WEBVTT - Travel and work/life balance

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about how to maintain a good work

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<v Speaker 1>life balance if you travel for work. First, I have

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<v Speaker 1>to say that I'm not a huge fan of the

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<v Speaker 1>phrase work life balance. It implies that work and life

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<v Speaker 1>are on opposite sides of the scale, and for one

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<v Speaker 1>to go up, the other has to go down. But

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<v Speaker 1>this misses the mark when you look at the whole

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<v Speaker 1>of time, work and high quality family or leisure time

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<v Speaker 1>are not the only things that people do. They do housework,

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<v Speaker 1>they watch TV, they surf the web. People could spend

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<v Speaker 1>more time working and more time interacting with their families

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<v Speaker 1>by chopping other things. Indeed, this is what happened on

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<v Speaker 1>a society wide level. Women, for instance, spend more hours

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<v Speaker 1>working for pay now than they did in the nineteen sixties,

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<v Speaker 1>and they also spend more time interacting with their children

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<v Speaker 1>than they did in the nineteen sixties. How is this possible, Well,

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<v Speaker 1>they spend much less time on housework. That's where the

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<v Speaker 1>time opened up. But back to the issue of work

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<v Speaker 1>life balance and travel. Let's say that you do need

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<v Speaker 1>to travel for work. Is it possible to maintain a

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<v Speaker 1>good home life and get some leisure time too, I

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<v Speaker 1>think it is. The first step is keeping your travel

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<v Speaker 1>in context. I find that even people who might say

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<v Speaker 1>they travel all the time seldom truly travel all the time.

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<v Speaker 1>For instance, looking at new consultants who might go to

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<v Speaker 1>client sites Monday to Thursday most weeks, we might find

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<v Speaker 1>that they spend three nights away from home about forty

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<v Speaker 1>weeks a year. That sounds like a lot, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred twenty nights. There are three hundred sixty nights

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<v Speaker 1>in a year, So these people who might say they're

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<v Speaker 1>constantly traveling our home more than two thirds of the time.

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<v Speaker 1>We've talked in previous episode is about how five pm

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<v Speaker 1>Thursday is the midpoint of the week. So someone who

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<v Speaker 1>leaves at five am Monday morning and his home five

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<v Speaker 1>pm Thursday is only gone for half the time. It's

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<v Speaker 1>important to keep this in perspective, of course, regardless of

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<v Speaker 1>the math, if you are gone three nights a week

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<v Speaker 1>on a regular basis, this can certainly feel like a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of time on the road, both for you and

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<v Speaker 1>for your family, particularly if your partner is in charge

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<v Speaker 1>of dealing with young kids while you're gone, But there

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<v Speaker 1>are a few things you can do to make your

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<v Speaker 1>life feel more balanced and your family's life feel better

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<v Speaker 1>as well. First, when you're on the road, build in

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<v Speaker 1>time for any personal pursuits you'd otherwise need kid coverage for.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're gone during the work week, your partner is

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<v Speaker 1>probably not going to be thrilled about you going to

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<v Speaker 1>the gym for a long session on Saturday, so don't go.

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<v Speaker 1>Then go Monday night, and then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

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<v Speaker 1>morning at your hotel. You've taken care of this, so

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<v Speaker 1>you can take over and send your spouse to the

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<v Speaker 1>gym when you get back. Also, when you're on the road,

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<v Speaker 1>work the extra hours you're not around your family, so

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<v Speaker 1>there's less of an opportunity cost. This way, you can

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<v Speaker 1>come home early from work on Friday and maybe Thursday too.

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<v Speaker 1>You can minimize any work on the weekends. You can

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<v Speaker 1>also double up when you're home on family activities you

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<v Speaker 1>might have missed during the week. For instance, if you're traveling,

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<v Speaker 1>you're not doing family dinner, but why not get everyone

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<v Speaker 1>up for a family breakfast on Friday and do a

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<v Speaker 1>family brunch on Saturday, Adding two extra family meals on

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<v Speaker 1>the weekend is the equivalent in meal totals of having

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<v Speaker 1>been there for Tuesday and Wednesday dinner. Finally, you can

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<v Speaker 1>look for little ways to do what I call homing

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<v Speaker 1>from work. Plenty of people work from home, but homing

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<v Speaker 1>from work is the opposite doing little personal tasks during

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<v Speaker 1>breaks or downtime. If you only do these tasks when

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<v Speaker 1>you're home, and you're gone from home half the time,

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<v Speaker 1>you'll have less time to relax and enjoy yourself. And

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<v Speaker 1>while it might not be a great idea to do

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<v Speaker 1>personal tasks during time that's truly work time. When you travel,

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<v Speaker 1>there's lots of gray area. If you've flow into California

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<v Speaker 1>from New York, use those early hours when you're up

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<v Speaker 1>but it's business hours on the East Coast to make

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<v Speaker 1>doctors and dentist appointments for yourself and anyone else you

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<v Speaker 1>need to do this for call an elderly relative during

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<v Speaker 1>a break during meetings, fill out camp forms and kid

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<v Speaker 1>year book orders and the like from your hotel room.

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<v Speaker 1>That way, when you get back, you can focus on

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<v Speaker 1>your family and not on all the little administrative tasks

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<v Speaker 1>of life. You'll feel more balanced, and that's a good thing.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

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<v Speaker 1>That's b E the number four, then breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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