Congratulations! By clicking to read this post you’ve likely decided to take a workcation.

Trust me, it will be worth it. But there are some things you need to know.

All of those productivity hacks that you can find on Youtube won’t help you when you’re recovering from an adventurous day/night and have a meeting the next morning. Or if you find yourself in a location where the wifi is spotty. 

But what you can do, is set yourself up for success. Here are 5 general productivity tips to help you manage your time, stay productive, and enjoy yourself. 

1. Start your day early 

Get a head start in the morning to either get your priorities straight for the day, get time-sensitive work done, or write content, or tasks that need your ultimate attention. 

Getting priority work done in the morning eases you for the rest of the day. Leaving you less stressed and will allow you to enjoy wherever you decide to take the rest of your work day. 

2. Consider a coworking space to take your meetings

If some of your meetings are back to back or you’re going on this workcation with a group of people, booking a coworking space with a meeting room can save you from battling with noise or spotty wifi.

See if your company will even pay for the coworking space.

Coworking spaces can be useful for you to get all of your work done during the day with no distractions. 

Pro tip: Figure out what kind of work you can do on the go versus what work needs to be done in a structured environment.

3. Think about the time difference

If your team is based in the US, staying within US time zones is optimal for your first workcation. 

This covers a whole lot of territory too – explore the US, Mexico, Central America, South America, Canada, etc. You have a wide variety of options. 

Sure, you can skip ahead and go straight to Bali. But make sure you know how to navigate the dramatic time zone difference with your team. This will help ensure that taking meetings and being available for team questions isn’t difficult.

4. Mobile Work

Mixing work-life balance might not be what you want but in cases like this, finding a happy medium is best. 

Find out ways that you can put your work on your phone. Do any of your company applications have a mobile format? Download them to your phone so you can answer any emergencies or take care of work while you’re on the road. 

5. Book a place with good wifi speeds 

Just in case you need to work from home (hotel, Airbnb, rental, VRBO, etc) make sure the wifi speeds are above 166 Mbps or that the rental/hotel listing explicitly says that the wifi is good for taking calls or streaming. This is even more important if you’re traveling with a group.

Also, when booking a workcation, check to see if any of the reviews at your home away from home mention working or taking meetings from there and what their experience was like.

By using these tips, you can get your work done and explore a new way of life.