Nathan Baller on Working While Traveling

A job where you can work and travel sounds like an ideal situation for many. Frankly, it’s not as glamorous as our Instagram feeds might suggest. It’s exhausting. It requires extra hours of planning, preparation, and travel. Generally, remote workers have a lot less free time than the 9-5ers. Remote workers are often on call all the time and simultaneously must juggle the additional considerations that accompany a nomadic lifestyle. It will take time to find the best routine that works for you when working on the go.

DETERMINE THE BEST TIME AND SPACE

You want to maximize your productivity so your work can be done at the same level it would be in an office. Though the workday is usually a 9 to 5, it may be the case that those are not the hours you are most productive during. It could be 12 to 8 or 6-3 or even spread throughout the whole day. Taking a break into between projects could be what you need to get the creative juices flowing once again.

Once you know what times you work best during, it is time to find the best space to work in. Traveling may limit your choices and you may have to settle for a space that isn’t what you are used to. Whether it’s the lounge in the lobby of your hotel, your hotel room desk, or even in a car on the way to a meeting, getting the work done is all that matters. You must find a way to focus and if you can’t focus you will need to find another way to boost your productivity.

ELIMINATING DISTRACTIONS

In a hotel or on the car ride to your meeting, you want to stay focused. Playing music can help some people, others need a complete silence approach. Your hotel room is the best bet for getting complete silence with no interruptions. So if you think the lobby is going to be too bustling or the car too bumpy, make sure you get all the work you need to finish before you leave your room. Another way to prevent distractions is to only have your work in front of you. Don’t have extra tabs open like Facebook or Skype.

INTERNET

It is hard to maintain a steady wifi connection when you’re traveling all the time. Usually, your hotel will have free wifi. That doesn’t always mean that it has the best connection though. You may need to consider loading times and the possibility the internet won’t always work. Using Microsoft Office instead of Google Docs could save you from losing a report you just spent hours typing up. If you are out of town, going to a meeting, ask the company if you can arrive early to set up the information. They are more likely to have a better internet connection and have fewer people on it.