3 tips to master your productivity level as a digital nomad

Without a doubt, one of the main challenges as a digital nomad is to stay productive. The nomadic lifestyle comes with a lot of perks. Yet, being surrounded by palm trees and coconuts brings along lots of distractions too. In this article, we are sharing 3 tips on how to boost your productivity level as a digital nomad.

We had a conversation with James Bowen, a High-Performance trainer and Productivity Coach from Toronto, Canada. We talked about the struggles and what we can do in order to master productive days as a digital nomad. He has been traveling around the world as a digital nomad for almost two years but calls Bali for home now.  

To watch the full talk go to our talk or read his three main tips below!

DIGITAL NOMAD TIP #01 – HAVE A DAILY GOAL OR DEADLINE YOU NEED TO HIT NO MATTER WHAT

As a digital nomad, it’s very easy to get lost throughout the day. However, setting a goal or specific deadline for each day will help to compartmentalize your time. It will add some structure and help you stay productive. So, what small changes can you do to ensure that you are reaching those goals?

You can start using a scheduler like Google Calendar. This will help you plan your day in detail and provide you the opportunity to schedule specific time blocks. It shows you where you are dedicating moments of the purpose of getting things done.

We asked in the DND Community what other platforms they use to manage their productivity. Other popular tools are Trello and Notion.

DIGITAL NOMAD TIP #02 – HAVE A MORNING ROUTINE TO BRING YOU IN THE RIGHT STATE OF MIND

A morning routine gives you the ability to manage your state of mind, your moods, and your energies.  And this is why we share productivity digital nomad tips. Every place or city has countless factors that will challenge that. Especially in the Digital nomad capital Canggu there are endless distractions everywhere that try to get you off track and make you fall into temptation. Even though it may be fun, it also makes it harder to start your day off on the right foot the following day. That’s why following a specific morning routine is very helpful. According to James, your morning routine should always involve three things:

• Learning 🧠
• Exercise 💪🏼
• Planning sessions to manage your day 👨🏽‍💻

DIGITAL NOMAD TIP #03 – RUTHLESSLY ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS FROM YOUR DAY

We live in an age where people scream for our attention. On our Facebook feed, the news, Instagram stories, people want to be heard. Especially when working in cafés or co-working spaces we get bombarded with distractions. Your phone pings or your friend drops by for a quick cup of coffee. It’s all fun, however, it makes dedicating your time and energy extremely hard. To boost your productivity level you, therefore, have to eliminate as many of those distractions as possible.

It is quite simple, the more things we engage ourselves in the less energy we will have towards what we need to do. So, for a start, you can close all tabs and social media apps. You want to make sure that no one can talk to you when you are supposed to be working. It may sound a bit tough, but James had a good point and quoted: “Addiction to distractions is the death of creative production”. As digital nomads we create and we build. So, if you are addicted to distractions you are not in a good state to be productive. It takes a lot of effort, but at the end of the day, it will be worth it.

Key Take Aways For Nomads

✅ Eliminate as many distractions as possible 

✅ Set a goal for each day to compartmentalize your time

✅ Use a scheduler like Google Calendar to plan your day in detail

Watch the digital nomad interview with James

The nomadic lifestyle comes with a lot of perks. Yet, being surrounded by palm trees and coconuts brings along lots of distractions too. Watch the full talk to learn how you can boost your productivity level as a digital nomad.