Ways to Achieve a Healthy Work/Life Balance as a Business Traveler
Reading Time: 6 minutes No matter how much you love your job, some aspects of it can make it worthwhile, while others add stress to your everyday life and disrupt your lifestyle. It’s one thing to come to the office according to a schedule and handle your tasks in a productive environment without interruptions, and it’s something entirely different to travel across the world and maintain your productivity.
Aside from completing your work-related tasks, you also want to stay healthy, fit, and resilient even on the go. That means getting plenty of exercises, sleeping on a consistent schedule, and eating nutritious meals – but how possible is that when you’re at an airport, stuck between meetings, and eager to just take a bath?
Truth be told, there’s no one flawless recipe to handle business travel, even when you don’t need to deal with flying to different time zones or when you’re only visiting for a couple of days during a conference. The level of complexity of your travel itinerary will define what strategies you’ll need to prepare for your next business trip, and they’ll differ from one traveler to another.
With that in mind, we can go over a few tried and tested business travel tips that aim to help you restore your work/life balance while you’re on the go. Plus, these can help you make the most of your time when you’re at home so that your productivity and your health can both flourish!
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Find a stress outlet
Sometimes, the weather won’t be as friendly as you hope, and you’ll be greeted by rain or fog when you come to your new destination. Then again, visiting a hectic city such as New York, compared to your office, can elevate your stress levels no matter the sunshine or the hospitality levels at your hotel.
To make sure you reduce your stress, you need to find an outlet that you can enjoy anywhere, at any time, and that will help you preserve your resilience. One great example is mindfulness meditation which you can introduce into your routine every single day, for just a few minutes, and still, feel the difference.
There are many health tracking apps, including the ones that keep an eye on your meditation routine, which you can use to make sure you’re doing your best to de-stress when you’re on the go.
Choose your accommodation wisely
Visiting a new destination is extremely exciting, but it can also become intensely stressful if you don’t plan your trip well. One key aspect of traveling with your wellbeing in mind is selecting the kind of accommodation that comes with all the amenities you need, and that is in a great, safe, work-friendly location.
This has become especially relevant in fast-developing and densely-populated regions such as Hong Kong, where business travelers rush to make new deals, meet with clients, and impress their new target demographic. Settling in a well-equipped service apartment in Hong Kong can make all the difference for a business traveler who has specific requirements when visiting this beehive of a city.
With access to reliable transportation, good food, fitness activities, and a few interesting sightseeing spots, you can certainly make your stay far more enjoyable and balance your needs with ease. This is especially vital for travelers who need to stay for longer stretches of time, so choose your accommodation wisely, since changing it for a better option is rarely an option in these crowded metropolises.
Stick to a pre-designed routine
Do you normally exercise in the morning in order to maintain your anaerobic endurance? Do you always spend some time talking with your family on Thursday evenings? Or, do you keep an eye on your calories and meal-prep? If these are part of your lifestyle, you should do your best to keep up the good work while you’re traveling for business.
Although some routines don’t travel well, you can do your best to adjust your existing preferences to meet your health and fitness needs during business trips. For example, you can create a bodyweight routine that you can introduce several times per week when you don’t have access to a gym or a park where you can jog.
The same applies to your other routines, be it your skincare, your relationships, and communication with your loved ones, or your eating habits. What you cannot bring with you, try to adapt to your travel itinerary, to make time for keeping in touch with people you care about and tend to your nutrition needs to be based on what the local healthy eateries have to offer.
Don’t forget to hydrate
When you’re on the road too many hours in a day, or fly very frequently, you likely tend to neglect your hydration needs. Much like many other travelers, business travelers focus on getting some sleep and always bringing their finest suit to the conference. As important as those habits are, you also need to make sure you drink plenty of water for as long as you travel.
The humidity levels in certain destinations, the hours you spend on the go, and the time you spend working all combine into quite a stressful endeavor for your body and your mind.
Since your brain and your body need optimal water intake to function, you should always bring your insulated water bottle with you and keep it filled up. You’ll avoid headaches, dehydration, and drops in your immune system that often occur when you don’t hydrate.
Clear your schedule for some exploring
Business travel shouldn’t be limited to just sitting in meetings and wooing new potential clients. The purpose of your business trip will always be to be productive, but that doesn’t mean that every minute of every day should be all about work and no play.
If you take a look at your office hours, you should spend no more than eight hours every day at work, isn’t that right? Then how is it possible for so many eager business travelers to spend significantly more time working while they’re on a business trip?
Although most of the time your work-related tasks during travel won’t take up the exact slice of time they do at the office, you can certainly manage to work out a reasonable schedule that factors in some exploration, too. After all, this can be beneficial for your work performance if you get to know the local culture and customs and make an effort to immerse yourself better.
So, in addition to scheduling your meetings, seminars, and other work-related tasks, you should consider adding a few touristy activities that will bring you pleasure and help you reduce stress.
It all comes down to refining your routine one trip at a time. You’ll find yourself enjoying some destinations more than others, which will also affect how you perceive the entire adventure and it will mold your behavior. In the meantime, by preparing for each trip with these tips, you will give yourself the chance to ensure the optimal balance of work and health for every journey that lies ahead.
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