Hi, greetings. It’s Pat Mussieux here, from life on the road. I wanted to share with you some of my success habits and some of the tips, because I’ve been on the road for about 10 days now. I’m on the road for a month, this trip, and while I’m posting photos, I’m getting comments, questions and feedback about life on the road, and particularly, life on the other side of the country when you’re on the road for a month. So I wanted to break it down for you and share with you, as I always do, on three tracks, three ideas for how I do this and keep the energy up, stay focused, keep the business going, and also be present at the same time.

I want to talk to you on three things: the personal approach, the professional approach, and the organizational approach. Now, organizationally, one of the reasons I am on the road for a month is because I have work commitments on the West Coast, but they didn’t all fall chronologically, day after day. If I didn’t schedule it this way, it would have meant being on the west coast, going back to the East Coast, coming back to the west coast, going back to the East Coast. That’s not efficient when it comes to time zones and adjusting. It’s not efficient with being on airplanes. It takes a day to travel either way. That’s just not efficient use of my time and energy. 

My decision, right at the get-go, as I saw this coming together, was to make sure that I just planned it all out, took charge, took control, and created this month on the road the way I wanted it to be. The other benefit to that is when I travel, I have a phenomenal neighbor, Mike, who I call my house manager. He’s retired. When I leave for a period of a month, then he gets a list from me. It’s kind of like having a husband, but not really. He gets a list and I get all my house renovations, repairs, upkeep, and all of that done by Mike, right next door, while I’m away, so I know my house is in good hands too, and who wants to live through that stuff while it’s happening?

That’s a bit operational and technical. Let me talk to you about the personal side of things. Travel can be demanding these days. It can be like wear and tear on the body. Again, I focus on my five things when I’m on the road, and as long as I’m present, conscious and stay with these five things when I’m on the road, I do good, I feel good, I look good. 

The first one is sleep. I always manage to get at minimum, six to eight hours sleep at night, if not more, but for sure around the eight-hour mark. It doesn’t matter what time zone I’m in; I’m present. I go to bed at 10. That’s it. Then I’m up at six or seven, depending on the day. Sleep is number one. Hydration, I’ve always, always, always got water near me and I hydrate constantly, especially when I travel. That’s critically important. 

Nutrition is important. In fact, I just had my snack here because I was hungry. I always have my nutrition with me. I just had half of a protein bar. I travel that way. I have my shakes with me, my supplements, my protein bars, especially when I’m traveling during a meal period, so I don’t succumb to some of the crappy food in the airports. I’ve got the sleep, the hydration, the nutrition. 

Exercise is absolutely critical. I told you on an earlier Facebook post that the running shoes, the jump rope, and the workout clothes are always the first to go into the suitcase. Here’s what I do though to keep it fresh and interesting when I travel. I always look at different types of classes or activities that I can get involved in, and so right now, as I’m in this particular location, I went to a whole different yoga class yesterday. Oh my gosh, I thought I was in good shape, and this instructor was 71 years old. Very inspiring. Then I went to a new type of yoga Pilates. It was called the Bar Method exercise. I’m always trying different things, but I also get in my 10,000 steps a day. 

The last piece, and how I end my day, is with meditation. That’s what really lulls me into a great sleep. That and the fresh air. That’s on the personal side of things, and I always make sure I’m having fun. Listen, if I’m not having fun, then this is not worth doing. Fun is a key element. It’s probably my five tips plus one bonus.

All right, professionally, people ask me how I keep it together. This is with respect to me as a career professional, as a speaker, as an author, as a business coach. I set up a schedule. It’s just that simple. When I’m in my home office I have a schedule, when I’m on the road I have a schedule, and so I set up a schedule and I sit down and I stay focused, and I get my work done. Sure, like you, I have my phone with me on the road, but it’s not glued to my hip. It’s not. My work is not life or death, and so I make a point of setting up a schedule.

The other key thing is there is an out of office message on my email, so people know, the general public know when they write an email, they get a message that I’m away, but here’s who and how to contact in my absence. My clients always know how to get a hold of me, so I am available to them, because this is not a vacation. It is a working trip. Make sure you have a professional out of office message on, and I mean professional, not just a one-liner. Take a look at that in in your own instance. 

Then I have my schedule. I have my work schedule, when I sit down and I get work done, no matter where I am, and then if I’m in some exotic place, like right now I’m in Sonoma County, I’m not working all day, every day. Are you kidding me? This is like paradise. I focus. When I’m working, I’m working, when I go play, I play, and when I exercise, I exercise. Learn to be in the moment. Learn to be in the present, and stay focused and put your timer on, because all of you know that is how I get things done. 

The other piece to it is organizational. Under that piece, I wanted to add some safety tips because I’m often asked about travel as a single, professional woman; what do I do? I have really focused on this a lot since my very best friend, a few months ago, who also travels, was away from home, in a hotel room, and it turns out that she was having a major headache and was having a brain bleed. We’ve had conversations about this since her incident, so here’s what I do, and these are some special tips for you. Nobody talks about this. 

When I go to a hotel, or even when I’m staying at a colleague’s place, I always make sure, first thing, to tell them where my emergency contact information is. That will be where my passport is located, where my health card is located, and the name and number of my brother, who is my emergency contact. Whether I’m staying with a friend, a relative, or I’m in a hotel, I will tell them at the front desk that I am traveling alone and, should something happen, and you have to come into my room and something has happened, that’s where my emergency contact information is. I know that this is a life-saving tip for many of you, and we don’t hear people talking about it, so I wanted to be sure to share that with you. 

I’ve told you about the house manager, I’ve told you about the travel insurance – because I’m out of the country, so it’s really important that whoever you’re with knows where your travel insurance information is, and then of course, I have a phenomenal team. What can I say? Without my team, I would be working all the time. I have a phenomenal team. Denise keeps it all together in the bigger picture and Cheryl is right there, just giving her all, as always, and Susan is doing a phenomenal job in coaching with the clients, and I have set up some Skype meetings with my clients in South Africa, etc., but for the most part, I will tell you, my team does a phenomenal job. If you think you can do all this by yourself and be on the road for a month, you’re crazy. You cannot. Everything from my house manager through to my housekeeper, through to my team, it takes a village. 

So there you go. That’s what life on the road is like for me. That’s how I stay happy, healthy, focused, wealthy, keep the business going, but also it fills my heart and I go to beautiful places, and I’ve worked hard to create this. When you’re looking at my photos, follow me on Facebook. There’s really great stuff coming up. But then you’ll see it’s like #watchme #Icreatedthis. I love my life. You can create this too, if it is something that you want. 

Thanks for being with me. Stay tuned. I’ll be back again with more business building tips, and like today, sometimes on a holistic basis. Thanks for being here. Bye everyone.