Globetrotting, working and balancing the two

Photo courtesy of Flickr user  Don McCullough

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Don McCullough

In July I am moving on to a new adventure. My wife and I will be giving up our apartment in San Francisco, selling our worldly possessions and traveling the world full time.

I will also be working the equivalent of a full time US job while on the road. Things will just happen differently.

We are beyond excited for the upcoming possibilities and adventures that will come forward, and I want to make sure I am living in the moment, while also helping us earn an income.

This is where the topic of work-life balance comes in. How do you travel the world and maintain a work-life balance?

Use time-shifting to your advantage

The first way I plan to achieve this is by taking advantage of the differences in time zones during our journey. For example, when we are in Hawaii, I can communicate with people on the main land for before noon each day. The rest of the time I can explore the islands and sit in the sun. Then in the evening, when nobody is online, I can get the rest of the work done that needs to be completed for the day.

I can work the equivalent of a full time job while still taking advantage of the beautiful surroundings.

Deciding what is really important

Isn’t it funny how deadlines seem to pile up? We work long hours to push through a temporary project, thinking things will get better in the end.

Only things rarely end. One project becomes several. Full-time becomes all-the-time. Expectations become unreasonable, and it becomes all work all the time.

It shouldn’t be that way. It’s time to just say no to overload. Use the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule) to eliminate the 80 percent of the ineffective time we spend every day. I plan on achieving work-life balance by producing 80 percent of the results on only 20 percent of the time.

The rest of it? I am going to let it go. It is easy to carry baggage with us if we live in the same house or have the same job for years. It is easy to let go of that baggage when you start a new adventure.

Price based on value, not based on hours

The last thing I wanted to talk about was charging for your true value and not the hours you spend doing something. This principle has guided me for years, and has allowed me to achieve work life balance by spending fewer hours to earn a similar amount of money. Sure, charging more may reduce your sales success rate, but it also will weed out the worst type of clients: those who don’t respect or value your expertise.

Many times we fall out of balance between work and life because our time and contributions are not respected. It’s time to earn back that respect.

For me? I don’t have a choice but to let go of the old way of doing things. Long hours come at a cost. That cost may not seem like much when part of a daily routine, but it is simply unacceptable on my upcoming journey. You don’t need to travel the world to make these changes, though. You just need to decide what is really important and where you can provide real value.

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Guest bloggers for the TDS Business Blog.

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