Working out; working from anywhere

Challenges and learnings from a 8-months on the road.?

My partner and I left Australia in December 2021. After two and a half years of being ‘trapped in paradise’ it was time to escape and explore. Our plan was vague; keep moving and keep working. And It has been a blast. 8 months in and we’ve seen a ton of places and lived a lot of life. Whilst at the same time, managing to keep our businesses alive and well.?

But as the European summer begins to peak, I find myself longing more and more for routine and aspects of life that I have forgotten - from home.?

As a creative person and a business owner, I am always curious to understand how best to maximise my mind. Whether that be in terms of efficiency or ideas. The last 8 months have been challenging, yet exceedingly expensive. They have allowed me to see the importance of disruption and the true value of time.?

What routine?

I am a routine guy. From waking up in the morning to tools down in the evening, I would typically have my day blocked out. From training to eating and creating - everything. On occasions, I have definitely overdone the day-plan thing and overprescribed my time. But always sought comfort in the structure. For me it was a way to counteract distraction and my natural inclination for disorganisation.

From day one of our WFA experiment, this was all out of the window. From the Australian sunshine to the bitter cold of the UK, my schedule was immediately turned on its head and taken out of my hands - at least that is how it felt. My mornings, usually dedicated to creative tasks, were consumed with calls and admin. Leaving my less creative afternoon-self frustrated. And as a consequence, putting in longer, less productive hours to ease the guilt of my limited and often average ideas.

I wrestled with this for months. Never turning down a call after 5am and often asking for them to be arranged - perhaps due to some unsubstantiated guilt that I was no longer on the same continent. Not only did this new, undesirable non-routine affect my creativity and productivity; it prevented me from actually experiencing the places we were living. Undermining the very intention with which we had left Australia; to experience new things and work on our own terms.?

Re-reading Tim Ferris’ 4-Hour Workweek gave me a renewed perspective and the kick up the arse I needed to get things back on my own terms. It made me realise that I could salvage some routine and structure by being disciplined in my decisions and actions. By say no to unnecessary Zoom’s and choose to get up early and exercise before the heat intensifies.?

Here are some things I realised along the way:

1. Maximise your time and your clients dollars. More meetings and less action is a hindrance to clients. They are wasting their dollars/pounds on chit-chat, instead of thinking and creating.
2. There is more than one way. Routine can change - bend and flex to suit your schedule and accommodate when necessary.
3. It will get done! Morning or night, on a plane or a train, it doesn’t matter - the work will get done. Trust yourself!
4. Space is necessary to create.?

Whilst still a far cry from my early morning beach walk and mid-day workout, I have managed to rebalance my days. Taking control and carving out time for my clients and myself has not only improved my output, but allowed me to have more input outside of work.?

Finding space

As a freelancer or business owner, finding time and space to just ‘be’ can be hard. My days of stringent routine often prioritised productivity over all else; whether chasing clients or overservicing existing ones. Leaving Australia presented me with an opportunity to recalibrate this dynamic. But as I have mentioned, my ‘routine anxiety’ overruled and for a period had the opposite effect.?

Not only was I spending days looking out the window at the city I was visiting rather then actually experiencing it. I was failing to find space for myself. Space to think, to write, to read, to be, to grow - both creatively and personally.?

Unlike the revamp of my work day. The process to consistently create space, to take time to write every day and take a walk with my camera wasn’t an aha moment. It was a gradual awakening. A process that I needed to go through to get clear on the things that made me a happier person and a more effective creative.?

It has made me realise the value of my time. Blank space in the diary, detached from a specific purpose. Time to pick up a book or sit with a journal. Take a walk, play some music, edit photos - whatever. If we consciously deny ourselves space, we will forever be subconsciously in search of it.?

What I realised

The last eight months have been a journey. Enjoyable and enlightening in tandem. What I have realised is this;

If we always live and work within the boundaries that are prescribed, how can we truly know if that is the best way for us? To be our most productive, creative and effective self? To understand what gives us focus and fills us with ideas - we have to explore, push the boundaries and work in ways that do not feel natural for us. If we stay still and underexpose ourselves, we stagnate.?

Travel is one way to explore, but by no means the one & only. I only hope that all of you will find yours.