How I Stay Motivated to Work on the Road
Today I would like to share what I have learned about working on the road, which can be challenging. I was successful, but overcoming my lack of energy for work was an interesting challenge.
This post was originally published on the Zen Habits site.
I have about two weeks in my Grand Travel Experiment and am happy to report mostly successes! The greatest success has been achieved in my daily work and my daily training. I also meditate every day, although not as long as at home. I (mostly) controlled my overeating, trying to stop until I ate too much, which is a big win for me when traveling, although I didn’t do well at every meal. This experiment really helps me to be attentive.
I used to do all my work before the trip, so I can fully focus on being present during the trip without worrying about work. But it is really difficult, and I decided that it was more rational to work while traveling. So I deliberately didn’t do any work ahead of time, so I had to do the work while traveling.
My plan is to wake up before the kids, go to a coffee shop and work for an hour before walking together and exploring a strange city.
How it still works : I only went to the coffee shop for the first few days. It turned out that it took too long to go to the coffee shop, work for an hour and come back. So I wake up a little earlier and do my job while the kids are getting ready. This is a bit distracting as all the chaotic activities of the six kids and the preparing wife can be noisy and busy, but despite this, I was able to get my job done. I had less energy because we walked an incredible amount of walking, but I still overcame this obstacle.
Here’s what worked for me:
1. Do not leave yourself a choice. The most difficult thing comes when we say: “Should I do this now or not?” and then we realize we have tons of other options, like checking social media, reading the news, sending photos to people, and viewing photos of cats or robots on the Internet. What worked for me was that I told myself that there was no choice. Work is what I am going to do, without any negotiation, just like I am going to do my basic responsibilities as a parent, no questions asked. I felt tempted to let myself get off the hook, but then I let go of that temptation and just do it. Giving yourself a choice would lead to pretty bad results.
2. Challenge responsibility. It was very helpful that I announced this “ big journey ” a few weeks ago on my blog. I know what I’m going to report to my readers, and I don’t want to report a complete failure. It mostly helps because it reminds me of my desire to rationalize or give up. I think we all have these motivations and rationales, but we are mostly unaware that they are going on – we are just unconsciously following them. This challenge makes me aware of what I am doing and make an informed choice.
3. There are people who are waiting for work. As with the previous point, it really helps that I have my great Zen Habits readers waiting for my blog posts, and my Sea Change members expecting me to write and email on a regular basis. I am perfectly aware of this expectation from me and do not like to let people down. So I do the job without giving myself a choice.
4. Do it and then don’t think about it. When we walk, do some sightseeing and sample delicious food, I don’t want to worry about the work I have to do. So one of the motivations for doing my job is not to think about it later. It keeps me focused: I only give myself an hour or so to do my job, so I can’t sit back. I have to be up to the task, be attentive, complete it, and then I can afford the luxury of not thinking about work for the rest of the day.
This is what I am doing, but I am not claiming that everything is going “perfectly”. I’m tired and lazy, I got sick for a couple of days (it’s okay, just a fever), sometimes we run out the door because we want to start early. And so there is a temptation to forget about work, but I know that nothing will come of it. So I try to get the job done anyway.
I think what I’ve learned about work while traveling should also apply to work outside of vacation. It’s awesome – I can do almost all of my normal work in a short amount of time while traveling, which tells me that maybe I’ve been bumming around for quite a while when I’m at home. Great wake-up call!
Keeping Motivated To Work On The Road | Zen habits