Time is one of our if not the most important assets that we have, after all we can always make more money and more experience, however, we won’t ever get time back. Therefore, Time-Management is certainly one of the most covered topics in entrepreneurship and corporate, so why another article on time-management? While time management is heavily covered, the topic of working while traveling and how to organize your day isn’t.

This one is all about working and traveling where you put yourself first.

What if I told you that learning how to manage your time while traveling as a travelpreneur or digital nomad may throw everything you know on its head? Or maybe, it will change your thought process and this will be an add-on for some methods you already know? Continue reading if I awoke your curiosity (I have a gift for you at the end!)

Have you read the first part of the How to Travel and Make Bank Series? Head over here, so you won’t miss out on anything. 

Batching, the pomodoro method, or making your day depend on your productivity are all popular ways to get things done. Needless to say, you probably have tried all major time-management techniques – maybe you found some that work for you especially well, while others cause the opposite effect. However, while you’re on the road and working, you’re in an entirely different league than when you’re cooped up at your office or at home. 

Let me ask you this: Would it be possible to schedule the day so that you can get most of your work done in your free time? Before you close this page and say Anna is crazy, let me explain!

You may have a hectic schedule as an entrepreneur, but how about totaling up all the time you spend doing nothing? No matter if you’re binge-watching the latest episodes, are on your phone on Tiktok & Co, or sleeping in in the mornings (no worries, no need to take away that part; I’m just making a point here), you’re doing the same thing: you’re taking breaks – because you need to. 

However, what if you used the breaks in between your traveling time to get things done?

Let me show you what I mean.

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Priorities: Scheduling your workday around your free-time.

This would be a typical weekend while I’m traveling, let’s say in Salem, MA that I recently visited:

These are the museums and attractions I wanted to see (MUST-SEE):

• PEM
• Salem Witch Museum
• Hocus Pocus House
• The Satanic Temple
• The Witch Town

Based on this, I would try to estimate how much time it would take me to get through comfortably (no rushing allowed!)

• 3-4 h PEM 
• 1 h Salem Witch Museum
• 1h Hocus Pocus House
• 1h The Satanic Temple
• 2-3 h The Witch Town

With this, I can now start also planning what I need to get done work wise, since I have a social media marketing & content business, I have to create content batches and strategies for clients.

If I take short-term trips of a few days, I try to get the majority done prior, but for this example, let’s say it’s a trip where I didn’t work prior to it additionally.

Planning a trip to Athens, Greece? Here’s my guide with the top 7 things to do in Athens!

My work tasks:

• 2 h Batching out content for Client A & scheduling 
• 2 h Batching out content for Client B & scheduling 
• 1 h Work on a new marketing & branding strategy for client C
• 20 mins h Checking & answering emails

This is just an estimate or rather an example for a day’s worth of work to make an example on how to organize your day when traveling, since sometimes, some tasks are faster than others. Often, if I know I will be traveling at a specific time, I often batch out some content far in advance and buy myself a little bit of more time.

As I mentioned before, now I’m going to schedule my day around the activities I want to perform, after all, I don’t have to work 8h at once anymore. This is one of many reasons why many of us went into this lifestyle – to experience having control over your time and enjoy life again. Right?

Here’s an example on how you could organize your day when traveling, based on my example with Salem, Ma:

This is one of my favorite methods to organize my trips – notice how I didn’t say my time? You can use this planner, which you can download here, to plan your own trip as well.

As you can see, I initially put all of my work tasks for a typical day on the right, followed by everything I wanted to attempt to view or do on the left. On the bottom right and left, you can see the critical items I need to remember, as well as a priority list, which enables me to keep my priorities straight while getting things done and enjoying my life.

I also try to use downtime to get ahead – if I’m in a line, have to wait, or have to sit somewhere longer, I generally do some form of work. Of course, I’ll still browse and check social media every now and then, but while I’m traveling, I try to be strict with myself so that I can devote enough time to the primary sights and activities.

First, I’d want to state that I’m not the type of person that gets up early – I prefer to sleep in. It’s one of the perks that comes with being an entrepreneur that I won’t give back. Nonetheless, w hen I’m traveling, I still try to wake up early, but you won’t see me waking up before 8 a.m. unless it’s for sunrise photo shots – Ha.

Work is merely a means to an end; it should not be the main focus of your life or your identity.

TLDR: The essence of this method is that you’re organizing your day depending on your travel needs.

Meaning:

• If you know you want to see something in the evening – work in the morning
• If you want to go to an event in the afternoon – work in the morning/evening
• If you want to go to breakfast & brunch with others – work in the evening

Here, you learned how to manage your time, or rather, how to organize your day when you’re working and traveling, dependent on your wants and needs. Make sure not to miss part 3, where I dive in deeper into the type of mindset you need to have when you’re traveling and working simultaneously.

It can get stressful – so how do you balance it? Find out soon.