Travel & Work - How to excel at both, at the same time.
This is going to be a long one. But it’ll save your (career) life.
Reading this article, you might find that some of these ideas might be too far-out. A disclaimer: I do enjoy my work and obsess about it. But too much of something is never good… especially if it’s work. Some disclaimers before we proceed -
Living on sunny island Singapore has plenty upsides. Downsides consists of the lack of the big outdoors, and it tends to get a wee-bit stressful down here.
A good remedy is to get out once in a while. Traveling is fun. We tend to gain perspective, understand another culture, appreciate God’s big world, rest and recharge.
But how do you do all of that and make sure that you are truly detached from work (both physically and mentally)? And that you won’t come back to a mountain of back-log or a fire storm of problems derived from you being absent from office?
Now, I run a business and multiple projects concurrently. Pre-entrepreneur days, I worked for larger corporations where the scope of work was narrow, and if I was lucky, I would have a responsible buddy who would cover me while I was on leave. So while i’m getting a tan under the Mediterranean sun, he/she would be slogging under fluorescent lights in office until midnight 14 days a year. Vice-versa, I would have to do the same for this person while they take off.
For all the advantages it had to offer, I made a decision to step out and run the entrepreneur’s route. I soon realized that the grass wasn’t as green as expected. Work is non-stop and anything that goes on within the company, the buck stops with me. Through trial and error, I learnt that to fully appreciate the upside of this newfound freedom, I will need to systematically manage the downsides.
These pointers in the next section are applicable to an audience who are working within a flexible system that rewards fairly to the work you put in, where you are in command of your own time, and your income is completely dependable to the hours you spend at work. If you are looking to take a decent break (2-3 weeks) now and then, hopefully these pointers will help. It is no good to boast that you have unlimited days for rest, but never have the time to enjoy it.
Stopping and ceasing all deals and activities before traveling is not an option. It will be difficult to revive lost momentum. You will not want to take that chance in a competitive industry and fast moving economy.
So, how do you travel as free as a bird, and not be shackled by business and on-going projects back home?
If not executed correctly, while on holiday, you’ll earn yourself sleepless nights worrying that you’re too far away to solve problems at work. You will worry that you might return to a disgruntled team, or angry customers. Basically dreading to come home to work, and not enjoying the holiday, sights and people you’re with. Essentially, the get-away will be counter productive: a pressure cooker waiting to explode, rather than a relaxing vacay.
Free your mind, and your hands.
Consider these tips to ensure that you have capacity in your mind to take in the sights, and be 100% present. If work blows up back home, don’t panic. Make sure that you don’t need to bring that ring folder, sketch book or other work related crap on your trip just to feel secure.
Subscribe to an affordable data roaming plan.
The $30 of 3 gigabytes will not only ease your mind, but enable you to complete tasks on the move quickly. You don’t need to trouble yourself to search for an alternative (like run around like a crazy person mooching off wifi networks in a country with little/no connectivity). Use that extra time to enjoy that other poorly rated ancient ruin (the one with only 2 reviews) on Trip Advisor!
Work on a cloud.
Do this before your fly: back everything up on a cloud so you can access work on your phone/tablet. We use Google Drive.
As a work habit, remind your team to do it constantly so when you access shared files, you’re always working and viewing the most updated ones.
Pro-tip: insert the latest dates on the files for a quicker search!
Find a routine, even on holiday.
Depending on timezones, commit an hour to answer all emails and messages to the best of your ability. I have children, so I find the mornings best to do this. Wake up before everyone does. Get a jog in, be alone, enjoy the new sights, grab a cup of their local coffee and start hammering away on the phone/tablet/laptop.
Once this ritual is complete, you will feel purposeful, complete and ready for the day. At least I do.
Replying to colleagues, customers or associates on holiday takes some skill and tact. It might ruin your holiday, and create a never ending mess. But when done right, bosses/colleagues will see dedication, customers will see commitment.
Once you feel that you’ve completed what’s necessary for the day, ‘sleep’ your phone, you’re on holiday for God’s sake. Utilize that do-not-disturb mode on your phone, or get on ‘airplane’ mode. Or, go the extra mile and leave your phone in the hotel room. Bring out a real camera today.
Respect your clients. Prepare their hearts.
Depending on your nature of work, inform your pre-clients about your holiday departure before engaging in a formal contract with them. Start that relationship on the right foot! Make sure that your project timelines are lined up and your absence does not lie on a critical path. When project begins, remind clients at least every month casually, and 2 weeks before departure, send out a formal email stating how the project might continue even when you’re away. A good idea is to set an out-of-office template to let anyone who emails you that you’re away. Here’s templates that you could use for reference.
Grab a souvenir for your leave cover.
Make sure you score those extra social credit points for those who were covering your behind when you left. Buy a packet of nougats for the entire team to feast on when you arrive home from Perth. It's affordable and satisfying. And nougats won’t make you look cheap. Ever. (what else can you get from Perth anyway? please leave comments below)
Pro-tip: buy your colleagues a round of drinks or a meal even before you depart to appreciate them.
Just some additional tips and pointers
Bring chargers for laptops and an extra cable for charging. One for the hotel, and another for that battery pack.
If the phone reminds you of work, bring a pen and a notebook to doodle, jot down ideas and thoughts. If work comes to mind, make sure you pen out that stuff out too. You can offload work on to paper to forget about them momentarily. Be in the moment and enjoy the new environment, fully. And hey, who says you can’t be productive on a break?
Break that habit of checking your phone. Bring a good book to slow down. The act of flipping real pages and sitting down to consume words to feed the mind will get you into the holiday mood fast. Teach the body to rest and relax again.
Other ways to slow down on holiday and appreciate the sights and people you’re with is to bring a film camera. Stress about getting that picture perfect, not about work back in office. And the delayed gratification of developing those pretty shots will be a nice tangible reminder of the times you had, staying (fighting) off work on holiday.
At Buildbuilt.co, we want both our designers and project managers to lead a balanced life, while performing at the highest and safest levels for clients. Mastering the art of working remotely is definitely something we are striving towards. The above list is in-exhaustive and as technology moves, we’ll be able to work better on the move. As long as we follow the principles of being responsible, disciplined and sympathetic, we will know how to travel or rest with ease, even at work.