With only two full days left in Christchurch before we head off on our adventure, it’s starting to sink in:
WE ARE LEAVING!
I’m finding it very hard to balance work, saying goodbye to friends and family, unpacking and cleaning a whole apartment and getting everything ready before I go.
It’s SO exhausting, however soon I will be warm and overindulging in $5 hourly massages.
While I will be on holiday, I’ll also be at work. It will be a new challenge.
I have been thinking long and hard about how I’m going to make sure that this is both a successful holiday and period for my business.
In the past I have travelled as a scruffy, carefree, budget traveller.
Now I am traveling differently – with a bigger budget and with more responsibilities (work, clients, my blog readers – you guys!)
I am actually working with a few hotel brands during my travels on my travel blog, so will need to turn up looking somewhat presentable, rather than like a backpacker who just slept in a hammock for a few days and bathed in the ocean.
Here are my tips for balancing work and travel:
1) Stay Fresh and Focused
If I’m dirty, I am instantly less productive. I’m not a sweaty person, but Asia can be really intense, especially with the humidity. I always carry around wet wipes to clean my hands and face in an instant and a good solid deodorant to prevent excessive sweat. Now that I’ll be dealing directly with hotel managers, marketing managers and so forth, I want to feel and look good even if I’ve been on a plane for the past 13 hours.
2) Set Dedicated Work Hours
Unfortunately New Zealand has the worst timezone for my clients who are based in the UK. I stay up really late in order to get things finished during their business hours. On the flip side, Asia is going to be way better for business, but I don’t want my days to be ruled by my work. I am planning to set aside 2 hours a day that are ‘set work’ hours where I knuckle down and get things done. Throughout the rest of the day I’ll check my emails sporadically, but I want to set a limit to checking my emails 3 times per day on my phone.
3) DISCONNECT
As much as I enjoy my work, making money and checking out other blogs… I like life. When we’re in Thailand I want to do a three day trek and just disconnect from the Internet. I’ll try to time it carefully so that I minimise the impact on my business, but I want to disconnect. I want to lose myself in my travels, exploring and being ultra present in the moment. I haven’t had a full break from my work in over a year… even when I went on holiday to Queenstown recently I did a little bit of work!
4) Set Goals
I have a few projects in mind for diversification that I do not want to start until we’re settled in Panama. As it’s a new direction I want to head in, I want to brainstorm thoroughly and have the time and energy to research it properly. However, there are smaller projects that I have started, but not completed yet, so I want to keep these ticking over while I am traveling and just chip away at them slowly.
I really hope that I can balance a kick-ass holiday with moving forward in my business.