As I write this, I am sitting in a small café in the heart of Paris, sipping on a café au lait and watching the world go by. I have been living abroad as a digital nomad for the past two years, and it has been an incredible experience.
Being a digital nomad has given me the freedom to travel to new places and experience different cultures, while still being able to earn a living. I have worked from bustling co-working spaces in Bangkok, peaceful cafes in Bali, and even from the deck of a sailboat in the Caribbean.
But it hasn’t always been easy. There have been times when I’ve felt lonely and isolated, especially when I first started out. It can be difficult to make friends in a new place, and sometimes the lack of social interaction can take its toll.
There have also been times when I’ve struggled with the technical side of things. My laptop has crashed more times than I can count, and I’ve had to deal with slow or unreliable internet connections in some places.
Despite the challenges, being a digital nomad has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I have been able to see and do things that I never would have been able to do if I had stayed in one place.
Living abroad has also given me a new perspective on life. I have learned to adapt to new situations, and I’ve become more open-minded and understanding of different cultures.
If you are considering becoming a digital nomad, my advice would be to go for it. It may not always be easy, but the rewards are well worth it. Just make sure to do your research and be prepared for the challenges that come with this lifestyle.
As for me, I will continue to explore new places and live life as a digital nomad, embracing all the ups and downs that come with it.
This publication details the winding journey of a Nomad. From the great city escape, to being lost in the wander-life to mobility being the only thing you know; this is the story of a nomad.
The minute I reconciled in my mind that I was the captain of my ship, my perception of running a business changed forever. I believed that that whatever conditions the ocean threw my way that day I could conquer.
After all, the ocean will be the ocean; unpredictable, volatile and seemingly relentless. So Where does that leave me? My job is to use my experience, skills and vision to circumvent the ship to more manageable waters.
With that in mind, here are some affirmations that help remind me that I am the Captain, Commander and Master of my ship. I hope they help you too
RESPONSIBILITY
Make it your choice. Your decision. Your outcome. Your vision. Because when you believe it’s all on You, only then are You truly in control.
TODAY IS A NEW DAY
learning. Tomorrow is planning. But today is happening. Live a day at a time and ensure you accomplish ONE major task everyday.
CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT
In today’s fickle digital world, it’s important that your processes are fluid. A threat is just an opportunity waiting to hatch, so be ready to adopt and adapt.
MAKE MISTAKES
When you fail and fail, you’re not the only one. Just as when others survive and rise, they’re not the only ones. The bad times are never as bad as they seem.
Being a business owner is one of the hardest things you can do, and so most people just don’t take that voyage. Commend yourself on your resilience, your determination and your growth.
Many people keep remembrances of family members or friends who have died. A watch, or their favorite sweater, or their engagement ring.
My most cherished item from my Aunt Liz is a Post-It Note™.
It’s a standard yellow, and a bit worn at the corners, and on it in her distinctive script is written: “Take cookies with you.”
It’s been stuck by my door for two decades now.
When I went to Northwestern to study journalism in the 80s, my aunt Elizabeth Bunker Hartong lived in Winnetka, just north of Evanston. She was a lifeline to me as I tried to navigate the choppy waters of a demanding university and living away from home for the first time.
So occasional weekends she would pick me up from the dorm, and I would hang out with her over the weekend. We would eat pizza and play Trivial Pursuit and just talk and laugh. It was a great pressure relief during a stressful time.
She lived in a tiny ranch house shoehorned in between fake northside mansions on a small street right by New Trier High School. I loved the fact that her house flaunted its humbler origins, surrounded by people who were really concerned about what their neighbors thought of them.
Aunt Liz was sweet and smart and almost comically soft spoken, but she also had a wicked sense of humor and a great laugh. We turned two-person Trivial Pursuit into an art form. (I always chose the green wheel as my game piece; she chose the blue.) During my college years, those visits created a tight bond between us.
In the years after, I would still drive down from Wisconsin to see her over a weekend. I remember several times going with my mother too, and the three of us would sit at her kitchen table and laugh so much. That was amazing also because the two of them would start talking about when they were growing up together, and I would hear stories that I would never hear from my mother.
Since my aunt generally stayed up until 3–4 in the morning and didn’t get up until noon or after, I would always be driving back north on Sunday morning before she awoke. So, she would leave me little notes on Post-Its on the table in her kitchen, surrounded by the strawberry vine wallpaper.
She would often get treats specifically for me to enjoy, like Coke and those soft-baked Pepperidge Farm cookies in the paper sack. She wanted me to take those things home when I left.
Which led to the “Take cookies with you” Post-It. I’m sure there were a lot of these notes over the years. But for some reason, one time I stuck the Post-It to the bag holding the cookies, and it went home with me too.
When I got back home, again I don’t know exactly why I did this, I stuck the Post-It by the door.
And so it has remained, all these years. It’s been there so long that often I don’t notice it’s there. But when I do, I smile, thinking of how much I love and miss her. She saved me so many times when I just needed to get away, and she was the most loving and supportive aunt anyone could ever ask for.
I have other things she gave me. A strange multicolored papier-mâché bird that now sits on top of my living room bookcase. A small pillow she needlepointed with colorful marbles on it. A set of coasters, also needlepoint with geometric shapes, that I use pretty much every day. She had an underrated sense of style.
But nothing beats that Post-It. It contains so much in a few square inches of paper. Love and care and memory.
I’ll caveat this by saying if you’re in a position where your 9-5 has become mundane, it’s probably down to primary reasons.
You love your industry and need to move up.
OR
2. You need to move sideways and out.
*This article also assumes you’re not able to take on new responsibilities.
But the keyword(s) in the title of this particular blog is ‘too easy’, so let’s take a closer look at the 5 signs that your job has become a walk in the park, unless of course, your day job is a dog walker.
No Pushback
Now, this is a strange one. I’m sure most folks crave a workplace where everyone just sits down and shuts up whenever you voice your opinion, but for the ambitious and curious, being tested or verified is energising. It brings about new thoughts, processes and ideas.
Finishing jobs well before budgeted time
Not only a testament to how damn brilliant you are but also a sign that you’re getting more efficient and the work is staying the same.
Employees regularly seek your advice
It’s good you’ve got all that spare time from above, because you’re finding yourself helping colleagues that should be qualified to do the same job. I hate to say it, but you might be the person in the college group project keeping the team afloat.
Managers regularly seek your advice
Although it can be frustrating when your college friends frequently come to you for advice, it’s understandable. But when the lecturer stops to take notes, you might be in the wrong college.
You have no motivation to manage people
The natural path to growth is usually fitting yourself into a management position. But for many subject matter experts, staying in the field is a far more exciting prospect than rubbing shoulders with suits in ivory towers. You might be asked to head up the lift, but you choose to remain firmly grounded.
If you’re experiencing two or more of these situations in the workplace, and you don’t want to leave your job, perhaps it’s time to find another medium to channel your skills and expertise.
Having worked from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco to the Pacific shoreline of Mexico and now in remote farm country in the far south of New Zealand, the digital nomad life has been nothing short of rewarding. But it’s certainly not for everyone. Whether you’ve decided to embrace the gig-economy, become a digital nomad or are involuntarily forced to work from home, here’s a sound checklist to make sure you can be as productive as possible in your new office environment.
Before you begin your remote life
What’s your plan? Write it down.
Being self-motivated during this tenure will be your strongest skill. Can you fulfil the requirements of your job in your new environment? How will you continue to collaborate with peers? Do you have access to the tools and resources you need to manage and complete tasks? If not, what actions can you take to make it happen?
Having a written plan is an underrated phenomenon.
While on the surface it may seem menial, a strategy will keep you honest and help you answer questions about how genuinely productive you can be working from home.
Here are some additional questions to ask yourself before you begin working from home:
What are the challenges I may have working from home?
What impact do these challenges have on my daily productivity?
How can I overcome these limitations/challenges?
Do I have access to data and resources to complete my tasks, as I would if I were in the office?
What do I love most about working from home?
What does working from home enable me to do that otherwise, I would not be able to do?
Already at home?
Establish an office-like space.
2. In your first week of working from home, make a list of the tasks you would like to achieve daily and weekly, just as you would typically do in the office. After one week, measure your success rate.
3.Write down your wins.
4. Note what times you feel most productive. Conversely, note periods of lull and distraction. Review this after week one. Follow this schedule in week two to see if it holds true.
5. As unusual as it may sound, with no imposed breaks or obvious distractions, it might be easier to burn yourself out working from home. Make sure you allocate time for break periods. It does not have to be conventional lunch or coffee breaks. You’re at home now, so choose your time-off when you actually feel like clearing your head or need some fresh air.
6. Exercise during the day. Remember, it doesn’t have to be before, during lunch or after work anymore. Fresh air at 3:30pm with a coffee is great, but fresh air during a workout at 11:00am without a coffee, is unbeatable and a great way of revitalising your mood.
7. Do the things you’ve always wanted to do, but couldn’t get across to doing because you had to commute to work! Working from home/being remote must be something you enjoy and not because you just want to get away from the office. So make sure you’re doing the things that make you happy.
Red Flags:
Cheating yourself! This is a big one. Ultimately, if this is the lifestyle you want, you need to be honest with your employers, but more importantly, you must be honest with yourself. Refer to the ‘Ask yourself’ section.
Wearing your pyjamas while you’re working. It sounds great but you’re sending the wrong message to yourself. Just like they say if you can’t sleep, don’t lie in your bed, otherwise your body will habituate to being awake in that bed. Your body is used to comfort and lethargy in your pyjamas, so don’t wear them to work.
It’s not a holiday. You’re at work. Type it. Print it. Stick it.
Conventions are being tested through unorthodox workplace policies, like employees being asked to work from home. Working from home can be unsettling, especially while tasks continue to build up as you acclimatise to your new environment.
These suggestions and tips will most certainly get you back on the horse and on track to meet your productivity goals in no time.
I am no expert. Neither is this my full-time profession. Neither is this a great passion of mine.
You’re probably thinking: “Ok, great James. What’s the point of this?“
If you’re good at something. If you love to do something; and If you want to share that love with others, then blog about it. Chances are that your originality will develop an audience anyway.
Here’s the flip side, and I completely understand why there is a flip side. In a post-pandemic, digital age, fewer people feel the need to work the 9-5 grind, only to go home disgruntled about life.
Fair game.
For this growing demographic, blogging has become a primary source of income for the lifestyle they want to live. When you put that sort of pressure on yourself, you’re bound to lose focus on why you began blogging in the first place.
So how can folks who rely on blogging as a form of revenue, reconnect with the roots of why they began blogging in the first place, which I have to presume was to simply push their passions, dreams and interests into the universe; and meet some like-minded people along the way.
1.Figure out your niche
Take a step back. Look at the titles of your blog. Write down in one sentence what the hell you’re actually talking about. For example:
My blogs are about driving antique European cars
My blogs are about the affect of climate change in Antarctica
My blogs are about what makes baseball the best sport in the world
It’s that easy.
2. Take note of how often you publish
There really isn’t a point in blogging if you do it once a month. Do you go to work once a month? Do you clean the house once a month? Do you watch your favourite Netflix show once a month? No. So don’t do something that you’re investing time and money into, just once a month. Your output is 100% positively correlated with input.
3. Get Insights
Get insights. It’s that easy. In any line of work, feedback is essential to growth – that’s why we have chatbots on websites and performance reviews at work. Without insights, you’re not going to know which of your blogs or topics are working for you and which aren’t.
Perhaps one day I can begin earning some coin with my blogging. But for now, from one recreational blogger to many professional bloggers, I’m sure these three quick suggestions will help you on your journey.
At first glance, you may believe both are genuine
options.
Moreover, a very common misconception is that to write a blog or
publish an article, you need a website.
You do not. And they are not the same thing. Here’s why.
What you need to create a website:
A domain
A host
Unless you’re versed in the art of computer programming/science,
you will need a page builder to build the contents, links and design of
your website
An email address to send and receive communication from your
visitors
A marketing plan to distribute your content and receive a
viewership in return
A tool to capture insights
…this is just to get started, and it costs
money.
OR
Do you just want to create, write, publish and
share your blog? Here’s what you need.
A platform to write a blog
The essential editorial tools to ensure your work is aesthetically
pleasing
A network to share your work
If you just want to write and publish about your
expertise, experience and skills, Leakd provides all the necessary tools for
you to go from idea to exposure in one easy-to-use central platform.
If you just want to write and publish about your expertise, experience and skills, Leakd provides all the necessary tools for you to go from idea to exposure in one easy-to-use central platform.
If you just want to write and publish about your expertise, experience and skills, Leakd provides all the necessary tools for you to go from idea to exposure in one easy-to-use central platform.
If you just want to write and publish about your expertise, experience and skills, Leakd provides all the necessary tools for you to go from idea to exposure in one easy-to-use central platform.
If you just want to write and publish about your expertise, experience and skills, Leakd provides all the necessary tools for you to go from idea to exposure in one easy-to-use central platform.
If you just want to write and publish about your expertise, experience and skills, Leakd provides all the necessary tools for you to go from idea to exposure in one easy-to-use central platform.
So, do you want to publish a blog or create a
website?
Having worked from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco to the Pacific shoreline of Mexico and now in remote farm country in the far south of New Zealand, the digital nomad life has been nothing short of rewarding. But it’s certainly not for everyone. Whether you’ve decided to embrace the gig-economy, become a digital nomad or are involuntarily forced to work from home, here’s a sound checklist to make sure you can be as productive as possible in your new office environment.
Before you begin your remote life
What’s your plan? Write it down.
Being self-motivated during this tenure will be your strongest skill. Can you fulfil the requirements of your job in your new environment? How will you continue to collaborate with peers? Do you have access to the tools and resources you need to manage and complete tasks? If not, what actions can you take to make it happen?
Having a written plan is an underrated phenomenon.
While on the surface it may seem menial, a strategy will keep you honest and help you answer questions about how genuinely productive you can be working from home.
Here are some additional questions to ask yourself before you begin working from home:
What are the challenges I may have working from home?
What impact do these challenges have on my daily productivity?
How can I overcome these limitations/challenges?
Do I have access to data and resources to complete my tasks, as I would if I were in the office?
What do I love most about working from home?
What does working from home enable me to do that otherwise, I would not be able to do?
Already at home?
Establish an office-like space.
2. In your first week of working from home, make a list of the tasks you would like to achieve daily and weekly, just as you would typically do in the office. After one week, measure your success rate.
3.Write down your wins.
4. Note what times you feel most productive. Conversely, note periods of lull and distraction. Review this after week one. Follow this schedule in week two to see if it holds true.
5. As unusual as it may sound, with no imposed breaks or obvious distractions, it might be easier to burn yourself out working from home. Make sure you allocate time for break periods. It does not have to be conventional lunch or coffee breaks. You’re at home now, so choose your time-off when you actually feel like clearing your head or need some fresh air.
6. Exercise during the day. Remember, it doesn’t have to be before, during lunch or after work anymore. Fresh air at 3:30pm with a coffee is great, but fresh air during a workout at 11:00am without a coffee, is unbeatable and a great way of revitalising your mood.
7. Do the things you’ve always wanted to do, but couldn’t get across to doing because you had to commute to work! Working from home/being remote must be something you enjoy and not because you just want to get away from the office. So make sure you’re doing the things that make you happy.
Red Flags:
Cheating yourself! This is a big one. Ultimately, if this is the lifestyle you want, you need to be honest with your employers, but more importantly, you must be honest with yourself. Refer to the ‘Ask yourself’ section.
Wearing your pyjamas while you’re working. It sounds great but you’re sending the wrong message to yourself. Just like they say if you can’t sleep, don’t lie in your bed, otherwise your body will habituate to being awake in that bed. Your body is used to comfort and lethargy in your pyjamas, so don’t wear them to work.
It’s not a holiday. You’re at work. Type it. Print it. Stick it.
Conventions are being tested through unorthodox workplace policies, like employees being asked to work from home. Working from home can be unsettling, especially while tasks continue to build up as you acclimatise to your new environment.
These suggestions and tips will most certainly get you back on the horse and on track to meet your productivity goals in no time.
The epicentre of yogic faith, perched on the banks of the holiest river in the country, sadhus, gurus, temples. Surely this is the place!
Alas, probably not folks. This is a place where Hindus venture to confront the truths of their faith; and that my friends is not always a very enlightening experience.
But if you plan to stay in Varanasi to experience India at its core, you picked well. Benares (formerly known as) is a melting pot of Hindustani food, culture, tradition and faith. While you may not achieve spiritual enlightenment in the Holy City, here are 3 things about my experiences in Varanasi that are sure to raise your spirits!
1. History
The story of Varanasi is prevalent across its Ghats, through its narrow walkways and carved into centuries old infrastructure. India is steeped in incredible folklore and mythology, with a central theme of good overcoming evil in most instances. Uncommonly known as the oldest city in the world, the first inhabitants of Varanasi date back to the 2nd century; and while today it is known as one of the seven sacred Hindu cities of India, Benares wasn’t always the land of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. For almost five centuries, Muslim rule dominated and all but wiped out any notions of the Hindu faith. Only through the benevolence of King Akbar, in the 16th century, did Hinduism return to Varanasi, to never leave again.
2. Food
Traditional Indian cuisine is overwhelmingly defined by culture and tradition. With 23 nationally recognised languages, across 36 sovereign states and regions, there is bound to be diverse interpretations of cuisine. Situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh, central-north India, Varanasi sits firmly in ‘Chaat’ territory. “What is Chaat?“, you ask. These small-yet-filling snacks come in different sizes, shapes and styles. Common examples you’re sure to come across include: Aloo Chaat, Sev-Puri, Papdi Chaat, Mixed Chaat and Palak Chaat. Chaats are a collision of Indian spices, tamarind sauce, fried flakes, cream, cilantro and potato! For first-time travellers, it’d be wise to choose a busy stall or dine-in to avoid the infamous Delhi Belly. Over and above the savoury chaats, Varanasi is notorious for its sumptuous desserts, like Pedha, Gulab Jamun, Rasgulla and Jalebi. If you have a sweet-tooth, plan ahead and book your next dental appointment now.
Great to share my first experience of the Holy Ganga with three future adventurers
3. Faith
I mentioned above that many Hindus make the pilgrimage to Varanasi to reconcile their interpretation of the ancient faith with resident Masters. After reading and listening to countless stories from and of Mother Ganga, the feeling of actually being in the city for the first time is truly a sensory nirvana. Within moments of being on Ghats, Varanasi’s unparalleled influence on Hindu art and literature is so ubiquitously clear. To that end, I like to call it the religion of Varanasi. A place where anyone can enter, fuse history with faith and leave with a sense of fulfilment. Whichever faith you follow, whatever doctrine you adhere to, idol or not; in the religion of Varanasi there will always be common unity.
Final Thought
As a Hindu growing up outside of India, I found myself challenging the claimed realities of many anecdotes and references to my faith. Until my first trip to India as an adult.
I experienced a land so fertile and diverse, it’s no wonder the claim of ownership of Hindustan, across history, was seen as a monumental achievement. But as we know, seldom does beauty come without baggage. Poverty, corruption and chaos are contemporary terms, unfortunately, synonymous with the call of India. Who’s to blame? Who’s responsible? Who’s really to know? But having now been back to the country many times, I think I’ve figured out how the locals deal with it.
