Time management isn’t the sexiest topic in the world. But it is important. Especially if you’re traveling overseas or living abroad. I’ve seen many people “retire” only to burn through savings and put themselves in very stressful situations.

Because of this, I want to share several easy tips for getting the most out of your time.

These are painless strategies which help you build your business or grow your income, without sacrificing the thrill of adventure.

Here we go.

Delivery For Everything

Going out to eat can be surprisingly time consuming. Unless you live right next to a restaurant or cafe, you’re probably spending 10 – 15 minutes traveling to your destination.

Add in the odd traffic jam or missed train and you’re looking a serious amount of wasted time.

Instead of eating out for lunch, get your food delivered.

Uber Eats or Grab Food are surprisingly cheap in other countries. And sometimes cost less than going to the restaurant in-person. Case in point, I enjoy sandwiches and usually order them for lunch. The shop is a good 30 minutes away, meaning I’d spend $10 in cab fare and an hour of my time just getting to and from the shop.

Grab Food costs me a whopping $1.50 to have lunch delivered straight to my door.

Long-term expats should really consider meal delivery instead of going for lunch, especially if you’re ordering something like sandwiches or a burger.

Set A Schedule

(Make It To-Do List, It Works)

This is time management 101. However, it’s also one of the most overlooked tools around. People ignore this fundamental technique in hopes of a quicker and easier solution.

Their loss.

You track what you eat when dieting. And you track what you spend when budgeting. So what not track your time when you’re improving efficiency?

There are a whole bunch of different time management techniques, and some of them get pretty crazy. The best system, I’ve seen, comes from Tom Hopkins’ The Official Guide to Success. You write down the five most important things you need to get down, and you focus on nothing but those.

It’s simple, but it works.

If you want to improve your productivity, start tracking your time and focusing on your most important goals. Doing so keeps you from wasting your day on low ROI activities.

Maintain Discipline

Moving abroad is fun and there’s a ton of cool stuff to do. But, you need to pace yourself.

Unless you have millions of dollars in revenue producing income, non-stop fun is going to burn through your cash pretty quick. Don’t be that guy who burns through his savings before deciding it’s time to “get serious” about making money.

I’d suggest working for a few hours every single day.

This way you’ve always got some cash coming in (which feels great on a psychological level) while still having plenty of free-time.

My advice? Work about four hours a day from 10 AM to 2 PM. There’s not much going on during this time frame anyway, plus you’ve still got plenty of freedom to go enjoy yourself while the locals are at work. If you want to hit the gym while it’s empty or head to the beach, you can.

A steady, four hours of daily work builds your self-discipline and gets you used to being productive while living abroad.

Closing Thoughts On Time Management For Travelers

Moving abroad is fun. And it’s great to live in your dream environment or a country you really like. However, relocating does not mean you’ve won the game of life and get to nothing from now on.

Unless you’re a multimillionaire or real estate mogul you’ll probably have to do some work to support yourself.

Nothing wrong with this, just make sure you’re in the habit of actually getting things done. Give yourself a schedule, outsource smaller tasks, and stick to your routine. The rest will take care of itself.