Is it possible to work productively from home, from a coffee shop, or from anywhere in the world? We are a team of Digital Nomads, with years of experience working remotely and we believe that it is not only possible to work remotely from anywhere you want, but that you can be EVEN MORE PRODUCTIVE working remotely than you think. But, the big question is, what do you need to be able to work productively anywhere in the world?

What do you need to be able to work productively anywhere in the world?

You can work productively from pretty much anywhere in the world! But there are a number of challenges that need to be overcome first. You need to want to work productively and to actively enable and facilitate this through your actions.

We’ve talked about the challenges elsewhere in another article, this post will focus on the things you need to maximise productivity and overcome the challenges that you might experience day to day when trying to work from home or remotely.

To work remotely whilst maximising productivity, several factors (or things) need to be in place. This can be thought of as a hierarchy, with fundamentals at the bottom, secondary factors in the middle and pinnacles at the top. Without the fundamentals being in place, one cannot progress further up the hierarchy. The same goes for the secondary factors, these must be in place in order to achieve the top layer i.e. the pinnacles.

When all three layers are in place, productivity is completely maximised.

The basic requirements to enable productive remote work

The key enablers to help you become more productive when working remotely as a Digital Nomad or from home are:

#1 Technology – a suitable computer and fast and stable WiFi are obvious requirements. But don’t forget how important collaboration tools, virtual white boards, document sharing a chat tools are too.

#2 Information – access to information, team meetings, calls and emails, as well as the ability to decipher what’s important and what’s not (to sort the wheat from the chaff.)

#3 Environment – physical environment, such as noise control, temperature, desk and chair set up and even ceiling height are important. But even more important than this is a positive and supportive working environment.

#4 Wellbeing – what do sleep routine, exercises regimes and healthy diet all have in common? These are all things that productive workers swear by and if you want to be a more effective remote worker, you should too.

How to achieve more when working remotely

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just the physical things such as a desk and a good chair that make you productive as a remote worker. In fact, much of effective remote work is about mindset and how you approach each working day.

#1 Connection – a positive network and the ability to connect with the right people when you need them are vital to effective remote working. But we all need social connection too.

#2 Time Management – time management is CRUCIAL for effective remote working. There are many different techniques that you can use too. We talk more about it here as well as is in our book.

#3 Goals – even Digital Nomads need goals. Without goals we are just roaming around coffee shops drinking Flat Whites!

The pinnacles to help you thrive when working remotely

What do really effective and successful remote workers have in common? We think there are two significant things and both are about mindset.

#1 Growth Mindset – People who have a growth mindset, rather than a fixed mindset, will believe in the power of hard work and their power to change their own abilities. This compares to others, who may not believe that they have the power to change their own mental ability or to create anything they want.

#2 Flow State – Hungarian psychologist, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi‘s research of 1990 found that “flow” could be described as ” a sense of competence and control, a loss of self-consciousness, and such intense absorption in the task at hand that they would lose track of time.”

Would you like to read more and find out how to activate your productivity superpower?

This article is an abridged version of our new book, “Remote Working: How To Find Your Productivity Superpower.” The book goes into way more detail and contains lots of new information that could help you become more productive.

You can order your copy now on Kindle or Paperback on Amazon here. Introductory price currently available.

If you want to find out more about how we came to write this book, you can find out here.

Blog Posts: Digital Nomads