It was the hottest day of the year here in the UK yesterday and, in true Brit fashion, the rail tracks melted.
I know this because I was on a train with my daughter as we ground to a halt halfway to London. I love train travel because it gives me time to think so I looked on this as extra thinking time and, as I gazed out at lush green fields and rolling hills, I had one of those lightbulb moments.
People love to talk about becoming a ‘digital nomad’ and that instantly conjures up images of someone tapping away at their laptop while they snuggle their toes into soft, white sand.
Now, apart from the fact sand is not that great for laptops, there is a problem with this image. Actually, several.
For one thing, this is unattainable for many due to the practicalities of life such as family ties, personal circumstances and possibly even an allergy to sand. For another, it’s not even everyone’s dream scenario.
What most people want is freedom – freedom from the daily grind, from a nasty boss or even that person who sits next to you and drives you nuts with their habit of writing their name on everything, including their yoghurt in the office fridge and their very own coffee cup.
In fact, that very word ‘office’ is enough to send many people screaming for a better life…
So today I want to talk about how you attain all the freedom of being a digital nomad without necessarily having to embrace the ‘nomad’ bit.
All that means is ‘location independent,’ i.e. ‘could work from anywhere.’ So let’s look at some ways of achieving that but first let’s look at the digital nomad thing (or just the freedom part) and how to attain it.
We’ll start with this great overview of what it takes and what you need to do to make this happen in your own life here with some excellent practical tips that anyone can use:
https://locationindie.com/how-to-be-a-digital-nomad/
With some more ideas here:
Now let’s look at why one highly successful digital nomad has given up that nomadic lifestyle and has chosen location independence instead:
https://expertvagabond.com/quit-digital-nomad-life/
As Matthew, the digital nomad mentioned above, managed to live that dream largely on the back of his highly successful travel blog (a dream job for many), here’s how he did that here and how you can also set up a travel blog:
https://expertvagabond.com/professional-travel-blogger/
Being location independent simply means being able to work from anywhere…even your own backyard if you wish. So here is a beginner’s guide to how to achieve that for yourself (yes, he mentions exotic locations but keep in mind that what works for you is all that counts):
As for what to do as a location-independent person, there is so much more than just IM – here’s a list of 11 of the most common careers people follow:
https://remoteyear.com/blog/11-most-common-location-independent-careers
And 64 more ideas here:
While this is a great guide to how to find those jobs even if you have no IT skills here:
https://www.digitalnomadsoul.com/location-independent-jobs-without-it-skills/
Have I whetted your appetite? I hope so. What I always aim to teach are ways you can genuinely free yourself up to work in the way you want from the place you want and I’m working on new stuff right now to help even more with that.
In the meantime, have a look at your TED talk for this week which might just help you make that leap into living a life that truly serves and suits you…how to let go of being a good person so you can become a better person:
