SO, I’m officially one week into my new life as a Digital Nomad. *International Digital Nomad* with actual Time zone/ Language/ Cuisine/ Cultural shifts. Woah
For my friends and family that have been following my entrepreneurial journey for any amount of time, you probably have noticed that I’m a creature of habit.
I wake up, rotate through (more or less) the same sequence of exercises, drink the same Isa Protein shakes, bother Mitchell for a bit while he tries to do productive things, dive into a 90-minute grind session for FYBS, 60 minutes of Taylor Time (Manicure, find a puppy or baby to play with, etc) then another 90 minutes of deep work.
Evenings consist of some sort of couple building activity; watching a play, catching up on an episode of GOT [Yeah, we’re still on Season 2, shut up about it]. Then, in bed by 9:30, 10:00pm latest every night.
This is a pretty rough outline BUT with only minor deviations, all of these things happen; every day.
Life in Argentina is different. I’m talking, mid-day 2pm Beer break at work, restaurants not even OPENING for dinner until 9pm, new friends and community with FASCINATING accents you can’t help but want to spend hours trying to decipher (and I actually speak Spanish).
But you see, this is the beauty of Digital Nomad life. AND ITS NOT FOR EVERYONE! Don’t let the ‘gram fool you; ‘Clarendon’ is playing games with your life.
Leaving the comfort of your home and familiarity is decision that shouldn’t be made lightly. In my limited time thus far, I’ve found the following 5 hacks have helped make the adjustments a bit more manageable.
1. Honor Your Habits
Habits are an extremely part of building a successful…anything. Business, relationship, healthy lifestyle, you name it, habits have helped you get there and they’re what allow streamline certain processes of your life so that you can focus your attention on more pressing things.
One of my ‘keystone habits’ is writing down the 3 Action Items of the following day every night before I go to bed. These are the 3 things that, no matter what, will be completed to next day. The next morning, I know exactly where the majority of my focus will be directed from the get go.
Is there something you currently do EVERY day that helps you to dominate your productivity? Honor this habit and maintain it, no matter where you physically are in the world.
2. Make Time for Your Extracurricular
Extracurricular are your hobbies; your passions, the things you stop to incorporate if you’re having a shit day or just need a recharge.
This one was hard for me because right before leaving, I got back into Field Hockey. Turns out playing 3X a week really helped with processing thorough extra energy, aggression, competitiveness, you name it. Now, I THOUGH finding a FH league in Buenos Aires would actually be kind of easy because of, you know, the whole, being the best in the world thing… (okay, they’re 3rd. but still) NADA
Maybe your hobbies are something more universal and finding a Meetup or something around them will be a much more attainable. BUT if you’re like me, and have to get creative, he’s the sauce. * Think about your favorite hobbies and what they provide for you. Remember how I mentioned how I love Field Hockey because it helps me process through my extra energy, aggression, and competitiveness? Well, interestingly enough, a combination tango, Spanish language, and kick boxing at a local gym helped me to get the same ‘fix’ I’d grown accustomed to with a fun twist of trying something new!
3. Get Lost
Now, this one comes with an (hopefully obvious disclaimer) in that ‘getting lost’ doesn’t mean ‘be a foolish gringo that YOLOs into a random neighborhood, off a random subway stop, and just ‘see what happens’. That could go really wrong, really fast. I define ‘getting lost’ as going out and exploring with out a specific destination or timeline in mind. It’s really amazing the things you can manifest when you open yourself up to the universe and stop trying to control everything.
“There's a great Hindu story about a lady who wanted to meet the god Krishna. So she went into the forest, closed her eyes, and prayed and meditated on making the god appear and lo and behold, Krishna came wandering down the forest path toward her. But when Krishna tapped the lady on the shoulder, she, without opening her eyes, told him to get lost because she was busy meditating on a very important goal.”
This is an analogy that helps explain the things we can miss out on in life when we hold rigid views or opinions on EXACTLY what a ‘win’ looks like. There are great things that the universe has in store for you that you likely can’t even fathom yet! When you learn how to genuinely be okay with not needing to always know the specifics but simply, expect the best, the best will come. #lawofattraction. Its a thing, look it up.
4. Know When to Take Ownership
Ownership can take on two forms; it’s both, knowing when a situation requires you to be assertive and ‘own the frame*’ and also when you need to take OWNERSHIP for what’s happening to/for/around you. A coach of mine said it best with the simple question of ‘how did I create this?’ From trying to understand why no one in your community ever seems to want to spend time with you to losing your phone, taking ownership and consciously getting yourself out of victim mode will allow you to begin influencing aspects of your experiences in ways that you didn’t even knew were possible.
When you’re living in a new country, there are going to be aspects of life that are different than you’re used to. Many aspects. Sometimes, your instinct may be to go into victim mode. “What is this happening to me?” “Why are you Doing This to me”? Try to reframe your stories like this and instead, learn to ask yourself, how did I create this? If you’re in a situation that isn’t vibing with you, make the decision to innovate your way out of it, take action, and do the damn thing. You’re a grown ass woman (or man). Act like it.
5. Know When to be the Passenger
The converse to the last step is knowing when to sit back, shut up, and enjoy the ride. The same way that you need to know when to own a situation, learning how to identify situations where to do the opposite is equally important. The majority of these opportunities present themselves in situations that are beyond your control but you still must endure as a functioning member of a society; ie, going to bank, going through the line at the grocery store, getting seated at a restaurant, etc. There are going to be time where you spend 30 minutes waiting in line, to get in line, only to meet with a ____ who tells you that you actually needed to wait in the OTHER obscure, seemingly identical line that across the room. Think of it like the DMV of the worst kind of steroids. You will likely encounter a TON of these situations; ‘systemic inefficiencies’ is what I used to call them in the states.
When confronted with these ‘systemic efficiencies’, you have two choices; be the stereotypical gringo who believes that your bitching and moaning will be exactly the thing thats was missing to rewrite an entire system that has been functioning for decades (in some cases centuries) before you were even a thought OR accept that an experience that annoys you is just that; and experience that you’ve GIVEN your power to in that, you’ve let some external 'thing' decide how you’re going to feel. And that’s wiggity wack.
The faster you can learn to take each hurdle that you encounter with a smile and an attitude of ‘this will somehow work out for my ultimate advantage’, the faster you’ll discover the joy of the passenger mindset and, to be candid, probably add a few years to your life by reducing the amount of time you spend stressing over things beyond your control.
So these are my 2 cents so far (or maybe, 5?) Either way, hope you found some value.
Be Well,
Taylor
P.S
*Sauce? Like, Secret Sauce? Like, the hidden gem? It’ll catch on..
*Own the frame: