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www.www.worldexecutivesdigest.com | 7 Essential Tips for Working on the Road | You can still keep up your productivity even when you’re quenching your wanderlust. You just need to embrace this guide to working on the road.
Every year, Americans take more than 400 million business trips. The average business traveler tends to take somewhere between 12 and 14 trips per year, and they spend anywhere from four to six nights away from home on each of their business adventures.
It’s very important for those who do a lot of traveling for work to master the art of working on the road. It’s not always easy to work and travel at the same time, especially when someone is constantly flying all over the country and, in some cases, the world.
But it is possible for people to continue working while traveling without experiencing too many interruptions. They just have to familiarize themselves with the best ways to work on the road.
Here are seven essential tips for working on the road that all business travelers should commit to memory.
- Equip Yourself With the Tools You’ll Need to Work While Traveling
Working while traveling is going to be difficult to do if you don’t have the right tools on you as you travel. You should invest in all the equipment you’ll need to get your work done from anywhere in the country or world.
You should have a laptop bag that contains everything you’ll need to go about working on the road. This bag should have these things inside of it:
- Laptop
- Hard drive
- Headphones
- Various chargers
Your smartphone will obviously be a must as well. You should have a way to keep it charged up at all times.
- Set Up Defined Spaces to Sit Down and Work While You Travel
There are, unfortunately, going to be times when “working on the road” will mean sitting in an airport terminal typing away on your laptop. There is no getting around that.
But for the most part, you should be able to set up defined spaces that are designed to help you work. You can, for example, turn the desk in the hotel room that you’re staying at for business into a workspace.
After you spend an hour or two at the desk, it’ll start to feel like you’re back at your desk in the office. You’ll be able to get into a nice rhythm while working on the road when you have a space like this.
- Plan Ahead and Figure out What Work You’ll Need to Do as You Travel
Are there things that you know you’re going to have to do for work while you’re traveling? You should plan ahead and find the time to do them rather than waiting until the last minute to figure it all out.
Prior to your next work trip, create a schedule for yourself that includes due dates for the things that will need to get done while you’re away. It’ll keep you on track and ensure that things don’t slip through the cracks.
- Stay in Contact With Coworkers Back at Your Office as You Work and Travel
When you’re out catching flights, checking in and out of hotels, and living the good life on the road, it’s easy to lose touch with your coworkers back at the office. As a result, you might miss important updates on projects that you’re working on.
Make it your mission to stay in contact with your coworkers as often as you can. Check in by phone and/or email at least once or twice a day and ask them to reach out to you if there are any changes in the office you should know about.
- Learn How to Access Your Computer Back at Your Office Remotely
Do you find that you’re always asking your coworkers to jump on your computer back at the office to pull a file or a document off of it for you? It would be nice if there was a way you could access your computer remotely to do this yourself, wouldn’t it?
There actually is a way to do it, and it’s not hard at all to do. With Remote Desktop Mac computers can be accessed from anywhere you want in an instant.
It’ll prevent you from having to bug your coworkers about grabbing something for you off your computer. It’ll also prevent you from having to wait to get access to something on your office computer when no one is around to help you.
- Write Down Any Passwords You’ll Need to Have While Traveling and Working
These days, you need a password to log into just about everything. The second you sit down at your computer, you’re entering a password for one thing or another.
If you don’t have a hard copy of all the passwords you use on a regular basis while traveling, it’s a good idea to change that. Working on the road will be impossible if you aren’t able to get into certain equipment or programs because of password issues.
- Take Some Time for Yourself
Traveling and working go hand-in-hand for many business travelers. They will often spend more time working when they’re out on the road than they do when they’re in the office because they aren’t able to achieve any work-life balance.
It’s good to be focused on your work while traveling. But it’s not good to go overboard and spend your entire business trip glued to your laptop and phone.
One of the perks of taking business trips is that it allows you to explore new places. Take advantage of this by putting your laptop and phone away every now and then so that you can see what a new city has to offer.
Understand That Working on the Road Will Be Challenging at Times
There are many challenges that you’ll face when working on the road that you wouldn’t face if you didn’t have to travel for work. It sort of just comes with the territory.
Steer clear of driving yourself crazy by acknowledging the challenges that you face and refusing to let them keep you down. By using the tips found here, you can work and travel at the same time and do it more effectively than you would be able to do it otherwise.
Browse our blog for more tips that will help make all of your business trips successful.
