A commonality we often share when traveling is we are mentally in a relaxed state. Open for adventure, stresses in the rearview mirror popping up much less frequently than when back at home. A lot of this has to do with breaking free from our routines when traveling. Most people have a loose itinerary for travel allowing for ample time to relax and ‘reset’ our brains from the rigors of our work lives.
Well with vagabonding, it’s not sustainable to travel long term with a vaction mindset. There are a lot of things I wanted to accomplish with this growth trip and equally I want to immerse myself in the cities/towns I visit. So to wander aimlessly for a few months with a vacation mindset is directly in opposition to the self growth I am seeking here.
So I want to discuss the challenges and opportunities of being personally productive while traveling.
I’ve alluded to my goals before and they are present on the Goals tab of my site, but as a refresher here are the things most important to me while traveling:
- Learn Spanish to communicate effectively
- Optimize my daily routines, i.e. find out what my ideal day is
- Live at 168lbs – identified this as a healthy weight for me, how do i maintain it with long term travel?
- Identify my next career move – as of now a WIP
Now each of these requires an investment of time, some actual deep mental work, physical work, or meditative contemplation. So finding time for everything every day just isn’t feasible.
So one way I have found success the past two weeks was breaking days up into two categories: Work & Adventure. Something many of you are very well aware of with your M-F and S-S work/life splits!
Except I haven’t adopted the traditional work week for my splits. For the past 3 weeks I have visited 8 different cities in 3 different countries. And what I have followed is arriving in a new city and exploring it on day one. Upon arrival I’ve asked around and read up on the popular things to do in the city. In Cusco that meant going to explore San Pedro market to buy a winter jacket, gloves, and a hat because it was sub 40 degrees at night!! In La Paz I didn’t use my phone so I walked all across the city for hours stumbling upon parks and monuments and at nightfall finally needing to take a Taxi to return to the Hostel.
Day 2 in the cities is really where routine sets in:
Wake up, Daily mindfulness, stretching/aerobic session, coffee shop to work.
Let’s start with the tactic that has helped me most to win the day: daily mindfulness. I can’t stress enough how important it has been to start the day with contemplating what my goals are and holding myself accountable to them. For those that still think meditation is wishy washy start with the phone app Headspace which is guided meditation. Most of us wake up, look at our phones and are instantly bombarded with external influences that affect our state and distract us from things important to us. There’s a reason many successful people don’t check their phones for an hour upon waking. (Sidenote: I want to find a way to quantify what an average use rate of a mobile phone is each day, because I’m convinced an overwhelming majority of my generation is addicted to their phones).
Out of my mindfulness exercise I determine HLA’s for my business, my health, and my self, so 3 things I have to accomplish for all on this particular day.
So far this Adventure & Work day split has served well. I will be headed to Santiago, Chile on Wednesday where I will spend at least 10 days in the city so I will have more of a routine. I plan to conduct some productivity tests from there and to finally write an article about what I think my ideal day is.
I’m headed to Salar de Uyuni manana for a 3 day tour of the salt flats so I’ll have internet again on Tuesday!