Benefits needed: Help focusing as a digital nomad from our Ashwagandha, Rhodiola Rosea, Green Tea Leaf, Selenomethionine, B Vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and BioPerine.
Concept/Takeaway: The more you can stay focused while working, the more time you have to play in the sun when you're done. If you can't focus all day, by the time you finish your work you've already missed sunset.
The Story: I was surrounded by beautifully draping trees. Flowers and sloths all around me. The ocean to my left and a road with the promise of biking to my right. I had just sat down after yoga, mind clear, ready to work.
I reach for my laptop and open my email. A minute goes by and I’m still meandering around my gmail home page. I scroll around for a minute more, look up and down the cafe and decide to scan the menu. It all looks good, and I think to start with a coffee (as I always do) and then figure out what else to order once some work is done. I look back at my laptop, blankly stare at gmail, and stand up.
“Puedo tener un café? Mi mesa está allí.” I point to my table.
The girl smiles and nods, acknowledging my coffee order.
I go and sit down.
“Okay, now work,” I think to myself. Another blank stare at the grey and white pile of emails and a quick zone out into nowhere. I hit command T and type in “branding companies for startups.” I scroll a little more and look around impatiently for my coffee, as if getting it will somehow cure my restlessness. A girl walks by.
“Sydney!”
“Oh, Sis! Hey!” I say, delighted to be taken out of my restless misery. “What are you working on today?”
“Some more meetings, I’m just trying to get to the ocean before sunset though.”
“Ugh, same,” I say, “I can’t seem to focus for anything lately.”
We look around the Selina and notice everyone else looking at us and gazing mindlessly around, avoiding eye contact with their laptops.
( Here's some wild horse we saw a few days later right out front.)
“Doesn’t look like you’re the only one.” We laugh. “Well, as much as I’d like to waste the day, the boss won’t be too thrilled.”
“Ugh,” I repeat. “Come back literally whenever.”
She laughs again, nods, and walks off to two tables in front of me. I watch her open her screen and click around a bit before her meetings.
Okay, back to googling. “Everyone loves your supplements, girl. Work! You need to make this container so you can get them to more people!” I tell myself. I start on the links and look to reviews and case studies of new branding companies. I’m getting into it now. "Oh, this one looks nice!" I start drafting an email.
12 seconds later I start looking around again. The noises from the ocean are faint but ever apparent. Damnit.
I sit here, uselessly staring at the first half of my email. I'm wishing I were swimming. I reread the first half of my email, my hands fumbling onto the keyboard and landing in the shape of another sentence.
“Disfruta!” I hear, and look up.
“Oh, gracia!” I say to the server as she sets down my coffee. ‘Thank Goodness,” I sigh.
I look down at the lightly steaming caffeine in front of me. Even though I want it black I start futzing around, wondering if they have cream and sugar. “So many places in Central America don’t offer cream and sugar? I wonder if they even have it? Maybe I should ask?” My stream of consciousness is taking over once again. “Girl!” I snap myself back into it. “Focus Syd, you got this.” I take a sip and place it back down. “Alright, just a few emails then you can order some fruit.” I’m bribing myself now, but I’ll take it.
I had been in Costa Rica for the better part of a month. I had started handing out my travel supplements to any and every traveler I could offer my mystery pills to. Everyone was loving them so it was time for me to actually think of making this “Co-Pilot” jaunt into a business. Cool, but easier said than done.
When I had been working on Co-Pilot at home, I always took my own supplement. It made me laser focused! I loved it. But for some reason I stopped taking it myself everyday while I was traveling. I already knew it worked for me and I wanted as many other people to try it as possible. So, if I spent another 30 days (60 pills) on myself, that was 30 less days other people could try it. I went into this trip with only a certain amount of the supplement and wanted to get as much feedback as possible. But damn, if it weren’t hard to concentrate while living in this Selina. (Selina’s are a boutique, digital nomad hostel/co-live/co-work chain across Central America. Now, they’re expanding. They’re awesome.)
(Here's the neighboring chocolate factory I would also work in.)
As I was avoiding work in the very place my pill was designed to help you most, it occurred to me how much all of these digital nomads twiddling their thumbs along with myself also needed this supplement. When we created the focus aspect of Co-Pilot Daily Travel Supplement, it was intended to help people in moments when they needed to be able to focus. Like, trying to understand a subway map in a busy station, or trying to dissect the directions someone on the train was giving them in a language not native to their own. Now, I’m seeing the usage argument for digital nomads. The very person I am, and struggling to continue to be without my own supplement.
As soon as I gave up on not taking my own supplement, my productivity sky rocketed. As soon as I gave it to all of those other nomads working in Selina’s cafe with me, I saw the number of mindless clicks and ceiling stares drop off dramatically. It was cool! With everyone focusing more, we were no longer worried about getting out before sunset. We’d all focus and get all our work done early, start a minute on tomorrows, and meet up for a beer before heading down to the beach! There was plenty of time to relax and enjoy before the sun went down, now that rushing out was simply unnecessary. I saw first hand the secondary effects of my own supplement (being able to get to the beach!). Yay!
There’s a few specific ingredients in Co-Pilot’s Daily Travel Supplement that make sure to keep us focused when we need to. First off, Ashwagandha is great for focus and concentration. The reason we started looking into this ingredient in the first place was for all of its calming properties, and these awesome concentration (and other) benefits were a happy bonus.
Rhodiola Rosea is great for improving brain function, and improving learning and memory. That means once you’re off working, you’ll be more productive and get more accomplished/remember more of what you’re working on. Amazing for productivity everywhere.
Green Tea Leaf can increase your brainpower. Pair that with how it makes you calm yet focused, and you’ve got yourself one laser focused digital nomad. It is also great for memory, making your time at your screen more beneficial. No need to repeat work you’ve already spent time doing!
Selenomethionine slows mental decline, which is great for long term cognitive function. We want to be productive no matter our age!
Low levels of B vitamins, specifically B3, B6, B7, B12 have been linked to brain fog, trouble focusing, worsening memory, and other cognitive issues. We added all of these B vitamins and more to combat these potential issues.
We also need Vitamin C in order for our brain to be able to create norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is critical for focus because it allows our brain to pay attention and respond. So, naturally, we tossed that in there two. Originally we found Vitamin C for immunity, so learning this awesome fact just made us that much more sure to include it.
Having high Vitamin E has repeatedly been associated with better cognitive function. So, here we have it.
And LASTLY, BioPerine makes you absorb all of these nutrients so quickly, making them work right away (typically within about 30 minutes) after taking your supplements. Oh, and don’t forget that Vitamin E also helps your eyes not feel tired. Feeling awake always makes me personally focus more easily as well. I guess that’s why we all get addicted to coffee and correlate it to productivity. I mean, I assume? Who knows. That’s some research for another day.
For now, you know my accidental story behind creating the best digital nomad supplement and how it’s helped me to be a much better version of my own digital nomad self, and create the very tin our supplement’s are held in. Happy nomading!
