When I was just starting my career back in Moscow, I was dreaming about the moment when I will be my own boss and have a freedom to go anywhere I want.

This year, I flew across the globe twice, spent a month in South East Asia, another one in Europe, went for a road trip to California on HW 101 and for a sailboat trip in San Juan’s, organized a camp at Burning Man and twice visited my family in Russia, all while running my own business.

…Well, ok, I didn’t work at Burning Man — only on the way there and back.

This year, I managed to beat my own income record and achieved my yearly saving goal by July.

While it is so fun to live a live without office hours, it also requires a lot of mental energy to keep yourself on track. You have to become a concentration ninja, get a black belt in communications and planning, and, of course, always keep your priorities straight.

These tools and tricks helped me a lot. Hope you find it useful too.

1. Sport

This one is hard for me. I never did sport when I was a kid or teenager, so I had no habit of regular physical activity. Until 30, it didn’t bother me. I was active and did some fun things, like rock-climbing, snowboarding, kitesurfing, but never regularly. Now — oops, I finally realized all the benefits that are coming with exercises.

I first started with running (and I still love cardio), but soon found out that power workout is much more effective for my body type. Now my recipe is minimum 2 power workouts a week, 2 or 3 5K runs, and something fun on weekends, like a hike.

Tools: “Easy in 5K” — a great app I used to start running, now I use apple watch “Activity” app to track my heart bit and distance when I run; “8fit” — power workout app, also has a cool meal planner; Music helps a lot! This is my favorite playlist for working out (both running and lifting)

2. Morning routine

I was always thinking I’m a night person… until I figured that my best time in terms of productivity is morning. Now I have a specific routine for a first two hours after I wake up that helps me being focused.

As soon as I wake up, I spend some time organizing my thoughts, plans, and prioritizing things I will be doing today. This includes work, my personal activities, time with friends and family, and so on. I plan my day, and then I put efforts into staying focused and do what I panned (I also go over my own plan before I fall asleep and mark in my head what I got done, focusing on feelings of accomplishment).

After that, I do stretching or yoga for 5–10 min, and then meditate. Breakfast (always the same — Greek yogurt, granola, nuts and berries), sometimes 20 min of playing piano.

Now it’s time to get to work!

When planning my day, I pick one task that is #1 priority. I try to do that task first, before anything else. Important tip — do not open emails or messengers until the #1 task is done!

Tools: Melatonin helps me to fall asleep if I work too late; An open window in the bedroom to have enough oxygen; Night mode for my cell & other devices to keep notifications away while I’m busy with my routine.

3. Meditation

Ok, I have a day plan. How to stay focused and follow it?

Here is an example: I’m on a road trip, I plan to spend 3 hours in a coffee shop to run a meeting with my team, have a call with a client, and answer my emails. Then I start driving further, watching breathtaking views of HW 101 and Oregon coast.

Do you see a problem here? If you have your own business, you do. After talking to your team & clients, what are the chances you will be enjoying the view instead of thinking “OMG I NEED TO STOP AND WRITE THIS PROPOSAL AND SEND IT IMMEDIATELY!”?

Yep. That happens to me too. All the time.

Keep your focus, being present and enjoy living in a moment — it’s a skill. The best tool I know for that is meditation. I do Anapana for 10 min in the morning — and I can control the focus of my attention much, much better.

Meditation helps me to be come, to balance my personal and work life due to ability to switch focus and be present in the moment. It also helps me be more productive, since I don’t use my energy for thinking about something that I’m not doing right now.

So, in situations like this one, I ask myself: “Why thinking about clients when you can’t stop and write? You are on a road trip, you are supposed to be enjoying the view, boosting your creativity and giving your brain a break. DO THAT! And get back to work with a fresh mind when you have time for that.”

Tools: Apple Watch — Breath app; Anapana meditation

4. Green tea

This one is simple — I drink green tea. A lot.

Green tea contains less caffeine than coffee, but enough to produce an effect. It also contains the amino acid L-theanine, which can work synergistically with caffeine to improve brain function.

I try to exclude coffee if I want to be productive at work. I also try not to drink alcohol (it’s not that easy, since I LOVE wine), and when I manage, it increases my productivity and focus A LOT.

Tools: Will power. Here is a good book about it.

5. Prioritization

I always have more things to do than time to actually do them. I want to open my own restaurant, climb up Mt. Rainier, learn how to play sax, run a marathon, and write a book. That’s just a few things from the top of my long list. So, I learned how to prioritize.

I use Warren Buffet technics — write down all things that you want / need to do, choose 5 most important, and do them ONLY. Do not spend a minute on anything else from a list until this 5 are done.

I use it both for long and short-term planning.