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Five Downward Spiral Choices Into the Dark Side Of Business Travel

I’m going to go dark in this article so I’m warning you upfront – reader beware!

No harsh-rated language but going to hit on some very personal topics we’ve never really done a deep dive in especially for this topic so I wanted to be very clear where we’re headed.

The reason I want to cover this dark topic is that it’s so real and nobody really talks about it especially in the context of business travel. But we are right now.

I met Charles about a decade ago when my business travel days were really intensifying and I was going at an unsustainable pace.

Let me paint a picture of exactly where we were for this unexpected heart-to-heart conversation. Charles and I were sitting at a bar at a high-end restaurant attached to this incredible hotel. We were eating a steak dinner and watching the game.

Like most conversations, you jostle for conversational position until you find common ground and everything gets easier from that point on (and that’s exactly happened between the two of us).

The conversation moved from sports to work to where we lived and we hit it off. It wasn’t forced conversation and we had a lot in common which is rare for two guys especially on the road.

We also were drinking. A lot and for hours. You know, the kind of place where you open up more due to the secret sauce. And that’s exactly what it became for Charles.

Secret sauce meaning he shared secrets that were dark.

Now, when I say dark I don’t mean evil or criminal, at least in his case, I mean, nobody else knew and you can tell he was relieved to get these secrets out.

So, do you wanna know Charles’ secrets? We’ll get to that soon enough but I wanted to set the stage for where we’re headed.

I meet far more Charles’s through the decades of travel than you could possibly imagine.

I’ve learned the reason many open up to me is for the following reasons:

  1. I ask questions
  2. I listen to their answers
  3. I’m honest
  4. I try not to rush them
  5. I don’t judge
  6. I try to give hope

That’s it – simple but not easy communication and emotional intelligence skills.

As a result, I’ve found a common theme within these conversations through the years about the dark side of business travel.

Now, this is important: not a single road warrior I’ve met had any intention of ever going to the dark side of business travel. In fact, many will admit early on, they judged big time “the sins of the sinner” if you will when hearing of others bad road choices.

They told me they swore to themselves they would “never go there”…

But eventually, they became “that guy” or “that girl” which is the way it almost always works.

And I’m not here to judge because I’ve personally experienced the dark side of business travel.

The caution here is listening and learning not dismissing and judging.

Did you catch that last line?

The caution here is listening and learning not dismissing and judging.

Every person’s situation is different on the road. Some travel in teams, others travel to a location, and are with reps almost the entire trip. Then there are those who are solo artists, completely by themselves except during their meetings, presentations, etc.

As a result, the dark side can appear differently in different situations and choices.

These choices create the opportunity for a downward spiral, meaning that once you start, it’s easy to get sucked into the spiral and keep going down and down which can tend to get darker and darker.

My hope in discussing this is that by being willing to talk about some tough subjects, we can identify potential choices we’re making right now and can make some changes before it’s too late and there are serious consequences.

So, let’s discuss the five downward spiral choices into the dark side of business travel.

Let’s go back to Charles’ story. He was a sharp, good looking, athletic, and influential VP who had everything you could want: huge home, fancy cars, gorgeous wife, cute kids, and you can continue the ongoing list of wants…

Including secrets.

The more Charles talked and knew I was listening, understood, and actually cared, the more he shared.

And the reality is nobody would ever guess he would be dealing with these secrets.

It was like I become his priest that night at the hotel bar. So much pain, so much guilt and regret he was carrying inside of him on every single business trip like a half-ton carry-on suitcase.

What I learned from Charles now that I reflect years later and meeting so many other Charles’s and even Cheryls, is a common theme, thread if you will, from where they started to where they are right now.

Each of these downward spiral choices can stand alone but many are tied together in some way which you’ll see.

Five Downward Spiral Choices Into the Dark Side of Business Travel

ONE – The Choice to Become the Road Grinch

This is for the seasoned road warrior and time on the road just takes your heart three sizes down like the original grinch.

It starts for those of us who look up at the flight board or wake up in the morning in a hotel and forget what city you’re going to or in at the moment.

All the food begins to taste the same.

You just go through the motions and everything begins to annoy you.

You’ve met this guy. I seem to find him often at the airport when I’m ready to board or at the airport or hotel bar.

Everything is negative. Every aspect of the road:

  • Airport / Airline / Flight
  • Rental car or Rideshare
  • Hotel
  • The food
  • Customers

There are two specific characteristics of the Road Grinch:

  • You Become Callous

You’ve lost all capacity to care. You have little to no understanding or compassion for anything or anyone.

People are no longer human to you, only annoyances.

And research shows, dehumanizing people is a sign of business travel burnout. You’ll know this is you when you start to become numb and your feelings are a thing of the past.

  • You Become Cynical

You’re cynical of other people and seemingly all people who don’t share your view of business travel.

You’re cynical of the world. Nothing is good. Nothing is right.

Warning! It’s easy to get sucked into Cynical Sam or Cynical Samantha. This is true for me especially when I’m frustrated, tired, or hungry. And I’m easy prey for Cynical Sam or Cynical Samantha if I’m all three!

Here’s the Caution: you become poison for all those around you and you don’t even know it and/or don’t even care. All the more proof you’re now the callous and cynical Road Grinch! You’re also more likely to continue the downward spiral because you just don’t care anymore.

TWO – The Choice to Experiment

This choice can be a hazard, especially for a new business traveler.

It’s amazing the opportunities to try about anything on the road depending on what city you’re in, who you’re with, and if you’re looking for a stress release.

It’s like we’re back in high school easily giving in to peer pressure or we’re invincible once again. Remember those days of old?

But now, after all, we are Road WARRIORS, right?!

This one is a challenge because the company card can definitely become an encourager or an enabler. After all, it’s not YOUR money! Or someone offers to treat you. Can’t offend them now.

  • You’re with co-workers or a client who smokes and you try it or pick smoking back up when you gave it up years ago
  • You’re in Vegas for work and you try gambling
  • You try this beer, then this type of wine, then this liquor

Warning! This is where you easily become “that guy” or “that girl” who got drunk at the corporate event or customer dinner. Or pushed it too far and now you become the story you regret and can never seem to live down. I’ve seen too many a rookie road warrior learn the hard way when choosing to experiment.

Here’s the Caution: Experimenting in and of itself isn’t wrong. It’s good to try new things depending on what the new things are of course and the potential consequences. Just realize where this could lead.

THREE – The Choice to Develop Bad Habits

Now we’re taking the opportunity to experiment and making it darker.

What used to be a simple experiment has now become part of your road routine:

  • The occasional DRINK becomes I gotta have my drink
  • The occasional SMOKE becomes I’m now taking regular smoke breaks every day, multiple times a day
  • The occasional GAMBLE just because it was in front of me now becomes gambling on anything and everything
  • The occasional curiosity with PORN becomes your new road thing every night before bed

I’ve found that many a road warrior who is a closet drinker, smoker, gambler, and porn viewer has a much bigger problem on their hands and they’re officially deep into the dark side of business travel.

The challenge is we don’t personally see when our experiment becomes our vice. Others do but we don’t. And if they have the courage to bring it up, what’s the proof that it’s an issue and habit? We get defensive and downplay our bad habits.

Warning! Bad habits are enabled on the road due to the availability, temptation, and seclusion.

Caution: Learning to ask if our habits are bringing us energy or simply a stress release. This is a hard question and requires honesty on our motives but separates existing road warriors from elite road warriors.

FOUR – The Choice to Feed Addictions

The downward spiral continues from the experiment (or just picking up again what you tried or did years ago) to a road habit to a full-blown addiction.

You’ve fed this tiny little experimental puppy and now it’s a trained killer dog who will defend himself to the death and do anything to get what he wants.

  • I HAVE to find cigarettes.
  • I GOTTA have a drink and now.
  • I’m VIEWING porn all the time.

And the road is a perfect place for two things:

  • Developing and feeding that addiction
  • Hiding that addiction

I’m not an addiction specialist by any means, but I notice others are walking a fine line between a bad habit that is close to or full-on addiction.

It alters their entire business trip. They “have to have it” and need to “stop now to get it” no matter how it affects you or your business results.

I have literally witnessed guys viewing porn on their phones at the airport gate.

I’ve cleaned up messes from others whose addiction reared its ugly head on business trips.

Of course, they have absolutely no clue how much control this “said addiction” has on them and their full-time job has become the role of a defense attorney.

Not a fan of newly-developed Denny Defense.

Warning! This is a scary place to be and often, a road warrior never wants or can leave the road because the road enables their addiction although they rarely admit it.

Here’s the Caution: Steer clear of the addict on the road unless it’s you and then get help before it has serious consequences for you.

FIVE – The Choice to Make Bad Moral Decisions

This one can be subjective depending upon your values. I hear often how road warriors will justify their moral decisions. Basically put, their convincing themselves what they want and are planning to do is okay so they can move forward with their actions.

I hear all too often from many a road warrior, “I only do this (insert dark side behavior) on the road.” And that somehow makes it right?!

Again, I’m not the judge but you can often and quickly tell when someone is telling this story if they’re trying to convince you while they’re still trying to convince themselves.

The biggest dark side of business travel moral decision I hear is:

  • Cheating on a spouse or significant other

This could be with a co-worker, road mistress, one-night stand.

This may be a one-time action or the start of a relationship.

  • This could be strip clubs when it’s against your morals or would dishonor a spouse or significant other
  • This could be massage parlors (full body if you know what I mean)
  • This could be prostitutes
  • Risky behavior that can have serious relational and even criminal consequences

But it doesn’t stop just there. Another choice could be driving under the influence. We would seemingly never do it at home but on the road, we seem to justify this decision.

And I get it, in the past, I’ve put myself in that same foolish decision before assuming I could do a risk analysis after two double vodka tonics and a bottle of wine.

The point here is not the debate of what is a moral decision or not, although I personally believe if you’re a Christian and follower of Christ, those answers are crystal clear. The point is we all have a moral compass that can get tested and we know if we should cross it or if we’re coming close to crossing it.

Again, they’re easy to justify at the moment:

  • I was okay to drive and nothing happened.
  • I didn’t touch.
  • It was only a kiss.
  • Clothes were still on.
  • We didn’t go ALL the way.
  • It was a one-night stand and it will never happen again.
  • My wife would be fine with it (although she doesn’t exactly know)

Let’s circle back to Charles’ story… he became so successful, so empowered, and so isolated, nobody dared question him or his expense reports. He knew how to play the game and justify anything. “It was for the customer, the client really wanted to try this or do this…” (of course it was almost always Charles’ idea).

Charles started his downward spiral with experimenting, which led to habits, which led to addiction, which led to bad moral decisions. He became callous, cynical, and eventually reckless yet you would never know it on the outside.

Charles had all five downward spiral choices into the dark side of business travel.

But here’s the irony: what you saw on the outside was only half of the story. Charles was also on his 2nd marriage, unhappy, and addicted to porn. He was estranged from his kids and had so many regrets.

He claimed he was up working late but couldn’t stop scrolling porn sites which led to other risky behavior such as massages and prostitutes.

But all we saw on the outside if Charles was the essence of success. Or so we thought…

Warning! The power of freedom and the power of choice on the road is a fast track to the five downward spiral choices into the dark side of business travel and Charles is living proof.

We all want to become like him in his success but no clue of the cost of his success and his hidden dark side of failures.

Here’s the Caution: Bad moral decisions are absolutely devastating to the road warrior. There is increased opportunity for regret due to isolation as a road warrior and we must understand the environment of the road.

Let me leave you with one question and one word:

One Word: Integrity

Our integrity matters no matter where we are but especially on the road.

The road has so many great opportunities and gifts but with the good lies the opportunity for bad and we need to be aware of the downward spirals that can lead us into the dark side of business travel and this is when your integrity matters the most.

One Question: Someone may never know of your choices but what does a secret do to our heart/soul?

It absolutely haunted Charles and I will never forget that night as he poured out his heart and soul with the secrets of his lack of integrity.

It is possible to live a life of integrity on the road and I challenge you to do it.

  • Know when you’re becoming a Road Grinch who is callous and cynical.
  • Know when an experiment should end.
  • Know when you’re developing bad habits.
  • Know when your bad habit owns you and you’re addicted.
  • Know when you’re facing a bad moral decision.

And choose integrity on the road. Protect your heart and soul to become an elite road warrior.

This was challenging due to the darkness the road can create in the life of a road warrior. My hope is the content was both enlightening and challenging. This just may be one of those articles you remember when you’re in the midst of one of the five downward spiral choices into the dark side of business travel and you respond in a positive way in that moment.

The three focus areas of Elite Road Warrior Group come into play once again:

  • Work – we leverage business travel for these downward spiral choices
  • Health – we could compromise our own health for these downward spiral choices
  • Home Life – we could damage and devastate those we love back home with these downward spiral choices whether they ever find out or not

Action Items:

  1. Be honest with yourself and own up to your dark side
  2. Find someone to tell (close friend/counselor)
  3. Know Thyself – put boundaries in place on the road and have someone hold you accountable.

I don’t want to leave you hanging, so tune into my next podcast, where I will be interviewing with psychologist Dr. Nick Howard. Make sure you catch that episode to hear from a professional and subject matter expert on what to do if you’re heading into or already in the dark side of business travel.

You Got This!

079 – I Got Teased by a Business Trip That Almost but Never Happened

 

For most of us road warriors, we’ve been shut down from the road. Nobody could’ve ever predicted it would last this long and with still so much uncertainty.

I was recently talking to some friends and they asked me when the last time was that I had this long of a break from the road. I was trying to remember the longest stretch and I kept going back year after year, job after job, then decade after decade.

Unprecedented.

I thought for sure back in March when the health pandemic intensified that I would be traveling by this summer and definitely having a family vacation where we load my basketball team of kids and wife on a plane to go somewhere, but even that was canceled.

It’s the first time ever we’ve not been on a plane going somewhere over the summer.

Unprecedented.

Disappointing.

I wasn’t planning on traveling until this fall when all of a sudden an opportunity came up.

A team that I work with on a regular basis was getting together for some training and invited me. I was like a kid getting passed a note in school that asked me to check yes if you like me.

Where’s my Sharpie man? Hand it to me, quick! Not a second to spare. Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!

I couldn’t wait to look at flight options. My heart was racing just looking at hotels.

Now, to someone who is NOT a road warrior, they would instantly think something is wrong with me. And although many could argue that point in numerous ways, they would be talking about the rush a road warrior gets regarding Road Life.

But I cannot remember the last time I was so excited to just look at flights and hotels. It was this “quick hit” I’ve been without for some time.

I was so excited to go back and just “do my thing” even if it was a “one-off”. I was even looking forward to experiencing “the new norm of travel” right now even if it was going to be different, even frustrating.

I had a dream that night of being on the plane, picking out my cool rental car, sleeping in a hotel. A night of bliss.

Then it happened.

The company that hired me to do the training (not where I was going) had a change of heart on boarding a plane and entering this state with the recent spike.

Normally, I would be a little frustrated, more with having to cancel and reschedule. You know the drill when a trip’s plan changes.

Then I would feel mixed emotions with relief and excitement I didn’t have to go on a trip and would begin to think about what I would do with this “time off” and enjoy being home.

A rare break from the road in days of old. But I was seriously bummed out by the news.

It wasn’t a matter of disagreeing with the decision, but the reality this trip was not going to happen nor any other ones any time soon.

It was like the note sent to me in school from the cute girl that asked if I liked her only to find out they were actually asking me to pass the note to someone else. It wasn’t meant for me.

I moped around the house like my dog died, or the Bears lost their one playoff appearance in a decade. Sorry, I just went to a dark place. Joking aside, the reality is that only a road warrior can relate to what I’m talking about.

We’re in a very strange period right now with really strong feelings whether we recognize them or not.

I’ve talked to countless business travelers and the series of questions and comments goes like this:

  1. Do you know when you’re going to be allowed to travel again?
  2. How are you doing your job without traveling?
  3. Will they make you travel any less when you finally go back?
  4. What are you missing about the road?

With some people, the questions get a little more personal and revealing.

These questions and comments have led me to some of my own.

After listening to the common business traveler questions, I really thought about some questions that I’ve been struggling with and would be revealing of me and I found five specific ones that kept coming to the surface:

Question #1

Why was I so disappointed I couldn’t go on this recent trip?

I miss Road Life. It’s the mistress my wife openly knows about.

I like the adventure of going to new places, meeting new people, trying new foods, attending sporting events.

When I’m home I rarely go anywhere because I’m almost always on the road. I know everyone here and been everywhere here.

I was also disappointed I couldn’t go because it would’ve given me a taste of my old life as a road warrior. I’ve wanted it back since after a few weeks of road vacation but now I’m more than ready.

It would’ve given me hope we’re going to get back to business as usual, business travel that is…

This whole experience was very revealing to me and especially my wife.

Question #2

What have I discovered about myself these 1st four months of not traveling?

Between us girls, as someone who tries to live the six energy habits no matter where I am, I had a better road routine long-term than I did a home routine.

I also had a different home routine.

When I’m home during normal business travel, it’s not for very long and the dynamics are different because I’ve been gone.

During the school year, I have the house to myself with the kids at school along with my wife as a school teacher.

But the 1st three months everyone that looked and acted like me that bore my name was home. All. The. Time.

I’m also working too much. It’s too easy to pick up my MacBook Pro or iPad Pro and just start working even in the evening or over the weekend. I’ve never done that before at home.

And for more honesty, I’ve not done well with a monotonous routine. I thrive on variety and control of which both have been stripped of me quickly and for many months. And this has revealed some definite and needed areas of growth in me.

 

Question #3

What draws me to the road?

As I mentioned earlier, I love the variety – different places, different people, a different schedule, and of course different food. But it’s bigger than just the variety. I’m drawn to the ability to make my own decisions on the road at any time.

I thrive on and maximize my alone time to work out, read, write, and recharge from downtime (time to be, not to be on). I can really maximize many of the six energy habits by being alone: Move, Fuel, Rest, Develop and Connect.

I also love the challenge – often, it’s just me and what happens from the moment I leave my home to the moment I return, every detail of the trip including the results is on me.

I love the challenge of connecting with new people and making a positive lasting impression so much that they can’t wait for me to come back and are happy to see me when I do. It also changes the dynamic of the follow-up moving forward from calls to emails.

Bring on the pressure!

And to some, this would be just too much. Not a road warrior. And definitely not an elite road warrior. To know what draws you to the road, good or bad, is healthy to know.

Question #4

What if I can’t travel until September or even January?

Not going on this trip has jolted me into this reality. And I don’t like it but the words to the serenity prayer are applicable here: “Help me accept the things I cannot change…”

I’ve also talked to many business travelers who are being told either September or even January depending on the size or nature of their business.

To be honest, it was a blow to hear of a September or even January travel restart. I’m not gonna lie or sugarcoat my feelings.

But it is what it is and I have to accept that I still have at least two more months of home life at the time of this recording with my only travel in an all-too-common sleep dream of being on a plane or at a hotel.

I can’t be the ONLY one having them, right? I see that hand.

I also have to accept that the restart may not be exactly when or the way I want it to be or have envisioned. Imagine that.

But at this point, I’m ready for a new challenge.

This leads to the fifth and final question…

Question #5

What do I need to change? (Start/Stop/Do More /Do Less)

I don’t want to answer this question but I need to answer this question and I suggest you do too.

Initially, I was in survival mode. Everything was so new with immediate cancelations and no travel. I was in shock. I was headed into one of my two busiest travel stretches of the year.

Then it was trying to figure out how to co-exist with everyone always home along with doing my travel role solely from home.

But now that we’re four plus months into not traveling, I’ve strongly established my New Normal so it’s time to evaluate and see what I need to change…

I’m going to use the START/STOP/DO MORE/DO LESS method and give you two of each:

START

  • Working out consistently again – when all the gyms closed, it was a hit on me because that was my rhythm when I was home. I tinkered with working out at home but I was inconsistent due to working too much. I was also exhausted from “Zoom Fatigue.” (Who knew that would be a thing?!) Now that the gyms are open again, I can start this activity big time
  • Journaling again – I’ve fallen out of this critical habit of mine and need to start to “Process the Thoughts” as part of energy habit Develop. This could be a variety of answering my set daily questions but also Think Space which is simply “thinking on paper”.

STOP

  • Working later and later into the evening and even on the weekends – now that the weather is nice and my kids actually want to do things with me, I need to just STOP feeling like I have to work more hours. The inbox will always refill and almost everything can wait.
  • Worrying about when I’m going to travel again, my finances, along with how Elite Road Warrior is and will continue to be affected during this health pandemic. I’m a man of faith and I’ve let worry and anxiety overtake my trust in a faithful God who’s yet to let me down in my 50 years on this earth.

DO MORE

  • Time in the pool with my kids and playing sports with them – this one I really regret not doing from the beginning, and my recent change of swimming with some swim rat kids or throwing the football with my 9-year-old or shooting baskets with my high schoolers has been such a game-changer (especially when Dad can still win)…
  • Walks with my wife – we walked most nights the first couple of months, and then the weather in Chicago heated up and we hit a stretch of 20+ days of 90+ degree weather and we got out of the rhythm.

DO LESS

  • Late nights – I’ve let my family’s summer break affect my sleep and I’m feeling it big time. The later I stay up, the more my brain stays engaged and I fall asleep later and later but always wake up at the same time so I’m losing at least a full night of sleep a week. This needs to change tonight.
  • Drinking during the week and I don’t mean H20 – I’ve let stress get to me too easily especially with the change of my role and I’ve turned too easily and quickly to “the secret sauce” and this needs to change and has so far this week.

There you have it Road Warriors: the good, the bad, and the ugly of yours truly. Just laying it out there.

So, I ask you now:

  1. What have you discovered about yourself these 1st four months of not traveling?
  2. What draws you to the road?
  3. What if you can’t travel until September or even January?
  4. What do you need to change? (Start/Stop/Do More/Do Less)

Your action items may be one or more of the following:

  • Actually implement the process and the thoughts with these questions
  • Listen or re-listen to the six-part podcast series on how to leverage home life to prepare you for road life – check out episodes 066-074 to go deeper.
  • Make some pre-purchases – Not Forgotten Journal / Flat Kiddos / Connect Cards / Water Bottle / Elite Road Warrior Black Leather Journal

You can find the listed resources here.

This was a different style of episode and I hope you were challenged by the questions and are willing to ask these questions of yourself now to help you to prepare for Road Life again. Do the action items. Visit the Elite Road Warrior Store.

Leverage this time until we can travel again to help you become and remain an Elite Road Warrior today to eliminate burnout and exceed results.
You Got This!

076 – Interview with Road Warrior Justin Pugh

Welcome to the Elite Road Warrior Podcast Episode 076 show notes!

This week on the podcast is an honest conversation with Justin Pugh about life on the road.

What You Will Learn In This Episode:

  • “I wasn’t living in a way that made me a good example for my son”
  • If they are a good customer, they know you need to be at your best (healthiest)
    • You have to develop good habits
  • It’s ok to say “no”
    • SAY “NO” MORE
  • You can’t “fake healthy” on the road
  • Be consistent – the road is an extension of home
  • Take a step back and focus yourself
    • do you recognize you?
  • What you eat plays a huge part in how you sleep
  • Anchor Moments – when you say “I need to change”

Podcast Transcript:

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (00:03): Episode 076 of the Elite Road Warrior Podcast.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (00:08): Welcome to the elite road warrior podcast, where we believe you can leverage the road to transform your work health and home life while on business travel to ultimately master the business, travel life. If you’re a road warrior and a great chance you’re on the road right now that this podcast is for you.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (00:34): Welcome to the elite road podcast. I’m your host, Bryan Paul Buckley, fellow road, warrior husband, and one father of five and enjoying a little break from the road right now, but always, and I mean always committed each and every business trip to becoming and remaining an elite road warrior. And I’d love nothing more than for you to join this master evil plan and jump on this road trip. Well, when I met our guest, I clicked with this guy’s energy, his passion, but also his desire to improve in his life. And I’m honored to interview him today and you’re going to enjoy this conversation. Here’s the backstory in adjectives of Justin Pugh, operation enduring freedom, veteran father disgruntled, but hopeful Colts fan second amendment Democrat, lover of technology, and a man of faith. In a moment, I’ll be asking Justin the following questions. Why were you not more willing to slow down on the road? What was your breaking point moment to make a change in your life? How has elite road word content influenced you? What would you say to a road warrior who needs to make some changes? What would you say to a company with business travelers to maximize their business travelers and so much more

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (02:04): Well, I am virtually live right now with my friend, Justin Pugh. How are you and where are you right now?

Guest – Justin Pugh (02:10): A pleasure to meet back with you. Again. I am actually at home in boiling Springs, South Carolina, and I am doing quite well. My friend, thanks for having me. Host –

Bryan Paul Buckley (02:21): Absolutely. Thanks for making me just kidding. It was not that way. all. It only took me numerous times to pressure you into this. So, but Hey, I gotta unpack this before we go anywhere on this interview. So I loved in your bio that you’re disgruntled, but hopeful Colts fan. So tell, tell me about that.

Guest – Justin Pugh (02:37): Hey, look, man. You know, um, we’ve been through a lot, you know, I come from an era, you know, Peyton Manning is my favorite football player. And you know, you, you’re talking about a decade and a half of straight dominance, and then you go to some terrible general manager that beats up your young, fresh, new paint man and runs out of town. And now we get 38-year-old Phillip Rivers for the next year and a half. Do you know what I mean?

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (03:04): Well, at least you got something to look forward to talking to come on, man talking to a Bears fan. So I think we both have a misery loves company when it comes to that such, sorry to bring that up at all for the listeners who have one of those teams in your city, we get you, we feel you and we are so, so Justin, do you remember how we met for the very first time? It was kind of sounds like a dating thing, but that’s not the case, honestly. How do we meet

Guest – Justin Pugh (03:31): I said, I come into my bio that my bio sounded like a match.com advertisement. Anyway, no, I met you. I met you at, Connected Solutions Groups, retreat in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I want to say October of 2019. Right and that was one of the more transformational moments from, you know, just being a, being a visitor and a customer, of Mike Pittman and his team, but meeting you and having you and seeing you at, during your session, during your, uh, during your particular session. I was impressed. I was really taken aback.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (04:15): Why was that? It’s easy to say that. And Justin, I do appreciate that, but I mean, you weren’t planning to be in there. So all of a sudden you come in here to listen to some guy that’s, you know, we had just kind of visually seen each other through the course of a couple of days, but then all of a sudden you’re in there. So what was your first impression? What struck you about anything dealing with elite road warriors?

Guest – Justin Pugh (04:34): So my role had dramatically changed when I’d gotten to the Outer Banks. I was probably three months into being the new sales executive for the Verizon group at Ingram Micro. And so my travel schedule went from being sedentary, you know, eight to five office guy to an 85% travel schedule in less than 90 days. Wow. And so by the time I’m to you, I’d already gotten pretty much the, I mean, they’ve got me on the ground pretty much running fast. By the time I’ve gotten to the Outer Banks, you were probably my sixth or seventh week on the road in a row. And so everything you talked about within the first 20, 30 minutes had touched me in a way that not only made me emotional but by the time you finished and wrapped up with your final story about you and your wife and your family story, I was practically in tears. So, you know, it was just a transformational moment for me from being a traveler to hear your story to then triangulate it with mine, just made that, that, that should impactful for him.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (05:43): Well, and I appreciate you saying that. And the irony is at the moment, Justin, I mean, we just talked for a couple of minutes afterward and there was another session that needed to happen and you got a book and we just, you know, we talked for a few minutes, but then we saw each other actually six weeks later, the opposite coast in LA. So let’s talk about that for a moment. Cause that’s obviously when you started sharing with me some of the changes that you had made from, you know, obviously more than just an emotional moment and you move on and go from there.

Guest – Justin Pugh (06:10): Yeah. So, I’m glad you brought that up because we met again in LA, at Mobile World Congress for some of your listeners who don’t know, but what Mobile World Congress, one of the largest tech affairs in the world, and I met Bryan Paul at one of his booths that you were attending. And, you know, by that time I was 15 pounds heavier. Um, I was about, at that time again, probably on my six weeks on the road, more depressed, more anxious, busier. I, at the time I didn’t have the training and again, I went from being an eight to five guy to being in an airport 7 hours out of the day, on a typical day. So it was difficult to transition and not having anybody either. And again, not to any fault of my own company, but to not have that internal support, as well as the external support at home with my family. I was a man on an Island. I was a man on an Island.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (07:10): And you’re not an Island guy if I remember that correctly. So therein lies the problem. I’m a city boy. And there you go. You and me both, you know, that’s a little small town in Chicago, so Hey, I do remember one of the things that you had mentioned to Justin was just talking about, you know, needing to talk to your boss and just say, man, I gotta, I gotta pull back a little bit on the road and the hesitancy to have that conversation, but then yet how well it went, you remember that moment?

Guest – Justin Pugh (07:34): I do. And in fact, it was right at the Middle World Congress again, that week was difficult for me. I have my first week in LA for a week at a time nonvacation. I rented a car, so, and I was also traveling from LA into Irvine for separate meetings as well. And by the time I left LA, I was completely stressed out. I mean, completely done. I didn’t have anything. I just had nothing left in my tank from that week, from anxiety to the travel, to just how busy I was. I had tapped myself out in that Monday. I went to my boss and I said, you know, Hey Michelle, I cannot do this. I need about a week off. And she did. And I was very frightened at that time. Cause, keep in mind I was, and I’ve been in, I haven’t been in the job, you know, six months.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (08:32): Sure. Sound like you’re seasoned in that role.

Guest – Justin Pugh (08:35): I’m new to them in the role. Right. And here I am asking for a vacation, you know, you signed up for 80% travel. Why is it an issue now? And so I was afraid and I went to her, I was transparent. I said, Michelle, I need a break. I’m no good to the business right now. And she said, Justin, I need you to have a break too. And that was transformative for me. Yeah.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (08:55): And good for her and, man, I’m proud of you. Cause I know you and I had that conversation that needs to happen. You know, at least an awareness, you know, especially in companies, sometimes they’re there, and they’re doing their deal. You’re doing your deal. And if there’s not that level of communication, that’s there or a company asking about that. You know, therein lies the problem of burnout, and the goal of elite road warrior is to eliminate burnout and exceed results. So in other moments, too if I can take you back, Justin, it really, really hit me was just interactions that you had in this, this feeling of disconnect that you had had with your son because you were with them all the time. And then all of a sudden, boom, you know, you’re hardly around in some of those moments and how he felt about that. Would you be willing to unpack that for a moment?

Guest – Justin Pugh (09:35): I would, you know, I’ve got, one of the things is as parents, you know, our kids don’t think this, but we always say it. I know you better than you know yourself. Right. We tell our kids all the time and it’s true, but it’s also true the opposite way as well. Our kids know us sometimes better than we know ourselves. And I didn’t know myself at the time and it took my son to tell me that, are you okay? My dad is sleeping a lot. You’re sleeping in on a Saturday morning. More often, Hey Dad, you’re eating more unhealthy. And I was just not living right in a way that made me a good example. As a father, I was drinking more. I was eating more for comfort. I stopped working out. Ah, I’ll get it Saturday. I’m too tired. And so your kids see that in you, they see they did, they get concerned.

Guest – Justin Pugh (10:34): And then of course, naturally it removes that barrier of security that you’re supposed to be giving them. And then it allows them to kind of FreeWheel themselves. And so you start seeing your habit kind of leak and manifest themselves into their lives. Procrastination, disorganization, anger, lack of focus. All of those things came, became a guiding kind of almost a cloud over my whole family. And if it starts a path, so if I’m losing, if I’m gaining weight and I’m eating unhealthy and I’m not getting enough sleep, I’m the head of the household, everyone else is going to be doing the same thing. Why is dad like this? So I had to change and I think everything, and I know you’re headed this direction. Believe it or not. Everything came to a head in April, April this year, April 2020 is my body and my mind and professionally I’d said enough, this has gotta stop, changes have to be made.

Guest – Justin Pugh (11:41): And so I had that moment like you had like your wife had that, you told us and, in the Outer Banks that you said, something’s got to change. Those words have never left me. Bryan, I’ll tell you that right now, those words have never left me. Something got to change. And I made that change. In fact, if I can be very transparent, that change manifests itself all the time, it always happens in some big blow up. Right. You know you and your wife have a big argument or you and your spouse have a big argument or you and your son or your daughter, or even you and your colleague. I have a big blow up. And it happened in April. And I had to take a step back to realize, okay, it’s time to get yourself focused. And so, your book, your advice, some of the things I needed to do sleep better, exercise more, be more focused, pay more attention to your family. Take that extra time to yourself, to reenergize. I had to start doing those things, right. I really did.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (12:45): Well just that man. So first of all, I’m proud of you, you know, and, uh, this is a journey. You know, people don’t become elite road warriors immediately. Oftentimes we’re the existing road warrior or the exhausted road warrior. And then we become the experimental road warrior. And so there’s a process to get there. And so I’m really proud of you. And I think it’s so important. So many things you said that just really stood out to me. One is that this is a process. And number two was, you know, sometimes we get a mirror from people. There are the last people. We want to be a mirror and that’s our family, you know, whether it’s a spouse or significant other or a child. And sometimes that’s the hardest to do that. So being willing to hear that, even though it’s so difficult to hear my, as you referenced that something’s got to change, what’s my beautifully angry wife, you know, who told me those words and you want to talk about a humbling moment, you know, a come to Jesus moment. And those are what those are. I also remember too, Justin. You had mentioned something about you, you know, you were gone so much that your son had even grown and you didn’t even realize that. And that kind of was a hurtful moment. Would you be willing to unpack that for a second?

Guest – Justin Pugh (13:47): Yeah. I mean, he had grown as a man, you know, he, he was in college, you know, and I was traveling so much that I just wasn’t there to attend to some of that growth, becoming a man and his language was changing and he had real concerns. Is that the time, you know, I didn’t know that my son wanted to come. He wanted to know leave school. He wanted to drop out. And again, I wasn’t attentive to those things. And you know, he, he stayed an extra semester because his exact words were, I didn’t want to bother you with it. Wow, wow. Right. Instead, I spent $2,000 more of your money because I didn’t want to bother you with it. You know what I mean? And so we’ve got to take a step back sometimes and realize that those things are those moments.

Guest – Justin Pugh (14:34): We have to be attentive and when you’re going, going, going, going, going, and you’re not taking, and I’ll be honest, Bryan, I even now think about it when I think about my travel schedule. And I think some of your listeners will very much agree with me and probably align with this is we use it as a way to getaway. Very true. Right. We use it as a way to getaway. And I found that I was using, you know, getting away from that situation or that particular issue at home or whatever the case we use it to getaway. And I find that, like you said, if we recenter ourselves, travel becomes, this is what I have to do in order for me to get back home, to be with the family and to feel that love. But I want to, I want to pick up on something that you said about that “come to Jesus moment” because I want to tell you what mine was really, really quick. Right? I was in Virginia and I was in Alexandria. We’d just gotten, I forgot where I was traveling in from. All I know is that I’d injured my toe pretty bad. When I got to Alexandria, I, I put my toe, I, you know, guys, it’s a hotel. I couldn’t find anything else. So I put my toe, I put my foot inside the ice bucket. Okay. I couldn’t find anything else though. So forgive me.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (15:54): I feel bad for the next guy

Guest – Justin Pugh (15:56): For the next guy. Anyway, I couldn’t find anything else. I put my foot inside this ice bath and inside the ice tub. The next morning I woke up, I’m getting ready for, I’m getting ready to get to the meeting to go downtown and meet the next customer. I look in the mirror. I look in the mirror, I’m brushing my beard, getting ready, Bryan. And I didn’t like what I saw, my eyes are bloodshot and keep in mind, after a shower I’ve been up for probably three or four hours, probably had two cups of coffee.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (16:23): And this one you’re supposed to be looking good, man.

Guest – Justin Pugh (16:26): I’ve got on. I’ve got on cologne. I’ve got my clothes on. I said, man, I’m, I’m dialed in, but I don’t look good. I don’t like what I see in the mirror. I am 20 pounds heavier. I’m 208 pounds. My typical way guys like 190, right? That’s my fighting weight. I’m 208. I’m tired. My foot hurts. I’m disheveled by my beard. I hadn’t probably shaved my beard in probably, you know, probably two or three weeks. And at that point, I knew that was my coming to this meeting. You look bad. And I felt that way at my customer. I mean, I probably the worst decision I made was looking in the mirror that morning. Cause the rest of the day was just a lack of confidence the entire day. Do you know what I mean? And that’s what that does to you. That’s what not attending to your thoughts and following your six habits. That’s what they do to you. It beats you down and life will beat you into submission and you look up off the mat and you’re like, where the hell am I? What happened to me?

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (17:23): Well, and that guy, that guy follows us around in every single hotel. I’m like, how does he know where I am? But he follows me in every single mirror. And to your point, unless we do something about it and have something’s got to change moment. You know, whether it’s the words of your son, waking you up a little bit, or these little moments that come along the way. And that’s the reason why Elite Road Warrior Group exists. That’s why, you know, the session you heard on the six energy habits or the Elite Road Warrior workshop, a live workshop, or an online consultant coming into a company. And really having those moments where we can think about our lives in our road lives and who have we become? Is that what we want, who we want to be?

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (18:03): And do we feel like our sons don’t want to interrupt us, or our wife has to be in tears to say, something’s got to change and I mind you, it doesn’t have to get this bad, right? Justin. I mean, a lot of people who are listening to the interview may be nowhere near where we ended up, but unless there’s some intervention, whether it’s from the company or a spouse, a family member, a child, or our own selves, we’re headed down that busy. Can’t stop now, beat down. Can’t take this and into burnout. I can’t get going which is the exhaustion cycle. Would you agree?

Guest – Justin Pugh (18:35): I would agree. We’re all headed that way. Right? We’re all headed there and it doesn’t have to be that way. Right? You can identify where you are now. If you’re feeling yourself tired, if you wake up in the morning to getting to the airport and you’re finding out, you know, you’re drinking three or four cups of coffee before you get on the plane, take a step back. If you haven’t exercised, gone for a jog, you know, a month, you need to start doing those things. If you haven’t, like you said, connected with your family or taken that three or four-day vacation that you’ve been talking about, or, you know, forever, you need to. And, you know, fortunately, you know, Bryan, I worked for Ingram Micro, a very progressive company, a very, you know, bleeding-edge type company. They believe in, in making sure that the associate that, that the frontline is taken care of. So when we come to them with these concerns, they’re very receptive to making sure that there’s change because we, they know that if their road warriors are not healthy, we don’t have a business.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (19:39): Absolutely. I’m thinking of inconsistent results.

Guest – Justin Pugh (19:42): Inconsistent results. And in fact, that’s exactly what I gave in April. Like April was one of our most successful months. And I still felt like I wasn’t my, I wasn’t my best because I was at my worst from a mental perspective because of the undiagnosed and the untreated issues from my road life back in the first half of the year.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (20:12): And would you say oftentimes too Justin it’s, it’s maybe it’s our pride. We don’t want to admit that we’re not Superman on the road, that we can’t be this high-performance car, always going 100 miles an hour and you know, we’ll sleep when we’re dead or sleep is the enemy, or I can eat it, whatever I want and that it’s never going to catch up with us. Is there a sense of pride or ignorance or what would you say is the, is the catalyst to this?

Guest – Justin Pugh (20:34): You know what I think, I think it works twofold. I think there’s a sense of pride on our side, for me, it was, I don’t wanna let the business down. I don’t want to let down the business. Now I told these guys I’m going to go out here and I’m going to bring back a lot of business. So you go out there and you grind and you grind and you grind because you made a commitment to people, right? And so you now feel yourself being a part of something much bigger, much larger. So you have very well-intentioned, right? We all have very well intentions What happens though, is that those intentions spin out of control for ourselves. And on the opposite end, you’ve got your executive director or your VP of sales doing the same thing, pushing you. Hey, Hey, I just got another lead from another customer.

Guest – Justin Pugh (21:15): Hey, go to Detroit. Hey, you know, I got another opportunity for you at the retail affair in New York. Hey, good. There, I mean, I had, you know, an incident where I almost went to three cities in New York all in one day by plane. I almost did that. Right. It’s the insanity of it all thinking about that, right? So it’s not necessarily, it shows that ignorance. We all make a lot of money. All of us, if you’re an elite warrior, you are probably earning, above the middle-class average. So we’re not, we’re not dumb people. It’s just that our pride, as well as the people at the high end, that’s pushing that we’re putting business before people. And it should always be people first. Cause if people aren’t healthy than your business will also, that business unhealth will follow as well. So I think now more than ever, we should take this, you know, this proactive approach and making sure that we’re always keeping in, you know, your six energy habits in mind when we’re trying to develop good habits on the road so that we don’t fall into the trap where, you know, I can sleep when I’m dead. Yeah. But you’re dead,

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (22:34): Minor yet important detail.

Guest – Justin Pugh (22:36): Exactly. That’s a small detail. So yeah, Bryan, you know, we, we just need to keep vigilant of our own selves, put ourselves first and then the business needs, we’ll take care of it after that,

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (22:47): You know, and that’s so good too, Justin, cause of the reality is, I mean, a lot of us who are road warriors, we’re good at what we do. We love it. And which is also the problem, you know, we’re killing it on the road, but then I hear often from guys. Yeah. And then I’m getting killed at home, you know, I’m important on the road, but then I am visible at home. You know, I’m in complete control of my world and making decisions on the road. And I feel kind of out of control in my own world at home. And that’s hard, you know, especially when we are in control and we’re killing it and important to come back to, unfortunately, the people that really matter the most, if we have a family or friends or a spouse or significant other to be able to make that transition to be there.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (23:26): And oftentimes there’s either a letdown, we’ve been doing it so long, a bad way. That is just kind of the new norm or it’s just one of those things where like, I don’t even know how to make changes, man. I don’t have control when I’m by myself on the road. How in the world can I make any changes at home? And I think to your credit, I appreciate you saying that the premise of the six habits framework gives us at least some context to be able to nuance. You know, some of these changes we need to make on the road. So let’s kind of unpack some of these with you. Whether, whether you look at it from the old Justin to the new Justin, you know, getting back to travel, as far as, you know, things that you’re going to do differently or things you didn’t do well and things that you were improving on now. So let’s talk a little bit about just maybe you mentioned sleep, so let’s go there for a minute. You know, what was the quality and quantity of your sleep before and what do you want and need it to be back on the road to be an elite road warrior?

Guest – Justin Pugh (24:18): We all know sleep is one of those things that doesn’t come very, uh, it doesn’t come easy to the word war year. Most of the time, our business meetings leak into nine, 10 o’clock and it normally involves a nightcap and normally involves an after nightcap with another group of people. And so before you know it, you’re back at the hotel at one o’clock in the morning, right. And then you’re back up at 5:00 AM to check those emails so that you just, so you’re not checking them in your eight, at your 8:00 AM meeting. Um, and of course that same day is a marathon meeting from eight to four. And then after that, we all want to go out to dinner and do the same thing all over again the same night, but four nights in a row. Right.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (24:55): And then you wake up the next day, sharp as a bull.

Guest – Justin Pugh (24:58): Yeah. Oh, man. You’re sharp. Right? You’re ready. Um, no, you’re not actually. And so one of the things that I found myself doing was I just gave me, told everybody before the night started, Hey guys, I got hard, like this. Let me do. I got a hard stop. Hey guys a hard stop at 11 o’clock, I’ll see you guys at 8:00 AM. And I noticed that, Hey, you know, the VP of sales didn’t mind doing it. I noticed that the executive director didn’t mind doing it. So why shouldn’t I just say, Hey guys, I’m tired too? Been a long day. I’m going to call it a night. Now the new, the old Justin didn’t do that because the old Justin said if the customer’s up, I’m going to be up. The customer is going to party all night. I’m going to party all night. And that’s just not the way it works, guys. You know your customer, if they’re a good customer, should know, Hey, he needs to be my best advocate. My squeaky wheel and the inside of the business. I need him healthy too.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (25:52): And he probably feels the same way as you too, Justin.

Guest – Justin Pugh (25:55): So look now the new Justin I’m in bed by 10 o’clock every night. And of course, you know, naturally, you know, when you’re on the road now, you know, you want to be sharp. So you give yourself a good timeframe to be in bed. Like I’m going to have all my emails done. And honestly, I’ll tell you this, Bryan, I would take it back as, as if the road is an extension of the home. It’s consistency, right? It’s consistency. I get it. If you can’t, if it’s different, if you’re flying in from, you know, LAX and you’re getting there 1130 at night, right. But if you’re getting there at one o’clock in the afternoon and you’ve got time to structure your day, Hey, eight o’clock guys, I’m going to be back at the hotel, talk to the kids till 8:30, you know, talk to them until they’re getting ready to go to bed until nine.

Guest – Justin Pugh (26:41): Get my last bit of emails. No done by about nine 30, 10 I’m in bed by 11. And then I’m up the next morning, the same routine that I do every morning, 7:30, get up, drink my coffee. I call my significant other. Talk to my phone on the way to school. You see it’s. So it’s all about following that pattern. Um, and it’s also a part of that, of course, is the fuel part too, because which to eat before you go to bed, plays a huge part in how you sleep. Right. It’s serious. So when I’m on the road, I don’t go and get Uber eats and get the next pizza that I can find, you know, Hey, I’m going to find a, if I have to order out, let me find a Mediterranean place that has a good Mediterranean salad that I can take advantage of some white with some salmon or something healthy that will help me digest easy that the next morning I wake up sharp, prepared, ready to take a shower and get my day started. So it’s very important that, you know, again, you say, use the right word. It provides us a framework, those six energy habits, especially when it comes to fuel and sleep, that really catapult you into the other parts of the six energy habits that you’ll also need, uh, on a more consistent basis.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (27:51): Okay. So let’s and you brought up a good point. So let’s talk about it for a second. How many people? Well, two things. One is, I don’t know anybody. If they don’t work out at home, start working out on the road or somebody who doesn’t think they’ll be at home doesn’t start eating healthy on the road. That’s a different conversation. But to your points, when you’re more tired, what are your chances? Like you said that you’re gonna eat healthier or that you’re going to get up to go workout,

Guest – Justin Pugh (28:15): Almost none.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (28:16): Exactly. And that’s day one ones on day three or day four. So, but you do all of this because you want energy and energy to perform your best on the road. Hence they’re called six energy habits. And I think what I’m hearing from you and correct me if I’m wrong, Justin, and feel free to, you know, to riff on this, you want to perform at your best. But if you’re looking at going, okay, well, I’m going to miss this next drink or my fifth one with this Joe customer who I really don’t like, and it looks like he’s already checking his watch and wants to go, but it’s an excuse for me to stay up late or and if that’s why I stay up late until then, therefore I wake up the next morning, more tired, more stressed. And then that has its own problems. It’s really, if our mindset shifts in order for me to perform at my best, I need to have energy, and whatever I need to do needs to be able to create energy movement creates energy. Food is fuel. Fuel creates energy, rest creates energy. Am I hitting the right theme? Are you agreeing with that?

Guest – Justin Pugh (29:13): You absolutely are. Again, all these six energy habits feed themselves, right? They feel in themselves. So you need the fuel, right? The fuel to help you get through the day you need the rest that helps you perform the next day. Right? And now, of course, it helps you to overtime, as you develop those habits, you develop those good habits. Then you perform better. You develop into a better person, right? And then of course that allows you, putting it all together, to connect better with people like you, with your family, with your customers. I’ve noticed that one of the things and this could be on there. This is people, right? The way you introduce yourself, the way you walk through a door, you can tell, you know how that meeting is going to go based on your own energy. This is not going to be a very good meeting because I don’t have the energy to show it.

Guest – Justin Pugh (30:06): And honestly, you can’t fake and you cannot fake not having anxiety. You can’t fake not getting sleep. You can’t fake not being overweight. People see those things and all of those things. And again, I’m not saying that those things are bad in and of itself, right? You know, so I’m not, you know, weight shaming, anybody. What I’m saying is, is that it’s important that we have to develop good habits so that we can always perform at our best. Even as parents, even as professionals. I’m no good to myself. If I got to sleep in until one o’clock every Saturday, I wasted my entire day with my kid. I’m a good dude, myself. If I’ve got to take three or four naps on a Monday because you know, I’m not, I’m not getting enough rest or not getting the right fuel. I’m no good to myself.

Guest – Justin Pugh (30:53): If, of course, I’m on a tight connection from Atlanta to Detroit. And I got to get from Terminal A to Terminal B. And I’m all, I’m, I’m all the way at, uh, at gate 35. And in Atlanta, I gotta be able to run to get to that next terminal. You know, I’m telling you, and it takes a toll on you folks, and you gotta be able again, Bryan, you’re on the right. You’re on the right track here, full circle, full circle. We want to make sure that we’re always using these guidelines, these, these, these frameworks to help us build better habits. And then we can kind of tweak them ourselves as we get better over time.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (31:29): So then Justin, what would you say to a road warrior who’s listening right now who needs to make some of these changes?

Guest – Justin Pugh (31:38): You gotta look at yourself in the mirror and you gotta say something has to change. I know you’re there. I know that was there, Paul. I mean, Bryan, you know, you were there, Bryan, we both were, you knew, you knew you were there. And in fact, we were there at the same time. We didn’t know it.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (31:52): That’s true.

Guest – Justin Pugh (31:54): And it was so right now is the recognizing that I am there. That’s step number one, step. Number two is if you’re not a business owner and you have to answer to somebody, it is now going to your leadership in saying, I need a break. And here’s why, and if you have good leadership, they’re going to say, okay, Justin, I need you healthy. Go get that break. If they’re bad leadership, and you have to re-evaluate the way who you’re working for, they’re going to tell you something, uh, something different. But the second step is to ask for help. The third step is to take that time that you have, right? And you rest you rest. And whether it’s a week, take two days to just rest. I mean, yesterday, I’ll be honest, guys, look, Bryan, and try to get you on this podcast for the last year and a half.

Guest – Justin Pugh (32:45): But it’s taken almost two, three days to get me on it because the last thing I wanted to rest, and then the last thing I would say. That was progress, right? And honestly, honestly, I am a, I am one of the one, one of the things I’m working on. And I know I noticed the sidetrack is saying no better. Is say no more. It’s okay. It’s okay to say no guys. I promise you. Now the final step in the process is to develop a plan. Right? Okay. I’ve gotten my rest. I know that. I look like crap. I feel like crap. I’m treating my family, like crap. I’m feeling like I’m cheating my body. I’m not treating myself right. I am not gifting myself with anything. Good. And now you ask herself, what do I have to do to refuel my body? What am I going to put back into me?

Guest – Justin Pugh (33:35): That’s going to help me be better. And a part of that is the next morning I’m gonna get up and just go for a walk. Let’s go get, Go for a walk. It’s just little steps. And Bryan, I want to say this really quick to all your listeners. It is hard. And the hardest part is the first day. Think about it. Every part of our, every experience about everything we do from the first day of school, think about how hard that first day was. Even as parents. I remember in, in Bryan, you know, I don’t care to admit this. I think I cried when I dropped my son.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (34:11): Oh, of course. First day of school.

Guest – Justin Pugh (34:13): Right? Either they’re, they’re, they’re pathetic. They’re small. They’re sad to these new people, right? Everything is new on that first day. It’s hard on the first day, but boy, you get them to the second day and they don’t. Even when I walk you in its school anymore, you can go, you can go, dad. I’m good now. Right? That’s cause it’s easier now, right? It wasn’t such a leap. So that first day will be difficult. That first walk you take, or that first jog you take, or that first salad you eat that first 24 ounces of water you have to drink. It’s always the hardest one, but the second and the third and the fourth one, they get easier, easier, and easier if you stick to it.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (34:52): But it has to start with that first day and that just because, and, and to use the were vernacular, we call that the anchor day. And if you think about your first day, your business trip, the first day, when you come home, it’s the behaviors that you do on your first day. If you eat healthily on the road your first day, you’re more likely to do that the rest of the week. If you, if you rest well, if whatever your connections are with your family, it makes a huge, huge difference. I really, really do appreciate your honesty on that. Let me ask you the flip side of the question. What would you say, Justin, to accompany with business travelers to help them maximize their own business travel?

Guest – Justin Pugh (35:29): Wow, that’s a that’s a good question, boy. Um, I didn’t expect that when that wasn’t guys that weren’t in the, in the prepared script, by the way, he didn’t let me see that question. No, that’s a good one because I think it starts at the very top, right. You know, our leaders, they say to, you know, that, you know, I had one executive director who said, look, I’m on the road 300 days out of the year, I’m on the road. Wow. Um, that wouldn’t work for me, of course. Right. So it starts with leadership displaying good work-life balance first. And then of course sending that message throughout the entire company and showing through real policies that we care about. Work-life balance. I can tell you right now, I work for a company that cares extremely about work-life balance. That’s great. Okay. All right.

Guest – Justin Pugh (36:21): A large part of the reason why there’s no real policy change at the very top is cause a lot of leaders don’t know. Right? So I would say that, any company has to make sure that they are open to suggestions from their travelers. You have to get feedback from them. Maybe even create a travel feedback forum. So after your, your, you know, your, your road warrior, you know, sends their expense report and their, you know, their weekly report or their trip report, maybe send a survey back, how are you doing? How is your mental health, how was your travel experience? Was there something about traveling that we need to change? How was your expensing experience? So making sure that you’re monitoring how your travelers are traveling, that’s number one, step number two is helping them travel better, right? Maybe we get someone like Bryan Buckley in our company that helps train our road warriors on how to be more organized, how to be more focused, how to eat better, how to sleep better, how to perform better on the road.

Guest – Justin Pugh (37:31): Because performing on the road is totally different than performing at a desk eight to five, Monday through Friday, I can tell you that right now it’s totally different. Right? And then last but not least, I think it’s all about accountability as well. Right? So now that we’ve given you all these tools to be better on the road, you don’t have an excuse to get on the road, you know, haggard and tired and out of shape and whatever the case might be. So now it’s about accountability. Hey Justin one of your customers said that, that you came into a meeting, you know, you just look tired, man. You know, you know, is there something that I can do for you? And it’s not just accountability by saying, Hey, Justin, your info, because the customer called and put to look bad, a customer called and was concerned.

Guest – Justin Pugh (38:17): I want to take care of you. Do you need a break? And then you hold as a leader, you hold yourself accountable and saying, I should have known that because maybe I should have talked to him throughout that week while he was on the road. So maybe while your, while your road warriors on the road, maybe an evening touchpoint at the end of the day, Hey Justin, I’m gonna send you a quick text. How are you doing today? And if that’s too cumbersome for some leaders, maybe it could be something as quick as, again, as a text message. As you know, maybe a quick email, whatever the case might be. There are multiple ways that we can create layers of accountability to make sure that everybody is making sure we’re all being healthy on the road. Um, so I hope that answered your question a little bit

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (39:06): And I love it. And Justin, I absolutely, and I wanted to catch you off guard because you’re going through a transition. You went from the first transition of, of working from a desk than to be on the road all the time. And then a transition of, eh, I feel like I kind of need to change a little bit. And to all of a sudden, now you’re realizing something’s got to change and you’re making those changes right now. And I’m so proud of you for that. But I also love your, you hit on the three specific areas where we help with companies or we help with road warriors. It starts with awareness. We need to be aware of what we’re doing. And then it moves into application. I need to do something about it. And then it moves into accountability where we’ve got that ongoing conversation and to your point where you don’t feel like you’re going to get in trouble, or you feel like you’re weak or not performing well, if you’re giving an honest answer, knowing you’re going to get hit over the head by giving the answer, the honest answer. But knowing that there’s that true authenticity because they truly care. And one of the phrases I hear often, and I tell companies this all the time from road warriors personally. And they say this if you invest in me personally, I’ll invest more professionally and of really caring about me as a person that I’m going to produce more professionally. So, man, I love what you said, Justin, do you have any closing thoughts for us?

Guest – Justin Pugh (40:23): I do. Um, there’s a quote in your book. um at the very end at the afterward. I’m gonna read it really quick here. It says, so road warrior when your road career’s done, how would you look back on it? What if you ended today no more trips. What would you regret? Did you sacrifice your health and your home life at the cost of overworking? What can you change? How, what can you change now? by implementing the six energy habits of move fuel, rest, form, develop and connect that will transform your work health and home life on the road from now on. And if there’s anybody out there who’s listening, um, that you’re struggling with, you know, you’re you want to perform, you mean very well. You know, Bryan, and I know that that you mean well and you want to do well. Nobody gets up in the morning flies to Detroit to suck.

Guest – Justin Pugh (41:15): You know what I mean? But, but you need to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself first. And it starts with making sure that you answer those questions. What does all of this mean? If you have to be rushed to the hospital at 11 o’clock at night when you get home from an anxiety attack and you’ve got to put your family through all that stress. So now is the day. Today is your anchor day use today to look in the mirror, have that Virginia moment that I had. You don’t look good. Something has to change. Have that moment that Bryan had with his wife, when his wife told him, all right, you’re paying more attention to this job and not of this family and it has to change or I’m outta here. And so before you lose everything that matters the most to you look yourself in the mirror and have that anchor moment where you say tomorrow is day one, I’m going to make that change. And it starts with, you know, you know, first acknowledging it, getting the help, making your leadership, aware, developing your own plan, executing it and developing yourself into that elite road warrior that we all know that you can be. That’s all I got Bryan

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (42:25): Well Justin, what a gift man. I really do appreciate the organicness of this conversation and the willingness to be vulnerable and to kind of share your journey with us. I truly hope it’s encouraged road warriors. Those who take care of the road, warriors and companies, and ultimately our family and our friends who are really the most important to us and benefit from this conversation. So Justin, thank you so much. Guest – Justin Pugh (42:48): My pleasure, Bryan, thank you.

Buckley Family (42:53): You’re listening to our dad on season two of the elite road warrior podcast brought to you by the Buckley kids. This is Tray. This is Cole. This is Caleb. This is Kaitlin. This is Austin. Make connecting with your family a priority on the road.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (43:13): The road can be hard. It can be difficult to be both productive and effective. It’s a challenge to stay healthy and in shape in a battle to stay connected with those you love back home, but it doesn’t have to be this way. The elite road warrior book, six energy habits that transformed your business travel life is now available. If you’re a road warrior and just tired of where you’re at in your business travel life, or, you know, you have more in you than this book is for you. The print version, digital Kindle version and audiobook is now available on Amazon. Pick up your copy and continue your journey on becoming an elite road warrior.

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (43:50): I’m like the thing Justin, for his time, his honesty and man, his challenges as an elite road warrior

Host – Bryan Paul Buckley (44:02): You can find this episode’s content in all the links of the show notes at eliteroadwarrior.com/076. You can also access the free resource 10 business travel guide in the same location at eliteroadwarrior.com/076. And if you’re not connected with me on LinkedIn, reach out to me at Bryan Paul Buckley. And if you’re on Instagram, you can find me also at @eliteroadwarrior. If you’re interested in changing your company’s travel culture, reach out to me at eliteroadwarrior.com. And if you’re a company with business travelers, consider bringing an elite road workgroup, we can help you in one of three ways. We can help you by having you come to the Chicago land area for a day and a half workshop. We can come to you on onsite consulting for leadership training, then also training the road warriors. And we could also help you with ongoing online training for accountability. You can find us at eliteroadwarrior.com and as always wherever you are, do something, anything just, not nothing to master the business, travel life, leverage the content from this interview to become and remain an elite road warrior today. You got this

You Can Listen to the Elite Road Warrior Podcast on the Following:

More about Elite Road Warrior:

Road Warrior Assessment

Elite Road Warrior Book

Elite Road Warrior Store

Elite Road Warrior on YouTube

How the “Invest in You”​ Formula Can Change Your Life

Taking time for personal and/or professional development is a lost art and one of the last priorities for most people.

One of my favorite quotes is by an author, Dale Partridge who was quoting his friend and said, “If you’re not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you’re determined to learn, no one can stop you.”

This means investing in yourself to get better.

It requires the following from you:

  • Your Time – you need to carve out a period of time to invest in you and you alone
  • Your Focus – you need to be in the learning zone (aka locked in / dialed in / no distractions)
  • Your Commitment – you need to be consistent

Most are simply not willing to make those requirements a habit but it’s possible whether you’re on the road or at home.

The formula for the Develop Energy Habit is: Invest in You. There are three parts to the formula with a natural and necessary flow.

How the “Invest in You” Formula Can Change Your Life

The 1st part is to Sharpen the Mind.

Key Phrase: “Think Putting Good Content In”

Too many of us “put content in” but the keyword in the phrase is “good” which means content that helps you develop personally and/or professionally.

The normal content is email, text, news, social media feeds, etc.

In this energy habit, that content doesn’t count. We want good content that helps you develop personally and/or professionally.

So, let’s break down the 1st part of the Invest in You Formula of Sharpen the Mind.

There are three keys to Sharpen the Mind:

Find the What

What content do you want to consume that will help you grow as a person that sharpens your mind?

  • Find something you enjoy – this is something you look forward to reading
  • Find something you want to learn – this is something you could implement right away

This is next level, road kiddos. It could be for your job/career or to develop a new skill. The topics are endless, and this is where most business professionals wonder why they’re still stuck in their job. Remember, most people only read what is required of them instead of reading to get ahead.

Find the Where

Where do you find book ideas?

  • On this blog, I mention many book titles, including my own, Elite Road Warrior
  • Amazon – just do a search. There are so many books available
  • Audible – maybe you like to listen to books. This is a great option to receive the content while you’re driving, or busy doing dishes.
  • Barnes & Noble – Once stores start opening up, this is a great option. When you have downtime and can search the shelves for a title that is something you enjoy or has something you can learn.

Find the When

Having the place doesn’t help, if there’s no time to read. Having a quiet place where I won’t be interrupted, where I can sharpen my mind without distractions is key.

I implement reading into my time blocks – first thing in the morning, I make reading part of my morning routine. I read my Bible and my current motivational book.

Right after dinner can be another good time whereas a family we have individual time where I can do some great reading.

The 2nd part of the “Invest in You” Formula is to Process the Thoughts.

Key Phrase: “Think Getting the Content Out”

Here’s a paradox for you: the faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking time into our schedule. The noisier things get, the more we need to build quiet reflection spaces into our day, where we can truly focus.

No matter how busy you think you are, you can carve time and space to think. Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn, schedules up to two hours of blank space on his calendar every day. He divides them into thirty-minute increments where he schedules nothing. It is a simple practice he developed when back-to-back meetings left him with little time to process what was going on around him.

At first, it felt like an indulgence and a waste of time. But eventually, he found it to be his single-most valuable productivity tool. He sees it as the primary way he can ensure he is in charge of his day, instead of being at the mercy of it.

Creating Think Space is a new concept for most people so let me define the concept:

Think Space is a dedicated time to develop and process key ideas.

Another way of looking at Think Space is as an “idea formulator.”

There are many ways to maximize Think Space:

  • PREPARE for Think Space

This sounds obvious but getting into the “thinking zone” has some prerequisites.

I’ve wasted more time during my Think Space because I was simply unprepared in two key areas:

  1. Concepts to think through – I now have the time and couldn’t think of what I wanted to spend this time on, and I need a dedicated period of time to process.
  2. Means of recording it – If and when an idea would come, I had nowhere to record it and had to leave it to my memory. Guess where THAT idea ended up!

These are solvable issues when you prepare in advance. When I know I’m going somewhere that I’m going to have to wait, I always plan ahead and bring a journal and/or clipboard, blank paper, and a few fine-tipped colored pens. (So… I’m a creative type who likes old school pen and paper but specifically different colors and blank white paper). I then label my Think Space topic at the top of the page.

  • Create the Right Environment for Think Space

You know what distracts you, so do what you need to do to make the most of this time. This is absolutely key. You want to keep your mind in the thinking zone, so definitely remove email, text, and phone alerts.

You also know when the environment is advantageous for thinking. Do you need quiet? Music? Headphones to either knock out the sound or for a certain type of music?

 

What to Think About During Think Space

So, you’re all prepared and it’s actually go-time to process. If you don’t have a clue already on how you could spend the time, here are some ideas:

Professional

  • Preparation – What do you need to develop or review for any upcoming meetings/presentations, etc.?
  • Follow-up – Who do you need to follow-up with as a result of your business travel?
  • Deliverables – What did you promise that you need to take action on to be a person of your word?

Personal

  • Goals – What do you want to accomplish in the next 90 days? What are your yearly goals? Do you want to write a book? Run a 10K?
  • Big Decisions – Do you move? Do you take the job offer? Should you change careers?
  • Your Future (looking forward) – What changes do you want to make in your life?
  • Evaluation (looking backward) – Did you accomplish your goals? How did your presentation go? Workouts?

Think about what to think about. As odd as that sounds, use Think Space as a roadmap to formulate the thoughts you want to develop. You will be surprised at the results if you take the time. Then, write your ideas down to think about for a future Think Space session.

 

Find a centralized place to keep your notes from your Think Space session.

There is nothing worse than finally having a great idea but losing it. You may have even written it down, but now you cannot find it. Talk about maddening! Learn to keep all your Think Space results in a centralized location for easy access.

 

The 3rd and last part of the Invest in You Formula is to Monitor the Heart.

Key Phrase: “Think Checking In on You”

As road warriors, we know the check-in process and often it’s a huge sign of relief to finally show up at the hotel after travel or a long day on the road, and we’re relieved when we finally get to check-in.

Same idea, but to Monitor the Heart means taking time to check in with what’s going on inside of you.

Guys struggle with heart stuff – we think it’s too “touchy-feely” and the women have us beat hands down in this area but also scare us off so we don’t even touch it.

But gents, that has to change. Let me help a brother out on this one.

 

How Do You Monitor The Heart?

We need to learn to check the vitals consistently. Here are some vital checks you need to do:

  1. Pulse Check

Learn to ask: “How am I REALLY doing?”

We ask people all the time, “How are you doing?” We don’t really care or even want them to answer beyond fine or great. My father used to have a drop-dead line when someone asked that question. Here’s how it went:

Acquaintance: “How are you doing?”

My father: “Depends”

Acquaintance: (Confused and stops in their tracks.) “Depends on what?”

My father: “How much time you have. If you only have a second, I’m fine. If you have a minute or two, I’ll actually tell you how I’m doing.”

That interaction was always awkward to me as a kid, but wow, do I understand it now. On the road, we would change the word “fine” to “busy” to compete with each other on who is busier (aka who’s more important!).

A pulse check asks YOU “How are you REALLY doing?” A pulse check is quick but important.

Try answering this question daily. It may take a while to get how you’re REALLY doing out in the open, but that’s the goal.

2.  Gratitude Check

Learn to ask: “Who or what am I grateful for right now?”

We all want to be grateful people, but are we? How often do we acknowledge our gratitude? This is a discipline that can change how you view your life once you put it into consistent practice.

I began this practice years ago with a gratitude journal that caused me to reflect and ask this gratitude question: Who or what am I grateful for right now? I have to admit, it was harder than I thought. It’s easy to be quick, shallow, and answer with one-word responses, like my teenage sons. I’m asking you to think of only one per day to start.

Two Key Details:

  • Write It Down – There is power in writing words down; it also allows you to go back later and read what you’ve written.
  • Be Specific – Once you list the who or what, write down why you’re grateful.

3.   Soul Check

Learn to ask: “What do I need to get out that I’m keeping in?

There are issues, feelings, frustrations, anger, hurts, disappointments, and on and on that we continue to swallow and never let see the light of day. Some of them are literally killing us. The stress they’re putting on our hearts is like the fluid crushing my mother’s physical heart. Both are doing damage, just in a different way. The heart is where you find yourself.

Have you ever been around a person who doesn’t have a filter and just starts dumping poison? I find this guy all too often on the road. This dude has some serious heart issues.

I’ve found that morning journaling has been the best source for me to monitor the heart process. I ask a series of questions daily to monitor my own heart.

I want to be around people who have a heart that is sensitive to those around them. I’m drawn to them and compelled to become more like them in this way. They raise the bar and are not dependent upon others to make decisions for them. I’m around enough Donny and Debbie Downers on the road who’ve lived for years on Denial Street.

The best and most helpful action is to talk to someone about what’s going on at a soul level in your heart. Most of us need to figure out what’s going on in there first, and you can do that by learning to ask, “What do I need to get out that I’m keeping in?” then bring it to a trusted friend or counselor.

Let me start you off by asking how your heart is toward your…

  • Spouse/significant other
  • Kids
  • Friends
  • WORK – boss/co-workers/clients/your role
  • What you care about in life/what matters to you (causes/faith)

1. Do the pulse check. Ask and answer, “How am I really doing?”

2. Do the gratitude check. Ask and answer, “Who or what am I grateful for right now?”

3. Do the soul check. Ask and answer, “What do I need to get out that I’m keeping in?”

The Elite Road Warrior Journal is a beautiful black, artisan branded journal that has two sections: one for Think Space and one for Road Life to monitor the heart. You should try it out yourself!

Your action items this week may be:

  • Finding something to read to develop you personally or professionally
  • Taking time for Think Space
  • Purchasing the Elite Road Warrior Journal at our online store
  • Journaling key questions each day to truly check in with yourself

The energy habit of DEVELOP takes time and commitment but separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls.

And there’s no better time than now to begin personal and professional development being at home to prepare you for the road.

Get your read and think time on man!

Six Habits to Leverage the New Year as a Road Warrior

I love fresh starts and I cannot lie.

Paul has been on the road awhile and he has the weight to prove it.

He’s not big on New Years Resolutions with his only New Years Resolution this year is to not have any resolutions!

But he would like to make some changes as a business traveler and leverage the new year as a catalyst.

Things aren’t bad per se, but they definitely could use a lot of improvement.

 

Paul is typically ahead of the pack in many ways and when he feels bad about himself, he sadly resorts to comparing himself to others which allows him to feel better about himself.

But that’s not who he is most of the time.

Paul wants to get better not just get by and make the necessary changes leveraging the road to do it this upcoming year.

He has what it takes but needs to get momentum and focus on his side.

Paul’s story is like many that come to me asking for a better way.

And it all comes down to two primary words: ROAD HABITS.

 

These road habits encompass Three Focus Areas:

 

 

Too often, we struggle or even lose our health and our home life for the sake of work. You know, that job that never turns off and always demands more and more of you especially on the road?

Paul knows he can improve his work life but also knows if he improved his health and home life, his work would immediately improve as well.

As Paul and I unpacked this conversation, we found his biggest struggle was his mindset of his road life. He viewed the road for all that he couldn’t do:

  • It’s a challenge to eat healthy on the road
  • It’s hard to sleep in a hotel
  • I don’t have time to get in a good workout or a workout at all for that matter when I travel
  • I check in with the fam back home when I can but things get busy

… and on and on and on.

If you were to join my conversation with Paul, this is what you would hear…

 

Six Habits to Leverage a New Year as a Road Warrior

The first thing I told Paul was to view the road differently. Instead of what he can’t do, look for what the road will enable you to do then leverage it.

In other words, change his mindset of the road.

For example, his family doesn’t travel with him so he has his early mornings all to himself.

Paul creates his own travel schedule and does have some flexibility in when and how he travels, when and how he works.

Then we turned the corner to how to view certain habits, energy habits, through the lenses of not only work but also health and home life, the three focus areas of Elite Road Warrior.

The first three are physical energy habits:

Habit One – MOVE

 

Most of the time, the road does the moving for us. We’re just always sitting: to the airport, at the gate, on a plane, in a car, in a meeting, at a restaurant, then laying on a bed after a long day mindlessly surfing the tv or a device.

Most road warriors could make one simple change this new year and it would be to move more on the road.

But how?

 

Move leverages the Increase M4X Formula:

  • Stand More – think up on my feet not down on my butt
  • Walk More – think forward not still
  • Run More – think cardio and getting your heart rate up
  • Lift More – think strength training by using bodyweight, dumbbells, and resistance bands

Stand More – at the gate, on the plane, in a meeting, create a stand-up desk in the lobby, etc.

Walk More – take the stairs not the elevator, walk up the escalator, choose a higher floor at your hotel and take the stairs, park further in the parking lot, take a phone call on a walk.

Run More – actually use the treadmill or elliptical in the fitness center, try burpees in your hotel room, take an outside walk and turn it into a sprint for 30 seconds.

Lift More – actually use the dumbbells in the fitness center, do pushups and leg squats, bring resistance bands with you.

Key Concept: Movement Creates Energy

Challenge – choose one of the four Increase M4X this next month to focus on and master it for all its worth.

Do you need to stand more? Walk more? Run more? Lift more?

What would be the easiest for you to implement to get some quick wins?

What would challenge and push you to start the year with the energy habit of MOVE?

Resource – podcast episode #018 – How to Workout in a Hotel Room / #028 – MOVE and Posture with Dr. Keith Giaquinto

 

Habit Two – FUEL

One of the joys of the road is the amazing food and drink always at our fingertips.

I’ve eaten meals most people would die for. I’ve had a variety of foods that make your mouth water from local specialties to international cuisine. Kansas City barbecue, Seattle fish to Paella (pie-ay-a) in Spain.

There’s the Freshman 15 then the Travel 20.

But being the recovering over-achiever I earned the Entitled 40.

Aka: Heavyweight champion of the… road.

My food choices were as follows:

The easiest choice
The quickest choice
The tastiest choice
The largest choice

As a result, the weight gain and hating how I looked in the hotel room mirror – that guy followed me all over the country and showed up in every single hotel room mirror.

Something had to change.

Fuel encompasses the MTHC Formula: (Make the Healthiest Choice)

  • Continually Hydrate – adding more water into my road day
  • Clean & Green – cleaner foods and more greens with each meal
  • Carry a Controlled Substance – having healthy snacks always available

Continually Hydrate – drinking water 1st thing in the morning, drink more water throughout the day especially on a flight, adding 1 glass of water with every alcoholic drink – I even developed and now use the Elite Road Warrior branded water bottle on the road

Clean & Green – less ingredients, less sugar, cleaner meats, more greens in your meals

Carry a Controlled Substance – having healthy snack options available to you at all times to always MTHC – I chose to bring an actual snack bag with me

Key Concept: Food is Fuel and Fuel is Energy

Challenge – choose one of the three in the MTHC Formula to focus on this new year

Do you need to add more water to your day? Could you eat more clean and green? Can you start carrying healthy snack options with you?

What would be the easiest for you to implement to get some quick wins?

What would challenge and push you to start the year with the energy habit of FUEL?

Resource – podcast episode #043 – Five Decisions You Must Make at Every Restaurant on the Road / #037 – Why You Must Carry a Lunch Box to Work on the Road

 

Habit Three – REST

If there was one habit that I neglected the most for the longest time, it was rest. Who has time to sleep on the road?

Sleep was completely optional to me.

I didn’t like it and felt it was a waste of time.

It just didn’t matter to me.

 

I was the guy who:

  • Had dinner with my laptop lover then took her up for a nightcap
  • Had every possible light and screen on
  • Went to bed way too late binge-watching and falling asleep with the TV on
  • Woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and felt like I had swallowed a dozen cotton balls
  • Woke up feeling sharp as a bowling ball
  • Never took a break and came home absolutely exhausted useless to my family and work

The Problem: I viewed rest as the enemy not as my biggest performance enhancer on the road

Rest encompasses the Strategic Resting Formula:

  • Sleep – Improve Than Increase
  • Breaks – Move the Body, Rest the Mind
  • Downtime – Time to Be, NOT to Be On

Sleep – having a bedtime ritual and a set bedtime, keeping your room cool, completely dark, using blue-blocker glasses, Bose sleep buds, Dep Sleepwear, bedtime meditations all to improve my sleep before ever even increasing my sleep

Breaks – taking micro-breaks that lasts seconds, mini-breaks that last a couple of minutes, macro breaks that take 15-30 minutes all with the goal of stretching, going for a walk, getting some water, going to the bathroom, meditating, anything to move the body and rest the mind

Downtime – finding your Road Thing that brings you energy whether going to a ballgame, being a tourist in the city, going to BN or a coffee shop just to read, etc.

Key Concept: Rest Creates Energy

Challenge – choose one of the three in the Strategic Resting Formula to focus on this new year

Do you need to have a clearer bedtime and evening routine? Do you start taking a break to move the body and rest the mind? Do you need to find your Road Thing to have some time just to be and not be on so you can ultimately be more productive?

What would be the easiest for you to implement to get some quick wins?

What would challenge and push you to start the year with the energy habit of REST?

Resource – podcast episode #035 – Why I Have a Sleep Kit and What Goes in It on the Road / #037 – Six Ways to Take an Energy-Giving Break on the Road

 

Now, we’ll focus on the three mental energy habits:

 

Habit Four – PERFORM

This is why you’re on the road – to perform. I truly believe most of us want to perform at a high level on the road.

But here’s the problem: we’re not willing to pay the price to perform at a high level.

We’re just so used to doing business as usual on the road and just getting by.

Or we compare ourselves to others and doing better than the other guy or girl but not our personal best. This was Paul’s go-to-move.

 

The key is being intentional so we can perform at an elite level.

Perform encompasses the Intentional Performance Formula:

  • Road Plan – is planning your day on paper, every part, and even finding the potential margins that may arise and what to do with them when they do appear
  • Block & Tackle – is focusing on one task for a set period of time
  • Energy Pacing – is knowing why and when your energy is low then how to pair tasks according to your energy

Road Plan – using a resource like the Full Focus Planner to think through your Big 3 of the Day, when you’ll have the gift or margins and an exact plan how to use that time

Block & Tackle – once you have a Time Block to work, spending, for example, 25 minutes to ONLY email and knowing which emails hold the most weight then attack them. Do the same concept for phone calls, CRM, proposals or quotes, etc.

Energy Pacing – actually look at your energy highs and lows through the day. When do they come? Do you need a break? Food? Movement? Change and work on a low energy task due to low energy? This change makes a huge difference for your performance on the road

Key Concept: High Performance Requires Intentionality

Challenge – choose one of the three in the Intentional Performance Formula

Do you need to create a road plan? Do you need two be more intentional with the margins that appear within your day? Do you need to focus on one task for a set period of time? Do you know to pay more attention to your energy so you can know how to pair your tasks accordingly?

What would be the easiest for you to implement to get some quick wins?

What would challenge and push you to start the year with the energy habit of PERFORM?

Resource – podcast episode #022 – How to be Productive in the Margins on the Road / #009 – One Change Every Business Traveler Must Make on the 1st Day of Every Trip

 

Habit Five – DEVELOP

If there is one habit that is often completely neglected on the road it would be professional and personal development.

How could there possibly be time to do anything but work especially time to read or learn?

But once we learn the margins of the road and become intentional about development, you’ll find more than enough time on any business trip to implement this critical energy habit to become an elite road warrior.

 

Develop encompasses the Invest in You Formula:

  • Sharpen the Mind – putting content in
  • Process the Thoughts – getting content out
  • Monitor the Heart – finding out how you’re REALLY doing

Sharpen the Mind – reading books, articles, or podcast with the intent to learn – possibly leverage the moment you find your seat on a plane until you reach 10K feet

Process the Thoughts – putting your thoughts on paper called Think Space into one central location

Monitor the Heart – taking time even 5-15 minutes to ask key questions to make sure your priorities and your heart are in the right place

Key Concept: Learning is Selfish and Something Only YOU Can Do

Challenge – Choose one of the three in the Invest in You Formula

Do you need to find a book to focus and read (like the Elite Road Warrior book for example)? Do you need to get a journal to write down your thoughts for Think Space and to Monitor the Heart?

I highly recommend the Elite Road Warrior Journal – black leather branded journal with two inserts, one to process the thoughts in the Think Space Journal side and one to monitor the heart in the Road Life Journal side. You can order the Elite Road Warrior Journal at www.EliteRoadWarrior.com .

What would be the easiest for you to implement to get some quick wins?
What would challenge and push you to start the year with the energy habit of DEVELOP?

Resource – podcast episode #041 – Eight Questions I Answer Every Morning on the Road / #040 – Why Personal Development is Important on the Road with Scott Mawdesley

 

Habit Six – CONNECT

For the longest time, my connect time with my family and friends back home was very narcissistic, meaning it revolved only around my schedule when it was best for me.

I rarely considered my family’s dinner time, homework time, sports practice, piano lessons, bedtime, just what worked for me.

I was busy os it was okay, right?

 

It consisted of only the following:

Text
Phone call
Video chat
Now, there’s nothing wrong with these three.

But it’s what I call the bare minimums to connect with those we love back home.

Nothing special and reactive.

Connect encompasses the Protect Connect Formula:

  • Connect Intentionally – on purpose
  • Connect Thoughtfully – reflective
  • Connect Creatively – memorable

Connect Intentionally – thinking outside of the reactive text, call or video chat and choosing a time and method to connect on purpose.

Connect Thoughtfully – pre-writing messages to send to people that will really mean something to them when they read the text, recording audio or video for your family to listen or watch over and over, leveraging the Not Forgotten Journal by taking two minutes to write down a memory, encouragement, challenge, speaking words of life into your significant other.

Connect Creatively – sending postcards to your kids from the city you’re in, leaving or sending Connect Cards for your kids to open, creating Flat Kiddos to take pictures of your locations such as your rental car, hotel, people you meet so your kids feel part of your trip, creating a map of the country and draw out where you’ll be on what days so your family knows where you are, having your kids do some research on your location for the trip .

Key Concept: Become a Connect-In Guy or a Connect-In Girl on the road

Challenge – Choose one of the three in the Protect Connect Formula

Do you need to become more intentional about how you connect with those you love back home? Do you need to schedule Think Space time to write meaningful words to others? How can you leverage the creative ideas suggested to begin to implement immediately?

You can order the Not Forgotten Journal, Connect Cards, and Flat Kiddos at www.EliteRoadWarrior.com

What would be the easiest for you to implement to get some quick wins?
What would challenge and push you to start the year with the energy habit of CONNECT?

Resource – podcast episode #029 – How I Shocked My Wife with the Not Forgotten Journal / #013 – Three Mindset Shifts to Stay Connected With Those Back Home

 

Let’s Land This Plane

Back to Paul’s story at the beginning of the episode… He wants to leverage the new year to make some changes not only in his work but also his health, and his home life.

These six energy habits are the basis of the Elite Road Warrior book and philosophy to master the business travel life.

I challenge, double-dog road warrior style dare you to choose one of the six habits and leverage the energy habit for all its worth to become an elite road warrior.

If you’re interested in listening to this article, check out Episode 051 of the Elite Road Warrior Podcast.