Being a digital nomad comes with plenty of awesome benefits. You get to travel and live where you please whenever you’d like to. Even better, your work schedule is your own, with no annoying boss to report to. It’s no wonder that millions of individuals quit their old lifestyle to become a digital nomad every year!
The only problem is that with such flexibility and freedom, you must have the discipline to work when needed. As a result, many digital nomads find themselves behind on their work or unable to keep up with deadlines and demands. Thankfully, there are a few helpful technical tips that will make every digital nomad a more effective worker:
1) Know Where You Can Find Remote Work
Some digital nomads have steady remote work with long-term contracts. Others have more on-the-go jobs. If you find yourself in the latter position, you should be aware of the best online resources to secure work. One popular choice is Search Remotely, which provides access to work remote work ranging from copywriting to sales to virtual assistants. Even better, you can take online courses to sharpen your skills and gain inside knowledge on succeeding as a remote worker.
2) Keep Yourself Organized
Once you’ve found a steady stream of remote work, you’ll want to remain organized to meet all those pesky deadlines. There are plenty of tools to help you with this aspect of remote work, such as Milanote. Milanote offers creative spaces for you to have your work organized and shareable, including whiteboards, mind-mapping, and note-taking. You can even use it to keep a list of to-do items for you to keep going and be productive!
3) Make Sure You’re On Track
A popular tech tip for digital nomads, especially writers, is to make use of an online timer. By timing your work, you ensure that you remain on track for how many written projects you want to complete in a day. You can see the average time it takes you to write a certain amount of words and subsequently adjust your workload. Most modern-day computers will have a timer, but there are plenty of sites dedicated to timers, such as online-timers.com.
4) Eliminate Distractions
Another potential big issue with digital work? The possibility of being distracted by other websites! Thankfully, there are several ways you can prevent yourself from becoming distracted. Simple tricks include blocking websites for certain periods or only allowing yourself to have one tab open at any time. If you feel you may still give in, you can opt for tools and apps that work to technologically prevent you from using distracting sites, such as ColdTurkey or KeepMeOut.
5) Use Sounds to Your Benefit
If you can manage to avoid online distractions but are surrounded by outer distractions like noisy roommates, you may find soothing background sounds particularly useful. One of the most popular background sounds is that of rain falling. The sound is loved because it is rhythmic and easy to listen to. Rainy Mood provides the sound of rain through its iOS and Android apps that will help to keep you focused and feeling at peace.
6) Check Out Digital Nomad Forums
Another potential downside is the possibility of having no colleagues to work with. As a result, some individuals may become lonely and begin to resent their environment. Instead of letting these emotions get to you, you should consider checking out the various digital nomad forums available. There are tens of thousands out there that appeal to any kind of nomad in just about every country. A simple Google search will bring your results, though you also could consider joining a local Facebook group.
7) Don’t Forget About the Essentials
Lastly, being a digital nomad wouldn’t even be possible without a working laptop. While this may seem initially obvious, many people forget to take care of their laptop while they’re working, including performing updates, shutting down your computer from time to time, and keeping it physically clean as well!
Being a digital nomad is a popular path for many individuals these days due to the freedom and flexibility that comes with the role. At the same time, the position comes with some downsides which can make the lifestyle stressful if you don’t follow the right tips and tricks. Any of those mentioned above will make your life as a digital nomad easier and even more wonderful!