how to work from anywhere in the world - including your home - without going crazy

Did you google how to work from home because you can't go to the office due to the Corona virus?

I'm here o the rescue: In the last ten years I've worked in offices, on remote islands and from many kitchen tables and I'm pretty sure I have found a few more digital tricks to keep me from going crazy or from having more naps than work hours during the day.

The same ideas work for you if you're an aspiring digital nomad and try to set up a business, that isn't location bound.

Obviously you should look out for a proper table to work on and maybe clean up everything that's too distracting, but I'm sure you can think about these ideas yourself.

Here are some of my more digital hacks, that help me to get through the day and actually getting things done.

Meet your friends (digitally)

Some people like to spend their day by themselves working quietly. Congrats if you are that person. If you get lonely quickly or like to chat about your ideas in between, maybe having digital colleagues could help. Put up your phone next to you and video chat. You don't have to actually chat all the time but keep each other company while you're working. Apps like tinychat also work great, as you don't have to call each other up and can just hang out in a digital meeting room (depending on your clients you might want to think about data protection before).

Maybe you can set up meetings to chat about your business, to share ideas or to ask questions. After work drinks are a must. Basically anything that you would do in an office, just in a digital way.

Walking while talking

It's tempting to stay in pjs all day, but you'll feel terrible quickly. If you're not in quarantine go for walks in between, actually take a shower in the morning and try to stay as active as possible. You'll feel so much better sitting at your desk afterwards.

There are tons of workouts, that you can join live, so you have a reason to get up at a certain time.

Whenever I'm in a phone conference, that doesn't require for me to sit at my computer I'll go for a walk while talking. It just adds a bit of fresh air and movement in my day, without interfering with my office times.

Handle your data properly

This one is even more important if you're working from somewhere else. You will need to find a way to store your data, where they are safe and ideally not right next to your laptop (think burglaries, fires or pushed over water glasses).

I have a Synology server, which lives in Hamburg. I can access it from everywhere in the world and the data are synced whenever the wifi is strong enough. This means that no data will be lost if I ever destroyed my laptop (fingers crossed), but that I can also access it if the wifi isn't strong enough.

If you don't want to have your own server, you can always think about cloud services, who store your data for you. Just make sure, that their data protection works with whatever you're doing.

Plan your time

That's the hard part. When I'm working from home I'm always temped to start another load of laundry, to “quickly” do the dishes or to call up my mom.

While all these things need to be done, they keep me from doing my job.

Therefore I force myself to work at certain times and to use other times for these activities. My self proclaimed office hours are 9 am to 6pm with a lunch break at 1pm. Additionally I take a break in the morning and another one in the afternoon to take care of said “household” activities, to go for a quick walk or to nap.
If you struggle with this part, maybe have a look at project management tools like Asana, which can help you to stay on track.

This way I feel like I still get things done during the day and can still finish my work.

And the best part: if you have proper office times, you also have a proper end of the day.