Over the past few years my business travel has increased as my career has advanced. Increasing responsibilities at work have created additional pressure to spend quality time with family and achieve my professional ambitions, while still reaching my triathlon goals. Multiple trial and error failures finally led to my formula for success. What I learned through these efforts was that I had to decide if I was going to be in charge, or let the required business travel be the excuse, for not staying on track with my training program. I learned that there’s not one magic bullet but rather a series of small steps that can lead to big success with staying on track during business travel.
Setting Priorities
For most of us in this crazy multisport lifestyle, our type-A personalities won’t allow us to settle for anything less than perfection in achieving our goals and being successful in all aspects of our lives. Yet, we can easily find ways to justify missed opportunities by finding semi-legitimate excuses that pardon us from perfection. It’s easy to find an excuse to miss a workout when long travel days and tough client meetings zap any remaining energy we might have to invest into a workout. A simple reality is there will be days when squeezing everything in is impossible. I’ve found we need to allow ourselves to be OK when this happens. However, we also need to find balance when completing a training session is still well within reach. With a little practice and mental fortitude you can change the training schedule from “red” to “green” in balance with the priorities of work, travel, and training.
So before your next trip for work, ask yourself these questions:
- Am I in charge of the priorities of my upcoming business travel?
- What is out of my control?
- What is my commitment level to completing my training plan during upcoming travel?
- What is my plan to fit everything in?
Control What You Can – Forget About the Rest
When looking at the priorities of client meetings and dinners, familiarity with travel location, timing of flights, scheduled training sessions, and downtime for rest and recovery, I found I needed to shift my focus to the priorities I could control rather than expend energy on those I couldn’t. I quickly learned that just throwing workout clothes, shoes, goggles and some energy bars into my luggage and hoping for the best once I landed was simply a recipe for failure. Instead, by looking at my upcoming training schedule, then overlaying my travel and business plans, I could commit on my calendar and schedule my training sessions around my client meetings and dinners. I would research the hotel amenities, local running trails, local gyms and public pools ahead of my business travel which would allow for easier access to the proper training facilities while on the road. I created a checklist that provided a way to ensure I had everything needed for each workout. I now use that checklist for each trip to add efficiency in my planning. The key to staying on track is that I needed to prepare to achieve success with a little work BEFORE I jumped on my flight. By making things as easy and organized as possible, I found I was on my way to staying in the “green” with my workouts.
Refining the Schedule
During my preparation for an upcoming trip I’d spend a few minutes looking at priorities and reflect on what I was not going to be able to control. That 7 a.m. breakfast with a client before an all-day seminar was going to make it tough to complete my 3,000 yard swim when the local pool didn’t open until 6 am. Anticipating that a two-hour client meeting before a dinner meeting downtown was not going to allow me enough time to get that 30-minute treadmill run done at the hotel gym had me considering just skipping that day altogether. I knew that I could not control when my boss would ask me to stay after a presentation to meet with the client and review the project overruns which would completely mess with my bike session that evening. So, instead of increasing my anxiety level over all the known and unknown obstacles, I started to add buffer time to my schedule where possible, giving myself time outlets to complete workouts.
Commit to Training
After making things easier through effective preparation, I then needed to commit to “green” and completing all of the scheduled training during my travels. I had to accept the fact that I may need to pass on a request to meet my team for happy hour the evening before an important client meeting – instead getting that much needed rest and recovery time. I also had to accept that on some days, in order to fit everything in, I’d have to get up for a 5 a.m. training session and not hit the snooze button. I reminded myself that I was achieving excellence early in the morning before most of my work colleagues would even think to get out of bed.
Success combining training and work travel can be measured in the balance of efficient preparation and flexibility with the unexpected. As I started to complete workouts while away from home I began to gain additional motivation to complete my plan each day. I took my anxiety and turned it into excitement when I completed my morning workout as planned and then was on time for my first of many client meetings that day. By making it easier to get the “work” done while on the road, it allowed me to get through those long days and the success was infectious. I also realized that my preparation and scheduling allowed me to sometimes say yes to certain social requests or additional client time without creating huge amounts of stress or anxiety. Having a plan that was easy and adaptable made training on the road fun and motivating.
So, what can you do to create an atmosphere of success when work takes you on the road? Put in a little preparation ahead of time to make it easy, manageable and flexible, then make a personal commitment. I know you will achieve success!
