what you need. You know what you want. Stay focused. Stay dedicated. Remind yourself every single morning that you are your own boss and your business is in your hands. Maybe you have a favorite saying or mantra. Keep that by your bed or as your home screen on your phone. Let this be something you see every single morning you wake up. It’s your reminder, your nudge to stay dedicated.
My Office in Tignano
Organization
This is a key ingredient. Admittedly, I’m not always the most organized person. But I’ve discovered some tools to help me stay organized with my tasks. Free and cheap are the best apps to use. Use a calendar such as Google calendar to plan out your day. Put workouts and fun time on there too so you won’t feel like it’s all work and no play. There is a fabulous task feature on Google calendar as well. Won’t it feel great to check that box when the task is complete?
Asana is another great free tool for keeping track of projects and tasks associated with the project. It’s especially helpful if you have others working with you as it has the ability to add team members to the project and assign tasks to these folks. And you can track your progress make notes.
If you need to organize clients, Less Annoying CRM is a great tool for keeping track of clients AND attaching tasks to those clients. Again you make all kinds of notes here as well as using the calendar feature.
17 Hats is a favorite of some colleagues as it allows you to invoice as well list out to do’s, keep track of projects and so much more. There’s a bookkeeping feature and time tracking as well. It’s touted as a the one app you need to run you business.
There are loads of apps and software out there to help you stay organized with all of your information.
One of my favorites is Trello. It’s like a board for sticky notes. I have about a dozen boards of ideas — blog posts, book chapters, marketing my business. It’s become one of my go to’s when I just need to brainstorm a bit. (Edit by Luke: I love Trello too! An amazing free tool!)
Find the apps and tools that work best for you. Remember: less is more. You don’t need 10 apps when 1 or 2 will do. I use Google Calendars, Trello and have a CRM with my travel host company. That’s the only one I have to pay for. The others are free!
Time Management
This is the tough one, especially as you travel. I know you want to go have fun, but you have to do the work too if you’re going to succeed.
The aforementioned calendar will help with managing your time — but only if you actually use it and stick to it. I’ll be honest, this is not always easy for me. I find myself constantly rearranging things on my calendar.
Here’s a piece of advice: don’t put too much on your calendar. Be realistic about what you can accomplish in those hours. I have such a bad habit of putting too much on my calendar not realizing that one of my tasks is going to take 3 hours instead of 1 hour! So think about this realistically.
Also be sure you are getting at least one thing done for your business each day. And make this the priority on your calendar. As long as you are doing one thing each day, you are moving forward.
A great app in helping you stay on task is Pomodoro. You can set the length to whatever time you want, but 25 minutes is the recommended length. At 25 minutes, you take a 5 minute break. Then every fourth Pomodoro, you get a long break of 15 minutes. The philosophy is that you work on only one task during this time. No checking email or Facebook. It’s a wonderful app to keep you focused and to help you manage your time properly.
If you want to track time on different projects, try Toggl. With Toggl you can set up different project names and then tasks within that project. Start the timer, stay on task — no checking email — and stop the timer when you have finished or need a break. Then you can see how much time it takes to do these tasks. It’s a great tool for not only managing time, but also seeing just how much time you are spending on certain to-do’s. This ultimately helps you be realistic about your calendar. And you can see where you might be spending too much time.
Learning To Say No
Santorini
You need to say no sometimes. I know. I’m a buzz kill. You’ve just met some really cool people in Buenos Aires who are going out for dinner then to a club and you really want to go. But you’ve got a webinar to finish that you’ve promised to your peeps in 2 days. You really need to work.
If you say yes and go out with your new friends, you’ll let down your peeps and risk screwing up your reputation as a reliable business person in your field. If you say no, then you get the work done that you’ve promised. But you might be seen as a bit of a stick in the mud to your new friends. And that sucks. Who wants to be the party pooper?
Perhaps you can do something with your new friends when you have some free time in a day or 2. Who knows, the new friends might actually admire and respect you for being so dedicated.
Learning To Say Yes
On the other side of the coin is learning to say yes, or maybe more accurately, WHEN to say yes.
You need to get away from your business and have fun. I mean, what’s the point of being a digital nomad and traveling to all these amazing places if you can’t get out and enjoy them? And, to be honest, it’s important to step away from your work and recharge your batteries. It might be getting out for a long hike in the mountains, taking in some historical and cultural sites or dancing the night away in some club. It’s okay to say yes. It’s okay to get out there and explore and have some fun. You just have to be sure you’re not ALWAYS saying yes. Balance it with saying no. And above all keep that dedicated mindset. Be disciplined.
Balance In Life
Italy 🙂
Balance. This really is the embodiment of all of the above. Learn to keep things balanced as much as possible. Sure, there will be times when you’ll have to lean more toward work. Then there will be the times when you simply know you need a few days away from work so your play time takes over. As long as you don’t let things get out of control for too long leaning one way, you’ll be happy. And, I truly believe you’ll be successful.
What You Don’t Hear
Sunset over Aegean Sea, Oia, Santorini, Greece
No one really talks much about discipline, but it’s super important in being a digital nomad. You have to have that self-discipline to make yourself work when you really might want to be playing instead. It’s often hard. Really hard. But your reward of being disciplined is having a successful business — whatever that might mean for you.
I promise you, if you keep your eyes on the prize, maintain discipline and stay determined and focused, you will achieve your goals. And you’ll be happy because you’ll be leading the life you’ve always dreamed of.
Think about all those Olympic athletes we’ve just watched. Do you think they achieved their dreams of getting to the Olympics without discipline? Exactly!
