With the world itching to emerge from its year long COVID hibernation, traveling while working is going to become the new norm. As a society, we’re moving past a ‘work from home’ mentality and towards a ‘work from anywhere’ mentality where team members can derive inspiration and motivation from anywhere.

While a work from anywhere mentality sounds sexy and incredibly appealing, you need to learn how to become productive and efficient while traveling before you take the plunge and immerse yourself in digital nomad life. Here are seven tips to keep in mind to help you remain productive and innovative while roaming the globe.

1) Set your phone up as your mobile computer.

Download Slack or any other apps you need in advance and practice using them at home before you travel. While it can sometimes be nice to be fully detached on shorter trips, this doesn’t work when you’re actively trying to work while you travel. Downloading the apps you need onto your mobile phone so that people can get in touch with you can reduce anxiety associated with being away from your computer for longer periods of time than usual in case you want to take a long lunch or go on a midday adventure.

2) Get in the zone.

Bring a few things that you need to get in the zone from anywhere. This may mean bringing your favorite coffee mug so that you can have your morning coffee like you’re used to drinking it, or your favorite notebook, etc. In advance of the trip, prepare a bag that has all of your work materials so that it’s easy to mentally separate work from play. Don’t have all of your work materials scattered throughout your suitcases and other bags you packed so that it’s that much harder to get yourself to work when you need to. You may be cutting it closer than usual (i.e. sitting down to your 3pm meeting at 2:58 because your midday hike ran over) so having your work setup ready will make it that much easier to snap back into work mode when you need to.

3) Think while walking or going on adventures.

This is especially beneficial if you go on walks in the morning while traveling. Often you’ll have your best, most creative thoughts in the morning and surprising your brain with new stimuli will only annunciate that. Jot down any random thoughts or notes that come to mind on your notes app on your phone while you’re on your morning walks. While you may feel like this unknowingly allows your work to spill over into your play time, sometimes these early morning travel adventures can yield pretty game changing ideas. So don’t force your mind to drift to work, but if it naturally goes there, sometimes you should just let it happen.

4) Plan out a communication pattern in advance.

Before you start to travel, know how and when you plan to communicate with your co-workers. You want to make sure that you’re able to maintain a reliable cadence with your team and establish communication patterns that work for all parties involved. Understanding how and when you are expected to communicate with your team members can help alleviate the stress associated with stepping away from your computer at different points in time to take advantage of exploring new places while you’re traveling.

5) Work at the right times.

Wake up earlier than usual and get your most important work done in the morning that requires your best thinking. Try to knock out 1–2 key items in the morning before the people you’re traveling with wake up so that you can feel relaxed and that you can comfortably take a break as needed. Save the more monotonous, routine items for later in the evening when you are tired but plan to wrap up a bit of work before going to bed. Plan out what tasks you want to prioritize accomplishing the next morning before you go to sleep each night.

6) Find new coves to work in.

One of the best parts about working while traveling is that you can find new and fresh work spots. Working in different places can actually inspire your creativity and help you come up with fresh new ideas. Don’t just find one table in the place where you’re traveling to and stick to it the entire trip. Rather, work in environments that you’re not used to working in, as it can help to give your ideas a fresh backdrop and enhance your creativity.

7) Set up an incentive system.

Another great perk of traveling while working is that it can actually help you feel more motivated to get work that you might otherwise procrastinate done efficiently. Tackle tough tasks on mornings or days before you have exciting things set up to do at night or on the weekends to follow. It can actually be easier to do higher quality work on vacation because you have things to look forward to after work to keep you consistently motivated.

Here at Camber, we actively encourage our team members to explore and adventure as long as they are getting their best work done. We believe that team members are at their best and most creative selves when they have the opportunity to work from anywhere and to work at times when they are feeling the most inspired and efficient. When we say we are a fully remote and asynchronous-first organization, we really mean it! Sounds good? Reach out to our team today and keep an eye on our open positions if you think you would be a strong fit for the Camber team! We’re always looking for new additions.