New city, new culture and new entertainment. Digital nomads have so much to experience when they move to a new location. Before you know it, the pile of work deadlines is right around the corner and you didn’t have the chance to get started. Every digital nomad needs at least some productivity hacks.
So here are 5 of them that will help you deal with procrastination and keep up with your nomadic lifestyle.
1. Organize everything
Once you make a schedule of your tasks for a given period of time, it will be easier to visualize what needs to be done. You can use different project management or time management tools, websites or apps such as Trello, Jira, or Asana.
Choose a technique that better fits your style. Kanban board will show the task stages and processes in cards, so you get to move them around and track their progress and completion.
You can also use a Gantt Chart to see how much time each task will take and plan accordingly.
What’s just as important is your working hours. If the working hours are not set for a specific time for each day, you get distracted between work and life more frequently.
You may work during less productive hours, while on some days you may find yourself overworking out of the blue. Determine your productive hours and adjust your working hours accordingly.
2. Have your separate work corner
Another point that emphasizes the line between work and personal life and is one of the most important productivity hacks. As a digital nomad, most of the time you work from home. Turn an entire corner of home into a tiny office space. It can be a desk with your laptop, and other necessary devices. You can have other remote work gadgets, and make sure you have good lighting not strain your eyes.
Keep everything else to a minimal – the point is to get an office vibe whenever you pass by.
This little change in your home will help you concentrate a lot easier and will help increase productivity. You are less likely to get distracted when you have a designated space for getting work done, since you will start to associate it with work time alone.
Note: If you are living with other people, you might have to agree to having quiet working hours. If not, you can take a look at some coworking spaces or quiet locations for getting your work done.
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3. Use productivity apps
If you want to increase productivity while you work from home, productivity apps will help a great deal. You can use apps to track your working time and help you take breaks.
They are absolutely necessary for you not to feel overwhelmed with work. The famous Pomodoro technique will help you split work into intervals and have short breaks in between.
Some apps offer ambient noise as a way to stimulate your brain to focus on your tasks. You can use static noises that are otherwise known as noise colors. Another option is listening to wind, rain, fire sounds or anything that fits your preference best and will help you concentrate more.
Also utilize different gadgets, especially noise cancelling headphones or noise cancelling earbuds to make sure that you minimize every possible noisy distraction.
4. Change your workplace
Sometimes it can be hard to concentrate even if you do have dedicated work corner in your home. Productivity is a tricky thing and it needs change as well. Whenever you feel like you’re stuck with work, it’s better to change your workplace and go outside.
Here’s one of the necessary productivity hacks:
Try to find coworking spaces near your area, or work from coffeeshops that have stable WiFi. Do this once in 1-2 weeks to make sure you feel refreshed and motivated to get work done. There are a few quiet locations that will definitely help you concentrate.
Make sure you have noise cancelling headphones with you in case you have to deal with noisy environments. And if you have to take frequent conference calls, get noise cancellation app called Krisp.
It will help you remove the background noise both from your side and other call participants. Just switch it on once and it will do everything on its own.
5. Final productivity hack – Travel less frequently
For a digital nomad, frequent traveling means frequent trip planning and extra time to get accustomed to the new place. When you spend time planning for new trips and exploring the new area once you move in, it’s difficult to set time for work and do it productively.
Boost your productivity by actually slowing down and taking a break from traveling. Stay in the city for a couple of months and settle in. Once you feel like you’re ready for new adventures, start planning your next trip. Until then, rest, explore and work!
We hope that these hacks will help you enjoy your nomadic travels to the fullest! Don’t forget to use noise cancelling headphones and get your Krisp noise cancelling app! 🙂
