“There is more to life than increasing its speed”
Mohandas Gandhi
I don’t have to travel much for business, but when I do take a trip I think of it as an adventure. My time in airports, hotels and moving about different cities is a perfect opportunity for one of my favorite pastimes — people watching. I enjoy studying the way different people act or react in similar situations.
During a recent trip, I “relearned” several of the key time-saving, stress reduction techniques I teach financial advisors. The travel situation may not mirror your practice, but I’m sure you’ll relate to one or both of my travel mates.
We will begin boarding…..
Recently, while sitting in an airline terminal, I was struck by how hard some people work. One fellow had 2 cell phones and a Blackberry working in perfect harmony. He seemed to be scheduling appointments, answering questions from his subordinates and firing off emails. If he was enjoying himself, it wasn’t evident.
Right next to him, another business traveler had taken off his shoes, tilted the bill of his cap over his eyes, leaned back to relax and called a friend to catch up on old times. Although he was being rather loud, he looked like he was resting in the comfort of his favorite easy chair.
The cabin doors are closing……
When we got on our plane, my fascination with the way these businessmen utilized their time continued. The guy with all the electronic gear stayed on the phone until the last possible moment. When the passenger door closed, he powered down his wireless gadgets, reached for a briefcase and pulled out a report on which he quickly began jotting notes. Upon landing, one of his cell phones was quickly reattached to his ear.
The other fellow, who didn’t appear to have a care in the world, simply fell asleep as he scanned the “Sky Mall” catalogue. Waking up as the plane touched down, he tore a page out of his catalogue and stuck it in his shirt pocket. A few minutes later, while checking his voicemail, a big smile came across his face. He looked as if he had received good news.
This is our final destination……
At this point, my curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to debrief these fellow passengers as we began to exit the plane. First, I asked the guy with multiple cell phones if he enjoyed his flight. “Hell no,” he said, “I didn’t get a damn thing done.”
“Interesting,” I thought, but before I could say another word, he continued his answer with even more disgust. It went something like this:
“Nobody was around to take my calls from the last airport, so now my voicemail is filled with a bunch of calls I need to return to people who were returning my call. My Blackberry is loaded with emails; most of them are a waste of time. And to top it all off, the report I reviewed during the flight wasn’t the latest version, so now I’ll have to start over when I get home. I need to give my boss an update first thing tomorrow.”
Items in the overhead bin may have shifted…..
Fortunately, this guy’s cell phone rang before I could respond, so I turned to my other traveling companion and asked the same question. His response was much different; he said he had had an “awesome” trip. As we were exiting the plane (we were sitting in the back) our conversation went something like this:
“That’s great,” I replied, “what happened?”
“Well, when I was sitting in the last airport, I saw a young kid wearing a t-shirt from my old college. That reminded me of a roommate I hadn’t called in years, so while I was waiting for this flight, I gave him a call. Now, we’re making plans to get together for a golf weekend with our wives.”
“Terrific,” I said, but before I could get another word out of my mouth, he started talking again.
Tip #1: Picture your success
“Wait, that’s not all. While I was relaxing on this flight, I polished off the outline for a presentation I’ll be making tomorrow. I was really struggling, but sometimes my best ideas come when I just try to relax.”
“Strange,” I interrupted, “when I glanced over at you during the flight, I thought you were sleeping.”
“No way,” he went on, “I just closed my eyes and pictured myself in front of my clients and the presentation came to me. Pretending to be asleep is a good way to avoid disruptions.”
“It sounds like you should travel more often”, I joked.
“I travel for business a couple days a week,” he continued, “but that’s still not the best part of this trip. When we landed, I listened to a voicemail. The clients I just left were calling to say they were ready to move forward with my proposal. It will be one of my biggest projects ever.”
“Congratulations,” I said, “You didn’t even have time to worry and make a bunch of follow-up calls to see how you did.”
Tip #2: Focus on the activities that matter most
“You’re right” he went on, “but I’m really not a worrier. When I’m on the road a lot I watch all types of businesspeople. They’re frantically rushing around the airport to squeeze in one more call or catch up on their emails. They don’t give themselves any downtime and they always looked tired and worried. I’ll bet they’re shortening their lifespan by years.”
“What’s your secret?” I asked.
“I’m in sales, so I know my job is all about relationships. I plan each week around taking care of my clients and prospects.”
“Tell me more,” I said, “that sounds simple, but it must be tough with all the time you spend in airports.”
“Not really,” he offered, “I spend time at the beginning of each week planning my activities. To reach my goals, I know that I need to hold at least 5 face-to-face meetings each week. Most weeks, I’m able to hold a couple extra.”
“Sounds like a perfect formula,” I interrupted.
“That’s only the first half of the equation,” he continued, “I also have to do a lot of handholding in-between meetings. For me, that’s at least 20 phone calls per week. I always keep a list of my clients and prospects in my pocket calendar. I make 5 phone calls per day and I don’t let them stack up. Plus, these calls usually help me meet my appointment goals for the coming weeks.”
“So long,” I said as we entered the terminal, “I hope you have a great weekend.”
Tip #3: Personal freedom is a treasure
But then my traveling companion stopped me and with one more bit of good news. “I almost forgot,” he said with a big smile. “I found the perfect anniversary gift for my wife in the in-flight catalogue. I should be able to pick it up on the way home. This was a very productive trip.”
A few minutes later, as I walked through the parking garage, I overheard someone talking rather loudly on a cell phone. It was the other traveler. He was sitting in his car, engine running, reading an email from his Blackberry and talking on one of his cell phones…