5 life and business lessons being a digital nomad taught me

Whenever I mention that I am a digital nomad, I always get “uhh’s” and “ahh’s” of how cool that is. 

Yes. 

BUT…

As cool as “travelling the world” sounds, there is more to this lifestyle. Here are five life and business lessons I have learnt along on my two years as a digital nomad.

1. Expanding the comfort zone.

I am a personality type that thrives on variety. However, living out of suitcases and always carrying everything I own around, can at times get tiring and stressful. Moreover, as comfort creatures that we human species are, we long for safety and stability, though it might look differently to each of us.

The pandemic highlighted this even more. While many of us enjoyed working form home, the strict lockdown rules and uncertainty about our life, as we once knew it, left a huge emotional toll on most of us.

Digital nomad lifestyle can amplify these feelings even more, as most of the time we are away from the comfort of our communities, environments, food, language and more. This means we have to expand our comfort zones, because "living outside" our comfort zone for long periods of time, can be taxing and damaging on our wellbeing.

What helps me creating a level of comfort is cultivating strong daily routines that stay with me wherever I go. Keeping rest, fresh air, nutrition and exercise routines help me to maintain a sense of normality in the various countries and seasons I find myself in.

This might sound simple, yet getting the basics right, is often the most challenging task.

2. Letting the control freak go!

Oh, this hurt!

Nothing about the pandemic was business as usual. Staring and growing a business, certainly wasn't! It was a constant battle between creating a financial stability, prioritising my wellbeing, while keeping my finger on the pulse of the constantly evolving business and social landscape.

This taught me the hard way of what trusting the process and surrendering to the moment really means. I still find ways to satisfy my internal need for structure and certainty, however I have also have learnt to take the foot off the gas and just go with the flow.

Reframing my idea of control, was the most challenging yet liberating thing I have done!

3. Surrendering to the moment AND having the long-view.

Digital nomad lifestyle might come across as incredibly ad-hoc, spontaneous and unpredictable. There certainly is a level of that. However, to ensure my lifestyle isn’t chaotic, stressful and doesn’t cost me a fortune, I have to think a couple of steps ahead.

I was reminded of the importance of this balance during this years DES Conference in Malaga, Spain, where I had the privilege of sharing the space with Barack Obama. One of his messages that resonated with me was to cultivate more long-view mindset in a world that is increasingly more distracted living in a sensationalised world.

4. Cultivating high levels of Cultural and Emotional Intelligence.

Being a digital nomad is a privilege and gives an enormous sense of independence and variety of experiences. However, the world does not evolve around me... It is important to integrate and be respectful of the local laws, rules and cultural norms.

Between me and my partner, we speak 7 languages. Yet even they are often not enough to get us around. However, we never expect the person, whose “home” we have entered to adapt to us.

For example, while English is the “business language”, I do not expect everyone to be obliged or prepared to serve me in English. Moreover, there are places where giving local residents a preferential and priority treatment, while I “was here first” or “am the one with a priority pass”, is common. Not being sensitive to such cultural norms, kicking a fuss, shouting out demands and making it about you, won't make you any more popular among the local communities. A reminder that patience is a virtue.  

5. Being socially and environmentally responsible.

Many nations are creating and evolving nomad-friendly ecosystems. While this is great for the nomads, it also has an ‘unintended consequence’ of increasing living costs in certain areas that negatively affects the local residents. Enjoy these benefits, but consider how you can give back to the locals by shopping local, renting directly from them and getting involved in local initiatives. 

Being a digital nomad is a choice and a privilege, so it is on us to make the extra effort. 

👉 What else would you like to know about the life of a digital nomad? Let me know in the comments.