How To Stay Productive While Traveling

Being a remote worker means that it is entirely up to you how you plan and schedule your working time in a day. Whilst this has countless benefits, the freedom and flexibility that it creates can sometimes make your schedule chaotic and traveling time can disrupt your working agenda as well.

Besides that, you also want to make time for any personal projects or hobbies you might have.

Here are some tips on how to stay productive while traveling and working remotely and why it is also important to have personal projects.

It’s all about planning and organization

I always say that remote workers should be organizational nerds, and by that, I mean people that love to create to-do lists. To be productive and efficient, it’s important to schedule your day beforehand and sticking to it.

Personally, I like to write things down, so I always have my agenda with me. Whenever I cross off a task that I had to do for that day, it gives me such an accomplished feeling!

Of course, you should do whatever works for you, but planning ahead and scheduling your tasks I believe are essential as a remote worker.

Discipline

As a remote worker, this is the one thing that is absolutely necessary – discipline. Without it, you won’t get anything done. If you are a freelancer, you also won’t have a boss that will “motivate” you to get things done.

So having self-discipline is essential when traveling and working at the same. You will likely get easily distracted when traveling the world, so having the self-discipline to actually work is definitely needed.

Tips and tricks for travel productivity

During my travels, I have learned a thing or two about travel hacks, especially when it comes to working while being on the move. For example, if you’re unsure about the average internet connection in the country you’re visiting, why not get an unlimited 4G package and use personal hotspot? That way, you will never be without internet connection. 

Moreover, having a power strip and an adapter with you at all times is extremely handy, especially if you have to charge multiple devices.

Try to synchronize all the data on your devices as well as uploading all important files to the cloud. That way you will have a back-up in case you lose your laptop or it breaks down.

Importance of personal projects besides paid work

One of the reasons why I became a freelancer is so that I would have more time for personal projects and hobbies. What’s the use of just working all day and not having time for any personal interests that you want to develop? That wouldn’t be much of a fulfilling life.

It’s important to save time for any personal interests you might have, as well as time for sports and mental wellbeing. I always say that being healthy is the most important thing there is!

Balancing paid projects vs personal projects

I always want to have a balance between working on my personal projects and paid work.  I want to dedicate at least a couple of hours during the day to work on other projects, such as writing posts for my blog or studying something. Not only is it good to have some diversity in your day but personal projects are also good for personal development and growth and learning about new things.

How to use the time while traveling and not having internet

When I was traveling last year, I usually traveled during the week (which is cheaper), and so I had to be careful when planning paid work. It’s a good idea to plan ahead and save some work that you can do offline for when you are traveling.

Again, it’s all about organizing your schedule, but also about being flexible. If you’re not able to work on something specific because you suddenly don’t have internet, then you should flexible enough to just switch to working on something else, and not make a big deal out of it.

It’s always a good idea to grab your e-reader to read and study something you find interesting or that is related to your job. Studying and learning new things is personal development, which is always important! So, make sure to download some books (or if you’re old-fashioned, just buy one 😉 ).

When you’re traveling, you will likely have some time when you’re doing nothing at all, and your mind wanders, thinking about various things. This is actually when you are the most creative! Therefore, I think it’s always good to carry a notebook with you, to jot down any ideas that you might get during traveling time.

I hope this post has been somewhat useful to you! Do you have any tips for staying productive while traveling? Mention them in the comment section below! 🙂