Hey there Reader,

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When you receive this on Monday, I'll be out of town visiting family for a week. (I'll also be officially one year older, my birthday is, or was, on Sunday January 19. 🥳)

So this feels like a good time to talk about how I work while traveling (unless I'm completely off on vacation of course).

Balancing work and travel always looks a little bit different depending on the length of the trip, the destination, and what else is going on.

If I'm just out of town for a few days for a conference, let's say, then I'm probably not doing much more than keeping up with my email and checking in with my junior copywriters and clients where necessary.

If I'm traveling abroad or going anywhere with a beach? Forget it, I'm logging off and you won't be hearing from me until I get back. 😎🌴

But in this case, I'm going to visit family, I'm staying in someone else's home (so not a hotel or airbnb), and I'm not taking time off per say so much as working around the times where we'll be together doing something else.

So first thing's first, I ask myself:

Are there any deadlines this week I absolutely have to hit? Secondary question, is there client work due that I could wiggle around or push until the following week?

In this case, I really only have one item I need to prioritize 🙌, and honestly, probably not a big deal if it gets pushed to the next week. Everything else I have to get done is like, I'll be fine as long as I make some progress on it, but no intense effort required.

Which means that while I'm traveling this week, I'll probably take one or two days completely off, and the remaining days I only need to work for a couple hours a day to meet my deadlines.

The trick is ruthlessly prioritizing those essential tasks, not giving into mindless email checking or going down research rabbit holes, and letting everything else wait until I get back.

A few other things I consider essential for working away from home:

• A good pair of headphones: Doesn't have to be noise cancelling, but good enough to block out most outside noise. Also signals to anyone you're staying with "hey, I need to work right now, please don't bother me"
• ​brain.fm: Along similar lines, I wouldn't be nearly as focused without binaural beats music. I use brain.fm for instrumental tracks that support focus, creativity, reading, etc. Especially helpful when you're in a different environment than normal and more likely to be distracted.
• Autoresponse for your email (and Slack or other messaging apps): That says, "Hi! I'm out of town this week, and I'll have limited access to email/Slack. I may reply to your message, but if not I'll make sure to get back to you on [DATE]. Thanks for your patience!"

These tools will set you up for success and communicate with clients and anyone on your team that you might not be super available, but you will get back to them when you can. Don't be afraid to set those boundaries -- you are always in control of your time and energy as a freelancer.

That's all from me for today, I gotta put in those one or two focused hours and then spend the rest of my time relaxing and being present with the fam. 😊

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Grateful for another trip around the sun ☀️,

Amanda

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