During lunch time, I was conversing with a friend of mine about types of traveler. We both don't necessarily agree that travelers are just travelers.

There is more to it than just the term “ traveler” and it’s an oversimplification that people travel to enjoy a place these days.

There are also nomads, backpackers, digital nomads, and many other types of people who move from one place to another. Then, somehow we were suddenly talking about habit, routine and productivity when we’re not in our comfort zone or the environment that we’re used to. That the people we met many of them are in the mindset of leaving their home to enjoy life somewhere else. But the thing is, some of us are still tied to our work and most likely work even in an exotic places or destinations.

I suppose that many of us or people you come across in social media aren’t always that honest about the “digital nomad” life. The idea to move from one place to another may seem very appealing for the 9-5 folks but I have to argue that we also share our own set of problems. Perhaps it is just my personal problem but I think that I haven’t been able to draw the line between when to have fun, when to rest, and when to do things. Not to mention, my productivity depends on many factors and most of it is also the environment that I am around.

When I talked to a girl from the Philippines, who works for a call center agent for a US based company, she mentioned that the working hours can be quite rough. Even when she was with me at the hostel, she and her partner were still working until 4 AM and the nature of her work makes her awake during odd hours. It was really interesting because her partner was very supportive of her and sometimes helps when she’s tired. One thing that I learned from her is that she’s very sticking to her routine and it was interesting because to me, she’s very inspiring while I am mostly pretty laid back with everything. I definitely have a schedule and time to do things but there are days when my brain just doesn’t really work. On top of that, I have days when I eat food I shouldn’t and would fall asleep hours as the consequence of it. And I am not very good at regulating it. Sometimes I just eat things because I am too curious about it, then I would pay the consequences for it the next day.However, I can bounce back pretty easily just by timing everything I do. I think that is my productivity hack and it always works.

Though the girls were only staying for a few days, I already learned many lessons even just by observing the way she does the work. She’s very efficient and of course, it was actually the mechanical keyboard that gave it away and what intrigued me to ask more about her job. Personally, I’ve been asked about my keyboard many times too and it piqued people’s interest but hers was on different levels. It was an actual mechanical keyboard and her set up was on a different level as well. She would come downstairs, have her set up ready and would start working.

She did it religiously and would only go out during some of her free time and explored the places with her partner.

She made sure that things fit her schedule instead of trying to fit everyone’s schedule into hers.

This was a mistake that I made because I find it hard to say no if someone asks me for a walk or just a coffee somewhere. On top of that job, she has a couple more hustle that I was really amazed that she can find time for everything. I am sure that it’s her continuous effort and showing up that actually makes a huge difference. For me, it is something that I needed to improve because even like my mom said, my productivity fluctuates a lot and it’s something that I need to fix. The consistency instead of doing many things at the same time.

For now, I really mess up my sleep, my routine, and things have been a little bit messy. I’ve been meaning to fix my sleep and my routine to the point that I was obsessed with making a routine but nothing works thus far. It’s not that good especially when things can pile up and I have to fix some things here and there. But I like the approach that the girl I met does in which she does things in a more routine-oriented way and says no more often. Also because we’re not essentially “traveling” but rather doing work but from different places each time.

I hope you can take something from this post and the lesson that I learned. But I’d also want to emphasize that digital nomad has its cons and if you’re not used to working in different time zones and switching your sleep, you’d find all these a hassle and eventually you’d get tired of it.