5 things that may help us to ‘jump on a tiny business trip’ up to three times a month and stay alive.
If you have ever been on a short business trip, the words “jump over there just for a day, talk there with a couple of people” should make you terrified. “Just for a day” means a couple of airports, at least a couple of flights, a mad, mad, mad rush from one meeting to another – and after all that you’ll have to put a detailed report on your boss’s table next morning. One of our colleagues swears that it is better to work on Christmas than to “jump” on a couple of business trips “just for a day”. Therefore, we’ve asked some travel experts and have made five crucial rules which could help you survive on a short-term business trip (maybe up to three short-term business trips per month). If, of course, you obey these rules properly.
1. Sleep Is a To Do Item
You may think that your main priority is the meetings for which you are flying on a business trip for a day… Wrong! Your main priority is to get some sleep. Sleepy and sluggish, you can harm more than do well. Therefore, schedule a couple hours of sleep during your flight as if it were the most important points on your To Do list. Sleep if you can sleep on a plane. Sleep if you can sleep in a cab. Order a breakfast in your room the previous night and sleep another 15 minutes in the morning. Your sleep is one of a few things that can not be delegated. Do not fail this task – too much depends on it.
2. Communication is the King
Get yourself a fast and steady internet connection once an for all. Fast and reliable internet just has to be with you all the time – that’s it. There is nothing more humiliating for a very busy person than running from cafe to cafe in search of wi-fi or frantically trying to connect to a buggy provider at the airport. There are special SIM-cards that allow you to dash around the world and know that there’s always steady and affordable internet in your pocket (costing several times less than the usual roaming, by the way).
3. No, You Can’t
No, the day you are on a business trip you can not quickly write a three-page brief for the software developer. No, you can not have a short two-hour skype with your department at home. No, you will not coordinate a small working group that has just a couple of questions. Politely say “no” to any suggestion to do anything on your business trip except for the things you need to do on your business trip. Most necessary, learn to say “no” to yourself. Admit that you came here for some quite important things and they will definitely consume all your strength, time and attention. And, by the way, you do remember rule number 1, right?
4. Comfort yourself
If you want to take off on Monday, return on Tuesday and effectively work on Wednesday, learn to say “yes” to anything that will bring you a little bit extra comfort. Business lounge at the airport? Yes. Premium taxi? Yes. Food of which your doctor disapproves? Yes. After all, your main and only working instrument is yourself, so respect it and treat it with all the love and care it deserves.
5. Ready, Steady, Go
No, you do not have to pack a bag before your next trip. You definitely don’t have to spend your brain power and time on it. Because your bag is already packed. The habit of keeping your travel bags always packed is one of the best habits of frequent travelers. So get your own special travel bag and keep it always packed. Just put together all the things you need on your trip, including a special “traveling shirt”, which is sent back to that special bag straight from the laundry. All you need to do is to buy another toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and other small things you may possibly need during any business trip, put them in your bag and just grab it and leave the house when the moment comes. Just do it. Do it right now.
Oh, and most important thing: you do remember rule number 1, right?