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What Bo Jackson Taught me About Creating A New Road Secret Identity

For so long while business traveling, do you know what was ultimately my biggest problem?

I brought ME with me on the trip! I know, right?

The same bad habits I had at home went with me on the road. It’s like I packed them on my carry on along with that guy, Murphy, from Murphy’s Law.

And some of the those same habits were actually magnified on the road: I ate and drank more, and slept less. A sure-fire recipe for over-weight and exhaustion. Can I get an amen?

It was like I needed to become someone different in a good way on the road. But I wasn’t being different, I was way too much of the old me. The unaccountable, company credit card, and often too much free time me. I all too often was magnifying the bad parts, even the addictive parts of me on the road. Everything from working too much to drinking too much.

Then I heard an interesting backstory of someone I watched growing up.

I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him when he played sports. He was a highlight reel before ESPN SportCenter highlights really caught on like it is today.

It was Bo Jackson’s Story.

For those of you who don’t know that name, he’s the only athlete in the major four North American professional sports to be an all-star in two of them (baseball and football). Even Deon Sanders couldn’t pull this off. Sorry, Show Time.

Bo was a highlight waiting to happen in the 1980s who absolutely transcended sports. When you saw what he did you said “No Way. That’s not possible. Play it again!”

The greats in college have to choose between two sports – not Bo Jackson. He took on two major sports and excelled in both. Simply amazing.

He even had a popular string of Nike commercials called “Bo Knows.”

But most don’t know his backstory. As a kid, Bo had big time challenges containing his emotions and would get into a ton of trouble because of his outbursts of anger.

Often, he’d get caught up in the competition, and he’d retaliate against even the smallest perceived slights. The result? He would get hit with unnecessary penalties.

One day as Bo was watching a movie, he became fascinated by the unemotional, cold, and relentless nature of Jason. Does that name ring a bell? Jason was the hockey mask-wearing killer in the Friday the 13th movies.

At that moment during this particular movie, something in Bo absolutely changed. He had a breakthrough, soon-to-be light bulb moment.

He resolved to stop being Bo Jackson on the football field, leaving his uncontrollable rage on the sidelines.

And this is the key part of the story. To Bo, Jason only lived on the field. And when he walked out of the locker room and reached the football field, Jason would enter his body and take over.

Then suddenly, this hotheaded, penalty-prone, easy-to-provoke Bo Jackson transformed into a relentless, cold, and disciplined destroyer on the football field.

As Todd Herman puts it, Bo was channeling a “different” identity that helped him focus every ounce of talent and skill, and enabled him to show up on the field, without any emotional issues interfering with his performance.

Here’s the point: It was his “phone booth moment” just like Clark Kent transforming into Superman, Bo Jackson did the same thing when he transformed into his alter ego, Jason.

This story clicked for me as well. Fast forward to many years later, I realized I was still existing road warrior Bryan or exhausted road warrior Bryan on the road.

Nothing changed. I went on my next trip “thinking and acting” exactly the same. And as a result, I got the same results – imagine that. The only thing I gained was weight!

And I was tired of it both physically and mentally not to mention my wife and kids had had their fill of it as well.

I was also sick of looking into hundreds of hotel bathroom mirrors seeing the same former athlete looking like, well, I’ll let you finish my sentence.

My first problem is I was looking at the road and it’s limitations or how it enabled me, not how I could potentially leverage the road to become who I ultimately wanted to be in every area of my life.

Somehow I needed to figure out my Bo Jackson transformation when I hit the road.

I wanted to become Elite Road Warrior Bryan but something had to change in more than just my willpower and attempted behavioral change.

I needed what Todd Herman wrote on, an alter ego.

Now, I want you to stick with me because this alter ego jargon may seem a little weird but you’d be shocked at the thousands of athletes, performers, and business people who leverage the power of an alter ego.

I’ve been following Todd Herman for years from his blog post to his course, The 90-Day Year.

Then he came out with the book that I had heard him reference this concept for years, The Alter Ego Effect.

This is how he defines an Alter Ego Effect – assuming a different identity that allows you to embody a set of traits that you admire or wish to have. This new set of traits is what you then use to push yourself forward to success.

The problem is we live in the ordinary world where your enemy (inner conflict / resistance) prevents your Heroic Self from stepping up.

The enemy is there to cause you to stumble and not become your heroic self. It causes you to hesitate, overthink, and doubt yourself. Sound familiar?

It may sound like the following:

  • Things are just fine as they are
  • The road is too hard to change
  • I’ve been doing it the same way for too long
  • I’ve tried to change but keep coming back to the way things used to be

And this is what happened to me.

I put little to no thought into any other world except the ordinary world (aka: business as usual or in this case business travel as usual)

But Todd Herman challenges you to create an alter ego to fight this Enemy of mediocrity who fights change to ultimately embrace life in an Extraordinary world where you succeed at the highest level.

Your Alter Ego is the key to unlocking your Heroic Self.

Your Heroic Self embodies the three key focus areas of an Elite Road Warrior:
1. Your Work
2. Your Health
3. Your Home Life

An Alter Ego allows you to embody your Heroic Self whenever you need to perform at a higher level and I wanted to perform at the highest level with not only my work but also my health and home life and knew I had this gear in me that needed to be unlocked to come out consistently.

Todd Herman talks about your…

Field of Play – this is your place of performance. For an athlete, it’s the field or the court. For a musician, it’s the stage, For a business traveler, this is “the road.”

2nd – your Moment of Impact – also called “your moment of truth” – in sports, it’s the big shot; in sales, it’s your close; in a presentation, it’s your conclusion.

And here’s the point: Your Field of Play and your Moment of Impact is when you need your Heroic Self or your Alter Ego to show up.

James Clear in his book, Atomic Habits, says “true behavior change is identity change.”

You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity. Who you are or who you’re wanting to become.

When your behavior and your identity are fully aligned, you are no longer pursuing behavior change. You’re simply acting like the type of person you already believe yourself to be.

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.

Identity Change is the North Star of habit change.

Are you becoming the type of person you want to become? The first step is not what or how, but who.

I wanted to change more than just a “few things here and there” – I wanted to become, in this case, an Elite Road Warrior.

And this is where the Alter Ego Effect becomes not only necessary but incredibly valuable.

The theme quote for 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. – Jim Rohn

You have to want to create an Alter Ego and embody it for all it’s worth for it to work. Otherwise, you’ll find an excuse NOT to make it work.

So, what exactly did Bo Jackson Teach Me About Creating a New Road Identity?

I need to create one that allows me to transform from Existing or Exhausted Road Warrior Bryan to Elite Road Warrior Bryan!

There are Three Transformational Ways to Change Your Road Identity

I’ll give you the three then I’ll be vulnerable and share with you my Alter Ego but you have to keep it between us girls – deal?

1. Decide the type of person you want to be

  •  Someone you know or admire
  • TV personality or athlete or CEO or musician or entrepreneur or historical figure or super hero

2. Define their “superpowers” or actions that sets them apart

  • Strong
  • Confident
  • Powerful
  • Calm
  • Smooth
  • Determined
  • Resilient
  • Overcomer
  • Brave
  • Consistent

3. Find a Totem or Artifact – why? It activates your Alter Ego or reminds you the Alter Ego needs to show back up

  • Something you wear
  • Something you carry with you
  • Something connected to the Field of Play

Examples:

  • MLK
  • Winston Churchill
  • Athletes – certain shirt / chain

Key Side Notes:
1. the totem or artifact must symbolize something to you – it must have meaning and really work for you.
2. don’t wear, carry, or use it all the time (it’s meant to be intentional) and don’t give it away (Churchill only wore his hat in public / athletes wear “that shirt” only during the game)
3. Choose something you’ll enjoy wearing or carry with you

My Personal Alter Ego:

1. I want to be an Elite Road Warrior who has the Alter Ego of Jason Bourne

I absolutely loved the Jason Bourne series and this character is who I chose.

2. Define their super powers – if you remember the movie, Jason Bourne was transformed from David Webb and was always and I mean always…

  • Calm
  • Calculated
  • Highly trained and skilled
  • Prepared
  • Aware and Adaptive
  • Maximized what was available
  • One step ahead

3. Find an artifact or totem

I had to try a few things until I found out what worked and really worked for me.

I chose an aluminum water bottle – why?

My Elite Road Warrior branded black water bottle only comes with me on the road.

I can bring it with me wherever I am on the road – in a meeting, for example, and it’s not awkward or odd.

And when I drink the water, it reminds me I’m ERW Jason Bourne on the road who is highly trained and skilled as a road warrior. I’m always thinking one step ahead, aware, adaptive, and calculated. I don’t do things like the average road warrior because I’m no longer average.

How does the Alter Ego come to life for me on the road?

Through the Six Energy Habits

1. How I Move
2. How I Fuel
3. How I Rest
4. How I Perform
5. How I Develop
6. How I Connect

In my moment of temptation of doing something, I ask myself: Would ERW Jason Bourne do this or how would he respond? it actually works if you do this process correctly.

So, are you willing to create an Alter Ego for you to become an ERW?

1. Who is that person you will become?
2. What are their characteristics?
3. What will you carry with you to activate and remind you?

I challenge you to really consider this exercise.

If you pick an Alter Ego, reach out to me via email: Bryan@EliteRoadWarrior.com to let me know. I’d be honored to hear from you.

You Got This!

10 Most Often Asked Questions Asked of Me About Road Life

One of my favorite parts of being a business travel performance expert is receiving so many questions whether through surveys, assessment, research projects, emails, or just plain conversation on a flight or at a hotel bar.

Recently, I spoke at a consulting firm and was flooded with GREAT questions from high-performing road warrior consultants who wanted to not get by on the road but get better and leverage the road to do it.

As a result, I’ve chosen ten of the most often asked questions for this article.

10 Most Often Asked Questions Asked of Me About Road Life

This 1st question is by far the most asked question but it’s also the one that gets the most pushback.

1 – How do you eat healthy on the road?

I failed miserably at this for easily the first half of my road career which has been too many years.

I viewed my business trip as a vacation when I ate, not a vocation. My filter was, “oh, that looks good!” I could spend more on an appetizer or dessert or glass of wine than I would on my entire meal with my own money.

The result? Ballooning to over 40 pounds overweight due to business travel. I hated how I looked in that blasted hotel mirror and felt lousy.

Then I came to the point where my perspective on food changed. I wanted energy on the road to be my best and Food is Fuel and Fuel is Energy.

I embraced four letters – MTHC (Make the Healthiest Choice)

And part of MTHC is three parts:
1. Continually Hydrate – I have an Elite Road Warrior water bottle and drink a ton of water ALL DAY LONG
2. Clean and Green – every meal is the cleanest I can eat and I add as many greens as I can
3. Carry a Controlled Substance – I carry a snack bag with Tupperware that has healthy snacks so I’m never caught off guard and always have an energy kick available

I have choices of what I put in my mouth and need to consciously choose how I feel after whatever I’m about to eat.

I favor hotels with full kitchens, shop at Whole Foods and/or Trader Joes whenever possible, and request eating someplace “Clean and Green” when going out with others.

I recently even did hard-core Keto30 on the road which you can listen to on episode 25 of the podcast.

Key phrase: MTHC (Make the Healthiest Choice)

2 – How do you workout on the road?

Time is your biggest enemy on the road.

I believed the lie “if I can’t get in a full workout, what’s the point?” – Lies, nothing but lies!

I had to change my mindset to “Something, Anything is Better Than Nothing.”

Sometimes my 20-minute workout is better than an hour.

Sometimes, going 10 minutes hard in my hotel room with bodyweight and resistance bands is more than enough.

“But I’m too tired to workout” – lies, nothing but lies.

Movement creates energy.

How many times have you worked out in the morning after dragging yourself out of bed and by the end of the workout, you were ready to conquer your day?! That’s me – every… single… time.

I learned the Increase M4X Formula
1. Stand More – think up on your feet, not down on your butt
2. Walk More – think forward, not still
3. Run More – think cardio, get your heart rate up
4. Lift More – think strength training

How I…

  • Stand More – stand at the gate / every 30 min on a flight / in meetings whenever possible / create stand up desks at the hotel (lobby or room)
  • Walk More – park at the back of a parking lot / choose a higher floor at the hotel / take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator or walk the escalator
  • Run More – do HIIT that gets my heart rate up – jog to run / burpees / stairs quickly
  • Lift More – bodyweight / dumbbells / resistance bands

Key phrase: Something, Anything is Better Than Nothing

3 – How do you get a better night of sleep on the road?

Ah, sleep, the ultimate waste of time on the road, right? How can you get anything done if you’re in a coma?

I used to view sleep as a “necessary evil”

I had to learn to make the sleep I was getting, which was 6 hours or less, better before I started to add any more sleep because it wouldn’t be quality sleep.

1. Prioritize Bed Time
2. Create a Bed Time Ritual
3. Create an Ideal Sleep Environment

For me…

Bed Time Priority always depended on the type of my trip – was I by myself or with others? Was I doing training, speaking, and workshops, or at a conference or trade show? Once I knew, then I could realistically prioritize bedtime. That may mean leaving the event or bar earlier but nobody really cared the next morning. Regardless, getting to bed with the foresight of what time I needed to get up was a priority.

My Bed Time Ritual:

  • Drop the Lights
  • Drop the Temperature
  • Change the Room Scent
  • Comfy Clothes – under armor shorts / Hurley soft t-shirt or Dep Sleepwear
  • Read
  • Guided Meditation

Ideal Sleep Environment:

  • Cool
  • Dark and I mean dark – towel over door crack/clip to keep the curtains shut
  • Bose Sleep Buds

Key Phrase –“Improve Before Increase”

 

4 – What is your morning routine?

It has definitely evolved over time. In fact, I have an entire podcast episode on the First Hour of Your Road Day called the Energy Hour

My routine used to be checking social media, sports scores, texts, and emails while still in bed!

Once I opened up any of those, they owned my day and I rarely turned it around.

So, I needed to make sure I took care of ME first before everyone else’s agenda.

And what took care of me?

Four of the six energy habits:

1. Develop
2. Move
3. Connect
4. Fuel – continually hydrate

My exact morning routine:

  • Hydrate – my drink
  • Develop – read my Bible / read something inspirational / pray and meditate
  • Move – workout
  • Connect with the Fam – I want them to hear from me first thing in the morning and I’ll talk about how in Q5

Key Phrase – “Hit the Four Before the Door”

5 – How do you stay connected with those you love back home?

This was an area where I was what you call, a Check-In Guy for WAY too long.

I just “checked in” when it was convenient for me with no regard to what was going on back home in the life of my wife and kids. It was selfish to be honest as I look back on it.

Staying connected, especially if you’ve been traveling for any length of time, can, well, get old and stale. And for me, I wasn’t checking in enough and it really affected my family and friends back home.

Eventually, I leveraged my creative side to “spice things up” to re-connect with everyone to become a Connect-In Guy.

It’s done in three ways:

  • Connect Intentionally
  • Connect Thoughtfully
  • Connect Creatively – be memorable

How I Connect Now:

Key Phrase -“Be a Connect-In Guy or Girl, not a Check-in Guy or Girl”

The next five questions are more vulnerable.

I’ve not arrived as you’ll hear in the following answers. But I truly desire to transform my work, health, and home life on the road to master the business travel life.

 

6 – What took you the longest to change and why?

Learning how to rest and pace myself on the road. I’ve always been a hard-driver, Type-A, energy guy.

If you’ve not heard my back story, which you can listen to on the podcast in episode 002, I went so hard for so long, my body shut down to the point of complete exhaustion and I became very, very sick. It took months and months to recover and I had to learn to change my ways if I was going back to Road Life.

I had to prioritize three areas:

  • Sleep – improve then increase
  • Breaks – move the body, rest the mind
  • Downtime – time to be, not to be on

There was time for breaks and downtime – I just needed to take them and make them a priority – the payoff was beyond worth it.

I also had to learn to ask:

  • When is my energy the highest each day on the road?
  • Why is my energy low right now?
  • Is there anything I can do to change my energy level?
  • Can I match my energy with my tasks?

I had to become what I call an Energyologist (a Buckleyism) – the personal study of your own energy

Key Takeaway – You can have more energy on the road

 

7 – What do you regret the most on the road?

The answer is found in Energy Habit Six – Connect.

I regret not making my family a bigger priority especially when I first started traveling. I created some very bad habits in three areas:

  • How I left – abrupt and not sensitive especially to my kids’ feelings
  • When I was gone – When and how I contacted anyone back home revolved only around me and my schedule
  • How I returned – I was always exhausted when I came home and it was always about me. I demanded the house be in perfect condition and life revolved around me. I wanted to be left alone to “transition back into civilian life” yet I was angry when everyone went on with their lives.

My family hung in there but I had done some damage that took years to repair and I regret it. Thankfully I was able to turn it around and it’s become one of my strengths.

Learn from my costly mistakes.

Key Takeaway – Prioritize Others Just as Much

 

8 – What do I still struggle with on the road?

Drinking too often and too much.

I don’t get drunk on the road or take it too far. I learned very early in my career to never “be that guy” but only see or hear about “that guy”.

I love good wine and craft beer but have learned to minimize it big time especially doing Keto on the road.

I’m a Vodka Tonic guy and too easily justify a drink or three (always a double) after a long day, customer dinner, or event.

Doing Keto30 of absolutely no drinking was a very good thing for me along with not drinking on any weeknights when I’m home.

This is a struggle and growth area for me.

My biggest change has been adding one glass of water with every alcoholic drink. I call it the 1:1 Water Match Program – and it’s absolutely free to join

Key Takeaway – Make Sure You’re In Control

 

9 – How do you handle it when you blow it on the road?

I’ve adopted the James Clear concept called “Avoid the 2nd Mistake” – If I have a bad meal, I don’t justify the day or even the rest of the business trip.

If I don’t work out the 1st day, it’s not a free pass for the rest of the trip.

If you watch baseball, the best closers have the essence of short-term memory. If they blow last night’s game, they need to come back out the next night like it never happened and “begin again.”

Depending on what “blowing it” was for me, in the early days there was some regret and guilt. I had a couple of close friends I could tell “the real story” for some confession and accountability. I wanted to monitor the heart.

Another phrase I use that is helpful to me is “Dip NOT Dive” – when I go “off-road” as I call it from the 6 Energy Habits, I need this to be a quick dip and get right back to what allows me to master the business travel life and avoid the downward spiral and the 2nd mistake.

Learn from it and move on.

Key Takeaway – Avoid the 2nd Mistake

 

10- What advice would you give for a newer business traveler?

  • Learn and apply the Six Energy Habits immediately in your Road Career.
  • If you have bad habits at home, road life will only expose them.
  • Don’t worry about “what everyone else does or says”, you take care of yourself first and foremost.

Learn from my mistakes and others. You don’t have to do it the hard way with a brutal crashing and burning, 40 pounds overweight, burned out, stressed out, and disconnected from family and friends.

Key Takeaway – Own the Six Energy Habits right now!

 

I hope these questions and answers were helpful. They’ve been asked by a number of people, so here it was:
* The good
* The bad
* The ugly

I hope you gained some ideas and appreciated my honesty with the goal of helping you become an Elite Road Warrior.

If you want any more detail or further examples, you can find them in my book, ERW – 6EH to Master the Business Travel Life. It’s available on Amazon in the print version, Kindle digital version, and also on audiobook via Audible.

So, wherever you are on the road, do something, anything, just not nothing to master the business travel life. You Got This!

How to Deal with “IT” When “IT” Happens on the Road

So, it was 2:15 am, and I was stuck outside my own house pounding on the door because my wife had locked the screen door and I was home early from a brutal three days of travel that felt like three weeks.

Ever had that trip?

Let me start from the beginning.

I had a big meeting in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was one of those locations where I waffled between driving or flying. I chose to drive.

Not a few minutes into my drive I dealt with on-and-off rain that was just paralyzing. Not the mist that annoys you when you can’t decide if you should manually flip on the wiper every minute, or bear the awful windshield scraping noise because it’s going too frequently.

This was black skies driving into the abyss.

As if the weather wasn’t enough, there were non-stop road repairs.

In Chicago, we have a running joke that we have two seasons: winter and construction.

We were definitely in construction season and now the horrible weather was added.

And then there were the semis driving 66 mph to pass the other semi going 65mph and traffic backs up for a mile. My biggest life pet peeve is someone driving slow in the fast lane or the passing lane.

So, between the weather, construction, and traffic, my three-hour trip took well over five hours.

The meetings were good and I was to fly out of Cedar Rapids Regional Airport to Denver via Dallas.

I was required to fly an airline I don’t normally take because of convience, and it was a good idea until my flight was delayed two hours. You guessed it: weather.

Shockingly, I landed in enough time to make my connection flight although all my connection margin was shot. I was on the ground in Dallas at my gate waiting to get off my plane to make my connection waiting and waiting for almost 30 minutes as I was watching my plane board and take off literally at the gate RIGHT NEXT TO ME!

Who misses their flight, but gets to watch others board and take off without them?!?

Cruel man. Just cruel.

The good news is there was another plane I could take from Dallas with the only catch: it was two and a half hours from now.

Mind you, I have no status with this new airline and the customer service line was longer than bathrooms at a baseball game in the 7th inning at Wrigley Field.

I finally board and the flight took off an hour late.

Of course. Why not, right?

Needless to say, I was supposed to land in Denver at 9:45 pm and landed at a crisp 2:00 am (Chicago time).

My drive to the hotel was 45 minutes which felt like an hour and 45 minutes. Interstates down to one lane due to paving.

I made it to my hotel that was sold out and I didn’t care as long as I had a room, until I was put in a handicap room right next to the elevator. So by 6am I was woken by the elevator ding every five minutes and within a few elevator dings, I was awake and just chose to get up.

The next day I was moved locations only to enter a room that smelled worse than the designated smoking room in an airport where you can cut the air with a knife.

Of course.

I changed rooms, recovered, and looked forward to getting back on track.

I made it to the Denver airport in enough time to leverage my TSA Pre-Check and get to my gate with time to get water, walk a bit, then board.

So I thought.

The North TSA-Security line was closed. Huh? So, I walk to the South TSA-Security line to find out my TSA-Precheck was not on my boarding pass. Huh? It’s been on there every flight for years. And years. And years.

Of course.

Now I’m in line with everyone else strapped for time and just wanting my carry-on so I can run to get to my gate.

As someone who’s not used to a mild strip at security, I was fighting the annoyance and inconvenience but missing my flight was the only thing on my mind.

But now what?

My bag gets flagged and I have to wait for someone, anyone to look through the same bag that always goes through security with zero issues.

And I waited. And waited.

I finally make it to my gate in just enough time to board. Whew, all good, right?

We board, get in my seat and watch dark skies take over what was suppose to be a picturesque sunset over the Rocky Mountains as I fly home to surprise my wife.

Then the lightning happens. Over and over. And the heavens open up. I was wondering if my plane was going to turn into an ark.

Grounded. Everyone. And who knows how long. 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 minutes have gone by and I’m a captive audience.

We’re told all the time that **IT happens. Easy to say but what do you do on business travel when **IT happens to you?

And YOU KNOW what I mean by IT happens…

What did I do when I was challenged with this in the very moment when “IT” is happening to me not just once but this whole week on the road?

Four Responses to Dealing with IT When IT happens on the Road”

1. Roll With IT

Before I acted like I was the only one affected. I would get worked up, find others to join in on my complaining, and build my team against the wrongs done against us.

Do you know what changed? Absolutely nothing.

Except I was miserable. And those who had joined me were all riled up now.

The reality is nothing really improved. In fact, until I started to roll with it, I was even more affected.

Roll With It means “what happens happens” especially on business travel.

Here’s the reality we so quickly forget:

Not much should really surprise us on business travel especially if you’ve been doing it for any length of time.

When IT happens to you on the road, ROLL with it – what happens happens.

 

2. Let IT Go

I found that too often once I would ROLL with IT, the rolling would stop and I would get all worked up again.

Either the roll would lose momentum and just stop or it would be an abrupt pothole!

For example, I finally would “roll with the delayed flight” only to get re-worked up when the flight would be delayed again.

Like I never saw THAT coming, right?

Let IT Go means let IT keep rolling. Don’t pick IT up again

It’s not a one-time decision. You must keep letting it go.

An example would be forgiveness. Just because you forgive someone doesn’t mean you never have those feelings again. When, not if it comes back up again, you need to remind yourself to forgive again.

In this case, let IT go again.

Otherwise, it will own you all over again.

 

3. Learn From IT

Excuse me, did you say learn from IT? I didn’t want IT in the first place?

Welcome to life.

We want the easy, the smooth – but that’s not life, especially road life.

Things will happen even to the most prepared elite road warrior. The key is finding what we can learn from the situation.

My father used to say to me: “Son, you can learn from absolutely anything. Even how NOT to do something.”

With my trip, I was reminded how many things are just out of my control and just how quickly even after all these years of traveling, I can still get sucked back into the frustration and cynicism, and let it own and control me.

I can learn from what has just happened and the best way for me is to journal about it.

One of my daily seven writing prompts is Lessons Learned and this is my time to reflect or “process the thoughts” as I call it under Energy Habit Five – Develop.

Learn from IT is looking BACK to get BETTER

I take just a minute or two and really think through what I learned so I can accept what happened and move on to the last response of dealing with IT when IT happens on the road…

It’s asking:

  • How did I respond to what happened?
  • Could I have avoided it?
  • Did I pick IT back up again?
  • What can or should I do differently?
  • Did you get frustrated with someone that didn’t deserve your entitled wrath?
  • Did you waste time when you were given extra time?

 

4. Make the Best of IT

It really gets down to this 4th response. After you roll with it, let it go, I mean really let it go, then learn from it, you’re forced with a choice.

Will I make the best of IT and what IT just handed me?

Do I reflect on the smell of IT and all the negative or do I learn from IT and just make the best of IT?

Make the Best of IT is Looking FORWARD.

I was given a piece of advice by a mentor who told me when IT happens to me, ask this one question:

What does this now make possible?

Did you catch the power in that very simple six-word question?

As a result of IT, the delayed flight, the canceled meeting, the short night, the (you fill in the blank), what does this now make possible that otherwise might never have happened?

This is a knowledge bomb I’m dropping right now.

It takes maturity and wisdom to get to the point where you begin to learn and make the best of IT especially on the road and can ask such a powerful question.

An Elite Road Warrior takes the IT that happens on the road, washes it off, doesn’t smell like IT, and is actually better for it while others are owned by it.

Choices.

The road has it’s challenges especially when “IT” happens to you on the road. And many times IT’s not an isolated event. IT comes in waves and can hit hard.

If you can walk away and apply even one of the four responses, you’ll bet better for it.

And if you can begin to ask the question “What does this now make possible?” you will regain control of your road life and begin to defeat IT when IT happens on the Road.

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

Stop getting by and get better.

 

This post is brought to you by the book, Raise Your Game by Alan Stein, Jr.

Eight Questions I Ask Every Morning on the Road

Do you know what most business travelers do when they wake up in the morning on the road in their hotel room?

First guess would be to hit snooze on the alarm and many do.

But Elite Road Warrior Group Research has shown that most business travelers…

Reach for their phone.

Why? Well, there’s a handful of reasons but no matter the reason there is always one thing in common:

It hijacks their morning.

Why? Because it’s a time sucker especially if we jump into checking the news or social media.

It’s also filled with OPAs – other people’s agenda.

  • What they want or need from you
  • What they want to tell you
  • What they want you to buy

Many lose a half hour or more and haven’t even climbed out of bed yet!

No condemnation here, road warrior.

I believed and justified in my head that if I could “just get ahead” by looking at my email, calendar, Slack or WeChat, etc. it would help me.

Lies nothing but lies!

I used to be so unintentional and reactive to whatever caught my attention or the path of least resistance in the morning on the road.

So I get it.

But here’s what I missed.

I missed the gift of the morning.

I missed the silence.
I missed the solitude.
I missed the chance to invest in me, the one thing nobody else can do for me.

And nobody else will guard unless I seize it.

And the morning is the perfect place for it especially if I’ve had a good night of rest.

Let me state upfront – right now, my 1st hour in the morning on the road is filled only with energy habits.

The two largest of my morning energy habits are:

  1. MOVE – Increase M4X – stand more / walk more / run more / lift more
  2. DEVELOP – Sharpen the Mind / Process the Thoughts / Monitor the Heart

And my motto is two phrases which you may have heard me say over and over:

  • Consistency Over Length
  • Something, Anything, is Better Than Nothing

Many ask how I spend my mornings on the road and that’s the crux of this episode.

But before we get to that, let me tell you two things I do immediately.

  1. Hydrate – (Fuel – Continually Hydrate) with 16 oz water, lemon, sea salt, and greens powder
  2. Read – (Sharpen the Mind and Process the Thoughts) – Bible/something inspirational (if it’s the day of a flight, I save this reading for the 1st 20-30 minutes of the flight which you’ll learn in the podcast episode Seven Things I Do on Every Single Flight)

Once those two habits are done, I move on to my Elite Road Warrior Journal. It has two portions:

  1. Think Space (Process the Thoughts) dotted page Notebook
  2. Eight Questions Journal (Monitory the Heart) blank page Notebook

Here are some initial questions people ask about my personal process:

1.How long do you take to journal your questions?

    • 5-15 minutes

2. Where do you journal?

    • Most of the time in my hotel room at a desk but sometimes if my hotel is near a park, forest, a body of water, etc., I’ll choose there.

One time I climbed Mount Spokane and journaled there – talk about silent/solitude / and inspiring!

3. What do you write with?

I use different colors for different reasons when I write for both my Monitor the Heart journal and Think Space journal

4. What do you write in?

    • Elite Road Warrior Branded Journal

5. What does your layout look like?

    • Top Left – location
    • Top Right – date (for example: M.10.10.19)

I use two pages of my journal so there’s a lot of free space.

 

Before we get into the Eight Questions I Answer Every Morning on the Road, let’s talk about WHY I do it. The road has the ability to suck out any empathy, compassion, generosity, etc. within a person and especially men.

I found that too often I was coming home jaded and it was affecting my wife and kids. I was bringing home the stress of the road from the long hours to the draining people I encountered and my family and friends didn’t really care for “that Bry” or “that guy” if you will.

I didn’t grow up journaling. I didn’t have examples of people around me journaling. Notetakers, yes, but not journalers and there’s a difference.

I viewed journaling as a girly diary-thing, and therefore not for me.

And when I eventually tried it after prompting from a mentor, I sucked at it. I was SO inconsistent. Huge entry one day then days and weeks would pass with radio silence and major gaps.

Then my perfectionism would come out because if I journal, I wanted to do it “just right.”

Way…Too…Much…Pressure.

And I quit.

A few years ago Scott Mawdesley, our lead SME for Develop, really challenged me that it’s more important THAT I write, not what I write and I should try journaling “just one line” per entry.

I could write more but Write One Line became my mantra.

And you know what? It worked.

Then another mentor of mine, Jonathan Milligan, encouraged me with key questions he asked himself every morning to give structure to his journaling and encouraged me to do the same – hence the Eight Questions I Answer Every Morning on the Road.

But WHY do I journal these questions and what comes as a result?

1. Clarity – What do I want out of my life
2. Themes – What’s happening on a consistent basis in my life – what are the patterns I wouldn’t normally see without reflecting
3. Focus – where should I spend my time

Eight Questions I Answer Every Morning on the Road

I have three simple categories for my questions:

  • Review Yesterday – 3 questions
  • Reflect Now – 2 questions
  • Rehearse Today – 3 questions

 

REVIEW YESTERDAY

1.  What Happened Yesterday?

I want to be able to track my time so I know what my day looked like. I want to be able to remember that specific day at a glance.

I want to know:

  • Was I productive?
  • Was there margin in my day and where?
  • Did the six energy habits exist?

This is GREAT intel at the end of my month and the end of my quarter when I review my journal to see how I spent my time

2. What Were My Biggest Wins?

These are some answers of what I actually accomplished.

Some days my response is “busy but not productive” – I detest these days on the road.

I want to see forward motion on my goals for the week and the day to day big wins give me that intel.

3. What Were My Lessons Learned?

This may come from what I read or listened to the past day. It may be from my big wins or lack thereof.

It’s how I’m doing and what I’m learning in regards to the three focus areas of Elite Road Warrior: Work/Health/Home Life.

This is feedback on if and how I’m growing on a DAILY basis – is there a theme?

This 3rd question challenges me and sometimes it takes me a minute or two to think of something if the answer is not top of mind.

Note: sometimes I may need to move on to another question and come back to it but I always want to answer this key question.

REFLECT NOW

4. Who/What Am I Thankful For RIGHT NOW?

This is the GRATITUDE CHECK
Learn to ask: “Who or what am I grateful for right now?”

I have to be honest, some days it’s easy to mail it in and put something generic but that’s not the goal.

It’s The Who and/or the What but also the WHY – why am I thankful for that person or situation?

I’ve learned through the years people I’m grateful for actually don’t know I’m grateful for them UNLESS I TELL THEM!

This is a GREAT chance to prompt you to take action RIGHT THEN to let them know – send them a text/email, or leave a voicemail.

Sometimes I actually take a picture of that answer in my journal and send it to them.

You’d be shocked how much this little gesture means to people especially people who you care about and are thankful for.

If I’m struggling to answer this question on a consistent basis, this is a heart issue on my part that needs attention.

5. How Am I Feeling Right Now?

This is the PULSE CHECK
Learn to ask: “How am I REALLY doing?”
I know what you guys are thinking: here’s the diary “touchy/feely” part of the program.

And you’re right – suck it up and try it.

I’m not asking for you to write paragraphs and have a Kleenex available.

Mine are short bullets.

For example:

  • Exhausted from…
  • Better rested because…
  • Proud of…
  • Disappointed in…
  • Frustrated by…
  • Missing home right now…
  • Motivated to…

Nothing earth-shattering but I want a pulse on how I’m really doing.

Am I seeing patterns of day-after-day-after-day of being frustrated or tired?

This question is not nearly as hard as you think especially if you do it bullet style and lead with a key emotion word: proud, disappointed, tired, motivated, etc.

Three “Rehearse the Day” questions. Why rehearse the day? It’s like an athlete playing their game in their mind.

Too often we just let the Road Day happen to us.

We’re not intentional and then we wonder why our road day gets hijacked and we’re ALWAYS up until midnight working.

REHEARSE TODAY

6. What Are My Big 3 Today?

This is a concept from Michael Hyatt in his Full Focus Planner.

The Daily Big 3 are designed to come from the Weekly Big 3 which come from your Quarterly Big 3.

I set quarterly goals in business but also in life so my weekly Big 3 should influence your daily big 3.

If I have a heavy travel day, these are key.

What do I want to get done on my 4-hour flight?

If I have a heavy meeting or event day, maybe my Big 3 need to happen 1st thing in the morning.

Pro Tip: almost every single business travel day one of my Big 3 is energy habit six: CONNECT – I want to make my family a high priority within my day which means I need to schedule it.

7. What is Today’s Highlight?

I learned this one from the book, Make Time.

The authors have three ways to determine your day’s highlight:

  • Something URGENT that must get done today and will be a huge relief if and when it is done
  • Something SATISFYING that will make you feel pleased and proud it’s completed
  • Something that brings you JOY – what you look forward to = mine is usually my downtime activity

And the last of the 8 questions and final of the Rehearse Today questions

8. How/What Would Make Today Great?

I credit this question to Jonathan Milligan, my mentor and friend, who challenged me to answer this question each day.

And it was a challenge but now I depend on this last question.

Alan Stein, Jr. in his book, Raise Your Game, states there are only two things in life you have control over:

  • Your attitude
  • Your effort

And oftentimes my response is one of those that deal with the six energy habits

I want and I need to make each day on the road GREAT.

I want to be at my best and no longer just get by but leverage each day on the road to get better.

 

I answer these eight questions on the road every morning but also at home.

Did you catch that? Both on the road but also at home now. This is not ONLY a Road Thing.

Action Items

1. Just start – write one line for each question, and maybe you have your own questions.

2. Order the Elite Road Warrior Branded Journal – enjoy what you journal in. For me, I love the leather – the look and the feel. I love the paper in the journal. I love the pens I write with and the leather case they’re kept in. This makes a HUGE difference when it comes time to write. I’m also proud to carry it around.

 

 

 

Five Decisions You Must Make at Every Restaurant on the Road

One of the best parts of being a business traveler is the food experience.

It’s great not having to cook or clean up.

Then there’s the ability to chose the type of food you want:

  • Steak
  • Seafood
  • Italian
  • Mexican
  • Thai
  • …and the list goes on.

But wait, there’s more!

Then you get to choose what you want to order off the menu.

Oh the choices.
Oh the temptations!

And the best part of all? You’re not paying for it!

Or at least not yet, right?!

The nights you’re with a customer or client or team dinner, there are no limits.

Choose that appetizer or wine you’ve always wanted to try but never could afford.

Order that top-shelf liquor – heck, make it a double!

But on the company card, of course.

Bring it on!

Yet there is a cost. A heavy cost. And too many road warriors literally carry that cost with them all over their body from flight to board room to hotel. The travel triangle. The weight is literally weighing them down and the scale only goes up.

However, each decision can be easier if you view eating out on the road with the following lenses:

  • Food is Fuel
  • Fuel is Energy

This mindset is critical because it’s not based on the here and now “oh that looks or smells good” but on how I will feel later when we oftentimes need the energy.

The energy to….

  • Finish that proposal
  • Review the presentation
  • Get to bed at a decent time

I not only made the wrong decisions for years, I had the weight to prove it.

You’ve heard of the Freshman 15.
Then there’s the Travel 20.
And being the over-achiever I was on the road, I doubled it and earned what I call “the Entitled 40”

The reality is I could justify my choices and behaviors all day long and night for that matter.

And who was going to argue with me? The business traveler who struggling with the same issues? They’re my biggest supporter!

The point is you need to come to a point in your Road Life where you begin to think about your health along with your work.

We focus too much on the work aspect of the road in general when our health and our home life suffer just as much if not more.

This is why Elite Road Warrior has three focus areas:

  • Work
  • Health
  • Home Life

You do have choices.

And your choices have consequences.

I used to be the guy who said,

“Wow, that looks good. Oh, that looks good, I’ll try that too.”

“Another drink, please?”

“Look at that dessert! I’ll just try a bite”…. until it’s gone.

Leader of the pack! So, I get the battle of eating out on the road ALL-THE-TIME.

I’ve since lost the Entitled 40 in pounds and have kept it off.

I’ve stopped “getting by” on the road and chosen to “get better” and that means every time you eat out on the road.

There is hope and you can learn to leverage the road to get better. And I’m here to be your guide.

All five key decisions are in full effect the most at dinner when we’re much more relaxed potentially after a long travel day or a stressful day on the road but these apply to lunch too.

Five Key Decisions You Must Make at Every Restaurant on the Road

These five decisions are naturally in order. They shouldn’t surprise you but somehow we act surprised when the server comes by and asks us these five questions.

Every.
Single.
Time.

And the nicer the restaurant, the more choices you’ll have right before your very eyes, oftentimes even presented to you on a literal silver platter.

Decision One – What I Will Drink

At dinner time, “the entitled me” always seems to show up ready to go no matter how last night went if you know what I mean.

And depending on if ‘I’m alone for dinner with my laptop lover or entertaining guests or being entertained, I enjoy the wine part of the “wine and dine”.

This is where the slippery slope begins and we have to “know thyself.”

For me, the more I drink, the sloppier I become on my nutrition, especially after a long day.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Always and I mean always order a glass of water if one is not already provided for you. Then here’s the key: drink as much as you can to start. Why?
    • Most of us are more dehydrated than we even think so getting some water into your system is always a smart decision
    • 2. Water fills us up and hopefully detours us from over-eating
    • Join the Free WMP – water match program so whatever drink you do order, make sure you match it 1:1 with water. This will keep you hydrated the rest of the night and especially save you from waking up overly-parched and feeling like you’ve swallowed cotton balls that seem to multiply throughout the night
  • Think about what you’re really drinking and how much you plan to or should drink. Are you going to stay with one type of drink or hop all over the place? For me, when I start hopping, I start paying for it and I don’t mean the tab. Through the years, I’ve become a vodka tonic guy and it’s served me well.

Decision Two – Will I Order an Appetizer

This decision doesn’t come far behind the 1st decision of What I Will Drink.

I never order an appetizer when I’m by myself but somehow am overly tempted with other people.

It’s like each person is waiting for the other one to say “no thanks” or “sure, what looks good to you?”

The appetizer can be the “gotcha” to the meal. When I give in to something especially unhealthy, I get lazy at everything after that point.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Always pre-decide – this means don’t base your decision on what looks and/or smells good. If you do, you’re going down like a Mike Tyson punch.
  • If you choose, eat the cleaner and greener appetizer.
  • If you’re a moderator, which means you can take just one bite and stop, stick to the plan
  • If you’re an abstainer, which means if you start, hide the women and children, it’s going to get ugly quick and the appetizer will disappear, Know Thyself, and don’t start.
  • Order a dark green salad – this is my go-to-choice for a few reasons:
    1. I avoid the tempting and fattening appetizer
    2. It allows me to get in healthy clean greens – just be smart with the toppings and dressings

Remember, Clean and Green is the 2nd element of FUEL after Continually Hydrate. So, use this time to get the good stuff in early – meaning the clean and green stuff.

Decision Three – What Is My Main Course

Ah, the featured presentation. This is why we’re here eating out, well, at least as far as food is concerned.

And depending on the restaurant, this may not be top-secret. If you’re at a chophouse, duh. If you’re at a seafood place, you get the point.

There are two main choices here:

  1. The main course needs to be Clean – look for the cleanest meat possible whether beef, chicken, eggs. If it’s really clean, it will list “grass-fed or organic” which means this is your easiest choice. If not, your 2nd main choice becomes all the more important
  2. What goes ON the main course – we can make a great clean decision with the main course then go five steps backward by all the heavy sauces, etc.

You may fight back and say, “but that’s what gives it all the flavor! And there is truth to it. But it doesn’t mean going ALL or Nothing.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Always do your research – most restaurants now have online menus, so do some intel. Why? Avoid impulse choosing.
  • Put the sauce on the side – sometimes when it’s doused all over the place, you’re forced to eat ALL of it. But if you can just try it, maybe it’s not as good as advertised. Sometimes just a dip here and there is all you need and a better choice in the long run.
  • Add First Then Reverse – first and foremost, get the healthy in. Start there if this is not natural yet and feels like too big of an ask. Add the good stuff in first then begin reversing by taking the bad stuff off. For example, the sauces all over the meat or salad.

Decision Four – What Are My Side Dishes

This may seem like a default decision from your choice of the main dish. But not always.

You can go rogue and choose a side other than what the menu suggests or compels you to choose.

And most restaurants will allow you to easily make the change and sometimes with a very small upcharge. Not a big deal and worth the cost to eat clean and green.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Always have at least one vegetable and preferably with not a ton of processing – steamed broccoli/asparagus / green beans, sautéed spinach, cauliflower, etc.
  • Choose a sweet potato over a baked potato or fries
  • Choose double veggies – another way to sneak in more “Green” of the clean and green.
  • Take a healthy side to go – I do this very often since almost every hotel I stay at has at least a mini-fridge and a microwave.

Decision Five – If I Will Have Dessert

You know they always ask if you want dessert, and if you’re not prepared, you go back to the awkward moment of deciding on the spot.

I tell this story in the Elite Road Warrior book about how at a dinner of 12, a one-pound brownie with a gallon of ice cream covered in whipped cream came out and after hundreds and hundreds of dollars were put on the table as a bet of who could eat it, I took on the challenge (mind you, this was during my Entitled 40 days…).

Impressively and sadly, I finished it then couldn’t digest it, lie down, or sleep for 48 hours. Brutal. Stupid (at least I donated the money).

All that to say, I’ve been the freak in the freak show so I understand the power of decision five: If I will have dessert.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Learn to say “no” upfront so others know where you stand
  • Know if you’re a moderator or abstainer – I know the “wanna be moderators” whose “just a bite” is the gift that keeps on giving or should I say taking. I’ve eaten with you people.
  • Choose a fruit bowl – this is my go-to when I want something sweet but not go down heavy with the dessert. I love anything berries and you can’t go wrong.
  • Carry dark chocolate with you – my wife and I are huge Trader Joe dark chocolate lovers. I carry a bar with me – far healthier choice and less ugly in the long run.

If you follow these five decisions you must make at every restaurant on the road in the healthiest form, you will win with nutrition in business travel.

And you will have the energy to prove it along with fewer pounds to carry.

I get you because I am you!

References

10 Business Travel Hacks Guide

7 Early Warning Signs for Companies to Avoid Business Travel Burnout