Do you ever feel like there is not enough time in the day to balance a 9 to 5 job and your side hustle? Or even a 9 to 5 job with a social life? We both currently work corporate jobs and it's a constant cycle of trying to balance our work, side hustles, friend/family time and life in general. Add in our lifestyle change of being digital nomads and moving our location as frequently as every week to the equation. life can feel very overwhelming at times.
That's why we are all about productivity hacks and time saving tricks. We know we can't always have it all, but we will always experiment with new ways to optimize our time and energy to make space for the things most important to us.
We are sharing our top tips to get sh*t done both professionally and personally to make the most of long-term travel or for anyone looking to optimize their day.
The time it takes to switch between tasks or start and stop what you're working on due to a meeting can be upwards of 15-20 minutes before you can get settled. I tend to bulk my meetings (and will actively ask people to reschedule if they are free) in the morning for 3-4 hours (8 AM - 12 PM) or the afternoon (1 PM - 4 PM). I will take notes handwritten during meetings and after my meetings for the day I will transfer to tasks into Todoist to address by the end of the week. Additionally, I aim to have one day a week with no meetings and block my calendar for dedicated, focused work time.
It can be easy to get sucked into work, especially while at home. It's crazy how even at the Airbnb's we're staying at how easily we can spend 9-10 hours working without realizing it! One hack that we do is to schedule in the week one coffee run and one lunch out (~1 hour each) so we actually spend some time away from the computer and also feel like we get to see the city during the day. Schedule a daily walk (or two!) to also get up every now and then from your desk. The fresh air will do wonders to our productivity.
I use my Apple Watch to set a 25 minute timer to bust out my most important tasks, interruption free in what's called the pomodoro technique (you can also use a Desktop site like this). I will sign out of Slack, email and put my phone in another room which I call "airplane mode" during a pomodoro block. That Slack message can wait!
I like to plan my entire week the Friday afternoon so I can enjoy my weekend distraction free, but have a game plan for Monday and the following week. I tend to block in my calendar at least a 1-hour block daily to tackle my most important task in the day. This will allow you to actually make time for dedicated work and not allow your calendar to get filled with meetings.
What other productivity and time saving hacks do you have? Comment them below!
The post How to make the most of long term travel (hint: time batching and other productivity hacks) appeared first on Midori & Akaash.