Global Goose – Digital Nomad Travel Resource Travel and Work Anywhere In the World
It has now been one week since we arrived in the Algarve and began our Digital Nomad Experiment. We have rented an apartment in Quarteira, Portugal, a beautiful beach-side town, to see if we can work remotely here while creating a balance between seeing the gorgeous scenery, soaking up the sunshine, and still getting our work done!
We will be sharing the lessons that we learn about the working and travelling lifestyle with you, so that you can learn from our successes and mistakes.
The second thing we learned is:
Stay Disciplined.
One of the hardest things about working remotely in the Algarve is the fact that we are in the Algarve, one of the most gorgeous beach destinations in Europe!
Imagine this…
It is a hot and sunny day, with a slight breeze blowing in from the ocean. Your apartment is a one minute walk from the beach. Several boat tours are leaving from the nearby marina throughout the day, where you could spend the afternoon exploring the beautiful orange-coloured cliffs and dramatic caves of the Algarve coastline. You could book yourself on a trip to go parasailing, jet-skiing, or big game fishing. The beach is lined with sun loungers where you could be relaxing and soaking up some rays. Down the boardwalk are dozens of restaurants, all serving up the freshest fish and grilled meat dishes that you can imagine.
However, you are not going anywhere today because you have six blog posts, three news stories, and four articles to write. You will be sitting inside and working until they are done, no sunbathing for you!
This is the reality of working and travelling. The truth is that during our time in Portugal, we cannot spend every single moment enjoying the scenery. If it was a holiday that is what we would be doing, but this not a holiday, it is a working holiday. That means that some of the time will be spent working, no matter how beautiful and enticing the surroundings are.
It's hard to be inside working...
When you could be outside playing!
However, if this lifestyle is your long term plan, this is nothing to complain about. If I did not sit down and do my freelance writing work, I would not be in Portugal in the first place because it is the hard work that I do that makes me able to work from anywhere in the world. If I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be here.
My strategy is to become as efficient and as disciplined as possible. If I know that I have a certain amount of work to do today before I can hit the beach, by spending hours on Facebook I am only hurting myself by wasting my own recreation time. When you are working for yourself, slacking only gets in the way of the things that you want.
As a reality of the working and traveling lifestyle, there will be days when we will be stuck inside working in some of the most beautiful locations in the world. However, the trick is to get up out of bed at a decent hour, make yourself a cup of coffee, sit your butt down at the computer, focus your energy, and get that work done as efficiently as possible so that you can get out there and enjoy the awesome destination that your hard work has brought you to.
©Global Goose
oh my god!!
I just came across this series of the Digital Nomad and the thought that came through my mind was:”Couldn’t you pick an easier place?”
Algarve, Vilamoura, the beach, the sea… and you working inside your flat?
Brave people!
Well, on the other hand, if you could do it here…you can do it anywahere!