Elite Road Warrior with Bryan Paul Buckley

Become An Elite Road Warrior and Master The Business Travel Life

Bryan Buckley

Why You May Not Be Performing at Your Best While Working From Home

We’re on part four of a six-part article series on how to leverage being home right now for an extended period of time to prepare you for the road.

Or to say it another way, Six Ways to Leverage Home Life to Improve Road Life.

The first article focused on energy habit #1 of MOVE and how to stand more (think up on your feet not down on your butt), walk more (think forward not just still), run more (think cardio and getting your heart rate up), and lift more (think strength training).

The second focused on energy habit #2 of FUEL and how to leverage the MTHC Formula (Make the Healthiest Choice) to continually hydrate (think early and often), eat clean and green (think fewer ingredients and less processed than more dark greens and vegetables), and snack strategically (think planned energy boost).

The third article focused on energy habit #3 of REST and how to leverage the Strategic Resting Formula to Sleep (think Improve then Increase), Breaks (think Move the Body, Rest the Mind), and Downtime (think Time to Be, NOT to Be On).

The first three energy habits are physical. Now we’ll shift to the mental energy habits.

I’m a HUGE Chicago sports fan and although we’ve had our championship droughts from time-to-time, I’ve seen every professional team in my lifetime win at least one championship.

The ultimate time to be a Chicago sports fan was in the 90s with the Bulls winning six championships in eight years.

In fact, it was so influential in sports history that ESPN created The Last Dance a 10-part docu-series on the last year of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls but also tying in his entire career, key players, and moments throughout his time with the Bulls.

I’ve watched every episode at least two times and one of the major underlying themes was Michael Jordan’s incredible commitment to perform at the highest level over a long period of time. Even the best in the world, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird saw this in Jordan early on.

He was intentional in everything he did and willing to do whatever it took to perform at the highest level. He made everyone and everything better as a result.

Yet too many road warriors whether we’re on the road or now working from home could NOT take a more opposite approach.

We meander our way throughout our day feeling busy and overwhelmed but not producing results at the end of the day.

And this is why you may not be performing at your best while working from home.

In The Last Dance, Michael Jordan was willing to do whatever it took to perform at the highest level and would use absolutely anything to motivate him. And that’s exactly what we need to do right now working from home to prepare us for when we get back on the road.

Why You May Not Be Performing at Your Best While Working From Home

There are three elements to a successful Working-From-Home Day to perform at the highest level:

 

CLEAR PLAN

Key Phrase – Think Planned Priorities

I define a plan as “thinking on paper and telling your time where to go.”

There are three main parts of my working from home plan that I call Creating Your Master Evil Plan:

These ironically enough are the same three for Road Life and in the Elite Road Warrior book called Road Plan:

Energy Habits

I don’t leave my energy habits up for chance or just whenever I can fit them in. Ironically, I knock out 4 of my energy habits in the Early Morning Window Block before my workday even begins:

Develop – (read my Bible and another motivational book then write in my Elite Road Warrior Journal as well as develop content such as this podcast or a LinkedIn article)
Move – I’ll workout, consisting of Run More / Lift More
Connect – with the Fam in a thoughtful, meaningful way before the day begins
Fuel – hydrate and have a Clean & Green breakfast
I do all of these before the specific energy habit of Perform. Why? To get in what matters most to me and also sets my day up to succeed.

Key3

There are three key action items that will determine if your day ahead is a success or not.

I’m not talking about your overwhelming task list.

These are the Key3 that will make or break your day.

How do you know what to choose?

Well, if you DON’T get them done, you won’t feel like you made the most of your day, something was incomplete or missing, or you “didn’t leave it all on the field” to use a sports analogy.

Those are the days when I feel I was busy the entire day but don’t feel like I really got anything done. I look back and think “I was always doing something but what did I actually accomplish?”

For the record, I hate those days and avoid them whenever possible.

And it starts with creating my Key3 for the day ahead.

Here is my process:

  • Brainstorm what I want to accomplish for the day (and this is always a long list)
  • I look for themes – what are clusters I can group together
  • I narrow them down to the most crucial 3
  • I list them in order of most important, 2nd most, then 3rd.
  • Then I start with my 1st of the Key3.

I want to feel I made the absolute most of the day and did what was key to me and that comes from creating your Key3.

Note: I don’t toss out my ToDo List – I use it to brainstorm then come back to the incomplete portions of the list only AFTER I’ve completed my Key3.

Schedule

I still need to schedule my Breaks (to move the body, rest the mind) and Downtime (time to be, not to be on) which is my 5th energy habit of the day.

I need to schedule my meetings and appointments for the day ahead or review what has already been scheduled.

Remember the key phrase: Planned Priorities

We want to plan our priorities at the beginning of the day so you perform at your best doing what is most important – on purpose.

This is one element to a successful Working-From-Home Day to perform (which is energy habit #4) and at the highest level with. One down and two to go – after, this short break…

The 1st necessary element to a successful Working-From-Home Day to perform at the highest level was a CLEAR PLAN. Once we have that in place we move to element two:

 

BLOCK & TACKLE

Key Phrase – Think Planned Road Blocks

Block & Tackle is a football term that means doing the fundamentals to allow your team a chance at winning. A team that does not Block & Tackle well almost always loses because they are undisciplined which results in giving up costly points and useless penalties.

In the business world, Block & Tackle means you’re blocking out a specific amount of time to work on one specific task.

Did you catch that? Block & Tackle means you’re blocking out a specific amount of time to work on one specific task.

On the road, I refer to Block & Tackle as Road Blocks. We’re choosing to put the roadblocks out to put in or block in what is important. I’m intentionally blocking time out on the road for a specific time to work on one specific task.

But pertaining to working from home, we’ll stick with the term Time Blocks.

In the book, Start Finishing – How to go from Idea to Done by Charlie Gilkey, there are four specific time blocks:

  • Focus Time Blocks – 90-120 minutes blocks of time when we’re especially creative, inspired, and able to do high-level work that requires focus (this would be your key3). Focus blocks fuel your best work.

Critical – NO distractions / turn off all alerts / close email / turn off your phone

  • Social Time Blocks – 90-120 minute blocks of time when we’re primed and energetically in the right space to meet other people. This is interacting with people in real-time. This is your video and audio time when you’re home and have meetings, set calls, etc.

Critical – Spread these out throughout the day otherwise it will drain you. Also, take your calls on a walk. Productivity expert, Marcey Rader, calls them Walkie Talkies. Get some movement in, get outside, and double dip with the call and exercise.

  • Administrative Time Blocks – 30-60 minutes low-energy blocks of time when we’re not in the zone to do the work that requires “heavy lifting” but there are still types of work to do effectively. Think email, phone calls, CRM work, digital, paper filing, low-level filing, organizing, etc.

Critical – Batch admin tasks together which means lumping the same kind of work together (30 minutes of e-mailing, 30 minutes of calls, 30 minutes of CRM updates).

  • Recovery Time Blocks – variable-length blocks of time that we use for activities that recharge us such as a lunch break without a screen, going for a 15-minute mid-morning or mid-afternoon walk to “move the body and rest the mind.”

Remember, the other three-time blocks of focus, social and admin are energy output blocks, and just like a battery that outputs energy, they need to be charged. This is done with the Recovery Time Block.

Critical – Do NOT underestimate or devalue the importance of the recovery time block especially working from home. You need to recharge and stop thinking you’re superhuman and the quality of your work won’t suffer. Lies nothing but lies.

I live my day working from home leveraging these four-time blocks. Each day the amount and length will look different but that can be planned ahead of time and must be scheduled.

Be intentional about putting up Road Blocks that intentionally keep what you want in your day.

The 3rd necessary element to a successful Working-From-Home Day to perform at the highest level is

 

ENERGY PACING

Key Phrase – Think Planned Energy Boosts

This element of Energy Pacing is the unsung hero of Perform. It’s the Scottie Pippen in energy habits.

You need to know your energy levels throughout the day.

It’s key you match your time block with your energy level. Don’t try and do Focus Work if you’re tired or hungry – your results will suffer.

Pacing is monitoring your energy levels.

I use a term called an Energyologist (another Buckley-ism). My made-up definition for my made-up word is:

AN ENERGYOLOGIST IS THE PERSONAL STUDY OF YOUR ENERGY

The only person who can know your energy is you. Most people don’t even know their own energy levels, so how in the world could they possibly know or even care about YOUR energy?

Become an Energyologist for your own good because it’s a key element for effective pacing.

You must be responsible to monitor your energy levels.

Pacing is asking the right questions.

1. When is my energy highest within the day?

Everyone is different from how energy flows within us during the average day on the road and now at home.

If you tend to be more of a morning person in general, your energy may be the highest at that section of the day. But is it in the early morning when you first wake up? Mid or late morning? The entire morning? If you’re an evening person in general, is it early evening? Late evening? The entire evening?

The key is to match specific levels of work to your energy level. For example, I have the most energy to be creative first thing in the morning. I’m not necessarily social at that time, but my mind is clearest to create. This is my writing time, project time, etc.

This is when I tend to do my deep work, so I try to do whatever I can, even on the road, to match my highest energy level to the time of day that can allow me to maximize my time and efforts. It’s a challenge and a dance, but it’s worth the effort.

2. Why is my energy low right now?

Often, the answer may be as simple as, it’s 2 pm and you’ve not stopped for lunch. Or what you ate for lunch is sitting in your gut like a 20 lb. dumbbell because it was a poor choice. Or because the only movement you’ve had in numerous hours is your fingers on the keyboard and multiple yawn reps.

Sometimes, it’s bigger like running on little or low-quality sleep. This cannot be solved at the moment but can be in a few hours by getting to bed on time or even earlier to bank energy for tomorrow afternoon. Finding the why of your energy drop is key to solving the problem and not repeating it day after day. STOP the bleeding.

3. Is there anything I can do to change my energy level?

Once you know why your energy level is low, you can do something about it.

Go eat something healthy.

Stand up and stretch.

Take a break and go for a quick walk to move the body and rest the mind.

You’ll be surprised how much doing something different puts positive fuel in your body or even gets you moving.

Certain tasks give me a hit of energy so I’ll switch to that task. Listening to some music gets me up along with some quick-hit exercises like push-ups, burpees, and leg squats to get that heart rate up.

You need to figure out what can change your energy level besides getting a hit of sugar that you’ll regret later.

4. How can I match my tasks with my energy?

Sometimes a small tweak is not going to change your energy level. So, I pick a low-energy task that requires more time, and I dedicate the time to that task. I have a list of low-energy tasks I can turn to at any given moment that needs forward motion.

These are the no-brainer, little-to-no-thinking tasks that need attention but definitely NOT during high-energy moments.

Often, working on a few of these tasks for 15 or 30 minutes is all I need to snap me out of the low-energy funk.

Other times, I’m going to ride the low-energy tasks out for the remainder of my day because it’s just one of those days. It’s not a big deal when it is mid- to late- afternoon, but it’s a major concern if it’s 1:05 pm. Learn to match energy with the task.

Pacing is making key changes to boost my energy

1. Change of position

Stretch, stand, walk, do push-ups (seriously, try it!), and just move. Our bodies aren’t designed to sit in one place for long periods of time and this is especially true when you work from home and are seemingly always on a Zoom Call. This ironically zaps the energy out of us, even though all we’re doing is sitting.

2. Change of location

What if I worked in a different location? It may mean moving to a different room or possibly to a completely new environment to make the most of the afternoon. If I’m struggling with my energy, I’ll move to the patio and bring my noise-canceling headphones. A different vibe often brings me a hit of much-needed energy.

3. Change of activity

Learning to have a pulse in my energy is huge for productivity. It’s SO easy to try and force something when the reality is your energy is just not there. Don’t force it. Adjust and evaluate. Sometimes, the worst thing is to force something that ends up taking twice as long with results that are half as good. Holy bad math, Batman.

If you were to only change your energy levels throughout your day, you would see a major difference with the results of your work at the end of the day.

 

Let’s Make This Happen! Your action items may be:

  • Doing as many energy habits as you can before your workday begins
  • Creating a Key3
  • Getting better at scheduling your day
  • Creating Time Blocks for Focus Work, Administrative Work, and Recovery time
  • Monitoring your Energy Levels and making changes in the moment to increase your energy

There is so much here to help you perform at the highest level for your work. I challenge you to take and focus on one or two items to up your work game at home.

Michael Jordan is the best basketball player of all time! – Hands down, drop the mic, I’m out

7 Early Warning Signs for Companies to Avoid Business Travel Burnout

Through the years, I’ve met many a business travel team leader, whether a director or VP of sales, HR director, employee development, etc. that have one universal struggle with their business travelers: INCONSISTENT RESULTS!

But what causes inconsistent results? There are many reasons, but one, in particular, that is quantifiable and hands-down champion of the world.

Here’s the headline and reality we absolutely must not only understand but truly accept as gospel truth:

Nobody is at their best when they’re burned out and there’s a cost.

Overseeing a business travel team is a challenge especially when you just want consistent results. Is that too much to ask?

But there is a grind of business travel that has two levels of cost that few consider:

  1. The business traveler
  2. The company

When your business traveler is only a short flight away from burnout due to the stress of the road, they’re costing you money and positive results the entire way.

Let me say it again to let this statement sink in:
When your business traveler is only a short flight away from burnout due to the stress of the road, they’re costing you money and positive results the entire way.

According to the Kingston Study, 45 percent of the 200 frequent travelers surveyed reported higher stress levels than normal while on work trips. And 31 percent said they experienced emotional exhaustion – one of the major risk factors of burnout – on a weekly basis.

Simpila’s Business Travel and Mental Health Survey showed 80 percent of those who have experienced mental health problems (stress) have not told their employer. And you need to know.

In a recent Gallup study, 1 in 4 employees feels burned out often which results in a 63% increase in taking sick days and 2.6 times more likely to resign.

You may not even realize burnout could cost you up to 200% of the salary you’re paying this employee, and this doesn’t even factor in the loss of productivity of that person going from busy to beatdown to burned out.

These stats are staggering yet most companies continue to do business as usual or in this case, business travel as usual.

Why? Too many companies who have business travelers and especially those that lead their road warrior team are simply unaware of any signs of burnout.

As a result, Elite Road Warrior Group has done the heavy lifting for you.

Here are 7 Early Warning Signs for Companies to Avoid Business Travel Burnout

1. Lack of boundaries with work hours

Business travelers “always feel on” when they’re traveling for work. The lines between work and personal time are blurry at best. They’re thinking about work ALL the time on the road which is not healthy, especially if the company feels they own the road warrior’s entire time on the road.

For years, I would have my laptop out and already working on the 6 am flight there or late at night on the way home. I was the guy known for always having dinner with his “laptop lover”. I rarely enjoyed the great steak and vino I had because I had absolutely inhaled my food.

I would then take my laptop lover up to my room for a nightcap and work and work and work. Talk about a lack of boundaries with work hours.

Always working. Always on.

The quality of my work definitely suffered as referenced by reading emails or the presentation over and over and over. And my brain could never shut down as I tried to get some sleep.

Now, mind you, many companies make you feel that they own their business traveler every moment they’re on the road and hence create this “always-on” mentality. Other times, it’s the driven, competitive road warrior or the “I have to please the boss” or “I can’t let anyone down” mentality that creates this 1st warning sign.

The problem is the mindset that taking a break or resting is wasting time when in reality, having boundaries actually makes you more productive and increases results which is what matters most to the company.

Proof? The times I took a couple of hours in the evening to unplug with downtime (time to be, not to be on) to go to a ballgame or be a tourist in the city I was visiting, my productivity and quality of work skyrocketed.

Boundaries must be put in place to ultimately avoid burnout.

2. Feeling overwhelmed by the daily road demands

At first, the road is exciting and there’s a desire to throw yourself into your work every moment of the day and night. But eventually, this pressure begins to build. They have their road responsibilities but also often their normal daily responsibilities and this can overwhelm.

When traveling, work chat continues and piles up, internal emails and meeting requests seem to intensify knowing you’re on the road with less time. Then you add all the work you create from traveling: follow-up quotes and proposals, endless action items. And this is on top of everything else going on back at the office. You know, those people who are working that very appealing 9-5 job?

Most business travelers, especially men and those of us who’ve been out on the road for a while will never tell you that they feel overwhelmed because it sounds like a sign of weakness.

But they need to have a company that cares enough to notice even before the road warrior begins to experience overwhelming stress and not make it their lack of commitment or effort.

Pro Tip: if you watch their personality, their actions will tell you possibly before their words.

Poor, unhealthy habits creep in on this 2nd early warning sign such as stress-eating, drinking more or too often. Busy is one thing – beatdown from being overwhelmed benefits no one. Often they just need someone to come alongside them to help and this is where you or your company can play a major role.

3. Diminishing or inconsistent results

A business traveler is on the road to produce results for the company and they need to get results even if they have to work late at night, at the airport gate, or on a flight.
Unlike their co-workers in one place all day and going home for the evening, road warriors need to work in the margins to not only get their work done but actually see results.

And the longer this tension, the quicker diminishing or inconsistent results begin to appear which frustrate both the road warrior and the company with an uncertainty of how to change it except work harder and longer.

I use the analogy of a high-performance car in comparison to a high performing road warrior, an elite road warrior. It looks great on the outside. Immaculate. Always clean, always waxed. Even the inside of the car is in order and never dirty. But if you open up that hood, it exposes an engine that has not been taken care of, at all, and for a long time. It’s the result of always putting in cheap gas, no maintenance, little to no repairs, just get you back out on the road.

As a result, the car, just as a road warrior, has diminishing and/or inconsistent results.

This was my story. I could produce results and impressive ones at that but…not consistently. And the more I went from busy to beatdown to burnout, those results began to diminish because I was not taking care of my high-performance vehicle.

Many people in burnout continue doing their jobs, sometimes even somewhat successfully. However, they don’t perform at their full capacity. Even when they appear to be functioning to those around them, their work performance suffers because they quietly decide to not work to their full potential or simply cannot due to burnout.

4. Frequently coming back tired from a business trip

Early flights out of town and late flights back home usually on the road warrior’s personal time make long days even longer on the road. Then you add late client dinners or staying up late or getting up early to catch up on work, it wears road warrior’s out. And if your employee is expected to be back into the office the day after a business trip no matter what time they came home, they’re just worn out and going through the motions the next day.

The reality is 73% experience a reduced quality of sleep when traveling. Many business travelers struggle to sleep well the 1st night on the road in a new location. Others have to deal with a cost-based hotel that directly affects the quality of their sleep and benefits no one in the long run.

This was me. I went from coming home tired to coming home exhausted. As a result, I would sleep seemingly most of the weekend and be right back out on the road on Monday morning. I was home but not really there.

At one point, my wife had ENOUGH. I was coming home from a brutal travel stretch of international then back-to-back-to-back trade shows and beyond exhausted. On my drive home, my wife was texting me about how tired she was and since we’re both competitive, we were out to convince each other who was more tired.

I pulled into the driveway of my house and saw only my wife’s arms with my two-year-old doing the running man and screaming his head off. Translate: She was done.

I walked in the house and would love to report I kissed my wife, grabbed my son, greeted my other kids, and then gave my wife the night off to go out to dinner or out with her friends and I would take care of those kids that look and act like me and put them to bed.

Instead, the kids said “Daddy’s home” and I selfishly responded “Daddy’s tired” and went to the downstairs couch and was in a coma for hours until my beautifully angry wife gave me three words I’ll never forget: “Something’s Gotta Change”.

Pro Tip: Sleep is their biggest performance enhancer on the road and needs to be a higher priority to both the road warrior and the company.

 

5. Neglect of eating properly on a consistent basis

Eating out every meal and not always having control of what, when, or where you will eat not to mention how long you have to eat, can quickly catch up with a road warrior and literally weigh them down. In fact, there’s a name for it derived from The Freshman 15 and is called The Travel 20.

Personally, I was an over-achiever and earned the elusive “Entitled 40,” and I mean pounds, on the road eating the best of the king’s food and drinking the best of the king’s wine.

76% of business travelers experience a poor diet on the road and they have the weight to prove it. Their neglect of eating properly and lack of movement directly affects a road warrior’s energy. And it’s completely understandable with the late-night dinners, entertaining clients, and grabbing whatever you can find at the airport. Of course, you have to try that city’s specialty food, craft beer, and on and on and on.

But at what cost? The neglect of eating properly on a consistent basis directly affects our ability for consistent results, our energy, and ultimately leads to burnout. It is possible to eat healthier on the road and the payoff is far more than meal receipt.
This mindset must be encouraged from company leadership and the business traveler must own the belief that food is fuel and fuel is energy and I must have energy on the road to eliminate burnout and exceed results on a consistent basis.

6. Lack of any type of exercise on the road

Movement is one of the first activities to go for a road warrior because the road does most of the movement for them. It’s just so easy to sit when you can, take the elevator or escalator, sleep-in due to a late-night or work first thing in the morning. But weeks turn into months, turn into years, and the lack of movement catches up with a road warrior because they fail to equate movement creates energy. There are creative ways that don’t require much time to increase movement on the road that could make a tremendous difference in their energy and overall results if encouraged and implemented.

I found every excuse not to work out on the road:

  • I don’t want to pack workout gear and it smells
  • I can’t get in a “full workout” like I do at home (which meant an hour of meandering around the gym and more on my phone than a workout machine)
  • You can’t get in a good workout in a hotel gym

All lies nothing but lies!

For the longest time, I let my workouts be the first thing to go if I felt any type of time crunch or too anal about the “Exact time to workout” and it always affected my energy levels and therefore my productivity.

I can get in a GREAT workout with dumbbells, body weight, and resistance bands no matter if I’m in the hotel fitness center or my room.

The truth is movement creates energy and especially in the morning, it puts you in a great place for the day. But if it’s not encouraged, it can lead to sedentary road life and burnout.

 

7. Missing those back home

Business travelers may act like “this doesn’t bother them” or “they’re used to them being gone” but the reality is they think about home more than you realize. Their spouse is a single parent when your employee is on the road. They’re missing sporting events, recitals, birthdays, and monumental moments in the lives of those back home.

Over time, they feel the guilt and disconnection from being on the road and this leads to stress, additional pressure, and ultimately burnout sometimes just as much by their family. Statistics prove within two years this factor causes either the road warrior or significant other to force either a job change with less travel or moving to a company that is more sensitive to the business traveler with a spouse and/or family.

I grew up with a father who was a business traveler but my wife did not and the early years were difficult. And the more I climbed the corporate business travel ladder, the less I was home.

There are ways to be intentional, thoughtful, and creative to stay connected with those back home. In fact, as a result, I’ve created a number of products to help road warriors to be more intentional, thoughtful, and creative on the road to leverage their time away and flourish relationships back home.

If your business traveler is feeling the stress of home life, it will absolutely not only lead to burnout but increase its timing.

These can be avoided and we at Elite Road Warrior Group can help.

Business Travel Burnout is real no matter if it’s ignored or not

Burnout is an accumulative process and all 7 warning signs all lead to the inevitable. True change will not be accomplished and sustained without organizational intervention. At Elite Road Warrior Group we know you want to be a company that gets more consistent results.

In order to do that, you need your business travelers to perform at their best.
The problem of business travel burnout makes you feel frustrated and uncertain about how to fix it. We believe nobody performs at their best when they’re burned out and you should have a high-performing team. We understand and feel your pain which is why we help business travelers perform at their best.

Here’s how we do it (and what we call the business travel results plan:)

Your action item:

  •  Request a conversation to get started. – That’s it. Go to www.EliteRoadWarrior.com and click on Complimentary Analysis.
    Schedule a 30-minute call with me, I can learn more about your business travel strategy and how we can create a custom plan to help immediately.

Elite Road Warrior Group offers three business travel performance trainings:

  • On-site Consulting for business travel leadership teams and road warrior workshops where we come to you
  • Live Quarterly Workshops in the Chicago land area where you come to us
  • Online Training such as virtual coaching and monthly online training specifically for your road warriors

You Got This!

12 High Germ Danger Zone Areas to Avoid on Business Travel


Wintertime is often the time to increase your odds of getting sick. But in business travel, it’s always the sick season.

Now, there are extremes with sharing germs. There are those who sneeze out into the open air on a plane, and there are those who wear masks 24/7.

So, where is the line?

This is an area, especially as a guy and someone who doesn’t get sick often or when I do, I just play hurt, it’s taken me a while to adapt and accept not only the number of germs on the road but how to prevent them becoming close friends with me.

I grew up where we ate dirt and rubbed dirt on anything to make it feel better. We were FAR from GERMaphobes.

But through the years, becoming more health-conscious and traveling so much for business… my tune has definitely changed. From watching people with good and bad health and germ habits to my own research, I’ve learned a ton recently.

I’ve become a big fan of the travel tip site called: Smarter Travel. The site covers a wide range of travel and opinions, but I’ve found some great content on the site and highly recommend it. In fact, it inspired and influenced this episode, so mad kudos to Smarter Travel on this one. Singing your praises for the detailed content.

So, how do we get “more smarter” and “less germier” on the road?

Here are 12 High Germ Zones to Avoid on Business Travel…

Now, the overall locations shouldn’t surprise you considering where we spend the majority of our time on the road, but where the specific germ zone is located should be highly noted.

Let’s start at the airport for the 1st two high germ zones…

1. Touch-Screen Ticket Kiosks

Many still use self-serve kiosks for checking in and printing boarding passes at airports and train stations as potential time savers. Unfortunately, they aren’t health savers, as they are also covered in germs.

An ABC affiliate did a test of public touch screens and found that an Amtrak check-in terminal at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station contained a reading of 3,700 colony-forming bacteria units (CFU) per swab. Aka: germs and gross.

Advice: Wash your hands or use sanitizer after touching the screens or use a digital boarding pass whenever possible.

This advice also holds for ATMs when we’re out on the road and pulling cash.

2. Security Checkpoints

Security checkpoints are the locker rooms of the airport as Smarter Travel put it. This the place where people awkwardly remove clothing in order to prepare for the next activity. And, like locker rooms, security checkpoints are inviting places for fungus and bacteria to jump between hosts, especially when so many people insist on treading the carpets and rubber mats in bare feet.

Don’t want Athlete’s Foot or some other locker-room foot funk to catch a ride on your soles at the airport security checkpoint?  Then never go barefoot through airport security. Even if you’re sporting sandals, flip-flops, or some other tropical-destination footwear, you should always have a spare pair of socks handy for security-line stripping.

Advice: TSA Pre-Check or Clear = cleaner and much quicker options. Definitely worth the price of admission.

 

3. Water Fountains

Which would you rather drink from, a public water fountain, or a public toilet? It turns out that the water fountain may have more bacteria.

A number of studies have shown that public fountains are founts for germs—one study by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International) found that the dirtiest spots in public schools are the water fountains.

Think about it: Bathrooms are cleaned multiple times per day, but when was the last time you saw a water fountain being cleaned? Consider that the next time you want to refill a water bottle at a public fountain on your travels.

Advice: More and more airports have water stations where you can fill up water bottles, rather than lap at the shared watering hole. Or bring a small water bottle (or your own pop-up cup) and ask for a fill-up at the nearest cafe. Or simply buy a bottle of water. Cutting down on plastic waste is a noble goal, but sometimes traveler health has to take priority.

My personal suggestion: save the plastic, bring your own aluminum water bottle from Elite Road Warrior!

Now let’s board the plane and find out where are high germ zones are located…

 

4. Airplane Seat Pockets

This was one that I hadn’t put much thought into, but when I read about it – Yowzers! You know passengers shove used tissues, dirty diapers, banana peels, sunflower-seed shells, and general trash into the seat pockets on a plane.

And that black hole of grossness definitely isn’t deep-cleaned between flights. Smarter Travel and Elite Road Warrior recommend you don’t put anything in that pocket—it’s like storing your stuff inside a public trashcan for the duration of your flight.

Advice: Keep it in your work bag. It’s worth the tiny extra effort to find it.

 

5. Airplane Tray Tables

Poor tray tables—besides working and eating, how many times have you seen someone sick, put their head down, hack themselves silly, sleep, and wake up when the flight is done only to put up their tray table for the next victim.

With quick flight turnovers, these tray tables aren’t getting sanitized between every trip, either. So think about that before you eat off of one on your next flight. Bring sanitizing wipes and give your tray table a good wipe-down before using it.

Advice: wipe the tray tables down like your life depended on it!

Use Your Wipes (Correctly)

There’s a right way to use disinfecting wipes, and many wrong ways. To do it correctly, Smarter Travel suggests: Wipe down all hard, nonporous surfaces thoroughly.  This is Key: Make sure you read and follow the package instructions about how long the surface needs to stay visibly wet. This ranges from about 30 seconds to four minutes.

This is when the germ-killing magic happens, so you can’t rush it. Note that this means you’re going to be unsettled for a little longer before you can make yourself comfortable. Kidding: Everyone knows you’re not going to be comfortable on the plane. But at least you can maybe emerge illness-free.

Personally, I use the Wet Ones wipes that come in single packs.

 

6. Airplane Bathrooms

Airplane lavatories may be tiny, but they’re big breeding grounds for germs. The space is so small that flushing the toilet sprays bacteria onto almost every surface in the bathroom, including the sink.

Messy passengers who leave the sink wet are just encouraging germs to breed. Your best bet is to wash your hands, use a paper towel to open the bathroom door and use hand sanitizer when you get back to your seat.

Like a fecal-bacteria hurricane, the high-powered toilet launches swirling germs into the air of the tiny airplane lav with each flush. The situation only gets worse when other passengers do substandard jobs of washing their hands (or simply skip the step) and touch surfaces and the doorknob.

Advice: Wash your hands, use a paper towel to open the door, do your business, use a paper towel to open the door again, and then use hand sanitizer when you get back to your seat.
While washing your hands in the tiny airport bathroom, you may have noticed a little sign by the sink telling you not to drink from the tap. If airplane water isn’t potable, does washing your hands in it really make them any cleaner? Smarter Travel asked an expert to find out.

Hand Sanitizer vs. Hand Washing on a Plane

Janilyn Hutchings, a Certified Professional in Food Safety and food safety specialist of StateFoodsSafety.com, weighs in:

“In general, washing your hands in non-potable water isn’t very effective in cleaning your hands. The three crucial ingredients of good handwashing are using soap, scrubbing for 15 seconds, and rinsing in clean water.

When clean water is available, always wash your hands with soap and water—it’s much more effective in killing germs than using sanitizer. However, if you know for a fact clean water is unavailable, using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer may be your best option.”

If you’re on an aircraft that has potable water, washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water would be the best option. If the water isn’t safe to drink, you’re better off using hand sanitizer after using the restroom.

Don’t forget to use hand sanitizer before you eat on a plane. You’ve likely picked up germs from the seatbelt, armrest, tray table, and tv screen. Using hand sanitizer will give you clean hands without having to get up.

 

Let’s move from the airport to the hotel…

As much as we’d all like to think that every hotel room we stay in is scrubbed thoroughly by a housekeeping superhero before our arrival, some of the dirtiest surfaces are routinely neglected by cleaning staff. Beware of these four high germ danger zones the second you walk into the room.

 

7. Hotel Light Switches

What’s one thing that everyone touches in a hotel room, but no one ever cleans? It’s the light switch, and it’s home to lots of germs.
Think about it: People might wash their hands once they get inside the room, but the first thing they touch (after being on germy planes and cars) before reaching the bathroom is the room’s light switch.

A study in NBC NEWS by a University of Houston researcher found that the main light switch was the dirtiest surface in the hotel rooms tested, and often contained high levels of fecal bacteria.

Advice: Use something to turn on the light such as your sleeve, shirt, tissue when you walk in the room then pull out a wet wipe and wipe down any and all light switches. Ideally, you have a wet wipe available to open the door then turn on the light switch.

 

8. Hotel Remotes

Hotel housekeepers may bleach the bathroom and dust the nightstand, but they rarely clean the TV remote. Studies conducted by microbiologists have found that remote controls have some of the highest levels of bacterial contamination in hotel rooms.

Advice: Smarter Travel suggests using the hotel shower cap over the remote or Use those wet wipes – do you see a pattern here?

 

9. Hotel Bedspreads

Think twice before you flop down on your freshly made hotel bed. The heavy bedspread on top probably hasn’t been washed in a while.

Most hotels change the sheets between guests but don’t change the top comforter, which could be a nice cozy home for bedbugs and bodily fluids. To avoid the left-behind germs of past guests, remove the top layer of bedding, and sleep with only the washed sheets and blankets.

Advice: Avoid the left-behind germs of past guests, remove the top layer of bedding, and sleep with only the washed sheets and blankets.

 

10. Hotel Pools

Pink eye. Giardia. Skin viruses. Turns out vacationers aren’t the only ones splashing around in hotel pools. Warm swimming pools are perfect breeding grounds for all sorts of bacteria and viruses. Since chlorination doesn’t kill all bacteria, even the most regularly maintained pool can host all sorts of things you can’t towel off.

Advice: Rinse off before—and soap up after—a plunge in the pool. And please, please keep your mouth closed—you don’t want to accidentally swallow a bacteria brew.

 

11. Handrails

Handrails may steady your progress, but they definitely won’t do your health any favors.
Bacteria, viruses, and other choice germs linger longer on nonporous materials like plastic, making handrails—especially in high-traffic places like airports and hotels—ubiquitous transfer stations for germs.

And while handrails are vital for those with mobility issues and novel for the countless children who use them as mini jungle gyms, they’re best avoided by everyone else, especially travelers trying to stay healthy.

Advice: If you don’t need to use a handrail, then simply keep your hands to yourself and avoid contact whenever possible. If you do need to steady yourself, make sure to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer as soon as you can afterward.

 

12. Buffets

Buffets are convenient, fast, and often affordable. They’re also the perfect forums for borderline food safety and swapping germs with strangers.

Outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli, shigella, and other illnesses have been linked to buffets, and norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships are spread through contaminated food and water.

Buffets essentially add all your fellow diners to the food-handling chain. So if the guy in front of you in line is coming back for seconds after licking BBQ sauce off his fingers, he may as well have just licked the tongs you’re about to grab.

Advice: Wash your hands. The CDC calls handwashing a do-it-yourself vaccine and says that you should lather and scrub for 20 seconds (the length of two rounds of the “Happy Birthday” song) before rinsing.

Wash hands before you get in the buffet line (to prevent you from spreading germs). Wash them again after you get your food but before you eat it (to prevent you from digesting whatever germs were on the shared serving utensils).

Smarter Travel advises to steer clear of foods left out without some kind of cover or sneeze guard, foods that should be hot but are only lukewarm, and foods that should be cold but are room temperature or warm.

Bonus Germ Danger Zone: Elevator Buttons

Just think of the number of fingers that touch those buttons! I use my knuckle every time I need to touch an elevator button and have even taught my kids to do the same. But do you know an even better solution?

Take the stairs! They are never busy/great for exercise and getting that heart rate up. But wait there’s more. They are germ-free.

I know, I give and I give…

Smarter Travel gave three Tips to Avoid Getting Sick After Flying

1. Stay hydrated.

It turns out that drinking plenty of water will not only counter the overall dehydrating effects of air travel, which can lead to headaches, stomach problems, cramps, fatigue, and more but can actually fortify your preemptive natural immune mechanisms to function considerably better.

Of course, this is the case in normal daily life—when exercising, during prolonged sun exposure, etc. However, in an airplane, where your nose and throat are on the front lines with exceedingly dry air, these are the first places to suffer. Sipping water regularly throughout the flight may be more effective than drinking a lot of water at one time before or during the flight; this will keep your protective system from long dry spells. (And I do mean to single out water here—alcohol and caffeinated drinks such as coffee or sodas are less hydrating.)

Nasal mists have been found to be very effective in keeping this system working in your nose. (I like the ones from Ayr.)

Additionally, hot drinks are a good way to keep your protective mucous membranes working—first, to assist in keeping you generally hydrated; second, by triggering the system into gear; and third, by directly providing moisture in the form of steam. Note that this is not a treatment per se. Rather, it just keeps your defenses strong and functioning to prevent you from getting sick after flying.

2. Keep your hands clean.

Your hands are the most consistent point of first contact with cold, flu, and other germs on planes and elsewhere. It is a direct line from armrest/seatback to fingers to fork to mouth to full-blown fever a few days later. Scientists report that the viruses that cause colds and flu can survive for hours on your skin or on solid objects and surfaces.

According to Travelmath, the dirtiest surfaces on airplanes include tray tables, overhead air vents, lavatory flush buttons, and seatbelt buckles. Fortunately, the simple act of washing your hands with hot water and soap is a formidable rampart against this transfer of harmful microorganisms.

If possible, wash your hands before any in-flight meals, and after your flight as well. Keep in mind that the water on planes isn’t typically potable, so you might want to combine hand washing with hand sanitizer, such as this travel-size option from Purell.

Given that tray tables are known to carry a high volume of germs, you might want to wipe yours down with a sanitizing cloth before any meal or snack.

3. Take your vitamins.

The rapid response effect of vitamins is unproven, but many travelers swear by them.

Charles Westover, a retired VP of fleet management for a major shipping company, starts taking vitamins two days before flying. “I have no idea if it helps at all, but of the hundreds or thousands of flights I have taken, I rarely get colds,” he said. “I just take a standard multivitamin, and it has never let me down.”

The NIH concurs, sort of, stating that no conclusive data has shown that large doses of vitamin C will prevent colds, although it may reduce the severity or duration of symptoms. The recirculated air and the presence of constant coughing and sneezing of passengers on planes can make flights breeding grounds for colds. Fight back against the germs by arming yourself with a dose of vitamin C.

Recommended: Airborne Vitamin C tablets

You Got This!

Am I Becoming a Germaphobe or What?

080 – Interview Mash Up 3

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Transcription

Bryan Paul Buckley 0:00
Episode 80 of the Elite Road Warrior podcast. Welcome to the Elite Road Warrior podcast where we believe you can leverage the road to transform your work, health and home life while on business travel to ultimately master the business travel life. If you’re a road warrior, and a great chance you’re on the road right now then this podcast is for you.

Buckley Kiddos 0:31
You’re listening to our dad on Season Two of the Elite Road Warrior podcast brought to you by the Buckley Kids. This is Trey. This is Kole. This is Kaleb. This is Kaitlyn. This is Austin. Make connecting with your family a priority on the road.

Bryan Paul Buckley 0:51
Thank you Buckley kiddos and welcome to the Elite Road Warrior podcast. I’m your host Bryan Paul Buckley fellow road warrior whether I’m home or not. Husband of one and father five, and always looking for creative ways to keep this podcast fresh. And as a result today’s episode is well, it’s unique and we’ve only done it a few times. It’s called an interview mashup. I’ve taken clips from five interviews, a keynote speaker in hypnosis Wayne Lee in Episode 64, the author and productivity expert Marcey Rader in Episode 66, world-renowned entertainer and impersonator, John Di Domenico in Episode 74, Road Warrior, Justin Pugh in Episode 76, an author and keynote speaker Jake Thompson, in Episode 78. And the best part of the Elite Road Warrior mashup is if you missed any of these interviews, you get a free sample size of the impactful content of the full interview and of course, at no additional charge. So let’s hear from our experts. It’s go time.

Bryan Paul Buckley 2:10
Let’s kind of drill into a little bit about sleep. How well do you sleep on the road? Are there any tricks that you do to kind of help you to be able to rest for that quality of sleep that you need to get to do what you do?

Wayne Lee 2:19
Yeah, great question. First of all, there’s been I think, over time, lots of misconceptions about sleep, like people say, Well, you can just, you know, sleep when you’re dead. Actually, if you don’t sleep, you’re gonna die. The fact of the matter is that I think sleep is such an important part of recharging our battery, of really resetting ourselves. Fortunately, I’m a good sleeper. Now. I think I’ve worked at that too. You know, my background is in hypnosis.

Bryan Paul Buckley 2:45
So okay, so wait, you said something that was very intriguing to me. You said you worked at sleep?

Wayne Lee 2:50
Yeah.

Bryan Paul Buckley 2:50
I want to make sure you unpack that because you said that seems like an oxymoron. shouldn’t just sleep be natural. How did you do that? So I want to make sure that that comes in with your background with hypnosis and all.

Wayne Lee 3:00
Well, first of all, I have always been really intrigued with the power of the mind. And when I had seen hypnosis I was very intrigued what it was all about. And I’ve realized, you know, after doing so many shows and events and hypnotizing so many people is that everything we do is a form of hypnosis. We’re hypnotized by what we see in the environment, hypnotized by our own self talk or thoughts, as well as other people. And so people have programmed, whether unconsciously, subconsciously, or consciously how they sleep. Now, I’m not saying that some people naturally just sleep better than others, yet, we all have this capacity to tell ourselves, I’m going to have an awesome sleep, I’m going to create the right environment. You’ve got these great metaphors in life that are conducive to sleeping better for better like you know, just nature itself.

Bryan Paul Buckley 3:47
And so I’ve done a lot of self-hypnosis to program myself to relax my mind and sleep really well. And focusing in on the positive also helps you sleep really, really well because a lot of times people that are kept up at night or not kept up at night by accident is probably they’re not aware of what they’re focusing upon in regards to the negative, nasty thoughts they have that they’re actually circulating that keep them up. An example would be when somebody says I can’t sleep well, the word can’t is actually creating a feedback loop of reinforcing why they can’t sleep. And so the language and what people focus upon all has to do with how they sleep. And for myself, again, I sleep pretty well. And some of the things that may have attributed to that, because I think there’s a number of things is one exercising, eating the right foods eating nutritiously as well as programming your mind, and programming your mind with meditation, with guided imagery with self-hypnosis that’s helped a lot.

Bryan Paul Buckley 4:47
And I’m really glad you said that because it really comes down to our mindsets, and what we’re telling ourselves. I mean how many times have you heard too, Wayne, I really don’t sleep well in a hotel room, or my first night is always my worst night. Or whatever is and it is that self-talk. So I really, really appreciate you saying that along with a direct correlation of how much you’re moving – energy habit number one, the food and the fuel we put into our body – energy habit number two, how would we think about sleep energy? habit number three. So those are awesome. And it kind of leads into obviously, if you’re getting a good night’s rest, it’s allowing you to have the energy to do what you do.

Bryan Paul Buckley 4:47
So unpack a little bit more about how you keep your energy up so that you can perform at a very high level. And obviously, you’re on stage in front of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. And you’ve gotta be on the A+ game, not the A- game So what attributes to that energy level?

Wayne Lee 5:00
So what attributes to that energy level was it’s all the things that you just said they’re like, you know, like, I think all those have a contributing factor in terms of the combination of everything so you’ve got your, you know, the exercise, the diet or nutrition, the mindset of what you’re focusing on at any given time. I also think beyond those things that we’ve done. We can unpackage it comes down to a mindset of being willing to do whatever it takes. And what I mean by that is that I’ve done this thing so many times that I could be sick, I could have the flu, I could be hungover, I could be drunk, and I get on stage and I rise to the occasion. Because I know that’s what I need to do is I need to get into the game and serve those people make them laugh. And maybe it comes to a bit of fear, too, is that oh my goodness, I don’t do this. I’m not fulfilling my obligation, my promise my commitment to those people. So at a deep level, I think it’s it’s a soul commitment. It’s a commitment that I love to do this. And no matter what gets in my way, I’m going to do it. So a big part of that we can call that the mindset. And trust me, I’ve been there numerous times where I didn’t feel great or I’ve lost my voice and I step up and I pull it out. So whatever comes over me I think starts in a, if we call an intention. It’s my intention to do that and the energy comes when I need it. Because I also know once I finished my presentation or my show and I step off and I get back home, I might have a downturn and that’s time to recharge.

Bryan Paul Buckley 6:38
So, Marcey, how can we get anything done on the road with all the demands of business travel? What’s your thoughts on that?

Marcey Rader 7:42
Business travel poses unique challenges for a lot of people when it comes to getting things done? For one thing, just not being at home to get the things like you know, your oil change or your clothes dry cleaned. Or, you know, just making the appointments, the physical appointments that you need to do. But then also, your schedule is not your own when you travel for business. And you know, you are at the whim of the airlines, and sometimes other people’s meetings and when you think you’re going to be in the hotel at six o’clock to then get a workout in your plane was delayed, you don’t get there till nine you are toast, you can’t do it. And so to me, you cannot be just a fly by the seat of your pants person when you travel for business.

Marcey Rader 8:35
Now, on the other hand, there are a lot of people that will say I get more done when I travel for business. I’m one of those people, depending on what the situation is. Because, you know, if I’m not at home with my husband, and I’m just in a hotel room by myself, I don’t mind working a little bit later. On planes, I can get a lot of stuff done on the plane and I have made it a habit for the last 15 years to try to do as many things on the road that I would do at home. Like, you know, a monthly massage, or if I need to get my nails done or, or anything like that, um, you know, I’ll try to do as much as I can when I’m traveling.

Bryan Paul Buckley 9:19
And that’s a great response. And I think it really dives into mindsets. So speaking of that, let’s just get into some nuts and bolts of business travel. They’re just part of business travel, email on the road can be the ultimate time stealer. So how can we tame this let’s call it a never satisfied beast and you referenced this a lot in your current book right now? Sure. So email is it’s one of the areas that I coach people on, typically where I coach them first when they come to me for productivity coaching. And the most important thing to realize is that you train people how you react if you are…

Bryan Paul Buckley 10:00
Say that again, Marcey, there was gold.

Marcey Rader 10:03
Yeah, you train people how you react. So if you react immediately to an email, then people will respect you, or I’m sorry, expect you to react immediately to an email. I process email twice a day. And no one has ever told me I did not respond quickly enough. People do not expect me to respond immediately. And notice I said, respond and not react. So if you are an immediate reactor, then that’s different than a responder. And so thinking about first how you train people, but then also creating some boundaries around that, you know, if you start emailing people six in the morning, then you’re going to start getting emails back at 615. From some imagine that Yeah, so don’t start the conversation unless you want the conversation.

Marcey Rader 10:58
So think about your time boundaries and then I am all about different systems and tools and extensions that you can use to save yourself from yourself and you know appropriately filter and create rules many of those can be used for business travelers. You don’t have to be you know your regular stay at home or you know have an office job person almost all of them you could also use for business travel even have one section on hotel toiletries, and purging the hotel toiletries and anybody here come on our travels Yeah, you know, you have that bag of little pint-size shampoos and conditioners and things. What are you holding on to them for?

Bryan Paul Buckley 11:47
Only the good stuff now, I’ve purchased myself to only the best of the best, but I honestly I love the book and actually have the audio version and also the Kindle version with that and the reason why is because there’s just so much more valuable content and like you referenced Marcey, you know, the novice, and then there’s the Pro. And then there’s the master level, and the different areas. And so a lot of times, it’s a matter of just reviewing it. And then going back to the printed version, in my case, digital, that I can reference and me, and my wife and I worked on a few of those, this past weekend, I was getting the book. And going through some of those, I’ve been taking some of those tactics about, you know, on the digital side. So I’m on a plane, and I’ve got a chunk of time that I can work through and do this. So there’s a lot that can be done. And obviously you reference that with email.

Bryan Paul Buckley 12:45
So let’s kind of unpack some of these that you’ve already mentioned. Your role is unique. The first energy habit is move, you know, how do we like we talked about you know how to earn more, walk more, run more look more. So for you though, I mean, especially depending on your gig, as you had just mentioned, you’d be on the stage for 20 minutes as an emcee, kind of do an in-betweens or hype or whatever, right? And then boom, you may be sitting down for a while. There’s other times where I mean, you’re, you’re the guy, you’re the entertainer. And you know, you’re full-on two, four, six, eight hours with that. So what does movement look like for you out? I mean, obviously, part of your performance, but then, as you kind of mentioned, you know, having to do these hit workouts in building your stamina, what does that look like now for you? Right?

John Di Domenico 13:25
Maybe specifically, when I’m on the road or on the road, one of the things you and I had mentioned, because when you’re on the road, and you’re doing these type of things, especially these big shows, your time is not your own, because all of a sudden, like the CEO is only available like 530 in the morning for rehearsal, because the general is at 8am. So you have to be really and I know that some people are like I have to work out at a very specific time. You’ve got to drop all that. You’ve just got to be ready when that window opens for a walk. If that’s all you can put in for a run. If you can get a swim in whatever it is, do that you’ve got to grab that window, a lot of people’s time are a little more structured because of what I do. And there’s constantly rewriting and updating of scripts. It’s a little tougher for me. So I and in the beginning, I was like, I’ll work out tomorrow all worked out, you know, I’ll do it later. And we all know what that goes. Yeah. And yeah, it goes nowhere. So what I’ve learned is when that window opens of 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and obviously, I’ve got my phone on me because things are constantly changing during these meetings. It’s just to get out there, even if it’s just a walk around the lake at you know, one of the Disney properties wherever you’re staying, just get out and have that moment, at least to let your mind refresh outside of that space. Because again, you mentioned burnout and these things can actually end up burning out if these days just never kind of end.

Bryan Paul Buckley 14:54
So let’s talk about food because obviously, in your situation and you’re dealing with, you know, massive, massive events and you may or may not have as much control as far as when you eat, what you eat, how much you eat or maybe eating too much. So let’s unpack that a little bit.

John Di Domenico 15:10
I this is a this is one of my worst areas because I’m we’re essentially production to backup house. It’s always there always carbo-loading for the production guys, and they don’t have to worry about that I do. So I you have to make it. It’s a lot of pasta. And it comes down to making those choices. I’m not 100% but I know mentally from doing this for years, backstage is going to be crap food, there’s gonna be choices. So I know going in like, I can’t have the pasta. I can’t have the mashed potatoes. I can’t have the little you know, Yukon, cold tomatoes. You know, maybe, maybe next week I can put it off. It’s always like if we can just get through the next three days? Three days, four days, five days, not eat this stuff. That’s all that. That’s all it is. And you know, I know that you probably read the book willpower. Yeah. So I never knew what decision fatigue was. But once I read that book, um, because you know, by that fourth day, right back, I’m having the pancakes at breakfast and everything else.

John Di Domenico 16:25
But if you made me justify everything else the rest of the day, yeah, and if you do a pre-decision, that’s what I call it, if you make a pre-decision, that you know, crap is going to be on that table, but there’s going to be healthy options, because most productions know that, you know, they’ve got to have a style that you make a pre-decision to eat, right. And I know, if you do that, I mean, and I mean, visualize it, like you’re going to see that table of all that food. You’re going to go to the green beans at lunch and the chicken and leave off the strawberry shortcake. And it’s tough because it’s right in front of you, but make that pre-decision in advance. Because out of all those people, the only people who have to be on stage is you, and maybe three VIP, you know, the Senior VP, out of all those people, none of those people have to worry about what they eat. I’m sure they do, but they don’t have to worry about it for their look on stage.

John Di Domenico 17:20
And that’s the one thing they’re paying us for, how we look on stage, how we present ourselves on stage, if it’s me, is me, or me as Donald Trump, and I always look tremendous, as Donald Trump, I have to tell you a fantastic, really, really incredible, you know, you always want to look apart. That’s why we’re there. They’re giving us the honor of performing in front of them. So, you know, that’s, that’s how I try to handle those situations. And that’s good on the food. I mean, it’s pretty sad. It’s big. Right? And we know we’re not on as much as we should be. Right? And there’s nothing worse than you know, not you know, your higher-level performer you know, your higher-level professional, you know, when you come off the stage and they’re like, Hey, wait a minute, that was not my best work exactly OK because of whatever reasons. So you always want to, you know, my goal and I think it’s all of us but is always to deliver that top tier performance no matter how stressful you’re under, they just changed the script or they want this or want that. You always want to deliver for them and if you can have that, you know, that sleep component that is going to give you that edge and give you that that higher level performance because that’s what we that’s why we’re there.

Bryan Paul Buckley 18:39
Absolutely.

John Di Domenico 18:40
You know me that’s why we they chosen us, there’s so many there’s so many keynote speakers, there’s so many posts that can be choosing from there’s so many, you know, I’m unique in what I do, but I’m not 100% unique. There’s other people who do what I do it I’m fully aware that there are many, many choices. So I want to be the guy they call it the time that means I have to deliver every single time that I can not skate. I can’t skate on the fact that I did a TV appearance on Conan O’Brien, do we? You know, like, they don’t care.

Bryan Paul Buckley 19:12
Exactly. You’re there to do a deal with them.

John Di Domenico 19:15
Right? It’s about, you know, it’s me for them. And then I always I’m really cognizant of that.

Justin Pugh 19:29
Bryan, I even now think about it when I think about my travel schedule. And I think some of your listeners will very much agree with me and, and probably align with this is we use it as a way to get away.

Bryan Paul Buckley 19:43
Very true.

Justin Pugh 19:44
Right, we use it as a way to get away and I found that I was using, you know, getting away from that situation, or that particular issue at home or whatever we use to get away and I find that like you said, if we center ourselves, travel become, this is what I have to do in order for me to get back home, to be with the family into and to feel that love. But I want to pick up on something that you said about that come to Jesus moment because I want to tell you what mine was really, really quick. And then and then right? I was in Virginia and I was in Alexandria we had just gotten I forgot where I was traveling in from all I know is I injured my toe pretty bad.

Justin Pugh 20:30
When I got to Alexandra I put my toe, you know guys it’s a hotel, I couldn’t find anything else. So I put my toe I put my foot inside the ice bucket. Okay, I couldn’t find anything else. So, so forgive me

Bryan Paul Buckley 20:42
Feel bad for the next guy

Justin Pugh 20:44
for the next guy. Anyway, I couldn’t find anything else. I put my foot inside this ice bath and inside this ice stuff. The next morning I woke up I’m getting ready for I’m getting ready to get to the meeting to go downtown and meet the next customer. I look in the mirror, I look in the mirror I’m brushing my beard getting ready, Bryan and I didn’t like what I saw, man. eyes are bloodshot and get into my disaster shower. I’ve been up for probably three or four hours probably had two cups of coffee

Bryan Paul Buckley 21:12
and this one you’re supposed to be looking good, man.

Bryan Paul Buckley 21:14
I’ve got on I’ve got on cologne. I’ve got my I got my clothes on foot, man. I’m dialed in, but I don’t look good. I don’t like what I see in the mirror. I am 20 pounds heavier. I’m 208 pounds. My typical weight guys like 190 All right, it’s just like me. That’s my fighting weight 208 I’m tired. My foot hurt. I’m disheveled. My beard. I hadn’t probably shaved my beard in probably, you know, probably two or three weeks. And at that point, I knew that was my come to Jesus moment. This made you look bad. And I felt that way. At my customer me I probably the worst decision I made was looking in the mirror that morning because the rest of the day was just a lack of confidence the entire day, you know? And that’s what that does to you. That’s what not attending to yourself and following your six habits, that’s what they do to you, it beats you down, and life will beat you into submission and you look up off the mat and you’re like, Where the hell am I? What happened to me?

Bryan Paul Buckley 22:12
Well, that guy follows us around in every single hotel. I’m like, How does he know where I am? But he follows me in every single mirror. And to your point, unless we do something about it, unless we have a, you know, something’s got to change moments, you know, whether it’s the words of your son, you know, waking you up a little bit, or these little moments that come along the way. And that’s the reason why Elite Road Warrior group exists. That’s why you know, the session that you heard on the six energy habits, or the Elite Road Warrior workshop, a live workshop or online consulting coming into a company, and really having those moments where we can think about our lives and our road lives and who we become. So then Justin, what would you say to a road warrior, who’s listening right now who needs to make some of these changes?

Justin Pugh 22:59
You got to look in the mirror, you gotta say something has to change. I know you’re there. I know I was there. All I mean, right. You know, you were there. Bryan, we both were you knew you knew you were there. And, in fact, we were there at the same time. We didn’t know it. That’s true. And it was. So right now, it’s recognizing that I am there. That’s step number one. Step number two is if you’re not a business owner, and you have to answer to somebody, it is now going to your leadership in saying, I need a break. And here’s why. And if you have good leadership, they’re gonna say, okay, Justin, I need you healthy, go get that break. If they’re bad leadership, and you have to evaluate who you’re working for. They’re going to tell you something, something different, but the first but the second step is to ask for help. The third step is to take that time that you have, right and you rest.

Justin Pugh 23:57
There’s a quote in your book in the afterword. I’m gonna read it really quick here it says. So Road Warrior when your road career’s done, how would you look back on it? What if you ended today? No more trips? What would you regret? Did you sacrifice your health and your home life at the cost of overworking What can you change? How can you change now by implementing a six energy habit of move fuel rest, form, develop, and connect that will transform your work health and home life on the road from now on? And if there’s anybody out there who’s listening, that you’re struggling with, you know, your you want to perform you mean very well. You know, Brian, and I know that that you mean well, and you want to do well, nobody gets up in the morning flies to Detroit to suck. Do you know what I mean? But, but you need to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself first.

Bryan Paul Buckley 25:02
All right, that’s perfect. So let’s dive into the part that really stood out to me. And the first one I really really liked, which was never let the hard days win. And the first sentence in this chapter was great, it says bad days are inevitable in life. Letting them break you, is completely optional. So unpack this chapter or the concepts into never let the hard days when a man that’s a bunch on the road, when we’re traveling for business.

Jake Thompson 25:28
There’s a time And really, the core takeaway in this is the power is in how you respond and what you do next. That is kind of the core tenets. That was cool. Okay, so the core tenets of it are, how you respond to that challenge, bad day, adversity and what you do next because the most important part isn’t the failure the thing that happened to you that’s out of your control or that you caused it’s how you respond to it and what you do next. And so we think about life on the road, like Miss flights stuck in traffic. Hotel, overbooked doesn’t have a room for us. I mean, any number of things we drive to the wrong airport, which I’ve been known to do before, like, everything can go wrong. I have been that guy that’s done it once before and never again. But yeah, it’s that thing where bad things are going to happen. We’re going to have challenges sometimes we bring them on sometimes other things, bring them onto us. We can’t control that. But what we do control is how we respond to are you going to be the person that you’re running late for a flight because you got stuck in traffic, you’re going to be rude to every single person going through that airport because you’re annoyed that you’re late or you just gonna be like, I was late. I didn’t plan the schedule, right? This didn’t happen. I’m going to be cheer I’m going to go on. I’m going to be nice to those stewards and stewardesses on the airplane. I’m going to be cordial with the TSA guy who probably isn’t enjoying his day either. Like we get to choose how we respond and what we do next, which is the most important it’s once you get out of traffic. Once you get out of that delay, you sit down on that plane.

Jake Thompson 27:00
Are you laying and get your hotel, it’s training yourself to let go of what has already happened. So you can focus on what you need to do. I know with your work and with mine if we’re traveling, and we’re having to present or host a workshop or train, and all we’re thinking about is the previous 10 hours that has not gone according to plan, then we’re not going to be present during that training. And those people that are in that audience are not going to get our best moments, they’re not going to get our best work. And we’re going to be robbing them of experience to get better because we’re so consumed about the bad day, or the things that happen behind us instead of what’s most important, what we do next, being present, delivering to the best of our ability, and just rolling with it. And I think you know, as travelers, we have to be flexible and able to roll with some of those punches. And when we do that by just kind of maintaining that mindset of I can control this can’t control this. Here’s what I’m going to do next. Which kind of leads into a second of the not to secrets which was embraced the process and

Bryan Paul Buckley 28:00
I’m gonna put out one quote that you add man i thought was great life doesn’t award medals for how good you look at the starting line and awards them for how strong you run the race. So that leads into this embrace of process. So once we don’t let the hard days when we’re moving into embrace process, unpack that.

Jake Thompson 28:18
Yeah, so a couple of key pieces for this chapter, especially in relates to traveling and being on the road is the idea of just embrace the process of traveling, have the opportunities have the experiences. And the second piece is choosing progress over perfection. And so this first piece talking about embracing the process, it’s the idea of sometimes it’s tiring to be on the road, we can be worn out when we’re constantly traveling the hotel, the hotel, cab airplane, it’s exhausting on us. But what are we doing to take advantage of that experience? What are we doing to talk to the person next to us on the plane and maybe make a new network connection make a new front? What are we doing to when we go to a local city

Jake Thompson 28:59
Trying to local restaurants seeking out something new seeing something that we’ve never seen before that that was a big piece to me of. The first time I was traveling for work I’d be in and out as fast as I possibly can I would stay in the hotel I’d never venture out. And then after a year or two, I was like, Man, I’m going to some pretty cool cities, I’m missing opportunities to see things to embrace this I’m already here. Why don’t I learn to love the process of traveling as much as I do delivering the work? And so I would try to find local restaurants or for me it was kind of a donut shop Hunt was the fun thing I would do finding fun little off the beaten path finds, going to see different things making time out to embrace this thing. And then I found that travel was still as exhausting as it was before. But I had so many more experiences and stories and interactions which changed my entire perspective on the process. And then the second piece of progress over perfection. Every social setting we can be in is all about how perfect Can I How can I make sure I have it all together. And a lot of times when we take that perspective in life, we fail to try anything new, we fail to grow and push ourselves because we’re worried about not looking perfect. We’re worried what other people might think when in reality, we need to learn to build and grow and focus on how we’re just going to get better instead of what other people are thinking about. Our biggest fear of what other people are thinking about us is always so funny. Because we always to a degree struggle with it. But everyone’s thinking about what you’re thinking about them. They’re not thinking about you as much. And if they are really doesn’t matter, like you just put your head down and get better.

Jake Thompson 30:38
And one of the examples in the book is about stand up comedians, and how they go on stage and tell bad jokes. And they just work their material in these tiny off beaten path clubs, just to get better to get good enough to get great to have their Netflix special. Like they work that process and they’re not worried about the bad night or the bad jokes. They’re just saying how do I get better today. So for when we’re on the road, you’ve got pillars that you’re teaching people on how to apply. You may not hit the mark every day. But if you wake up the next day and say, How am I going to do better today with this? How am I going to be more intentional with that? That’s how you really lean into building that winning process and embracing it every step of the way.

Bryan Paul Buckley 31:27
I hope you found this unique episode of the interview mashup not only helpful but also challenge you to go back and listen to the full interview from each of the interviews. In this episode, Episode 64, with Wayne Lee, Episode 66 with Marcey Rader, Episode 74, with John Di Domenico, Episode 76 with Justin Pugh and Episode 78 with Jake Thompson. So, wherever you are on the road, do something, anything, just not nothing to master the business travel life the road for you to become an elite Road Warrior today. You got this!

 

Resources

Wayne Lee

Marcey Rader

John Di Domenico

Justin Pugh

Jake Thompson

 

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

079 – I Got Teased by a Business Trip That Almost but Never Happened

 

For most of us road warriors, we’ve been shut down from the road. Nobody could’ve ever predicted it would last this long and with still so much uncertainty.

I was recently talking to some friends and they asked me when the last time was that I had this long of a break from the road. I was trying to remember the longest stretch and I kept going back year after year, job after job, then decade after decade.

Unprecedented.

I thought for sure back in March when the health pandemic intensified that I would be traveling by this summer and definitely having a family vacation where we load my basketball team of kids and wife on a plane to go somewhere, but even that was canceled.

It’s the first time ever we’ve not been on a plane going somewhere over the summer.

Unprecedented.

Disappointing.

I wasn’t planning on traveling until this fall when all of a sudden an opportunity came up.

A team that I work with on a regular basis was getting together for some training and invited me. I was like a kid getting passed a note in school that asked me to check yes if you like me.

Where’s my Sharpie man? Hand it to me, quick! Not a second to spare. Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!

I couldn’t wait to look at flight options. My heart was racing just looking at hotels.

Now, to someone who is NOT a road warrior, they would instantly think something is wrong with me. And although many could argue that point in numerous ways, they would be talking about the rush a road warrior gets regarding Road Life.

But I cannot remember the last time I was so excited to just look at flights and hotels. It was this “quick hit” I’ve been without for some time.

I was so excited to go back and just “do my thing” even if it was a “one-off”. I was even looking forward to experiencing “the new norm of travel” right now even if it was going to be different, even frustrating.

I had a dream that night of being on the plane, picking out my cool rental car, sleeping in a hotel. A night of bliss.

Then it happened.

The company that hired me to do the training (not where I was going) had a change of heart on boarding a plane and entering this state with the recent spike.

Normally, I would be a little frustrated, more with having to cancel and reschedule. You know the drill when a trip’s plan changes.

Then I would feel mixed emotions with relief and excitement I didn’t have to go on a trip and would begin to think about what I would do with this “time off” and enjoy being home.

A rare break from the road in days of old. But I was seriously bummed out by the news.

It wasn’t a matter of disagreeing with the decision, but the reality this trip was not going to happen nor any other ones any time soon.

It was like the note sent to me in school from the cute girl that asked if I liked her only to find out they were actually asking me to pass the note to someone else. It wasn’t meant for me.

I moped around the house like my dog died, or the Bears lost their one playoff appearance in a decade. Sorry, I just went to a dark place. Joking aside, the reality is that only a road warrior can relate to what I’m talking about.

We’re in a very strange period right now with really strong feelings whether we recognize them or not.

I’ve talked to countless business travelers and the series of questions and comments goes like this:

  1. Do you know when you’re going to be allowed to travel again?
  2. How are you doing your job without traveling?
  3. Will they make you travel any less when you finally go back?
  4. What are you missing about the road?

With some people, the questions get a little more personal and revealing.

These questions and comments have led me to some of my own.

After listening to the common business traveler questions, I really thought about some questions that I’ve been struggling with and would be revealing of me and I found five specific ones that kept coming to the surface:

Question #1

Why was I so disappointed I couldn’t go on this recent trip?

I miss Road Life. It’s the mistress my wife openly knows about.

I like the adventure of going to new places, meeting new people, trying new foods, attending sporting events.

When I’m home I rarely go anywhere because I’m almost always on the road. I know everyone here and been everywhere here.

I was also disappointed I couldn’t go because it would’ve given me a taste of my old life as a road warrior. I’ve wanted it back since after a few weeks of road vacation but now I’m more than ready.

It would’ve given me hope we’re going to get back to business as usual, business travel that is…

This whole experience was very revealing to me and especially my wife.

Question #2

What have I discovered about myself these 1st four months of not traveling?

Between us girls, as someone who tries to live the six energy habits no matter where I am, I had a better road routine long-term than I did a home routine.

I also had a different home routine.

When I’m home during normal business travel, it’s not for very long and the dynamics are different because I’ve been gone.

During the school year, I have the house to myself with the kids at school along with my wife as a school teacher.

But the 1st three months everyone that looked and acted like me that bore my name was home. All. The. Time.

I’m also working too much. It’s too easy to pick up my MacBook Pro or iPad Pro and just start working even in the evening or over the weekend. I’ve never done that before at home.

And for more honesty, I’ve not done well with a monotonous routine. I thrive on variety and control of which both have been stripped of me quickly and for many months. And this has revealed some definite and needed areas of growth in me.

 

Question #3

What draws me to the road?

As I mentioned earlier, I love the variety – different places, different people, a different schedule, and of course different food. But it’s bigger than just the variety. I’m drawn to the ability to make my own decisions on the road at any time.

I thrive on and maximize my alone time to work out, read, write, and recharge from downtime (time to be, not to be on). I can really maximize many of the six energy habits by being alone: Move, Fuel, Rest, Develop and Connect.

I also love the challenge – often, it’s just me and what happens from the moment I leave my home to the moment I return, every detail of the trip including the results is on me.

I love the challenge of connecting with new people and making a positive lasting impression so much that they can’t wait for me to come back and are happy to see me when I do. It also changes the dynamic of the follow-up moving forward from calls to emails.

Bring on the pressure!

And to some, this would be just too much. Not a road warrior. And definitely not an elite road warrior. To know what draws you to the road, good or bad, is healthy to know.

Question #4

What if I can’t travel until September or even January?

Not going on this trip has jolted me into this reality. And I don’t like it but the words to the serenity prayer are applicable here: “Help me accept the things I cannot change…”

I’ve also talked to many business travelers who are being told either September or even January depending on the size or nature of their business.

To be honest, it was a blow to hear of a September or even January travel restart. I’m not gonna lie or sugarcoat my feelings.

But it is what it is and I have to accept that I still have at least two more months of home life at the time of this recording with my only travel in an all-too-common sleep dream of being on a plane or at a hotel.

I can’t be the ONLY one having them, right? I see that hand.

I also have to accept that the restart may not be exactly when or the way I want it to be or have envisioned. Imagine that.

But at this point, I’m ready for a new challenge.

This leads to the fifth and final question…

Question #5

What do I need to change? (Start/Stop/Do More /Do Less)

I don’t want to answer this question but I need to answer this question and I suggest you do too.

Initially, I was in survival mode. Everything was so new with immediate cancelations and no travel. I was in shock. I was headed into one of my two busiest travel stretches of the year.

Then it was trying to figure out how to co-exist with everyone always home along with doing my travel role solely from home.

But now that we’re four plus months into not traveling, I’ve strongly established my New Normal so it’s time to evaluate and see what I need to change…

I’m going to use the START/STOP/DO MORE/DO LESS method and give you two of each:

START

  • Working out consistently again – when all the gyms closed, it was a hit on me because that was my rhythm when I was home. I tinkered with working out at home but I was inconsistent due to working too much. I was also exhausted from “Zoom Fatigue.” (Who knew that would be a thing?!) Now that the gyms are open again, I can start this activity big time
  • Journaling again – I’ve fallen out of this critical habit of mine and need to start to “Process the Thoughts” as part of energy habit Develop. This could be a variety of answering my set daily questions but also Think Space which is simply “thinking on paper”.

STOP

  • Working later and later into the evening and even on the weekends – now that the weather is nice and my kids actually want to do things with me, I need to just STOP feeling like I have to work more hours. The inbox will always refill and almost everything can wait.
  • Worrying about when I’m going to travel again, my finances, along with how Elite Road Warrior is and will continue to be affected during this health pandemic. I’m a man of faith and I’ve let worry and anxiety overtake my trust in a faithful God who’s yet to let me down in my 50 years on this earth.

DO MORE

  • Time in the pool with my kids and playing sports with them – this one I really regret not doing from the beginning, and my recent change of swimming with some swim rat kids or throwing the football with my 9-year-old or shooting baskets with my high schoolers has been such a game-changer (especially when Dad can still win)…
  • Walks with my wife – we walked most nights the first couple of months, and then the weather in Chicago heated up and we hit a stretch of 20+ days of 90+ degree weather and we got out of the rhythm.

DO LESS

  • Late nights – I’ve let my family’s summer break affect my sleep and I’m feeling it big time. The later I stay up, the more my brain stays engaged and I fall asleep later and later but always wake up at the same time so I’m losing at least a full night of sleep a week. This needs to change tonight.
  • Drinking during the week and I don’t mean H20 – I’ve let stress get to me too easily especially with the change of my role and I’ve turned too easily and quickly to “the secret sauce” and this needs to change and has so far this week.

There you have it Road Warriors: the good, the bad, and the ugly of yours truly. Just laying it out there.

So, I ask you now:

  1. What have you discovered about yourself these 1st four months of not traveling?
  2. What draws you to the road?
  3. What if you can’t travel until September or even January?
  4. What do you need to change? (Start/Stop/Do More/Do Less)

Your action items may be one or more of the following:

  • Actually implement the process and the thoughts with these questions
  • Listen or re-listen to the six-part podcast series on how to leverage home life to prepare you for road life – check out episodes 066-074 to go deeper.
  • Make some pre-purchases – Not Forgotten Journal / Flat Kiddos / Connect Cards / Water Bottle / Elite Road Warrior Black Leather Journal

You can find the listed resources here.

This was a different style of episode and I hope you were challenged by the questions and are willing to ask these questions of yourself now to help you to prepare for Road Life again. Do the action items. Visit the Elite Road Warrior Store.

Leverage this time until we can travel again to help you become and remain an Elite Road Warrior today to eliminate burnout and exceed results.
You Got This!