The Remote Work Trap: Everything, Everywhere, All The Time
Working from anywhere doesn't mean working all the time, from everywhere you go. Focus is a quiet edge, especially when it comes to your time, energy, and digital presence.
✈️ Welcome to Midlife Nomads, your weekly hit of real talk, smart ideas, and helpful tools for building a location-independent life through remote work, travel, and business.
I’ve been winding my way through the Scottish Highlands the last few days, taking in the foggy ridges and windswept lochs, playing with sheep, knees screaming, and loving every minute of it. I returned each night to a quiet B&B in Portree on the Isle of Skye, hosted by a local family, to enjoy a hot tea and a hotter shower.
Here’s what I didn’t do: No frantic check-ins from a trailhead. No replying to emails between castle tours. I wasn’t trying to juggle work like I used to in the earlier days of running a location-independent business.
Just blocks of time to work with focus… and then not working at all.
When you work remotely or run a location-independent business, you’re already doing something unconventional. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you have to prove your productivity by doing more.
But more isn’t the goal. Aligned is the goal.
Here’s what I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way):
If it feels like a drain, it probably is. Energy is data. Listen to it.
The people you’re meant to serve will find you where and when you show up.
Not every platform, project, or partnership deserves a long goodbye. Some can just… fade quietly, while you move forward.
Take my Facebook Page, for example. I didn’t delete it or make a grand announcement. I just stopped making the effort to show up there when it became more chore than connection. The algorithm makes it feel like shouting into the void, and the energy just isn’t happening. Meanwhile, real conversations are happening on Substack and Bluesky (plus LinkedIn and Instagram, to a lesser degree) — so that’s where I am.
We’re not only talking about digital platforms here, though; focus applies to your daily rhythm, too.
Letting go of the traditional 9-to-5 (or other time-based shift) structure is a major mindset hurdle for some. Just because you can work from anywhere doesn’t mean you have to mimic an office schedule from a beach (or the edge of a stunning set of cliffs, or at the cutest marina, as the case may be).
