Oct 01 2007
Wondering How Productive I Will Be on the Road
I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. I’ve been really well behaved of late… spending nights in, working hard on my sites over the weekend and generally just being a nerdy loser as much as possible. Well I can only take so much hiding out and this weekend I made up for it in a big way and can safely say that all day drinking benders are not good for productivity.
I’m pretty easily led astray and I’m wondering how much work I’ll realistically be able to get done once I hit the road. When I start out, the plan is to do some Couchsurfing and the whole point of it is social exchange so being an antisocial computer nerd isn’t gonna cut it. Plus I’m pretty sure I’d much rather chat to people than work anyways. I suppose I’ll have to hole myself up at a guesthouse now and then to get caught up.
I think when I’m settled with an apartment in Beijing I’ll be ok because I’ll probably be living in my own place and hopefully won’t be tempted too much. But then again, I’ll be in a new and exciting city and I’d be stupid not to take advantage of it. But I don’t plan on working a regular job so I should have plenty of time on my hands.
During the Olympics I’ll be totally screwed because it’s looking like a big group of friends will be descending on Beijing and it should be two solid weeks of debauchery. After that, the plan is to hit the road again but this time I’ll have a friend in tow and I doubt she’ll be too impressed with me wanting to hide away to work on my sites. Overall, I think the times when I’m on the move will be my least productive and it will be especially challenging when I’m travelling with a friend.
I’m going up to Scotland on Thursday for 10 days for my cousin’s wedding and the laptop will be coming with me. My parents and brother are coming over from Canada and it’ll be interesting to see if I’m able to sneak away now and then to get some work done. The whiskey will be flowing but I’m sure there will be a lot of down time in between so it will be a good test of how well I’m able to motivate myself and manage my time.
It’ll also be the first time I’ll really be using my new laptop so I’m excited to see how everything goes. Hopefully I’m not expecting too much out of what I can get done when I’m on the road but I guess time will tell.
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I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go. 
Best of luck - go to say that the whole working/travelling thing so didn’t work for me! I managed a few updates but basically we were travelling pretty fast so I actually found that I had little time plus often no access to the internet (an Australian problem I doubt you will have in Asia!). How independent is your friend - sometimes independent people can get a bit over-awed by Asia and cling like mad - which might be a problem for you.
Now we are settled in an apartment its a lot easier - which is lucky because I am on a big learning curve setting up WP and moving hosts - I just wish they would hurry up with the ADSL connection!
It depends on what work you will be doing. If it’s mostly writing new content then perhaps you could carry an old fashioned notepad around and catch 15 minutes here and there. And then type it and ftp it in an hour or so in the evening.
Would save you time too since getting the labtop out of the backpack, finding a place to plug it in (and/or find wifi), turning it on, starting up the program, fight the urge to check emails etc. could easily take up most of those 15 minutes.
What a great trip you have planned! After reading the 4-Hour Workweek I too decided that I would be taking a long-term living vacation (although mine will be much further down the road!) I’ll be speding a year in Europe with the family and truly experiencing the cultures within.
You chose a very interesting term to describe your friend’s arrival for the Olympics. I’m sure that ‘2 solid weeks of debauchery’ will make for some interesting blog topics!
I look forward to continue reading about your passive income websites and future projects. Thanks!
Kirsty - maybe the fact that you will enjoy working will help to motivate you. Either that or the need formore beer money - that will definitely motivate you, as it certainly does me Webjourneyman had a good idea - that way you can keep track of all th ethoughts/ideas you might have and then when you get the motivation, update the websites.
If all that does not work, just remind yourself of all the other working stiffs stuck in jobs they don’t like, and how cool it is to be doing what you are doing.
I wrote a massive reply to everyone and it got erased by my crappy work computer. Damn. I guess that’s karma for you… should really stop blogging on work time!
Thanks for the well wishes and suggestions. I think working offline into a notepad is a great idea and something I’ve done in the past when I didn’t travel with a computer at all.
I think working on the road will suit me on one hand because when I travel I need to feel like I’m accomplishing something at the same time and I have to fill my time with creative pursuits. But on the other hand I know I’ll find it hard to concentrate working in a hostel or Starbucks and think I’ll need those longer periods booked into one place to really get anything accomplished.
This is all assuming, of course, that I don’t break or lose my laptop within the first week!
I’ve come to the opinion that the travelling/working just do not compliment one another. It seems like a nice idea, but for how long? At least that’s how it is for me. I find being dependent on the internet when I am in an interesting place just causes me to miss the place I am in, therefore, for me at least I think one negates the other.
If it were possible to get to the internet at the same time every day/every other day for the same amount of time for specific tasks then maybe it would work better, but if you want that kind of predictablility then why not stay in the office?
I think the best way is to find somewhere that really appeals to you and stay there for a while. Some days you can spend on web development stuff and some you can spend experiencing the thing you dreamed of experiencing in the first place.
Ideally a lifestyle that includes you working on what you want, when you want and then taking time out to experience a place 100% is the one I would choose. Good luck with everything, you blog looks like it’s grown very quickly.
From my experience you will have good and bad days. Sometimes you will work the whole day and sometimes you just can’t bothered. Unless you have anything really pressing, it is a good idea to not bother forcing yourself to work if you are not in the mood.
Carrying round a notebook is an excellent idea. It is also help for jotting down addresses, recommendations of places to stay etc.
More places are offering free wifi. I have found that I can get much more done if a place has good wifi. I don’t even bother with internet cafes now, unless I am in a place with no wifi and just want to check my email.
I met a few people traveling for a long time and all agreed that it is hard not to feel like everyday is a weekend. I find it almost impossible now to have an early night. I think when you are working a regular job it is very easy to get into a familiar routine. As much as I have tried, I have found it almost impossible to establish any kind of routine. Maybe now I have gotten an apartment it might be easier. Anyway, it is probably the routine of working 9-5, M-F that you want to get away from.