How to Work Smart While Travelling

There are millions of obstacles when you're trying to work while travelling, but you shouldn't let that stop you. Seeing different parts can open up an entire world of possibilities and break the dull everyday routine that you are currently use too. Not everyone will get the chance to travel while still working productively, but thanks to the web, it has allowed for some amazing tools that are making it a lot easier to manage.

I've had the opportunity to travel to a lot of various places for trade-shows and other meetings, while still being expected to do all my daily tasks. At first it was hard to find a balance and with all the complications, I was getting overwhelmed but the more I did it the better I got. Here are some of the tips that will make your life a lot easier without having to learn from trial and error like I did.

1.) Find Reliable Internet Access

This is one of the most important on the list! It is not enough to just have Internet, it has to be reliable. Try to find great internet at the hotel your staying at, it will make your life a lot easier and dig deep, go online and read reviews to see what people say about the internet. If their isn't any, call and ask the manager of the hotel about the reliability, tell them it is real important to you and they will be honest. Remember reliability is more important then speed, although you still need it fast enough to be productive.

2.) Plan Out Your Schedule in Full Detail

Before leaving, plan out your priorities for that entire week based on importance. Plan out how you are going to schedule your day to be productive, and enjoy the new location. Remember it is all about working smart! Set goals each day on what important tasks you want to accomplish, and stick to it.

3.) Work Extra Before Leaving

If you know you have something due mid week next week while your travelling, try to finish it that weekend or work over time during the week before you leave. The more you get out of the way before you go on the trip, the more relaxed you will be and the easier it will be to manage. This one has helped me have a lot more free time during my trips.

4.) Use a Business Collaboration Tool

It is really beneficial to have a business portal where you can access all your projects/tasks and have real time updates on what is going on within your organization. This has saved me a lot of time and struggles. Being able to access all the projects that have been assigned to me with all the related files in the same place, through anywhere there is internet... is amazing.

5.) Get Use to Improvising

The main reason your learning all this is because you want to get out of the same old schedule and have amazing experiences, so improvising is going to have to become your friend! Nothing usually works out 100% like you intend it to but learn to go with it and improvise, some people get nervous or filled with fear (Read my last blog post to help with overcoming fear...) but instead you should be excited and passionate, unpredictability is an awesome part of life, you never know who you will meet, what places you'll go or what situation you'll get into. The more you focus on the positivity within each situation, the better it'll go for you.

If you incorporate all this in your next travel/work experience I can guarantee it will be a lot easier for you to manage and enjoy the trip. One last thing; don't have expectations, go to the location with a blank mind and an open heart to truly enjoy the experience, no matter what happens.
 

Happy travelling!

How to Become a Successful Mentor

“Mentoring” and “being mentored” are just fancy terms for teaching and learning. In general, your most valuable lessons from work came from a boss or a colleague.

One of the main drivers in every human being is this: when people take an interest in us we thrive. The mentoring manager takes an interest in his or her people.

Mentoring taps on energy, ideas, motivation and productivity.

Nobody excels without a coach or a mentor – for example, you might become a good athlete but to become an Olympic athlete you have to be mentored by a coach.

An excellent Manager is not only a Manager that brings knowledge and experience but also a person who Manages his people, mentors them.  After all, business is still about people.

How to become a Mentoring Manager?

• Teach people the 80/20 principle.
• Be available for open communication. Mentoring is a 80/20 activity because it has a big positive impact & provides great results compared to the effort put into it.  Mentoring is not a time consuming activity it is rather a non-planned effort of open communication.
• Get everyone under your supervision to mentor their people –  it will bring exponential results in performance.  Rate their performance based on the performance of the people that work under them.
• Believe it or not praising an employee’s good performance is a form of mentoring – always recognize the positives of your employees.  On the other hand, always offer positive advice on how to eliminate negative performance by providing positive advice (mentoring) – positive being here the key word.
• Mentoring is not a chore or part of a checklist, it’s about caring. The way to great mentoring is to care about your people.
• Pick up on the signals people send out when they need your advice, care and guidance.  Mentoring is about communicating the right things at the right time.  Go for quality over quantity.
• Listen and listen carefully.  The best mentors are those who listen.

Mentoring and being mentored is one of the most satisfying and rewarding activities.

How to Use Leverage to Multiply Your Efforts

A lever, a device that has the power to multiply the effectiveness of your input allowing you to achieve extraordinary results through ordinary effort.

A Leverage Manager can use different levers for great results:

Caring:

Caring generates its own energy since it’s closely related to meaning. The question is, how much do you care about you work and your company?  The more you care the greater the results you can generate.

Confidence:

Confidence has the power to generate passion which provides the opportunity that would otherwise seem impossible. Confidence is a leverage for success.

Ideas:

Every business starts with an idea and every idea can be improved. Businesses come and go since only the best ideas survive in the market. The trick is to identify the 80/20 ideas

Decisions:

Only decisive people succeed, the indecisive ones never do.  As a Leverage Manager focus on taking crucial decisions and delegate the trivial ones.

Trust:

The only way to become a great manager is if you have the trust of your boss and you trust your own team members.  Trust is an absolute prerequisite of efficiency.

People:

If you want to attract the best customers surround yourself with the best people (staff)