Balancing work and travel isn’t always easy.
It can be hard to draw the line between the two so that you can both live a life of freedom on the road and keep yourself afloat career wise.
Luckily there are plenty of ways to make this easier. Keep reading below to get a better idea of what you can do to keep work and travel in harmony on your travels.
Update Your Resume Before You Go
It’s a good idea to have your resume fully up to date before you hit the road. When you write a resume it needs to target the type of jobs you want to pick up. Therefore, some optimization is necessary.
Think carefully about the types of jobs you want to do and that will be open to someone in your circumstances. You’ll be operating remotely and therefore you should promote skills and experience that show you’re good at working autonomously.
You’ll primarily want to highlight skills that demonstrate your:
- Organization abilities
- Collaboration with teams remotely
- Flexibility
- Communication
- Adaptability
By having this done before you set off you’ll be able to quickly modify your document for any exciting opportunities that come up. You’ll also be best placed to quickly apply for positions without too much extra leg work.
Seek Out Places With The Best Internet Connections
You’re going to need the internet to live the digital nomad lifestyle.
Having a decent, stable Wi-Fi connection is an absolute must on the road and that is going to influence where you primarily base yourself.
To do this you’ll need to find out where the internet is good, so you can set up in the best locations.
Luckily this is getting easier each year. Digital nomad communities across the internet and social media can help you find the ideal places where you’ll be able to work with an uninterrupted connection.
Companies like Speedcheck also gather data on locations around the world so you can quickly check what places rank best for connectivity. This will help you get a clearer picture of the situation before you arrive.
Ideally, the destinations with the best internet can function as hub locations near places you want to visit that are a bit more off the grid.
This means during the week you’ll have everything you need to work whilst having the weekend free to explore nearby sights.
Know Your Priorities
You’re going to need to keep your mind and schedule somewhat flexible in order to say yes to a job that comes up.
It’s a good idea to have a clear view of the sights and activities you want to prioritize. This will help you know when to say yes or no to any job opportunities that comes up on your journey.
The same is true if you want to travel somewhere off the grid. Make sure you plan this in advance and set clear expectations with any employers or collaborators before you go somewhere where you won’t be able to work as normal.
However, the beauty of working whilst on the road is that it’s much easier to fit your professional life around these activities so you can really make the most of enjoying your journey.
Keep to a Routine
When you’re working remotely it can be tempting to operate on a constantly changing schedule.
However, this is a bad idea for a few reasons:
- You might end up working at all hours of the day
- You won’t have enough time to explore your destinations
- You’ll burn out pretty fast
It’s important to set a few ground rules for yourself to keep things stable. That means sticking to a set schedule and having a clear time to log off for the day.
This is also incredibly important if you’re working across time zones.
You might need to be a bit flexible here and there to accommodate employers on another continent, but it’s still essential to make sure there’s some overall consistency in your day-to-day schedule.
Working as a digital nomad takes some getting used to at first but once you’re all set you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits that comes from mixing travel with a full time career. All it takes is a bit of prep.
