1
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,400
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:13,240
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to maintain a good work

4
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,360
Speaker 1: life balance if you travel for work. First, I have

5
00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:22,079
Speaker 1: to say that I'm not a huge fan of the

6
00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,840
Speaker 1: phrase work life balance. It implies that work and life

7
00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,640
Speaker 1: are on opposite sides of the scale, and for one

8
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,600
Speaker 1: to go up, the other has to go down. But

9
00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:33,440
Speaker 1: this misses the mark when you look at the whole

10
00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,840
Speaker 1: of time, work and high quality family or leisure time

11
00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:40,120
Speaker 1: are not the only things that people do. They do housework,

12
00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,760
Speaker 1: they watch TV, they surf the web. People could spend

13
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,559
Speaker 1: more time working and more time interacting with their families

14
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,120
Speaker 1: by chopping other things. Indeed, this is what happened on

15
00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:55,600
Speaker 1: a society wide level. Women, for instance, spend more hours

16
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,760
Speaker 1: working for pay now than they did in the nineteen sixties,

17
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,280
Speaker 1: and they also spend more time interacting with their children

18
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,280
Speaker 1: than they did in the nineteen sixties. How is this possible, Well,

19
00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:09,679
Speaker 1: they spend much less time on housework. That's where the

20
00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,559
Speaker 1: time opened up. But back to the issue of work

21
00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,000
Speaker 1: life balance and travel. Let's say that you do need

22
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,080
Speaker 1: to travel for work. Is it possible to maintain a

23
00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:22,800
Speaker 1: good home life and get some leisure time too, I

24
00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,440
Speaker 1: think it is. The first step is keeping your travel

25
00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,200
Speaker 1: in context. I find that even people who might say

26
00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:35,360
Speaker 1: they travel all the time seldom truly travel all the time.

27
00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,720
Speaker 1: For instance, looking at new consultants who might go to

28
00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 1: client sites Monday to Thursday most weeks, we might find

29
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,039
Speaker 1: that they spend three nights away from home about forty

30
00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,960
Speaker 1: weeks a year. That sounds like a lot, but it's

31
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,559
Speaker 1: a hundred twenty nights. There are three hundred sixty nights

32
00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,120
Speaker 1: in a year, So these people who might say they're

33
00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,560
Speaker 1: constantly traveling our home more than two thirds of the time.

34
00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 1: We've talked in previous episode is about how five pm

35
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:05,080
Speaker 1: Thursday is the midpoint of the week. So someone who

36
00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,840
Speaker 1: leaves at five am Monday morning and his home five

37
00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,960
Speaker 1: pm Thursday is only gone for half the time. It's

38
00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,680
Speaker 1: important to keep this in perspective, of course, regardless of

39
00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:17,919
Speaker 1: the math, if you are gone three nights a week

40
00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 1: on a regular basis, this can certainly feel like a

41
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,800
Speaker 1: lot of time on the road, both for you and

42
00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,080
Speaker 1: for your family, particularly if your partner is in charge

43
00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,200
Speaker 1: of dealing with young kids while you're gone, But there

44
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:30,880
Speaker 1: are a few things you can do to make your

45
00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,920
Speaker 1: life feel more balanced and your family's life feel better

46
00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,960
Speaker 1: as well. First, when you're on the road, build in

47
00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,560
Speaker 1: time for any personal pursuits you'd otherwise need kid coverage for.

48
00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:44,840
Speaker 1: If you're gone during the work week, your partner is

49
00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,680
Speaker 1: probably not going to be thrilled about you going to

50
00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,840
Speaker 1: the gym for a long session on Saturday, so don't go.

51
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:54,800
Speaker 1: Then go Monday night, and then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

52
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,200
Speaker 1: morning at your hotel. You've taken care of this, so

53
00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,840
Speaker 1: you can take over and send your spouse to the

54
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,840
Speaker 1: gym when you get back. Also, when you're on the road,

55
00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,120
Speaker 1: work the extra hours you're not around your family, so

56
00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,400
Speaker 1: there's less of an opportunity cost. This way, you can

57
00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 1: come home early from work on Friday and maybe Thursday too.

58
00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,960
Speaker 1: You can minimize any work on the weekends. You can

59
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,000
Speaker 1: also double up when you're home on family activities you

60
00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,720
Speaker 1: might have missed during the week. For instance, if you're traveling,

61
00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,040
Speaker 1: you're not doing family dinner, but why not get everyone

62
00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,720
Speaker 1: up for a family breakfast on Friday and do a

63
00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,920
Speaker 1: family brunch on Saturday, Adding two extra family meals on

64
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,720
Speaker 1: the weekend is the equivalent in meal totals of having

65
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:43,480
Speaker 1: been there for Tuesday and Wednesday dinner. Finally, you can

66
00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,080
Speaker 1: look for little ways to do what I call homing

67
00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:50,280
Speaker 1: from work. Plenty of people work from home, but homing

68
00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:54,400
Speaker 1: from work is the opposite doing little personal tasks during

69
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,160
Speaker 1: breaks or downtime. If you only do these tasks when

70
00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,000
Speaker 1: you're home, and you're gone from home half the time,

71
00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,320
Speaker 1: you'll have less time to relax and enjoy yourself. And

72
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,000
Speaker 1: while it might not be a great idea to do

73
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,040
Speaker 1: personal tasks during time that's truly work time. When you travel,

74
00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,480
Speaker 1: there's lots of gray area. If you've flow into California

75
00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,360
Speaker 1: from New York, use those early hours when you're up

76
00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,200
Speaker 1: but it's business hours on the East Coast to make

77
00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,520
Speaker 1: doctors and dentist appointments for yourself and anyone else you

78
00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,920
Speaker 1: need to do this for call an elderly relative during

79
00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,039
Speaker 1: a break during meetings, fill out camp forms and kid

80
00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,880
Speaker 1: year book orders and the like from your hotel room.

81
00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:34,760
Speaker 1: That way, when you get back, you can focus on

82
00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,560
Speaker 1: your family and not on all the little administrative tasks

83
00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,159
Speaker 1: of life. You'll feel more balanced, and that's a good thing.

84
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,920
Speaker 1: In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening and

85
00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:54,839
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

86
00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:57,159
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

87
00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,839
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

88
00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,280
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

89
00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:10,320
Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then breakfast p o D.

90
00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,000
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

91
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,480
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

92
00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,240
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

93
00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:28,480
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

94
00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,720
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

95
00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,760
Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

96
00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:37,880
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.