3 Travel Mistakes That Take You Out Of Business On The Road
If you are an entrepreneur who loves taking business to the next level every step of the way, you are traveling regularly to expand your horizon of success. But how are those trips working out for you for your energy levels, your physical wellbeing?
What was the cost of having a 2 day migraine or a nasty bronchitis after a long flight while being invited as a key note speaker?
Especially when you hit the road to attend 2 and 4 day seminars you invested in big time or to give an important speech, present your TED talk, you want to be on top of your game, feel full of energy to stay present, have a clear head to show up at your best for new partners or potential clients. How you feel is how you show up! But traveling can screw up your body's feel good in many ways.
Whenever I'm on the road, I love meeting up with experts in the area and talk about how they cope with the challenges they face when they are too busy to take care of themselves. During a 3 month stay in New York last year, every busy professional I talked to asked me the same question:
"How can I make healthy choices while I'm traveling? Why is it SO difficult to eat well as soon as I leave my home?"
This, and my personal fair share of traveling as an expert has taught me that almost every entrepreneur steps into the same mistakes as soon as they walk away from the comfort of their home into the outdoor jungle of temptations.
Here are the 3 main major mistakes that you may be making and that screw you up on the road (and when you get back home):
- Your mindset changes course before you even leave: you take off with the belief that it's too difficult to eat healthy while traveling. Have you noticed too: you're doing pretty well at home but as soon as a travel comes up, first thing that comes to your mind is: "Oh, it's only for a few days." Or: "I'm not gonna bother and just enjoy the specialties. I wanna enjoy life!" Or: "I won't be able to find what I need, so I'm just going to go with it. I'll get back on the wagon when I'm back." The mind is so sneaky when it comes to making excuses and change course when you see some bumps in the road ahead of you.
Can you relate to talking yourself out of your good intentions and habits? If yes, you also know that each time you take off with this mindset, you struggle making the healthy choices you normally make at home, you are giving in to every impulse and "enjoy life": the Italian pasta, German pastry, Belgian chocolates & waffles, French wine and cheese plus the colourful cocktails to wind down in the evening. I'm sure you have felt the results of enjoying life: exhaustion, hangovers, sluggishness, a foggy brain, headaches, nausea, diarrhoea.
Healthy traveling starts between your ears. What you tell yourself is what you believe. What you believe is how you make decisions, what you take action upon, what you do -or don't do-, resulting in how you feel and who you become during that travel.
My question to you is: How can you switch those sabotaging thoughts around so that they will support your smart decision maker while you're on the road and running into options you opted out of at home?
- You opt out of every healthy habit you practice at home. Non-ideal circumstances trigger non-ideal behaviour. "Too difficult." "Too much hassle." "I want to keep things easy." are only a few very common excuses I hear.
A few scenarios of what you may stop doing and that drains your energy in no time.
✗ You may have a solid proof green morning routine at home, but you skip it when you are staying in a hotel room with an extensive breakfast buffet.
✗ You may be a fervent gym, yoga or workout fan but once you start traveling, you stop exercising.
✗ You may have the habit of going to sleep at the same time every night, but out there hours run late every night because so much is happening.
Breaking with your healthy routine is a deal breaker for your energy, stamina and overall wellbeing. Good habits, no matter how small, add up. Leaving them out add up even more quickly because now, you are only indulging what you are not used to anymore: food groups that you cut out of your diet, foreign food, fast junk, more caffeine to stay in the loop of your activities and social engagements...
Especially when you have been crossing time zones, your healthy routine will help you to get back on track faster. Keep making that green smoothie, keep moving, have a calming walk or an activating run before you start your long day, keep your sleeping routine going to feel awake and alive in your new time zone.
You're winging it on the road. Most experts simply don't prepare for traveling. Of course, you have been washing and packing your finest clothes and shoes because you want to look sharp. But what good are neat clothes and hot shoes when you feel like crap?
What are you making/buying ahead of time to pick up your energy or to curve your cravings in a healthy way? Have you done any research to find out where you can have a healthy meal at your destiny? Did you download a few apps that remind you of doing the right things for yourself while you are on the go-go-go?
Being prepared for healthy traveling is key to being successful in your wellbeing. It's not just a one-time-thing: you may be flying very regularly to network, joint venture, speak or do book tours.
Not having time is a bad excuse to skip setting up a few systems that will help you to stay high on energy, to keep your body's systems intact. Just think of the times you got constipated or had to stay in your room with "tourista." How much precious time did that cost you?
Make it a system to prepare healthy alternatives you may crave while being away, to set up everything you need to support your vibrant lifestyle on the go.
Are you flying in your peeps to an offline setting? Do you want to avoid that your attendees are sneaking out with their attention during your events?
Hire me to help your audience get the energy they need to fully enjoy your event or program!
Or are you traveling soon for your business? You want to learn how to make healthy choices on the road and keep up your energy levels so that you can show up at your very best? Schedule a FREE session with me today to discuss your very specific challenges and unravel the specific mistakes you may be making.
