The 4 big mindset shifts to create a nomadic lifestyle you love

What is the meaning of nomadic? And what exactly is a nomadic lifestyle?

Being a nomadic entrepreneur means living life 100% on your own terms. From leaving behind the corporate life of a consistent and often capped salary, saying goodbye to cubicles, a regular work commute and the "daily grind"... to waking up to the sweet, thrilling taste of freedom.

Being fully nomadic means being able to work when you want, where you want and how you want — on a business that fuels you, drives you and is usually tied to a deeper passion within you rather than working for someone else's dream.

As I reflected in a past blog, what it really takes to become a digital nomad, the JUMP and transition are usually the hardest part — but once you get the taste for a lifestyle completely created by your design, it's hard to want to go back to the old world. 

Being fully nomadic means being able to live and work from anywhere, and getting to sample tastes of the world and immerse yourself in cultures, traditions, new places and experiences that can evolve your soul exponentially more in one year abroad than five years staying in the same place.

There is no one definition of nomadic lifestyle because it's something that can only be determined by the person living it. Maybe you want to travel the world full-time as a digital nomad, or maybe you want to have a home base and travel a few times a year. Thanks to digital nomad jobs, you get to choose the kind of digital nomad lifestyle that you want.

Sound like something you've been craving? Absolutely!

But before you send in your two weeks notice and start packing your bags, I want to share the things they DON'T tell you about living the nomadic entrepreneurial lifestyle — and how you can prepare yourself for this exciting transition to freedom.

The Twilight Zone

The other night, I had a dream... it was a very familiar dream, filled with all the daily activities that I used to do each day until this trip began: commuting to work, handling a million responsibilities, stressing about getting promoted, rushing here, rushing there, wanting to please everyone, do everything, and push myself as hard as I could to ensure that I got it all done on time, without missing out on anything! Sound familiar?

Then the strangest thing happened. I woke up from the dream to my new real life — a life filled with warm coziness and snuggles with the love of my life, fresh coffee and baguettes from the bakery down the street, and the peace of mind of not needing to do anything, be anywhere, or talk to anyone. 

This life that had forever been a dream of mine was now my reality, and my old reality was now showing up in my dreams (or in some ways, nightmares). Can we say twilight zone?

Now before you start thinking, "well aren't you just a ___ one (lucky, privileged, insert adjective here)... not everyone can just go gallivanting off to Europe to eat pastries in bed." I have to tell you that this is not just a lucky fluke, or a story to brag about privilege. 

This is a story about MASSIVE shifts in mindset around what I thought was possible for myself, and the recognition that it was these mindset shifts that were the ultimate keys to creating this new world.

The old mindset

Before this journey of transformation began, I was beginning to worry that I was becoming a workaholic. 

Since my early years in school, I always pushed the envelope in what I was able to achieve, and worked my butt off to make it happen. I was focused, disciplined, and determined to keep pushing forward.

Why? Because I had a job to do and goals to hit. And the result? Extreme stress, burnout, anxiety... and finally, a choice: to leave it all behind in search for true freedom.

For a while I chose to blame most of my burnout on corporate America, but I have come to acknowledge that I did this on my own accord. I really enjoyed working, being hyper-productive, and didn't want to miss out on anything that I could have access to. 

While this brought with it some incredible experiences, the corporate lifestyle always left me feeling like I needed to do more; that my current reality was never enough. These were the thoughts I was raised to believe, and holding onto these beliefs dictated the way my life unfolded.

So when I was planning my world trip, I naturally started thinking about HOW TOUGH it was going to be to pull it off. How much WORK it was going to take, and how much EFFORT I was going to have to put forth... and it became super overwhelming.

But then, when my world travel adventure took off, I started reflecting and began to wonder:

Is it possible to live your dream life without working so hard? 

Does it have to take so much effort, stress, and energy to have a life that deeply fulfills you?

How can I have a more fulfilling life based around ease and joy?

To me, it felt easier to work hard and be stressed, because it gave me the feeling of being in control. I knew when I was getting paid, what I was expected to do, and how I could plan out my "free time."

The new mindset

In becoming a nomadic entrepreneur, all of what I just spoke about fell the wayside. Once I took the plunge, sold all my belongings, quit my job and jumped on a plane to start my new nomadic lifestyle, I began to realize that it's a rare practice for many to simply be present in the moment without wondering — or worrying — about what's coming next.

And so, I began a new challenge while traveling — something I like to call "the sweet art of doing nothing." No explanation needed. 

Learning how to embrace this new "being-ness" felt so incredibly UNCOMFORTABLE at first because up until then, my entire life had been spent DOING as much as I could to achieve as much as possible.

But in my opinion, living from this state of being, while still having enough money coming in to support your lifestyle, is the true next level of wealth. 

It's a sweet tightrope dance of anticipating and planning for what's next while still continuing a lifestyle of ease, freedom and contentment in the moment. It's the art of balancing work and play as a digital nomad. Living moment to moment. Because what's more important than that?

I have taken a huge leap into living this life unscripted — and have created this as my foundation for success and wealth moving forward — based on the principles of ease, joy, and flow.

I am set to continue to prove to myself, and anyone else intrigued, that this way of living can be done with ease. That you can build a robust, fulfilling lifestyle without stress or burnout but with a foundation of joy, authenticity and peace. (And I've been doing it for over a year!)

So... how do you do it? How can you have MORE while doing LESS?

Only by shifting your mindset about what's possible; then, the rest naturally falls into place.

The 4 BIG mindset shifts to create a nomadic lifestyle you love

1. Believe in what's possible

Believing in what is possible for yourself is absolutely essential to creating a nomadic lifestyle you love. If you want to be a digital nomad, you have to be fully aware that taking the jump to this type of life requires so much courage and trust. Write down your intentions, commit to a plan for your aspirations and goals, visualize and take actionable steps towards the reality you want to create for yourself.

Once you take the initial big leap of faith, enjoy it. Tough moments are bound to come, and your practice of joy is essential to your success. Always try to find the silver lining; difficulties are usually the greatest opportunities from which to learn about yourself. 

Consider the moments where you have been able to attract incredible opportunities into your life (usually coming to you when you were in your most relaxed, flow-state) and use those past moments to remind your logical brain that it can and will happen again.

Finally, don't let judgment get in the way of your nomadic lifestyle journey. When you first start out, mainstream culture will make it easy for friends and family to cast shade and doubt on your dreams. It's important (and imperative) that you learn how to deal with judgment around living a nomadic lifestyle to stay true to your goals and vision.

2. Gratitude is the highest energy for attracting new opportunities

It's so easy to be swept up and distracted, and not take the time to connect with yourself and anchor back to your inner voice and goals.

I have now incorporated 30 minutes of yoga and 30 minutes of meditation into my morning routine to ensure I don't lose touch with my guiding intentions and what keeps me grounded.

3. Emotions are indicators — appreciate them

With all of the highs come all of the lows, and traveling will bring everything to the surface. Traveling can be exhausting, daunting, and incredibly uncertain, and you learn to roll with the moments and keep your expectations in check when things don't go as planned, or disappointment comes through. 

Being okay with the full range of emotions is needed in order to fully feel what you are experiencing and move through it.

4. To HAVE the unknown, you must first BE the unknown

You can't create a new reality while still living in your old pattern.

You have to remove the old pattern in order to create space for the new. Ultimately, you have to be the new reality, and live the actions of that reality before you can actually have it take shape in your physical space.

As you choose to live a life unscripted, you must first stretch yourself to fit into a larger container. And, while the in-between time is uncomfortable and scary and you can be easily swept away by the vulnerable currents of fear and limited thinking, you must trust your process and your ability to expand.

Honor and trust your process, and surrender to the magic of life.

By leaving behind your old self and taking a leap of faith into the unknown, you find out what you are truly capable of becoming.

See you on the other side.