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Five Reasons Why You’re Not an Elite Road Warrior Yet But How to Become One

Nothing like offending the reader right out of the gate by telling you You’re NOT an elite road warrior yet.

It reminds me of my favorite highly educational and cerebral movie (ha ha), Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carrey is talking to the love of his life and asking her what were his chances with her.

Mary Swanson : I’d say more like one out of a million.

Lloyd Christmas : [long pause while he processes what he’s heard] So you’re telling me there’s a chance.

So, I’m definitely telling you there’s a chance and I want you to have the optimism and commitment of Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber.

I love the word ELITE.

You hear it in the sports world.

You hear it in the business world.

But until now, we’ve not heard it associated in business travel and with the Road Warrior.

My Definition of an Elite Road Warrior

Does what it takes, no matter what, to be at your best in your work / health / home life while on business travel.

So, with that lofty aspiration, there are …

Top Five Reasons Why You’re NOT an Elite Road Warrior Yet…

(with the emphasis on the word YET)

1. We hate to miss out on anything

It’s easy on the road to get pulled in / sucked in / pressured in / easily persuaded into about everything

  • Food – appetizers / fattening food / desserts
  • Drinks – soda / energy drinks / alcohol
  • Events
  • After Parties

It’s FOMO – fear of missing out and that’s exactly the issue. The problem though is we simply prefer instant gratification. The benefit of the here and now and we can easily justify it.

2. We’re just too busy and too tired

As a result of hating to miss out on anything, we become incredibly busy and always on the go. When that happens, we’re just too tired.

Too busy and too tired to do the habits that will ultimately allow us to become an elite road warrior.

3. We’re too set in our ways

If you’ve been on the road for any length of time, you have YOUR WAY of doing things on the road.

We just do our deal. I call it our Road Thing. We do whatever the day on the road tells us to do.

Change is hard in general, and then when you combine the road being hard, it’s just easy to get set in your way of doing things.

But if “your ways” are not producing great results and leading you to becoming who you want to be, then it’s a problem.

4. We don’t have a plan

We may have a plan for our trip:

  • our travel schedule
  • our meetings
  • dinners or events

But we don’t have a plan for the habits that are going to move the needle on moving from the Exhausted Road Warrior or the Existing Road Warrior to the Elite Road Warrior.

Our lack of plan becomes our plan and how’s THAT working out for you?

5. We didn’t know it was possible

Too often we just do our Road Thing because it’s the only thing we know.

When we’re unaware of a “better way” we just do what we’re comfortable with and used to. It’s easy and natural.

But when you hear of a better way, does that peak your interest? If so, you don’t have to be stuck just existing or exhausted on the road.

Whether you realize it or not, you have a certain energy level that you’ve developed on the road.

Is your status as good as you think it is or even hope it to be?

If you’re reading this blog, there’s a good chance you want to improve your road life.

Maybe you’re one or more of the following:

  • In the worst shape of your life right now
  • Stressed and overwhelmed
  • Always tired or even exhausted when you come back home
  • Disconnected with those back home far more than you want to be

You don’t have to stay the way you are on the road. You can change. You can stop limiting the road and what it can’t do for you and begin to leverage the road for what it can do for you.

So, How do you become an ERW (Elite Road Warrior)?

1. Committing to the three focus areas of an ERW:

Let’s circle back to my Definition of an Elite Road Warrior: Does what it takes, no matter what, to be at their best in their work / health / home life while on business travel.

Too many business travelers are average at best in just one or two of those areas. It may be Work and that’s it. Or Work and kinda your health or work and your home life is okay but you’re not connected at a deep level if you even know what is possible.

I came to a point where I just “had enough.”

  • Tired of how I look in the hotel mirror
  • Tired of not performing at a level I knew I could do on the road
  • Tired of no energy
  • Tired of feeling distant from my family

I needed to change and the commitment was to the three focus areas of an Elite Road Warrior:

  • Work
  • Health
  • Home Life

2. Developing the 6 Energy Habits 

This is how you become an ERW – by integrating the six energy habits into your Road Life.

Here are the six. Three are Physical Energy Habits and Three are Mental Energy Habits:

The Physical Energy Habits:

1.Move

2. Fuel

3. Rest

The Mental Energy Habits:

4. Perform

5. Develop

6. Connect

The way they integrate with the Three Focus Areas:
Work – Perform / Develop
Health – Move / Fuel / Rest
Home Life – Connect

And these 6 Energy Habits are the basis for my upcoming book called Elite Road Warrior – Transform Your Work, Health, and Home Life on Business Travel.

You may feel like you’re close or possibly a LONG way away right now from being an ERW.

Either way, my book, podcast, and this blog are all designed to move you to implement 6 Energy Habits within the three key focus areas of Work / Health / Home Life.

We can do this together.

Written by Bryan Buckley · Categorized: CONNECT, DEVELOP, Energy, FUEL, MOVE, PERFORM, REST · Tagged: ERW Podcast, podcast

Five Reasons Why Personal Development Is A Challenge on the Road

Kevin is always reading. When he’s not working on emails, he’s got his phone out, absorbing content.
The problem is, nothing Kevin is reading is really sharpening his mind. It’s more of an escape. There’s nothing wrong with that except Kevin has become an escape artist. He’s consuming content, but it is not the right content that will actually help him develop.
He wonders why he’s stuck in his career. Imagine that. He has simply stopped developing in a way that sets him apart. Kevin is missing a huge element, which is the fifth energy habit: develop. I’m amazed at how little most business travelers actually read. What? Doesn’t scrolling social media count as reading? C’mon, man. I’m talking about a good old-fashioned book. I’ll even count an educational article or blog post.
The key here is to LEARN.
I can already hear the pushback. When do I have time to read, especially on the road? Let me remind you of the quote from the Elite Road Warrior book:
If you want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
You make time for things that are important to you. I sit by guys on the plane every single flight who waste hours and miss opportunities to develop, even small amounts of time like 30 minutes. Dude, you can get back to binge- watching Game of Thrones or Ballers or ladies, back to This Is Us or Love It or List It.

Five Reasons Why Personal Development is a Challenge

  1. Desire

Most people I’ve found simply don’t see the value. They’ve learned what they’ve learned and are okay with where they’re at in their life. If they don’t care, personal development is simply not going to happen.

  2. Time

This is usually the number one reason I hear. “When could I possibly fit this luxury into my life?” I argue if you desire personal development and value it, you will MAKE the time. If our attitude is “when I find the time” it will never happen. By the way, I’ve never ever “found time.”

  3. Inconsistency

If we have the desire to personally develop and find the time, being inconsistent can be a huge challenge. We start and stop then start again and never gain momentum because we’re just not consistent enough.

  4. Random

 I have found this one is ultimately the downfall to someone who values personal development. We have SO many interests so we bounce around from one thing to another. Nothing gets completed and although we’re developing personally and growing, it’s limited because we don’t have a plan.
If you leave your growth to randomness you’ll always live in the land of mediocrity – Brendon Burchard

  5. All-Consuming

 Someone who is “too much” into personal development which can consume all of your time and overwhelm everyone else. Instead of encouraging it becomes over-dominating.
If learning is a priority for you, then you will make, not find, the time. (Seriously, when has anyone FOUND time and if they did, can you let me know where?) Most people don’t like to read because they were scarred in school being forced to read content they did NOT want to read and didn’t see the relevancy. I’ll give you that, but they’ve kept that mindset decades later.

Two Keys to Sharpen the Mind by Reading

1. FIND SOMETHING YOU ENJOY
This is entry-level reading. This could be absolutely anything. It could be an autobiography. It could be a book that’s been made into a movie.
Let me give you an example. I’m a Chicago sports fanatic, so when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, this city became absolutely unglued. The celebration parade in downtown Chicago was the fifth- largest recorded gathering of mankind in history. So, I wanted to know more about the back-story of the complete rebuild of the team. I found a book called The Plan by David Kaplan, and I was absolutely lost in the book. It was a blast to read because I enjoyed the subject.
If you’re just starting out, find something you enjoy to get you INTO the habit of reading. Even when you become an avid reader, finding a book like I found on sports is a good escape, especially before bed. But don’t stop there. There’s a ton of money left on the table if you don’t do the second key…
2. FIND SOMETHING YOU WANT TO LEARN
This is next level, kiddos. It could be for your job/career or to develop a new skill. The topics are endless, and this is where most business professionals wonder why they’re still stuck in their job, like Kevin. Most only read what is required of them instead of reading to get ahead.
Here’s the Key: They Learn for Survival Not Success.
If and when you change your mindset to reading for success, everything changes. You’re automatically ahead of almost everyone since almost no one reads. So, find a subject you want to learn and crack open that book!
How do you pull this off while on the road? You need to answer these four questions:
1. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO READ?
You need a plan. Find what you enjoy and what you want to learn, as mentioned above, and then dive into the book. Consider it part of your road thing.
2. WHERE CAN YOU FIND WHAT TO READ?
I love this question! There are a few ways to acquire this intel:
Online Research – go to Amazon, Barnes and Noble site or iBooks. Find a genre and start doing some simple research. With the Amazon tracking intelligence, in a matter of moments, you’ll be fed “You May Also Like” recommendations. Due to the vastness of the online market, you can find a number of book possibilities without having to go anywhere.
Traditional Bookstore – Go old school. I absolutely enjoy going to an actual Barnes and Noble on the road as a downtime activity in the evening. I’ll take an hour, find my genre favorites (business/psychology/health/nutrition/sports), buy a hot tea (de-caffeinated), find a chair, and flip through the pages. I could easily lose an hour and it creates SO much energy for me. Another low- hanging fruit option is an airport bookstore. The selection is limited but you’d be surprised how many new books will catch your interest. I’ll often go into these stores for 5-10 minutes during my walk time before a flight or on my way to the gate. It’s another way to find additional book options. Don’t limit yourself.
3. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN LISTEN TO AUDIBLY?
I’m a HUGE fan of audio, mostly because of the convenience. I’m usually on the move more than I am sitting down, so why not make the movement an advantage for me?
As a result, I’ll find whatever book version I can and listen to the audiobook. Often, I’ll get both the book and the audio. Sounds redundantly redundant, but hang with me. If I’m traveling, I can often crank through a ton of audio, but I’ll want to go back and grab key concepts. This is where the printed version comes into the picture. I can go back and do a quick review of what I’ve listened to because it’s fresh in my mind, and I can easily find the key concepts I want to record for my notes. Make sense? As the saying goes, “Don’t knock it till you try it!”
There are also some great podcasts that can serve as a learning platform. They work great because of the shorter length, and you can find specific topics that interest you so you can dive right in and learn. If you’re not listening to the Elite Road Warrior Podcast, this is a great place to start! Episodes average around 30 minutes so you can get in and out.
PRO TIP:
Audible (owned by Amazon) is an audiobook library that is absolutely amazing. For a monthly subscription, you can get credits and choose books. They’ll send you a free credit for an audiobook from time to time and they will offer discounts for 3 credits if you’re an Amazon Prime member. This is definitely worth the investment to develop both personally AND professionally on the road.
In fact, the Elite Road Warrior book is available on Audible and has been the #1 way business travelers are reading the book due to the convenience.
4. WHEN CAN YOU MAKE TIME TO READ?
Did you catch that? MAKE time to read.  Create time blocks to schedule your day so you can tackle reading.
Let me give you an example. I have at least two reading times each day: first thing in the morning during my energy hour; then, if I’m flying that day, I use the flight time, usually the first 30 minutes, as my second reading time. If it’s not a flight day, I’ll carve a second reading time block in my day where I know I need to conserve energy and a reading block will be a good break for me to develop.
Another reading time was referenced in the last point with audiobooks. As road warriors, usually, our schedules are rather predictable. Let me give you my predictable audio times to develop:
  • In my car driving to the airport.
  • Walking to security and to my gate.
  • Walking around before I board since I prefer NOT to sit down but to a MOVE action item.
  • If I rent a car, I’ll choose something audio to learn rather than getting lost in sports or talk radio, which is SO easy for me to do.
  • Many road warriors have a territory and do a ton of driving. They often drive between to cities (I often fly into Cincinnati, then drive to Columbus, then to Cleveland). This is a perfect time to knock out an entire audiobook. This type of road warrior can seriously leverage their windshield time with a mobile classroom.
  • Standing in line is a short but great opportunity to catch a few paragraphs. I’ve knocked out chapters of a book just waiting. I have the Kindle app and sometimes will choose certain books JUST for such times. I can quickly pull up the book on an app and be reading in seconds. Note: this also dramatically helps my impatience during these times when I sadly analyze the inefficiency that is causing the wait!
James Clear has a perfect article called “Seven Ways to Retain More of Every Book You Read,” which I highly suggest checking.
BABY STEP TO SHARPEN THE MIND
I realize you’re more likely to go to bed early or eat brussel sprouts than you are to pick up a book. So, if that’s the case, simply find something you like to read and start there. The fact that you are reading this article is huge, so you’re on your way. Now, keep the momentum going and create a plan.
THREE-POINTERS
1. Find something to read that you enjoy and want to learn.
2. Determine when you will make time to read and what you can listen to audibly.
3. Download the free Personal Development Plan (PDP) when you request it.

Written by Bryan Buckley · Categorized: DEVELOP, Embrace Better · Tagged: ERW Podcast, podcast

How to Immediately Take Control of Your Home Away From Home

Did you know the average business traveler spends between 48-74 nights away from home?
For someone who doesn’t travel much, they seemed surprised, even shocked by this number.

Those that travel in this range, completely agree. And those of us who travel that amount by Memorial Day, know what it’s like to try and live in a home away from home. Most do it very poorly and just survive.

Or as I often say, “getting by, not getting better”.

But does it have to be that way? Just getting by on the road?

I remember before I started traveling for a living, how much I looked forward to staying in a hotel. The criteria and expectations were so different back in those simple, naive days.
When I travel with my family and the kids, often times it’s as simple as throw the luggage down, grab the swimsuits, and head to the pool. But now it’s a whole different ball game with business travel especially traveling the amount I’ve done year after year now.

Here’s the reality: A hotel room can make or break a trip especially that first night.

My normal routine before I became focused, okay, obsessed with maximizing my energy on the road, was one of the following after I opened my hotel room door:

1. Chuck my carry-on wherever to deal with whenever, turn on the tv, and crash by relaxing on the bed

2. Kind of unpack and leave the room immediately for bigger and better things (never found out what exactly was bigger and better other than my gut and my next big meal or drink)

But I realized these two approaches always back-fired on me.

Later in the evening when I eventually came back to my hotel room, aka “home away from home” since I had been negligent to set up this temporary home environment, I always had negative consequences:

  • My room was a blast furnace
  • My clothes were a wrinkled mess
  • I couldn’t find anything in my carry-on because it was late and dark and I was impatient and I felt unorganized and frustrated

It came down to a lack of preparation on my part to set up my home away from home to work best for me. I was viewing my hotel room as a place to CRASH not a place of ENERGY. And the irony is it would only take a simple plan and a few minutes of my time to solve this disorganization and frustration.

I wanted and needed my hotel room to create energy not consume energy for me and a few seemingly simple tweaks could actually give me a quick boost of energy. This is what I came up with and I now live by the acronym HOME. The reality is where I’m staying 1-5 nights per week (before Covid-19) is my home while I’m away from “real home.”

Before we get into “the details” on how to make the most of your hotel room we have to discuss how I make sure this HOME habit is going to happen.
The Trigger.

I had to have a trigger so I can change my old habits of chucking my carry-on wherever and crashing on the bed. The trigger is when the key opens my door. Once my key opens my hotel room after check-in, I go through a four-step process found in an acronym: HOME

How to Immediately Take Control of Your Home Away From Home on Business Travel

1. Home – Hang up and unpack

Okay, my hotel room is open and I have a choice what to do next. The easy thing is to chuck the carry-on in the corner, grab the remote, and jump on the bed. Or maybe the only thing you get out is your laptop to start cranking out some work.

I want to encourage you to do the “H – hang up and unpack. The very 1st thing I do is find the luggage holder, find the ideal spot in the room and immediately hang up my dress clothes. I always have nice clothes that need to be hung up so here’s my chance.

I then unpack my entire carry-on. Huh? Why?  It’s simple and psychological: I don’t want to feel like I’m living out of a suitcase.  And the reality is it only takes a couple of minutes. I’ve done it so many times, I can knock it out quickly.

I have my non-hanging clothes in packing cubes so they’re easy to pull out of my carry-on, open up a drawer, and either unload the contents or if the drawer is large enough, I simply set the packing cube in the drawer wide open for easy access.

Lastly, I take my toiletry bag into the bathroom and unpack it. All of it. I HATE scrounging through that small bag for what seems like hours to find “that one thing” I need.

I take a washcloth or small towel and set everything out. (I’m a little OCD in this way so you don’t have to take it as far as I do). I can literally do this H Step in under 2 minutes.

2. hOme – Optimize the space

Next, I begin to tailor the room to fit me. It is MY room until I leave. Now, I’m not moving walls or taking down pictures but I am making tweaks that make me feel more comfortable. The 1st thing I do is remove the clutter. I don’t need or even want all the magazines, advertisements, etc. laying all around the room. In one swoop, I grab everything out and put it in a drawer.  The next thing I do is adjust the furniture. I know, crazy, right? I’m not moving the bed or redecorating but often I’m making two potential moves:

The Desk – if I’m going to be spending any amount of time in a workspace, I want to tweak it to fit me and this usually means changing the location to face a window if I can move it. I also see if there’s a way I can adjust the height to make it more of a stand-up desk (a personal thing with me).
The Chair – I’m a voracious reader (Energy Habit Four – Develop) so if I can put the chair in a more optimal location, again, by a window, all the better. I start my morning with reading so I like to have the location all set and ready for me.

Optimizing the space is a “feel thing”.  If it’s a value to you, you just need to act on it. You’ll be surprised what this can do for you. If you’re not sure, just try it. A fellow business traveler on a plane told me about this idea. Now, it’s part of my routine.

How can you maximize the room layout to create energy for you? This O Step takes me only 2 or 3 minutes.

3. hoMe – Manage the room temperature and scent

Ah, the temperature. It’s never right.  I’ve lost track how many times I walked into the hotel room and began to sweat. Not cool. Literally. I sweat enough in air conditioning, I don’t need any help in a warm room!

My HOME routine means I MUST change the temperature of the room to what is comfortable to me. Not my wife or my kids, so it’s what I like and prefer.  Often, I set it for my ideal sleeping temperature which is usually around 66 degrees. I know, one cool cat.

Another tweak I do with the room temperature has more to do with the room scent. Here’s my Scent Hack: I bring cotton balls and put a few drops of essential oils to change the scent of the room.

This is great when you come back into the room and have a comforting scent that is calming and familiar. I love the scent of eucalyptus so I put some on a cotton ball, and then put it into the vent in the wall. Voila.

At night I’ll often change the essential oil to lavender to help me sleep (I also put some on my body). Don’t knock it until you try it.

Think about your ideal room temperature and scent. Chances are you’re put little to no thought into this question especially when you enter the room and part of your routine.
This takes me a “cool and stinkin” 1 minute.

4. homE – Exercise

After I complete the 1st three parts of the H.O.M.E. acronym, it’s time to move the body especially on a travel day and quite possibly a busy day depending on what time I make it to the hotel.

And I always have a plan. If I have a short amount of time, I can drop to the floor and do a few minutes of an ab workout or pushups or burpees that include pushups and work my abs.

If I’ve had little activity, I may do just 10 minutes of a High-Intensity Interval Workout (HIIT). You’d be surprised how much you can get your heart rate up and how much better you’ll feel in just 10 minutes.

Many times I want to find the hotel fitness center and just do dumbbell workouts. If I have more time, I may want to visit a local gym to workout and leverage the sauna or steam room or plunge pool. I do this by a unique pass provided by Localfit.

But you need to have a plan. Once I open that hotel room door, I need to know how much time I have, what I feel like doing, and what I’m going to do. Don’t believe the lie that you don’t have enough time for exercise.

If you’ve read my book, I say often: Something, anything, is better than nothing. This is my BIGGEST boost of energy for wherever my evening will lead me. This takes me anywhere between 5-30 minutes. And worth literally every minute.

Takeaways

  • Start with one of the four above that would make the biggest impact on your energy if you were to implement it.  For example, the 1st one for me was simply changing the room temperature. Sounds silly but I HATED coming back to a warm room after a long day and it felt like forever for it to cool down especially if I had to be out late that day.
  • Hanging up my clothes and fully unpacking was more of a mental thing at first but led to not consuming needless energy looking for things and feeling like a visitor in my own room.
  • What I enjoy the most through my stay is Optimizing the Space. Changing the room to fit my flow has made working (Perform Energy Habit) and reading/thinking (Develop Energy Habit) so much more enjoyable to me.
  • Look for something that will be a simple and impactful change and you should see immediate feedback on its effectiveness. Remember, the goal is taking ownership of your hotel room to create not consume your energy.

It only requires a short amount of time but can have quick and tangible results.
So, wherever you are on the road, do something, anything, just not nothing to master the business travel life. Leverage that road to becoming an elite road warrior today.

Written by Bryan Buckley · Categorized: DEVELOP, Energy, PERFORM, Planning, REST · Tagged: ERW Podast, podcast

What Every Elite Road Warrior Does the 1st Hour on the Road

I’ve been humbled and honored by all the feedback, support, and positive takeaways from so many people who’ve read my book, ERW – Six Energy Habits to Master the Business Travel Life.

This book would NOT have hit #1 best seller in two categories (business travel reference and work-related health) without your incredible support so know how much I really do appreciate it.

I try to bring you tangible and practical strategies based on the six energy habits, the premise of the Elite Road Warrior book, that make a difference on your business travel day.

My challenge is two-fold:

1. Don’t think “this will never work” and never even try it
2. Don’t say “I’ve already tried it” and discount the content

The goal of this blog and the ERW podcast is to leverage the road and what it CAN give to you not let it limit you and what it can’t give to you. That’s old school and why most people on the road are just existing road warriors simply getting by.

We’re here to get better not get by.

I’ve seen MORE than my share of existing, sloppy road warriors and it breaks my heart. They can leverage the road to transform their work, health and home life! It’s possible and I’m living proof.

So here’s a question for you right out of the gate (and quite possibly an airplane gate for you):

Do you consider yourself a morning person?

Just hearing the word “morning” can often cause a mixed reaction of joy, excitement, anticipation.

Some people are HUGE morning people. They wake up with the sun and the morning is their best friend. “Give me that early morning sunlight and let me attack this new day!”

Then, there are the others…

I would say they’re described in this famous quote, “I’d like mornings better if they started later say, after lunch” by the great philosopher, Garfield.

Regardless if you’re a morning person or not, every single one of us on the road from executive to regional manager have one specific thing in common:

We ALL have the FIRST hour of the day. But here’s where it changes: how we spend the 1st hour is dramatically different.

I’ve found most people’s mornings are one of the following:
1. Lazy (do whatever I feel like doing) – meander
2. Reactive – check email, text messages, phone calls

Do either of these sound like your morning routine?

You roll over and immediately check your phone. In Bed. You check your email and start reacting to everyone else’s false emergencies and needs.

You eventually stand up and stumble over to the tiny coffee maker in your hotel room and gulp down as much coffee as possible, rush to get ready for the day and then start working based on what’s in your inbox.

By checking your email upon waking you have just hijacked your day. You are now reacting to what everyone else wants from you versus proactively setting the direction for your day.

I love this quote by productivity specialist, Carson Tate: “The first 60-90 minutes of the day is your opportunity to lay the foundation to achieve your goals and dreams. Yet, for many of us, our morning routine is undermining our achievement. Instead of setting up the day for purpose, success and enjoyment, we become reactive slaves.”

Jeff Sanders of the 5AM Miracle says, “the norm for most people is starting off each morning with the decision to procrastinate by smacking their alarm clock and delaying the decision to bounce off to bed and dominate their day. Snoozing inadvertently becomes a reactive choice, which leads to further reactivity.”

I love this Hal Elrod quote: “Most people just focus on getting through the day, taking the path of least resistance, and pursue short term, short-lived pleasures along the way, while avoiding any pain or discomfort that might cause them to grow.”

I can hear the pushback already: Alright Mr. Self-Proclaimed Elite Road Warrior, you don’t know my travel schedule or how long my evenings are or….

You’re right… and wrong.

You’re right, I don’t know your exact schedule.

But you’re wrong in that when you pushback you already are in a defensive mode and the more road warriors I talk to, the more I learn this is Pandora’s Box where there’s a lot more involved:

  • working too late with your laptop lover over dinner then in your room and it’s taking you twice as long and your work is half as good
  • hanging out too long at the hotel bar
  • catching one more inning or quarter of the game or mindless binging on streaming services

Shall I go on?

But the most successful are both of the following in the morning:
1. Intentional – They have a plan
2. Focused – They execute the plan 

And THIS is regardless if they’re a “self-proclaimed” morning person or not.

They use the 1st Hour to do one specific thing: take care of me first (it’s all about me, baby!) – but in THIS instance, it’s a GOOD thing!

How do you use the FIRST hour of your morning on the road?

Lazy and Reactive
or
Intentional and Focused

My goal is for you to be willing to experiment with your first hour of your morning on the road and ask how you can maximize it to be a catalyst for the day ahead.

Spoiler Alert: the KEY to a successful 1st hour of the day begins the night before: getting a good night of sleep

Most people struggle in the 1st hour of the morning simply because they’re just too tired, maybe even exhausted. They’re just not getting enough sleep.

George Lorimer had a challenging quote: “You’ve got to wake up each morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.”

And how do you do that? By leveraging the power of the first hour of your day. What can you do each morning that will create energy for you for the day ahead?

That question is intentional and focused and what gives the high achiever an energy edge.

So, Why the 1st Hour of the Day?

1. Blank Slate – the day has not taken over just yet
2. Your Mind is Clear
3. Nobody else’s agenda yet
4. What you choose to do will give direction to the rest of your day

But this is assuming you’ve not had only a few hours of sleep, and waking up a little hungover or feeling like you swallowed a half dozen cotton balls.

Here are some Definite Don’ts right from the start:

  • Don’t email
  • Don’t check my phone
  • Don’t turn on the TV
  • Don’t waste time

Now, everything is viewed through the Six Energy Habits on the Road, so the ideas are to encourage you to implement as many of the six energy habits when you leverage your first hour of the day.

2nd Spoiler Alert: You can hit 4 of the 6 Energy Habits in the 1st hour of your awake time.

So What does every Elite Road Warrior do the 1st hour on the road?

Here are 8 Practices to Creating An Energy Hour Before Your 1st Minute of Work:

Two quick details:
1. You don’t have to do every single one – they’re practices, ideas for you to pick and choose what works for you
2. The 8 are in no particular order except the 1st one:

1) Drink

I don’t mean alcohol or even coffee.

Chances are you don’t drink enough water during the day and/or have an adult beverage or 3 close to bed and you have that feeling when you wake up that someone stuffed a cotton ball in your mouth multiplying every hour!

  • Water is absolutely critical to get your high performance vehicle, aka: your body, the fluids it needs to run at an optimal level.
  • You need to add water into your body immediately to wake your system up and ready for the day ahead and this means before Coffee (which is morning booze to most road warriors)
  • But what does an ERW do? – My morning drink – room temp water / lemon essential oil / hymalayan pink sea salt / greens powder
    • ERW Water Bottle 
    • Small Travel Kit 
    • Large Travel Kit 
    • Greens Powder 

Two Quick Tips:

  • Set a goal of how much water you’ll consume within the 1st hour – if your only water absorption is from water hitting your body in the the shower or rinsing your mouth after brushing your teeth, set a goal of 8 oz. If you’re taking the Morning Drink then set a goal of 16 oz.
  • Think Convenience – have it set out or made the night before – ease will help set the habit

Drink falls under FUEL Energy Habit #3

2) Learn

Read or listen to something for personal/professional growth. The 1st hour of your morning on the road is a perfect time to “get your read on.”

What if you reserved time (30 min / 20 min / even 10 min) to learn – activate your brain and put something good / challenging in the 1st hour of the day? You could read, I don’t know, maybe a book called Elite Road Warrior. There’s an audio version too, so no complaints, man.

Learn falls under DEVELOP – Energy Habit #5

3) Meditate / Pray

This is time to be mindful. This could be a spiritual practice or just a stress release, centering practice.

Meditation can be simply clearing the mind and finding a place of peace. Prayer is well, prayer. Talking to God. I’m not trying to sell either concept but a reminding you of their value especially the 1st hour of the day to give you energy.

Many do breathing exercises as they meditate. Others use Guided Meditation.

I recommend the 10% Happier App –  but there a number of other apps.

Prayer reminds me life is not all about me. Just think through which one would serve you during the 1st hour of your road morning. Just 5 minutes will make a big difference.

Meditate/Pray falls under DEVELOP – Energy Habit #5

4) Write 

Journal / think space

I realize this is a big step for most road warriors and definitely higher up in the Elite Road Warrior levels.

But it needs to be on your radar and hence one of the options.

This could be as simple as writing one line, the concept from Scott Mawdesley which says it doesn’t matter what you write but that you write. It could be something reflective, a way to process your past day, something you’re learning, etc. Here are Scott’s Write One Line Journals: www.WriteOneLine.com

Or consider the ERW Branded Journal

THINK SPACE – this is putting your thoughts on paper. I’ll take even 5 minutes with my Think Space Journal (TSJ) to “get things out” (it could be work-related, ideas for connecting with my family, writing ideas, anything)

I love looking back at the end of the quarter for trends and where my list has gone the past few months in both my quarterly journal and my think space journal.

The point is trying something that works for you and give it a real shot

Write falls under DEVELOP – Energy Habit #5

5) Move

We simply don’t move enough when traveling. The road does the moving for us but we’re usually sitting down. On a plane, in a rental car or RideShare, in a conference room or restaurant.

We need to be intentional about adding movement into our day and we do that by Increasing movement in 4 ways.

  1. Stand – up on my feet not down on my butt
  2. Walk – take that stand and move forward
  3. Run – think cardio
  4. Lift – think strength training

And the morning is a perfect time to “get your MOVE on” You can even combine energy habits with MOVE and DEVELOP – listen to this podcast or an audiobook as you go for a walk or run or workout

Moving creates energy in your morning and gets you ready to perform.

Move shockingly falls under MOVE Energy Habit 1

6) Connect with Family/Friends

Connect focuses on not being a check-in guy or girl but a connect-in guy or girl and this is done in a Block & Tackle time like now.

This may be a text banter with a spouse, child, or friend.

But the purpose here is to have real purpose that moves the relational needle

Connect: Intentionally / Thoughtfully / Creatively

In the ERW book in the Connect chapter, I dive deep into each one of Connect: Intentionally / Thoughtfully / Creatively so that may be your best reference.

Ideas:

  • thoughtful text/audio/video
  • Not Forgotten Journal
  • Flat Kiddos

The point is taking time to connect with those back home in an intentional, thoughtful, and creative way.

Connect with Fam/Friends falls under CONNECT – Energy Habit #6

7) Eat

This is an absolute MUST to get something healthy to refuel your body especially if you don’t know when you’ll eat next or exactly what.

Control every meal you can on the road with CLEAN & GREEN. Clean and Green is a process.

Remember: Add first then reverse. Get the good stuff in then begin eliminating the bad stuff.

Too many people have a coffee and donut/bagel breakfast and wonder why their energy tanks mid morning or make a bad lunch decision.

Not the ERW.

Remember, food is fuel and fuel is energy. Most mid to high level hotels have a good breakfast selection but you need to “select” the right food.

We must make smart choices that increase and almost guarantee our success for the day ahead and that 1st hour means fueling the Ferrari!

Drink falls under FUEL – Energy Habit #3

8) Plan / Review

Sadly, most of us go into reactive mode for the day ahead. We put it little to no thought of where our day is headed and then we wonder why didn’t get much of anything done especially of any importance.

But what if we took even a few minutes to plan our day and really think through the Top 3 tasks that need to get done?

We know the value of planning but how about making it part of your energy hour that affects the rest of your day? If you don’t plan the night before, this could be your time so you know where your day is heading before it officially begins.

I choose my Big 3 – Must Do No Matter What most important tasks. I ;ist my appointments for the day which include appointments to myself to Block and Tackle (discussed in detail in the ERW book).

Review is looking at who you’re meeting with today, do some research on LinkedIn, review your presentation, pitch, etc. I want to be sharp and on my game by not only knowing people’s names but a little about them, the agenda, and what I want out of the meeting. This all comes out of a quick review.

Take a few minutes to plan your day and to review. It’s a must to becoming an ERW.

Plan / Review falls under PERFORM – Energy Habit #4

 

So let’s make some changes!

1. Choose which of the eight options we just discussed that you want to begin to implement
2. Create two versions. Why? Because some mornings you’ll have more time than other days and you want to be able to do something, anything, just not nothing! (heard THAT line from me before?!?)

Long Version (ideal)
Short Version (bare minimum)

Here’s a Personal Examples of My Normal Routine:

1. Drink – 1 min (make and drink)
2. Read – 20 min
3. Pray and Meditate – 15 min
4. Write – Journal – 15 min
5. Move / Listen – 30 min
6. Connect – 10 min
7. Fuel – 15 min
8. Plan (my day / names and research of the people I’m meeting) / Review – presentations, etc. – 15 min

My long version is 2 Hr
My short version can be 30 min or preferably 1 Hr

Leverage that for road for YOU to become an ERW today.

You Got This!

Written by Bryan Buckley · Categorized: DEVELOP, Embrace Better, Energy, FUEL, MOVE, PERFORM · Tagged: ERW Podcast, podcast

How to Know If You’re Stuck in a Road Rut and How to Get Out of It

Energy Habit #4 is DEVELOP – and we develop on the road in three ways –
1. Sharpen the Mind
2. Process the Thoughts
3. Monitor the Heart

Sharpen the Mind – is what we put in to sharpen us in multiple ways
Process the Thoughts – is getting out of our head all that we put in
Monitor the Heart – is keeping a pulse on how we’re REALLY doing

One of the best ways to sharpen the mind is to read content that teaches and challenges you to develop personally and professionally.

And one of the most influential books I’ve read in the past year was written by someone I’ve interviewed before and followed his writing, James Clear.

His book, Atomic Habits, was pivotal in curating and translating my habits in helping business travelers and is the foundation of the content in this episode. So, all the content kudos goes to James Clear.

There are seemingly no bigger creatures of habits than someone who works on the road: aka – a Road Warrior.

We’re the essence of creatures of habits. We have our way of doing our “road thing.”

Habits make or break your ability to become an Elite Road Warrior. The irony about our habits is that if we have good habits at home, we’ll most likely have good habits on the road.

But….

If you don’t have good habits at home, the road will absolutely expose you.

Now, I’m not talking about taking a business trip once a twice a year and it feels like vacation but when the road is your vocation.

If you eat lousy at home, few turn it around on the road.
If you don’t sleep well at home, you rarely sleep more or better on the road.
If you don’t workout at home, you rarely turn into a gym rat on the road.
And I can go on and on and on.

According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on any given day. [1]

Here’s the goal or the win of this episode – to get you to think about your Road Habits and find out where exactly you’re in a Road Rut with your habits.

I’m a psychology nerd and have the degree to prove it but it’s important to understand the process of building a habit to start the Road Habits conversation.

A habit is a behavior that is repeated enough times to become automatic.

It can be divided into four simple steps:

1. Cue. A piece of information that suggests there’s a reward to be found, like the smell of a cookie or a dark room waiting to light up.
2. Craving. The motivation to change something to get the reward, like tasting the delicious cookie or being able to see.
3. Response. Whatever thought or action you need to take to get to the reward.
4. Reward. The satisfying feeling you get from the change, along with the lesson whether to do it again or not.

The cue is about noticing the reward.
The craving is about wanting the reward.
The response is about obtaining the reward.

If a behavior is not sufficient in any of the four stages, it will not become a habit or automatic.

In summary, the CUE triggers a CRAVING, which motivates a RESPONSE, which provides a REWARD, which satisfies the craving, and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue.

This is key: All behavior is driven by the desire to solve a problem.

Sometimes the problem is that you notice something good and you want to obtain it. Sometimes the problem is that you are experiencing pain and you want to relieve it.

Either way, the purpose of every habit is to solve the problems you face.

So, let’s get practical.

Many of my road habits are to relieve stress and make life on the road easier – not necessarily better.

  • I order what I want that I either can’t get at home, not willing to pay for on my own, or eat because it’s front of me.
  • I don’t drink on weeknights at home but I almost always do on the road.
  • I’m connected with my family more at home because they’re right there in front of me but on the road, I sadly find it a challenge to even text or call and it’s always on the time that is best for me.

Do you see what I mean?

Then, over weeks, months, and years of doing things that relieve my stress and make my life on the road easier, I develop certain habits that help me get by, not get better.

And this is why the Six Energy Habits are vitally important.

They challenge us in six key areas to leverage the road and what it can do for us, not look at only the limits and what it can’t do for us.

On the road, it is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment or massive change and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis.

Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. And as a result, we do nothing.

Improving 1 percent isn’t particularly notable – sometimes it isn’t even noticeable – but it can be far more meaningful in the long run.

Unfortunately the slow pace of transformation also make it easy to let a bad habit slide.

  • If you eat an unhealthy meal today, the scale doesn’t move much.
  • If you work late tonight and ignore your family they will forgive you.
  • If you procrastinate and put your project off until tomorrow, there will usually be time to finish later. A single decision is easy to dismiss.

But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results. It’s the accumulation of many missteps – a 1 percent decline here and there – that eventually leads to a problem. Over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be.

“Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-lifetime transformation.” – James Clear

What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success, and this is where most road warriors are wasting their years on the road.

They’re the most over-worked / stressed / burned-out / unhealthy / and disconnected they’ve EVER been in their lives.

I know because this was my Road Life for way too many years.

Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.

I love this quote by James Clear: “Few things can have a more powerful impact on your life than improving your daily habits.”

So, how do you know if you’re stuck in a road rut and how do you get out of it?

Maybe you’re saying right now in your head, “I definitely need to change some of my road habits and I’m in a road rut – thank you Dr. Obvious”

But how do you make those changes?

The book Atomic Habits offer Four Laws of Behavior Change:

1. Make it obvious. Don’t hide your fruits in your fridge, put them on display front and center.
2. Make it attractive. Start with the fruit you like the most, so you’ll actually want to eat one when you see it.
3. Make it easy. Don’t create needless friction by focusing on fruits that are hard to peel. Bananas and apples are super easy to eat, for example.
4. Make it satisfying. If you like the fruit you picked, you’ll love eating it and feel healthier as a result!

Sometimes a habit will be hard to remember and you’ll need to make it obvious. Other times you won’t feel like starting and you’ll need to make it attractive. In many cases, you may find that a habit will be too difficult and you’ll need to make it easy. And sometimes, you won’t feel like sticking with it and you’ll need to make it satisfying.

This is how I applied what I learned about the four laws of behavior change:

I used the statement: When I do _______, Then I’ll do ____________.

After (CURRENT HABIT), I will (NEW HABIT).

This required me to think about what I wanted to do and when I’m going to do it.

One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top ~ Habit Stacking

The key is to tie your desired behavior into something you already do each day. Once you have mastered this basic structure you can begin to create larger stacks by chaining small habits together. This allows you to take advantage of the natural momentum that comes from one behavior leading into the next.

Habit Stacking allows you to create a set of simple rules that guide your future behavior

Exercise Example: WHEN I see a set of stairs. THEN I will take them instead of using the elevator.

The secret to creating a successful habit stack is selecting the right cue to kick things off.

Habit Stacking works best when the cue is highly specific and immediately actionable.

The two most common CUES are time and location

Creating an Implementation Intention Strategy pairs a new habit with “I will (BEHAVIOR) at (TIME) in (LOCATION).”

With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels bad. With good habits, it is the reverse: the immediate outcome is unenjoyable but the ultimate outcome feels good.

“The cost of your good habits are in the present. The cost of your bad habits are in the future.”- James Clear

When the moment of decision arrives, instant gratification usually wins.

KEY: “The most effective form of motivation is progress”

The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Once is an accident. Twice is the start of a new (bad) habit.

Anyone can have a bad performance, a bad workout, or a bad day at work. But when successful people fail, they rebound quickly. The breaking of a habit doesn’t matter if the reclaiming of it is fast.

Too often, we fall into an all-or-nothing cycle with our habits. The problem is not slipping up; the problem is thinking that if you can’t do something perfectly, then you shouldn’t do it at all.

You don’t realize how valuable it is to just show up on your bad (or busy) days.

KEY: Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you.

Sluggish days and bad workouts maintain the compound gains you accrued from previous good days. Simply doing something – ten squats, five sprints, a push-up, anything really – is huge. Don’t put up a zero. Don’t let losses eat into your compounding.

It’s not always about what happens during the workout. It’s about being the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts. It’s easy to train when you feel good, but it’s crucial to show up when you don’t feel like it – even if you do less than you hope.

Atomic Habits gives five ways get out of road rut

1. Start with an incredibly small habit.

“Make it so easy you can’t say no.” —Leo Babauta

When most people struggle to stick with a new habit, they say something like, “I just need more motivation.” Or, “I wish I had as much willpower as you do.”

This is the wrong approach. Research shows that willpower is like a muscle. It gets fatigued as you use it throughout the day. Another way to think of this is that your motivation ebbs and flows. It rises and falls.  Stanford professor BJ Fogg calls this the “motivation wave.”

Solve this problem by picking a new habit that is easy enough that you don’t need motivation to do it.
Rather than starting with 50 pushups per day, start with 5 pushups per day. Rather than trying to meditate for 10 minutes per day, start by meditating for one minute per day. Make it easy enough that you can get it done without motivation.

2. Increase your habit in very small ways.

“Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.”—Jim Rohn

One percent improvements add up surprisingly fast. So do one percent declines. Rather than trying to do something amazing from the beginning, start small and gradually improve. Along the way, your willpower and motivation will increase, which will make it easier to stick to your habit for good.

3. As you build up, break habits into chunks.

If you continue adding one percent each day, then you’ll find yourself increasing very quickly within two or three months. It is important to keep each habit reasonable, so that you can maintain momentum and make the behavior as easy as possible to accomplish.

Building up to 20 minutes of meditation? Split it into two segments of 10 minutes at first or four segments of five minutes
Trying to do 50 pushups per day? Five sets of 10 might be much easier as you make your way there.

4. When you slip, get back on track quickly.

“The best way to improve your self-control is to see how and why you lose control.”—Kelly McGonigal

Top performers make mistakes, commit errors, and get off track just like everyone else. The difference is that they get back on track as quickly as possible.

Research has shown that missing your habit once, no matter when it occurs, has no measurable impact on your long-term progress. Rather than trying to be perfect, abandon your all-or-nothing mentality.
You shouldn’t expect to fail, but you should plan for failure. Take some time to consider what will prevent your habit from happening. What are some things that are likely to get in your way? What are some daily emergencies that are likely to pull you off course? How can you plan to work around these issues? Or, at least, how you can bounce back quickly from them and get back on track?
You just need to be consistent, not perfect. Focus on building the identity of someone who never misses a habit twice.

5. Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain.

Learning to be patient is perhaps the most critical skill of all. You can make incredible progress if you are consistent and patient.

If you are adding weight in the gym, you should probably go slower than you think. If you are adding daily sales calls to your business strategy, you should probably start with fewer than you expect to handle. Patience is everything. Do things you can sustain. New habits should feel easy, especially in the beginning. If you stay consistent and continue increasing your habit it will get hard enough, fast enough. It always does.

I want you to define Two MAJOR Categories of your habits:

Keystone Habit – this is the game-changer habit. When you do this habit, everything else gets better.

Tombstone Habit – this is the game-killer habit. When you do this habit, everything else gets worse.

Let me give you personal examples:

My Keystone Habit is SLEEP – when I sleep and really protect and optimize my sleep, it dramatically affects the following:

  • I make better food choices
  • I workout more consistently and have better workouts
  • My Energy Hour in the morning of reading
  • I’m more motivated to connect with those back home

My Tombstone Habit is DRINKING – when I drink without strict boundaries, it dramatically affects the following to the bad:

  • I stay up later and the quality of my sleep is affected big time
  • I make lousy food choices – usually ends in something sweet and I always overdo it since I don’t eat sweets much anymore
  • I’m sluggish in the morning and my workouts always suffer

So, what is your Keystone Habit? What is your Tombstone Habit?

 

What’s the difference between the best athletes or top performers and everyone else? What do the really successful people do that most don’t? – beyond genetics, luck, and talent, they must be able to handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same things over and over.

Really successful people feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom.

Mastery requires practice but the more you practice something, the more boring and routine it becomes.

The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. We get bored with habits because they stop delighting us. The outcome becomes expected. And as our habits become ordinary, we start derailing our progress to seek novelty.

On your next trip or possibly the one you’re on right now, observe your road habits. Do you have more good habits than bad? Which of your habits can improve?

Your Road Habits will make or absolutely break you on becoming an Elite Road Warrior. The best performers have the best habits. They know their Keystone and their Tombstone Habits. And so do you.

Now, wherever you are on the road, do something, anything, just not nothing to master the business travel life.

Written by Bryan Buckley · Categorized: DEVELOP, Energy, PERFORM, Planning, Productivity · Tagged: ERW Podcast, podcast

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