Many CEO’s and business leaders travel more than once a month if not per week. Travel disrupts your daily health and fitness routines and can have a major effect on your energy levels and performance during the meetings that count. This article we take a look at some effective ways to improve your travel habits.
Long days at meetings, super-sized cooked servings at the breakfast buffet, late nights networking with clients, flight delays and stressful negotiations are all common ingredients for a fusion style recipe for mental and physical fatigue. You wake up feeling frustrated, fatigued and fat, when you need to be delivering you’re A-game.
#1 Energy Boost
Start the day with some exercise to boost your energy levels and clear the mind. Just 15-20 minutes of exercise is all you need to trigger your metabolism and the hormones vital to increased productivity and mental focus.
#2 Schedule Exercise
Plan your flight schedule so you can either exercise prior to departure or on arrival. If you are strapped for time, you can integrate some pre-reading, for meetings later in the day, while you are on the stationary bike.
#3 Fitness Hotel
Choose a hotel that has a gym, a fitness centre nearby or is next to a park that you can run in. I have always used my mornings to go for a run to check out the local sites, get a feel for the city and breath (depending which city) in some fresh air.
#4 Group Training
If you need the extra motivation of training with other people, then try and locate accommodation that has group fitness classes or a fitness centre nearby. You can use Google to locate a personal trainer for a one-on-one or a group session. It is also a great way to meet new people.
#5 Self-Contained
Look for a hotel or apartment style accommodation that has it’s own kitchen where you can prepare your breakfast and even dinners when not out networking. This allows you to prepare your own healthy meals that are similar to what you would routinely eat when at home. You may even want to try taking your own portable blender to create healthy smoothies or food options.
#6 One Buffet
Start with the fresh fruit section at the breakfast buffet and choose the same serving size, as you would eat at home. An effective tip is to make it a habit to only go to the breakfast buffet once.
#7 Avoid Stimulants
Take a drink bottle with you to meetings and avoid extra cups of coffee or hot chocolate. If offered a hot drink you could choose a herbal tea instead of stimulant or sugar based hot drink that causes greater fluctuations in energy levels.
#8 Water 1st
Aim to avoid eating all the candy’s, nuts and cakes delivered by the secretary. If there is tempting food options available for snacks, then try taking a couple of gulps of water first and see if you are really hungry or dehydration is starting to set-in.
#9 Get Outdoors
Where possible arrange a lunchtime excursion, where you need to walk to a restaurant or café to eat rather than the hotel restaurant. You could also consider a walking meeting to an iconic location and back instead of sitting in a hotel lobby or at the bar. That extra bit of exercise helps both your physical and mental energy for the afternoon meetings.
#10 Free Your Mind
Find some time to clear your mind through scheduling in some non-meeting and networking time during each day. You can use it to de-clutter the mind of constant meeting and make sense of what has been discussed, do some yoga or meditation, call your family or you can even take an afternoon nap.
Eating healthy, staying fit and getting adequate mental recovering while travelling wont happen by accident. You are in control, so make sure you plan ahead and ensure the schedule is conducive to delivering peak performance in both a work and personal capacity.
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