How to Be a Successful Digital Nomad When You Can’t Leave Your House
By: Liana Buenaventura
Tags: Work Life Balance, Freelancing, Digital Nomad Lifestyle, Success, Digital Nomads

Structures and systems

We chose this life because we wanted more freedom. Unfortunately, more freedom means more opportunity to lose your way, especially when you’re in a new, exciting environment.

The most successful self-employed location-independent people I know rely on some form of structure to help them balance the power of freedom. They realize that without these systems and routines in place, life can get messy real fast, especially with the added distractions tempting them in their new home.

The successful ones know that this lifestyle doesn’t give you the freedom to do whatever the f*@k you want. Instead, it gives you the freedom to design a life that will enable and empower you to achieve your dreams and aspirations.

Self-discipline is an imperative skill for the digital nomad/location-independent life. Learning what works for you, your work and your goals take practice. Start identifying healthy structures and systems now before you venture out into the wide, distracting world tomorrow.

How to practice this

Create boundaries

Unlike the ads you create and setup, you can’t be “always on.” No one can. The problem is, many of us tend to think we are the exception to the rule (true story: you’re not).

Communicate to your client your schedule and when you’re available. If you have clients like I do that are 7, 13 or 15 hours behind, then make it known when you’re available for real-time communication; otherwise, you’ll respond the next business day. Good clients will understand and respect this; a good work ethic will make it unnoticeable.

Chunk it

Learn the difference between being productive and being busy. Create a day that is efficient and effective according to how you operate.

Journal for a week what you did and how you felt. Was there a pattern? For example, did you write better in the morning? Or were you more articulate during meetings in the late afternoon?

Chunk and group your tasks so you allow space for flow states, creative time, monotonous/easy tasks, meetings and client communication, personal development, etc.

Though each of us has slightly different patterns, most of us go through a creative/circadian cycle about every two hours. Peak-performing creatives in ideal environments can normally sustain that energy for only 4–6 hours — most of us just can’t maintain that level of focus and get diminishing returns after 2 hours. — Charlie Gilkey

Try mixing up your days so one day remains free of any client meetings or communications (maybe you use this day to really focus on a big project). Then designate a separate day for client updates and communication (maybe this day is better suited to checking off the smaller/shorter tasks).

Designate one day or a specific time slot on certain days for meetings. As much of a pain in the butt hours of Zoom calls can be (see what I did there?), it’s more productive to get them done in one day or a specific time slot than to constantly juggle focus and switch on/off.

Get comfortable with saying ‘no’

The ultimate test of self-discipline. How you handle this can be a big indication of how successful you’ll be in this lifestyle.

Start by practicing this when requests come outside of your scheduled hours. Practice the art of responding instead of reacting. Know that most of what pops up on your notification screen at those time does not need to get dealt with today. Get comfortable with saying “no” or “I’ll have more on this tomorrow.”

Embrace FOMO

Discover what happens when you don’t pick up your phone to check Instagram or TikTok for the 30th time today (hint: nothing happens — it’ll all still be there later).

Listen to your body and mind. If you’re in a state of flow and know going to the gym will pull you out of it, be confident that you won’t lose your gains in one day. If you’re exhausted from a call and suddenly don’t have the energy to socialize, don’t force yourself to go somewhere half-present.

Allow yourself to do nothing

Stop feeling guilty about doing “nothing”. Appreciate that doing nothing is doing something — and it is a healthy habit to practice.

“We need time doing ‘nothing’ to be our best selves: well-rounded and creative human beings. The ‘doing’ side of our nature needs a ‘being’ side to be in balance.” — Sue Smalley, Ph.D.

For some, doing nothing means just that: doing absolutely nothing, with no external stimulation, and letting yourself be. For me, it’s meditation, for others it’s breathwork or Niksen, the Dutch art of intentional purposelessness. Some days though, doing nothing also means losing myself in external stimuli. It could be binge-watching an incredible series or escaping into a thrilling book; either way, I always seem to come out of it with new ways of solving problems or telling stories.

There is power in doing nothing. Let it happen, and embrace it when it does.