I get the sense that digital nomadism is akin to a multi-level marketing scam; the only people making actual money are the ones recruiting others to the "lifestyle" by advertising their blogs, books and guides (see OP).
Years ago I sort of did the digital nomad thing for about 8 years in Western Europe, but I managed to spend a good amount of time in every continent but Antarctica. I earned between $25k and $100k a year working about 10 to 20 hours a week and spent most of the money on alcohol and women. I had to work pretty hard the first couple years just to kick-start the whole thing though. The final year was a total blowout and I played video games all day and partied 5 or 6 nights a week. I ended up killing the business through neglect, but that final year of total freedom was worth it.
The bad part was that I ended up in my early 30's with no money, no job, and a very unattractive CV/Resume. The good part is that I was socially transformed. I'm way more confident now, especially around groups of strangers.
I never wrote about this before nor have I ever written a blog, but I met plenty of people living similar lives. Anyway I guess my point is that there are plenty of people out there doing things without blogging about it. But you're not going to meet them online.
As someone who was a digital nomad and now works more or less permanently from home in the US, I can say that this is absolutely not true. There are definitely "digital nomads" that could be described that way because they are operating affiliates businesses off of a travel blog and monetizing social media, and I guess more power to them. But most of the digital nomads I met, including myself, worked actual full-time jobs for actual companies while abroad.
Becoming a digital nomad isn't about making money... in fact if you do it properly it's at best break-even or slightly cheaper than just renting a place to live in the US and staying put, but could be vastly more expensive. It's about exploring the world, expanding your viewpoint, and inspiring you to think differently. Going abroad helped my engineering work immensely, and also gave me a chance use time zones to my advantage to improve my health by adapting my sleep cycle to my body's needs rather than the whims of an employer. It also got me moving much more despite working on a computer all day, which greatly improved my health as well. Being able to leave work and actually go do something new, interesting, and exciting each day had a positive effect on work/life balance and was the perfect way to combat the burnout I was experiencing as a senior engineer before I stepped on the plane.
I don't advocate being a digital nomad, because I think it's something that's not for everybody and it had its own set of challenges and stressors. But I don't think it's some sort of MLM get-rich quick scheme by people either. You are only seeing the aspect of it shown by social media which is dominated by "influencers" using their skill at marketing and manipulation to enrich themselves. But if you talk to most people who lived the lifestyle, they were normal joes doing normal jobs, just in a location-independent fashion. Not everyone who is a digital nomad is a white 20-something from New York or LA that decided to take their affiliate blog on the road and write a book to be self-published by Amazon, probably less than 10% of the digital nomads I met along the way were like that. I met a lot of people during my time due to using coworking facilities in so many places.
If you're not a digital nomad yourself or otherwise living in digital nomad desirable locations it would make sense that you never encounter any organically, and that just leaves you with those that are pushing the lifestyle.
I don't understand how you could be skeptical of the idea, it's pretty simple. Step 1, have remote job or contract work. Step 2, choose not to stay in one location. The end.
I guess I'd disagree, since multi-level marketing scams are marketed as ways to make money, and as a general rule that is not what digital nomadism is marketed as.
a digital nomad myself I have to disagree. digital nomadism is just a life style like any other, and it's not for everyone. I know many ppl who tried it and went back to 9-5 jobs and thats totally fine
Instead of opposites, I would consider both Workaholism and Procrastination as forms of experiential avoidance coping strategies. Instead of a golden-mean between the two, the ideal point is off the line, where you have the psychological flexibility to live a valued life despite difficult feelings and avoid both traps i.e. Acceptance and Commitment theory.
n.b. I see you are using ideas from Tim Urban, I would suggest referencing him properly rather than just copying.
> I wake up around 6 am, go to the gym with my buddy, come back to my room to take a shower, eat a bowl of salad and then leave for work. I get to work around 9 am, leave around 5 to meet friends, hang out, or do whatever activity I was planning for that evening.
This seems to me the idea(s) of a young person who's working (no pun intended) on the small picture, but missing the big one. In short, somebody who doesn't know yet what to do in life, however, not what to do in the planning or business sense (which is what described in the post), but more precisely, what they _want_ to do.
To me, rather the conceptualization(s) proposed, the words of John Carmack are immensely more powerful: when asked about what's the difference that being rich made to him, he replied "not much, I wake up in the morning, I go to work, and I do my best"¹.
¹=I can't find the reference. I don't think it comes from Masters of Doom.
> when asked about what's the difference being rich has made to him
I think that this quote, while well meaning, misses what being lower class is. It's about the constance worry and anxiety over being able to provide. It's being terrified of every accident or potential set back. It's about constantly sacrificing wants for needs. Being even upper middle class alleviates many of these, and being rich alleviates almost all of them entirely.
I have this idea where I can work my neck off for 4-6 months (including weekends; essentially eat, sleep, restroom, and work 24x7). And then I need the rest of the year off.
I'm not sure how to find this kind of work. Some have advised that I should seek contract work. But contract work is hell, no thanks.
Ski instructor? Mine site commissioning engineer? Game developer (except you get the rest of the year off because you got fired when the game shipped.)
I think that if you can find a way to intrinsically value yourself and your life you may find it easier to get balance with your work. The graph of Procrastination vs. Workaholism has many more dimensions.
Unlikely: there's no visible motor on the wheel (it appears to just be a clip holding it in place, so all that speed is the hamster's doing. It's no more animal cruelty than tripping and faceplanting while running would be the ground assaulting you.
[+] [-] zozin|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] digitalhobo33|5 years ago|reply
The bad part was that I ended up in my early 30's with no money, no job, and a very unattractive CV/Resume. The good part is that I was socially transformed. I'm way more confident now, especially around groups of strangers.
I never wrote about this before nor have I ever written a blog, but I met plenty of people living similar lives. Anyway I guess my point is that there are plenty of people out there doing things without blogging about it. But you're not going to meet them online.
[+] [-] tristor|5 years ago|reply
Becoming a digital nomad isn't about making money... in fact if you do it properly it's at best break-even or slightly cheaper than just renting a place to live in the US and staying put, but could be vastly more expensive. It's about exploring the world, expanding your viewpoint, and inspiring you to think differently. Going abroad helped my engineering work immensely, and also gave me a chance use time zones to my advantage to improve my health by adapting my sleep cycle to my body's needs rather than the whims of an employer. It also got me moving much more despite working on a computer all day, which greatly improved my health as well. Being able to leave work and actually go do something new, interesting, and exciting each day had a positive effect on work/life balance and was the perfect way to combat the burnout I was experiencing as a senior engineer before I stepped on the plane.
I don't advocate being a digital nomad, because I think it's something that's not for everybody and it had its own set of challenges and stressors. But I don't think it's some sort of MLM get-rich quick scheme by people either. You are only seeing the aspect of it shown by social media which is dominated by "influencers" using their skill at marketing and manipulation to enrich themselves. But if you talk to most people who lived the lifestyle, they were normal joes doing normal jobs, just in a location-independent fashion. Not everyone who is a digital nomad is a white 20-something from New York or LA that decided to take their affiliate blog on the road and write a book to be self-published by Amazon, probably less than 10% of the digital nomads I met along the way were like that. I met a lot of people during my time due to using coworking facilities in so many places.
[+] [-] austhrow743|5 years ago|reply
I don't understand how you could be skeptical of the idea, it's pretty simple. Step 1, have remote job or contract work. Step 2, choose not to stay in one location. The end.
[+] [-] bryanrasmussen|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamalx31|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] duncanawoods|5 years ago|reply
Instead of opposites, I would consider both Workaholism and Procrastination as forms of experiential avoidance coping strategies. Instead of a golden-mean between the two, the ideal point is off the line, where you have the psychological flexibility to live a valued life despite difficult feelings and avoid both traps i.e. Acceptance and Commitment theory.
n.b. I see you are using ideas from Tim Urban, I would suggest referencing him properly rather than just copying.
[+] [-] cdrake|5 years ago|reply
"Instant Gratification Monkey...Panic Monster" -https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrasti...
[+] [-] jamalx31|5 years ago|reply
Thanks for pointing this out, a human error. I've updated the post to point to the original idea from Tim post
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] pantalaimon|5 years ago|reply
Where do people get that energy?
[+] [-] digitalsushi|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamalx31|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pizza234|5 years ago|reply
To me, rather the conceptualization(s) proposed, the words of John Carmack are immensely more powerful: when asked about what's the difference that being rich made to him, he replied "not much, I wake up in the morning, I go to work, and I do my best"¹.
¹=I can't find the reference. I don't think it comes from Masters of Doom.
[+] [-] MathCodeLove|5 years ago|reply
I think that this quote, while well meaning, misses what being lower class is. It's about the constance worry and anxiety over being able to provide. It's being terrified of every accident or potential set back. It's about constantly sacrificing wants for needs. Being even upper middle class alleviates many of these, and being rich alleviates almost all of them entirely.
[+] [-] Chris2048|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tingletech|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fizixer|5 years ago|reply
I'm not sure how to find this kind of work. Some have advised that I should seek contract work. But contract work is hell, no thanks.
[+] [-] stronglikedan|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taneq|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] intrepidhero|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] battery423|5 years ago|reply
A weird blog post becomes an ad for a book?
Whatever this example should demonstrate, it doesn't make me curious about the book.
[+] [-] jamalx31|5 years ago|reply
also appreciate your honest feedback. Any personal thoughts on how to deal with procrastination without turning to a workaholic
[+] [-] tobr|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] talideon|5 years ago|reply