I’ve heard it a hundred times: “I could never work from home, I’d get too distracted.” Or, “I’d get bored.” Or some variation of people not knowing how to work well from home.
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Working remotely looks easy from an outside perspective, but there are plenty of mentality mind games that plague successful solopreneurs, especially with feeling productive. There are obvious solutions such as working from a public space or making sure I ‘get dressed for work’, but those ideas don’t change the big picture. Here are three ways that I’ve been able to overcome some of the solopreneurial struggles:
One of my workspaces last week
1. Limit screen time –
When I first started freelance writing, it was so easy to take my computer into my bedroom after writing or working all day. I’d fall asleep watching Netflix like I used to. When my alarm would go off in the morning, I’d stay in bed and switch from the Netflix tab to Microsoft Word or WordPress and go back at it.
Y’all. I had not even brushed my teeth before I started working. BAD IDEA. I had no boundaries between my work and my play, and I felt like I could never leave being ‘on’.
Now, I’ve started leaving my computer at my desk. No more TV in my room. Other tips to separate work and play are to mute apps when you’re ‘off-hours’, hide notifications on your phone, and do not answer work-related texts outside of the hours you’ve set for yourself.
Working in Vedauwoo National Forest – surprisingly I had service and the creative bug.
2. Create a schedule –
Hours you set for yourself, huh? YES. Perhaps the biggest mistake I made when deciding to be my own boss was writing a bunch on weekends and feeling like I constantly had to catch up. I was doing all the things, all the time and not getting anywhere.
Here’s what I did: I bought a planner. I started living by my Google Calendar. I stopped freaking out about when I was going to fit all of the things in because I gave myself time to do them and stopped multi-tasking all the time.
I have my gym classes, creative time, pitching time, posting time, working for other people time, working for me time, and even ‘get up and take a break’ time on my calendar. My theory is that if I can’t be accountable to my own schedule, then what can I be accountable to? Which leads me to my final lesson:
Quick documentation break on a press trip
3. Know when to stop –
I used to write a to-do list every morning on a whiteboard and erase things as I accomplished them. Then, I kept adding things to the whiteboard in the empty spaces. I never felt like I was accomplishing anything, and my list was always as long as the whiteboard allowed. This led to me staying at my desk for 12+ hours a day and going to bed wondering if I’d really moved the needle for myself.
Then, I gave myself permission to succeed.
I stopped erasing all the things I had accomplished, and simply did what I promised myself I’d do each day. As a freelancer, the workload I take on from other people is as finite as I choose for it to be. As a solopreneur, the list of things that I want to accomplish will never end. It’s my responsibility to separate my work and my life.
If you’ve ever wondered to yourself, ‘Should I travel solo?’ then I have news for you. It’s going to change you, in ways you might not be ready for. Here’s a bunch of reasons that you should NOT travel solo.
It’s addicting
My first hit of solo travel was going to work abroad with a bunch of people that I didn’t know. I was hooked right away and started taking day and weekend trips away from my colleagues. My addiction escalated and a few years later I studied abroad with a group of people from around the world that I didn’t know. After graduation, I joined the workforce and I started taking weeklong trips to countries that I didn’t know the language. It got so bad that I started going on extravagant road trips to national parks and even went camping alone.
Antigua, Guatemala on Thanksgiving 2017
Now, I am so far down the rabbit hole of solo travel that I book travel before finding anyone to go with. The addiction is real, and if the first step is to admit that I have a problem, then group travel is simply not a rehab program that I’m interested in.
You’ll experience too much
I hear people say that they don’t want to solo travel because they’ll get lonely. While I understand that it’s easy to confuse being alone with being lonely, I have to object. Loneliness means that you’re seeking conversation, and conversation means a new experience with a new person.
Because I stay in hostels and take tours in English, it’s pretty rare that I go longer than I want to without having a great conversation with someone. Once you learn to start conversations with other travelers and locals, the whole travel experience changes!
When it comes to other travelers, I find it super easy to strike up conversations! Most of the time, when you meet another solo traveler, they welcome the conversation. I was traveling on my own and stayed in a hostel on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. The hostel had community breakfast and I sat at a table with people from 5 countries and mentioned that I’d like to hike to the next town over that day. One guy asked if he could join me, and we have traveled to 3 countries together since then!
2 of the breakfast crew. I traveled with Omri (right) for several days, then again in the US a few months later.
Locals will appreciate you speaking with them as well, and are typically super helpful. I remember asking for directions one time in Cyprus and it turned in to a dinner invite with the person’s entire family. If I’d been traveling with a friend and not been dependent on asking other people questions, I would never have experienced a traditional Cypriot family meal.
Do NOT solo travel if you’re not looking for new, unique experiences.
It will affect your mental health
Do you struggle to find confidence in yourself? Do you lack gratitude for what the rest of the world has to offer? Then definitely DON’T travel solo.
Traveling solo puts you in situations that will challenge you. I was once left without a flight home from Hong Kong and had no idea what to do. The same thing happened to me in Lebanon another time. I once thought I had a broken foot in Croatia and had an infected ear in Thailand. I’ve had to figure my way out of situations many times and it is exhausting. It left me more confident in my abilities and more mentally resilient than I could have imagined.
Me figuring things out in Hong Kong when the airport was shut down due to protests
Not only that, but being outside of my comfort zone brought me a deep appreciation for both where I’ve visited and where I am from. Before visiting the Middle East, I only knew what I had seen on the news. I still chose to visit, but only because I had friends of friends that were going to hold my hand the whole time. While there, I camped and ate the most amazing food of my life. I saw what was behind the news-created curtain, and I developed keen gratitude for the freedoms that my passport allows.
You’ll be forced into doing things you aren’t ready for
Oh, so you’re not looking to grow as a person? Great, then don’t travel solo. Because let me tell ya, I have had to do some things that I was not ready for.
Did I want to have to figure out the Paris metro system without cell service? Nope, but I did because I didn’t know I could buy a SIM card. Was I comfortable asking strangers for help with my Duolingo level Arabic? Nope, but it was my only option. Did I want to jump off a cliff? No, but I did because I was in the Mediterranean and felt silly saying no. Was I ready to say goodbye to the amazing people that I learned to surf with? No, but life moves on and so did I.
Pulled over to watch the sunset at a park in Croatia.. except it turned out to be these fellas’ farm! They served us snacks and drinks and showed us around, plus taught us about the Yugoslavian war.
Traveling, especially solo traveling, will put you into situations that you can’t plan for. Which leads me to my final point…
It will leave you changed
If you like who you are right now, then definitely don’t take off on a solo adventure. You will come back with stories that people might not relate with, and you won’t have a person by your side to reminisce with. In fact, the people that you share the memories with might be a Facebook message and a world away.
You will not come back from solo travel as the same person. Things that felt intimidating before you left will seem trivial now. You might find yourself going to dinner alone or striking up conversations with strangers.
Hitchhiking in Cyprus with a box of cookies in my hand
The bottom line
If you’re not looking for a new addiction that makes you a more interesting person, then don’t solo travel. It will only leave you worse for the wear – you’ll become a more resilient, educated, outgoing version of yourself. And really, who wants that?
My parents got divorced when I was 7. Two decades later, I realize that what I learned from divorce made me a better traveler.
It’s been two decades since my parents divorced and a decade since I started traveling internationally. There’s a lot to be said about the way a child’s brain develops, and I know very little about any of it. What I do know is that I’m a better traveler because of my parent’s divorce.
Let Me Explain:
My family of four lived in a town of about 3,000 people in Iowa until I was 7. My dad stayed there, and my mom, brother, and I moved to a metro of about 380,000 people.
Every other weekend and for a month in summers, we’d trek across the state and hang out in the small town with our dad. We’d spend those weekends going on hikes and playing hide and seek in forests and camping before going back to the city.
The city was home, but those weekends and months in the summer were adventure.
I remember going to 5th-grade camp with a group from school. We were prepped, as were the parents, for how to do it. How to camp, what to expect, and what it would be like to be away from home. It’s probably the first time I realized that my parents’ divorce helped me with ‘life stuff’. Where was the challenge that these kids saw?
Then, when I was 16, I saved up to go on the French Club trip to France. We’d be away for 18 days total. Immediately after I returned, my family was going to visit my aunt in Boston, so I’d be away from home for about 4 weeks straight. About a week into my trip, my roommate for the night called home and burst out in tears. I remember thinking, ‘she already misses her family? Weird.’
Travel Lessons I Learned From Divorce:
What I didn’t realize then was that I became stronger because of the time I spent away from my parents – I was always away from one of them. I could spend a weekend or month away and be okay.
During all of that traveling back and forth, my little brother became my constant. We’re still best friends.
Professionally, I went on to become successful in my sales roles because of my ability to build relationships over the phone.
As a traveler, I am used to traveling often and far. I’m really good at road trips because of the 8+ hours per weekend that we spent going back and forth.
I can channel the energy it takes to miss someone into adoration.
What about you? What life event has most affected your travels?
Before watching a diversity and travel panel, I thought I could see myself traveling just about anywhere. I realized in the days following that I was wrong. Travel privilege is real, and it’s wise to be aware of it.
I sat in the front row with my notebook open, ready to soak up all the things I learned from them. And let me tell ya, it was plentiful.
Diversity can be different ability levels – Would you be able to get to the bottom of a canyon?
What I Learned about Privilege and Travel
One specific topic that came up was the idea of safety. I’ve lived in a bubble where the biggest threat to my safety as a woman was my self-awareness. However, the people speaking on the panel had to think a bit deeper about their safety. They asked themselves questions like, “Will I be made fun of?” and “Will I be assaulted simply because of how I look?”
I also learned that I have never had to google, ‘Racism in ___’ and ‘Safest places to go as a ____ person’. This is privilege – assuming the world is going to accept me.
The questions then turned to something like, “If I don’t see myself represented in advertisements, tourism publications, and in content online, I don’t know if it’s truly safe for me to go there.”
This struck me. I couldn’t think of a single time that I didn’t go somewhere just because I couldn’t picture myself there. To be honest, I kind of rejected their perspective thinking that it was a bit extreme. This is travel privilege.
Streets in my village in Morocco – Another privilege is my physical abilities.
Travel Privilege
Two days later, I was on Facebook and saw a video come up in a travel group that I’m a part of. Someone had posted this video about Saudi Arabian toursim, and it changed my train of thought 180 degrees. The video shows women touring museums together, driving fancy cars, and doing it all without their hair covered. Some of the women in the video were blonde and some were black. Here’s the thing – until I saw this video, my internal dialogue was, “I don’t think I’m even allowed into Saudi, I’m not Muslim”. Now, I can totally see myself visiting.
A few days later, I saw a bunch of content creators that I follow on Instagram visiting Accra, Ghana for the Year of Return. I thought to myself, ‘I can’t go there, I’m not ‘returning”.
Last week, a content creator that I follow posted a video about how Pakistan has opened its doors to tourists. They have created myriad programs to attract people, but that people largely aren’t coming due to a past reputation that the country earned.
The bottom line is, that I have the privilege of choosing where I go. I can get to the tops of mountains and I can get strangers to trust me. It’s because of who I am, both on the inside and outside. Not everyone has the privileges that I do.
Another privilege is not having to worry about my religion or skin color giving me away in most western places.
The Point
My point is this: I am going to travel everywhere, and it’s not going to be easy. I’m 49 countries in and won’t stop. However, it’s important on a grander scheme to lift as we climb. By which I mean, as I travel far and wide, and as others do, we can pave a way to help others see themselves in new places as well.
When we travel, we understand each other better. When we understand each other, we can create connections and peace from the ground up.
When I think about why I started to travel, it was to learn. The best way I’ve found to learn about the world, and the reason I keep traveling is because of the people I meet. Globetrotters realize that everyone has a story, and those stories light up my brain.
Here’s why travel is important, and why being a globetrotter is about so much more than posting pictures.:
Two friends I met at the Iguana Perdida hostel on Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
Whether it be my time teaching kids in France, or my time living with two girls from high school, the best thing about any environment is the attitudes that surround it.
What’s interesting though, is that I find that I have a tough time meeting locals sometimes.
For example, in Germany, it’s so hard to meet Germans. I’ll meet plenty of Turkish people and Iranians but can’t seem to strike up a conversation with a German. I think I know why that is.
It’s not because the locals aren’t incredible. It’s just that I’m in their home.
Hanging out on the streets of Havana
Hear me out. When we’re at home, we stay at home. We leave home to go to places that we know with people that we already love. When we travel, the people there are the same as us. They have their rituals and aren’t keen to meet people that will be gone the next day.
And that’s okay. It just means that we meet different people than we expect to sometimes. Just like being in a garage doesn’t make you a car, being in a country doesn’t mean that you’ll be enveloped in its culture.
The best part of having friends from around the world is the introspective things that I learn.
Learning is the reason for travel. At the end of the day, a bunch of diverse people can sit and have a conversation together about nothing concerning their own countries’ issues with the others. Globetrotters can sit together and understand, simply from shared experience. The most important thing I’ve learned from traveling is that we are all people. We are all one race: human.
Beyond just getting to know people, I’ve gotten to hear about the amazing things they have done in their lives. I’ve learned from the places they’ve been and the people they associate with at home and abroad. I get such a kick out of meeting other entrepreneurs and learning first hand what business abroad looks like.
The one thing I hear from my W2 friends is, “I want to travel more, but I think I’m almost out of PTO.”. Every year, I travel over Thanksgiving. It has been my #1 trick to sneaking in an extra week-long vacation every year. Read on to hear why it makes sense for YOU to leverage the holiday to travel.
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Three Reasons to Travel Over Thanksgiving
PTO
Just about every company in the US gives Thanksgiving Thursday off. Most either give that Friday off or let people loosely work remotely. Honestly, very few people come into the office anyway. Therefore, you can leave the Friday before Thanksgiving and return the Sunday after. This 10-day trip would only ‘cost’ you 3 PTO days. 3 days of PTO for a 10-day vacay? YES!
Thanksgiving Day 2016 – Novi Sad, Serbia
It’s Cheap
It’s well-known that Thanksgiving is the holiday in the US that people travel most for. People who live outside of the US come back during this time as well. However, because other countries don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, the flights going to pick those people up are typically nearly empty. People tend to stay in the US during Thanksgiving week, especially business travelers. For that reason, flights out of the US before T-day and returning after the holiday are often SUPER cheap.
An example: I once flew from Boston to Budapest and back for $420. One Thanksgiving, I went from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona and back from Madrid for about $400. Another year, I flew Miami to Guatemala City and back from Honduras for $225.
Saturday before Thanksgiving 2018 – Andorra la Vella, Andorra
Off-season
November isn’t really high season anywhere. It’s nearly winter in the northern hemisphere which usually means a high chance of rain, and in the southern hemisphere summer isn’t quite in full swing. For this reason, hostels and hotels are typically the cheapest during Thanksgiving week, restaurants are super easy to get in to, and you’ll run into fewer tourists. It’s a great way to have a low-cost time at your destination!
Thanksgiving Day 2017 – La Libertad, El Salvador
My Thanksgiving trip in 2017 in Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Bosnia with details here.
Thanksgiving 2018 in Central America trip details here.
Have questions about Thanksgiving travels? Comment below!
