How to Stay Productive While Living in Party Hostels
It's a fine line to walk, working or living in hostels long-term. The hostel lifestyle presents seemingly endless opportunities to socialize, explore, and get distracted. Whether that's with the devices designed for work, the people who roll in and out daily, or the natural beauty of the surrounding area, the ways to get off track at a hostel are abundant. This is especially true in party hostels or hostels with high social activity. But there are ways to stay organized, stay on schedule, and still get the work done while enjoying the hostel or its surroundings without missing out on either.
Build a Schedule
As simple as it sounds, building a calendar and implementing a schedule is wildly effective when it comes to creating and establishing balance in a busy environment. Having a set schedule might mean not being able to attend a spontaneous beach day or impromptu happy hour with other travelers, but it also means being able to squeeze in activities or even rework your day around a certain event if possible. Creating a schedule, whether it's for the week or even for the day, can help keep you on track and ensure that if you're a digital nomad or deep in some creative project, you will be able to make the time to get your priorities taken care of. It also makes it easier to say no when someone randomly invites you somewhere because you can always create time in the day later to connect with them once you're done with your work.
Get Enough Sleep
Also sounds simple, but sleep can be one of the most elusive things at a hostel, especially a party hostel. Sleep is directly related to productivity, and by stretching yourself thin or sacrificing early mornings for extra late nights, you can get burned out or become less productive overall. The hostel lifestyle, however, means there's an abundance of opportunities to spend late nights chatting with new friends, strolling the streets, or throwing back a few beers. That's part of the beauty of hostels, and what makes them so attractive to travelers and digital nomads. But stacking those late nights and sacrificing early starts to the morning can lead to less production in the workplace, and that fatigue can start to compound to where it clouds your ability to get anything done. Having a few late nights here and there won't lead to burnout, but it's important to either save those late nights for special occasions or to simply know when to call it a night early while everyone else is still out on the streets or sitting around the fire chatting. There is a way to have both, but it doesn't take long for the lack of sleep to catch up to you, especially in a party hostel.
Know How to Find Your Space
Like the other two points on this list, this one sounds simple. But for those who know the balance of working while being in a hostel, finding space can be one of the most difficult things to accomplish. Hostels have done a great job creating workspaces for travelers and building common areas that are conducive to getting work done. Whether the hostel has one of those spaces or not, it doesn't always mean that you won't be distracted or have the sort of space you need to be productive. One trick to creating space, even in a busy or highly social atmosphere, can be to have noise-cancelling headphones that are visible from afar. The last part is important because having your headphones on while you're working on the computer or some other medium can be an immediate signal to someone else that you're locked in and busy with something important. It's not totally foolproof, but the more invested you look in your work, and the less engaged you are with the people or space around you, the more likely it is that you'll be left alone and able to be productive.
A couple of other tips: If you can't find space at the hostel, venture out to a nearby cafe or park to work in peace. Also, when it comes to getting the right amount of sleep, investing in a sleep mask and always having earplugs is super handy.
