How to “work From Home” When Traveling
The best thing about working from home is that you don’t have to stay at home. You can work from a coffee shop , local bar, or even from across the country.
This is exactly what I did last Wednesday when I boarded a plane from New York to California for two weeks of sunshine, rest and work. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, careful planning, and some discipline, I was able to maintain my usual writing schedule while enjoying my vacation.
Mainly stick to your regular schedule.
It’s tempting to use vacation as an excuse to break your schedule. Sure, you can stay up late, get some sleep and spend hours exploring a new city or relaxing on the beach, but if you want to keep earning a paycheck while traveling, you’ll need to take some of your regular work from home with you. discipline with you.
One helpful trick is to stick to the same basic schedule as at home. If you usually wake up in the morning and get to work right away, do the same on vacation. For the past week, I woke up every morning to write for several hours. Then, when I usually run on business or play video games, I go camping or do something camping instead.
If you’re going on a vacation with a lot of commitments, you may have to cut back on the amount of work you normally do and just pick a few key projects that you want to focus on. This is exactly what I did this January visiting family in Florida, skipping my usual morning routine, but making sure I had enough time to complete a few important assignments.
Work in small batches
No matter how hard you try, you probably won’t be able to devote as much time to work as usual. (And you may not want to either. After all, you are traveling.). It’s perfectly okay if you can make up for it in another way.
I have found that it is best to work in small batches. Find 30-40 minutes in between classes and do real work instead of wasting time on Twitter or Instagram. I even managed to create a blog post while waiting to board the plane on Wednesday afternoon.
Use apps to stay connected
For most people, working from home would be impossible without the Internet, but there are several apps and programs to help you stay connected even while traveling.
Slack (or whatever messaging service your coworkers use) is key. I usually recommend removing it from your phone when you go on vacation, but if you’re trying to get some work on the go, the Slack app is your best friend. This allows you to respond to fast requests from your smartphone, so you don’t have to go back to your computer every time something happens.
Google Drive is also extremely useful for keeping order. Do all your work in Google Docs so that you can access them even if you don’t have a personal computer, and keep track of all your tasks and deadlines in Google Sheets.
Finally, if you find it really difficult to focus, use Google Calendar to set aside time. That way, you’ll receive a warning that will (hopefully) wrest you out of the bliss of the vacation for just enough time to do a little work before you return to the pleasure of the trip.