… and how to address them!
With a laptop and a solid internet connection, you can work and make money from anywhere. It sounds glorious, doesn’t it? It is. It absolutely is. And, it’s a total privilege to be able to do it! But it’s not without its little quirks and complications. Sometimes it can be flat out annoying. We’ve felt a good bit of the highs and lows of remote work over the past 3 months of our nomadic journey. But we’ve learned how to address them along the way.
1. Ergonomics out the window
Without having a consistent location any two months, any hope for a stable working environment is out the window. With that comes having to find awkward places to setup our laptops and work for 9 to 10 hours a day… slouched on the couch, hunched over our laptop on the dining table sitting on a crappy chair, or sometimes even sitting on the ground or in bed. Our bodies did not initially thank us. It only took a few days of cramped necks and knots in our back to realize that we had to fix our ergonomics, at least a little. Enter: stuff!
We bought laptop stands that handily raised our laptop screens almost 6-8 inches off any surface we place them on. Game changer! No more cranings our necks to look down at the screen!
We bought one set each of a wireless keyboard and a wireless mouse. Having the flexibility to move our ‘input’ devices wherever is best for our wrists and eyes depending on the setup, instead of being tethered to our laptop built-in tracker pads and keyboards, eliminated a lot of wrist pain almost overnight. (check out our gear page for more)
Finally, we now only book Airbnbs with either large dining tables or high countertops that we can use as desks during the day. What might seem like being ‘too picky’ while booking has landed up saving our workday comfort every time.
2. A city to explore just outside the door
Ah – the perils of remote work! We all know working remotely comes with all sorts of distractions. They tempt us to peel away from work ‘just a bit’. Combine that with regularly being in a new city every few weeks and the potential distractions are endless. Spending an 8 to 9-hour workday indoors with a brand new city waiting to be explored just outside is tough. Winter months are even tougher when you know the end of the workday usually comes after the sun has set.
Besides automating ourselves out of our jobs altogether, we still don’t have a great solution for this yet. A few suggestions, though, we’ve got:
- Nothing breaks up a work day like a brisk midday walk. We’ve gotten in the habit of getting outside just after lunchtime for a quick 20 minute walk to stave off a food coma and get a dose of sunshine. There’s a different vibe to any location during the weekday and it’s fun to get a taste of it.
- We’ll make it a point every few weeks to take a morning, afternoon, or even an entire day off from work just to go enjoy whatever new place we’re in. Doing so on the weekday really helps us feel the joys and privilege of being digital nomads, able to experience the incredible variety while still being working professionals. It feels rebellious but gives us a moment to say ‘thanks’ for this life and lifestyle.
3. Being in a different time zone than the company HQ
This is a story of an early annoyance turned superpower. For the first several weeks, it was tough to adjust to being an hour, or sometimes two hours, ahead of your colleagues during the day. On top of adjusting to a new location, having to change our schedules to be online late into the evenings just to end the workday at the same time as colleagues got old fast. Winding down at 7pm felt like our entire day was dedicated purely to work and nothing else.
It took a few weeks, but we learned to reframe and embrace the upside of time zone changes. Now, the abundance of extra time in the morning, when an hour or two ahead of the West Coast, have become precious hours to power through the highest priority tasks on our to-do list without the distraction of meetings or interruptions from colleagues. By the time the 9am workday starts in Seattle, we’re hours into a productive workday (on our good days!).
We’ve now become ruthlessly respectful of our time in the evenings. On the days we can’t draw a hard stop around 6pm in the local time zone, the remaining evening hours become precious time to step out for a quick outing or even just take an evening stroll through the new neighborhood we’re in. Above all, the value of time has become really clear to us. Making the most of focused sprints so we can maximize and be fully present for the time that’s left has become a mantra, of sorts.
Being a digital nomad is not without its hiccups. It has required incredible flexibility, an open mind, and a willingness to make changes when our circumstances are not what we want. But more than anything else, it’s an invitation to challenge convention, learn from our surroundings, and grow by never letting little annoyances get in the way of adventure.
FYI - If you click on a linked item on this page and purchase it through Amazon, we’ll get a small commission. These small commissions help keep us on the road longer - and we appreciate the support!We stand by all of our recommendations. Read our full disclosure here.
Really enjoyed reading your post!! Already looking forward to next month’s post. People must be getting good tips and getting inspired by your posts. Well done 👍
Pingback: 🌎 Where in the World?! Wednesday - Feb 10, 2021 - Midori & Akaash
Comments are closed.