4 Ways I’m Staying Productive in Paradise

Nomad Vlog 3 - After a Week Nomad-ing, I'm Finding Ways to Balance Progress and New Experiences in Costa Rica

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They say if you want what no one else has, then you need to be willing to do things that nobody else will.

That concept has always inspired me to sacrifice and work hard to achieve my goals.

But it has gotten much harder recently to adhere to my normal workaholic ways as I’m now tempted by the allure of paradise outside my window every day of the week.

It’s been a week and a half since I’ve embarked on my digital nomad journey in Costa Rica, and there has been no lack of amazing new sights and experiences.

So many, in fact, that it has me asking the question:

How can you chase big dreams of entrepreneurship and creativity when living in a paradise that constantly beckons you to explore?

The Allure and the Dilemma: Week One in Costa Rica

Tamarindo, where I’m staying, is a vibrant and beautiful beach town on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. It’s a bit touristy, and because of that, there is energy and people out and about enjoying themselves every day of the week.

It is also peak season here, the dry season, when it never rains and every day is warm and sunny.

Contrast that with the depressingly dark and bitter cold February’s where I’m originally from in Michigan, and the temptation to be outside in the sun runs extremely high. Even my adopted home of Los Angeles is a bit less appealing weather-wise this time of year with chilly temps and high winds.

It seems like a waste not to be outside enjoying paradise.

Taking advantage, in my first week, I’ve:

• Watched the gorgeous sunsets every day

• Walked barefoot up and down the pristine beaches in the area

• Went beach hopping with a rented scooter up and down the coast

• Had multiple lunches and dinners at tables on the beach with my feet in the sand

• Listened to amazing live music, watched fire performers, and enjoyed some of the most interesting people-watching I’ve done in years.

It’s definitely been a week full of enjoyment and experience, with much more to take in.

But I also have big goals for entrepreneurship, creativity, and client work, and I’m excited to work on them.

In fact, I consider myself lucky that I love the tech and creative work that I do, and I’m super eager to move forward and make progress to see where it can lead.

It is a very unique and exciting time with AI and online business. I want to catch the wave and be a part of the massive opportunity waiting out there.

In the previous 6 months before starting my nomad journey, all I did was work. Seven days a week, 12-14 hour days, minimal friend hangs, or anything else, just push, push, push, work. That is my default and what I knew best when it comes time to get it done and focus on survival and progress. I’m really good at it.

But it burned me out immensely, and at this point in my life, I can see enough that I might regret it. Especially when a lot of that work and life energy is going to other people, their businesses, relationships, and their dreams.

So, how can we have it all?

The Case for Balanced Progress as the Best Way to Achieve

Being a self-professed workaholic and spending the majority of my professional life in the Silicon Beach hustle culture of LA, I learned well that to achieve, you need to sacrifice time and experiences to succeed.

I’ve lived the entirety of my professional life by that approach with almost two decades of experience in West Coast tech. But in this new era, I’m eager to find a better balance.

Great work ethic and the ability to push is an extremely valuable tool, and I’m glad to have it when I need it, but there has to be a better approach, especially for the long haul.

I still want to be able to succeed and achieve at a high level, but I want that success to be spread across all of my life’s interests, including new experiences and relationships. I want to start treating my creativity and expression like clients and giving them proper obligation and accountability, but all without overworking and over-stressing.

Up to this point, my only method and approach to fitting it all in has been to throw as many hours at a project as I could in my waking hours, and normally underestimate the effort, which would then make me feel like I was failing and cause further discouragement, leading to abandonment or long pauses for projects that I truly had passion for. Throw in aggressive client deadlines, and everything would fall off my plate, forget any chance at travel, relationships, creativity, and any new experience away from a computer.

I’m realizing now that part of my issue was how I approach my all-or-nothing schedule.

If there was a lot of work to be done, I would just try and work as much as possible on priority tasks and fill up my whole schedule with that effort.

Outside influence, like client and employer deadlines, would set the bulk of my schedule, and I would respond well to those obligations and do all that was needed to get it done, often in the past, even including working through the night, not to mention weekends and holidays.

I was always bad at setting those milestones and schedules for myself, though.

In my new era, I’m aiming to change that, and I’m looking to prioritize my projects at the same level of commitment as I do for clients and employers. And with that, I’m making the discovery that new experiences and new relationships are a personal project.

Here’s how I plan to do it.

Key Strategies for Balance

1. Setting Realistic Goals Instead of just having a list of different projects that I want to work on and switching to work on them open-endedly when I have the time, I plan to focus on defining clear, achievable milestones for each of my projects. Ex. Finish integrating a new UI feature for Niche Creator this week, or shoot and edit a new YouTube vlog by Wednesday, schedule 5 LinkedIn posts for the week, or finish the first verse for a new song. It seems obvious, but so often in the past I would just work on a project when I found the time and not set my goals for the session, only to find that after hours of “working” I hadn’t really gotten much done. Parkinson’s Law at work.

2. Intentional Time Boxing Instead of waiting to work on a project until priority projects allow my schedule to open up (it never happens), I will intentionally schedule my time for each project that I want to make progress on. The challenge here is protecting those time boxes and honoring the commitment to keeping the schedule and switching to the next project when a time box is finished. Being strict about your end times can be a powerful motivator for achieving your set goals before ending. It’s the Perfectionist Procrastinator’s hidden power (that’s me! ✋), if you can hold yourself accountable to this you’ll get a ton done. Therein lies the challenge, but work on it and practice. Parkinson’s Law defeated!

3. Fracturing Time for Experiences As a special consideration for my commitment to the first two points, I plan to include treating exploration and new experiences as its own project and, as such, will honor the time blocked off and scheduled for it. It’s so easy to dismiss what we consider “leisure” or relaxation time as a luxury not needed on the path to success. An indulgence left only for the lazy. But the space to expand and experience leads to new thoughts and ideas, and paves the way for innovation and creativity. I’ve made this mistake often in my life and overworked to burnout only to find myself a tapped-out husk of my full potential. No more.

4. Building a Rewarding Routine It’s easy to plan and list out intentions, but the glue that connects and supports any plan is iteration and execution. I know that sticking to my intentions and hitting my goals of balanced progress will be challenging, but that is why it is important to find a routine and work on it so that I can find the best and most successful version of it. One might say that routine suffocates freedom and spontaneity, but it is in fact the key to enabling expansion. Especially in today’s world of constant connection and distraction, if you don’t take control of your time, then someone else will.

The Road Ahead: Sustaining Progress and Inspiring Growth with Balance

They say if you have what no one else has, then you need to be willing to do things that nobody else will.

I’m reframing my interpretation of that concept from that of sacrifice and submission to endless work to that of choosing to have the courage to live differently and find balanced success through intention and inspiration.

I’m looking to prioritize new experiences as motivation and inspiration so that I can be both productive and fulfilled in the various aspirations that I have in this life.

In the past, I’ve often thought of what a curse it is to be passionate about so many things, what a tragedy it is that we have to choose success over creativity and the fulfillment of varied life experiences.

Now I’m starting to think that the most productive and best way forward is the well-rounded approach.

I know the cost of burnout, and it doesn’t yield much in the end.

A motivated and inspired entrepreneur and creative is much more effective than a charred and suffocated one left spent in the ashes of burnout.

So, I’m heading into my second week as a digital nomad in Costa Rica with a schedule and a plan.

That plan includes progress and productivity, but also daily sunsets walking on the beach and hiking with sloths and monkeys.

I feel excited about the things I’m working on and the new experiences I’m gaining, and it’s my main goal to keep motivated and inspired with a more balanced approach.

Michael