Each Trip Is Two-One For The Company, One For You

This chapter is based on a few assumptions. It assumes you want to succeed, to master the skills and develop the attitudes necessary to do well in your job, and to enjoy your involvement in it. It also assumes that you want to enjoy your travel opportunities.

If you devote all your time traveling to work, you become exhausted and resentful. If you emphasize recreation to the detriment of your work, your boss becomes exhausted and resentful. That's why this chapter and the next concentrate on interweaving work and play in your life as a successful PT.

Traveling is stressful. You face constant changes in schedules, novel foods, new people, and visual stimuli that are both entertaining and exhausting. Under the added stress of the demands of a challenging job, a dedicated PT could disintegrate into a classic case of burnout.



On the Job Burnout

Jamie Cole's employer installed small computer systems at government installations around the United States. Jamie explained the training methodology to managers who selected the system, collected policies to incorporate into the standard training package, and then trained a handful of operators at each location. Because of the job's varied duties, each installation required Jamie to make several trips to each customer site. In addition to the excitement of a challenging job, Jamie felt that multiple trips to one location provided an opportunity to get to know each area. But within a couple of months, his enthusiasm waned. What happened?

Jamie became entangled in the process of getting the job done rather than the work itself, and was unable to fully experience the opportunity to travel. In addition, his inexperience as a PT caused travel-related problems that further ate into his time. At the end of a training day he might be rushing to a phone to resolve an expense report problem, for example, or be returning immediately to his hotel to sleep off a difference in time zones.

What seemed like a total inability to enjoy the situation prompted Jamie to offer to resign when the program was only three months old. Fortunately, Jamie's boss had seen this before. She was unwilling to lose a valuable employee unless there was no possible hope of solving the problem, and arranged for another trainer to take on Jamie's project for a while. He stayed at headquarters and worked there on projects that needed attention.

The stay-at-home responsibilities seemed perfect for about four weeks. Then Jamie recognized the stirrings of cabin fever; the perfect solution was not so perfect after all. Convinced that someone knew how to resolve his perplexing problem, Jamie initiated a research project. Much of what he learned about mixing business and pleasure from his boss, friends, coworkers, and books is contained in the following pages.

Cultivate curiosity

Having an inquisitive interest in new people, places and things is easy. There is nothing like the excitement of a new, unfamiliar object or situation begging to be explored. It is addictive, a motivating force for many PTs. Over time, though, all jobs offer sameness, too. When an enjoyable work situation reaches that stage, maintaining a high level of intensity becomes difficult. The same is true for recreational situations. You can take a few steps, though, to help you through this period:

• Give developing a positive attitude as much priority as you give learning a particular skill.
  

Jessie Kuhlman, a training specialist, needed a positive attitude before she traveled to a small mid-western city for two weeks of training seminars. Coworkers who had spent time there teased her about the lack of recreational activities, and she began to feel the trip a burden. The date arrived and on the first day of the seminars Jessie took an early-morning jog down Main Street. Only one store, a small cafe, was open. Since quite a few cars were parked outside it, she decided she'd breakfast there after her run rather than return to the hotel dining room. She never regretted it nor her two-week stay.

She remained a stranger in the cafe for only one day. On succeeding visits the regulars began to include her in their conversations. In the course of her stay, the city girl learned the vagaries of the farming business, discovered high school basketball was an emotional sport that could turn a town inside out, and enjoyed Sunday dinner at the home of a local grain elevator owner. A negative attitude would have denied Jessie the opportunity to broaden her understanding of the world around her.

• Set performance goals to match your standards of success.
  

Working toward success is a prime motivator. Make the effort to smooth out the rough spots in the repetitive portions of your job. Meet your employer's definition of successful task completion, but add your own criteria if it takes more to make you feel you have succeeded.

Gina Waterman always received accolades from her co-workers for the completeness of the information she gathered while performing site surveys for her company, which built rooms for computers with special environmental needs. Although the information she gathered was good, Gina noticed that the task of interpreting her data was time-consuming for her co-workers because of the confusing layout of the forms she filled out. Over time Gina redesigned the form, making it easier to read and to include special information such as sketches to explain situations that words couldn't adequately address. Redesigning the form didn't change Gina's job, but it did allow her to submit work she felt more accurately addressed the requirements of the position.

• Explore the disciplines that border your job specialty.
  

Yo will  expand your understanding of your job and demonstrate a broad understanding of how your company does business.

A major part of Kitty Simmons's job was keying into the computer the data base she collected from each customer. Although she loved visiting customers, keying in the data seemed to be unnecessarily tiresome. She began to realize that the design of the system console she used, which consisted of a keyboard and a screen, contributed to making her task harder. The keys didn't respond well to her touch and the screen couldn't be adjusted to suit her line of vision. As a form of self-preservation, Kitty researched the basics of keyboard design and discovered the field of ergonomics, which seeks to enable people to work better with machines. Kitty influenced the selection of better suited system consoles for other installations and began to like using them as much as contacting customers.

Minimize distractions

When you travel for a company, you have two goals: Accomplish the trip's objective and enjoy yourself in the process. All other requirements should be handled with those two objectives in mind.

For example, you have to submit expense report forms for each trip you take. You can do this with little fuss or can turn each expense report into a vortex of lost receipts, self-recrimination, and wasted time. One method suits your objectives; the other distracts you from them.

Home-related issues that affect your productivity and pleasure on the road arise when you travel. If you prepare for them now and order them to fit into your personal value system, they'll be easier to resolve should a problem arise when you're on the road.

• When you travel, things that you normally do to keep your home running  smoothly do not happen unless you arrange for them to be done.
  

You're the only one who can place a priority on the things you do for your family, friends, pets, plants, and yourself when you're at home. If any home activity looms large enough in your mind to cause you worry while you're on the road, include it on a master checklist to run down before you leave. Take care of the worry before you go. No amount of preparation offers a painless prescription for dealing with the varied crises of human relationships, but it makes no sense to carry worrisome mental baggage. Take care of a problem to the best of your ability and then let it go.

Joyce Lipschutz is a training manager for Northern Telecom. She and her staff of trainers travel about the United States and Canada developing and delivering training programs for telephone users and switchboard operators. Conversation about her job and family overflows with an intense involvement in both parts of her life. She is extremely aware of time; she strives to meet deadlines imposed by family and work so that unforeseen events won't disarrange the schedule.

Joyce and her husband John have two children in their early teens. When the children were little, both Joyce and John traveled in their work, sometimes simultaneously. Now only Joyce travels. Surprisingly, Joyce says it was easier when the children were small. "When they were very young, we could hire a sitter to spend the night," she says. "I knew they would always be in the same place." Now that they're older, the kids play soccer, football, take dancing lessons, and swim competitively. Their active schedules require car pools to get them where they need to be. Gone is Joyce's comfort of knowing where they are at all times.

That may account for the "guilt cloud" that she says she sometimes moves under as she prepares for a trip. The guilt may be followed by resenting having to travel. But both disappear when she's settled on the plane.

Joyce and her husband seek outside advice for dealing with a demanding two-career lifestyle that has resulted in satisfying jobs, well-adjusted children, and a home they enjoy. She subscribed to "Working Mother" magazine when her children were young, and more recently she and her husband met a couple with similar concerns to learn how they handle their problems.

Joyce's preparation for a trip includes surveying the laundry and making sure the food in the house is easy to prepare as well as meeting the nutritional demands of the growing young athletes. (Joyce says this is easier with the advent of frozen meals that are heavy on vegetables, light on fillers.) Then she and her husband run through a list of the children's upcoming activities to make sure all car pool responsibilities are covered. She posts her travel itinerary on the refrigerator, but if she forgets, her family members can call her secretary to find her.

Despite conflicting emotions at times, Joyce likes her life. "I get a thrill out of being independent when I'm on a trip. I don't have a boss, don't have a husband. No one who's supposed to look after me is there. I'm on my own." These feelings parallel those expressed by Jackie Zehring in "A Futurist Abroad" in chapter 4 and echoed by Nancy McNaughton in "Independence Produces Films," in chapter 7.

If she needs time alone on the road, she makes it. Work might be followed by an extended bubble bath accompanied by a glass of wine, or, a luxurious activity for a working mother, an evening spent watching television. If she chooses, she is more social. Her favorite group situation is trade shows, where she gets reacquainted with people throughout the company. Joyce finds repeated trips to the same location to be the most fun. On first visits, she does touristy things; on repeated visits, she links up with the new friends she's made.

Joyce believes healthy discussion about the way she and her family live is essential. She feels open communication about the current state of her family explains why her traveling has become part of their lifestyle. "When I started, if someone had told me that it was not going to be 100 percent glamorous, I would have pooh-poohed that advice. It's not, but I wouldn't trade it."

• Expense reports are a fact of life for PTs.
  

A company requires a day-by-day accounting of the way you spend its money. In "Independence Produces Films," Nancy McNaughton says expense reports are a major part of her job. They could also be for you. If you travel for weeks at a time, company policy may dictate that you mail your expense reports on a regular basis. If you travel for a few days, you're expected to submit your expense report soon after returning.

Procrastination means a delay in receiving reimbursement you might be due for spending your own money on company business. Try the envelope approach: Clean your pockets, wallet, and briefcase of receipts at the end of each day on the road and place them in one envelope. Many people use the envelope for airline tickets. On the flight home, all receipts are in one place and, using the forms you thoughtfully tossed in your briefcase before you left, you can quickly file the report while in flight, and submit it your first day back.

• Your health is as important on the road as it is at home.
  

Feeling ill while traveling is a pitiful fate. Take care of yourself. Don't feel compelled to eat and drink too much just because you can put it on an expense report. Consider taking vitamins if you don't already. Keep a small package of prescription drugs at hand. Have spare eyeglasses and contact lenses ready to go as well. Being sick while you're traveling means being sick without the comforts of home. Neither chicken soup nor rest in bed are available to help you pull through. All the precautions you follow to stay healthy are worth it.

If you're headed overseas, be sure you have all the necessary vaccinations for the country you visit. (Get a second opinion; there can be side effects.) Know the benefits of the company health insurance policy as they apply to domestic and overseas travel. Investigate medical assistance companies (similar to insurance companies, but providing emergency medical care and cash advances) for supplemental coverage for medical emergencies in other countries.

• Apply for your passport well in advance of your trip.
  

It takes a minimum of six weeks to get a passport. Even if you're not planning a trip overseas now, get your passport. If you have a passport but its validation date is expired, get it replaced. You never know when your company's business will require it.

• Pack light.
  

As a PT, you gain status and lessen confusion by carrying bags on and off the plane and avoiding the time consuming wait at the luggage carousel. You also avoid any excess baggage fees that the airline may impose. Jackie Zehring says a checklist on her closet door, and her color-coordinated wardrobe, including a set of jewelry accessories that complement her favorite traveling outfits are two reasons why she can pack for anywhere in the world within two hours. The extra effort spent preparing for any trip makes each particular trip that much easier.

Keep a small tote filled with a permanent collection of sample-size toiletries, medicines, and spare eyeglasses or contact lenses and never entrust it to the airline baggage handlers. Pack a collapsible bag with your clothing if you think you'll be bringing items home with you. Make sure that you pack a pair of tried-and-true walking shoes. Take nothing that is irreplaceable. If you're embarking on a one-week business trip with more than a flat hanging wardrobe bag, a carry-on bag, and a briefcase, you've packed too much.

• Request your advance money with enough forethought to avoid a last-minute delay when you're leaving for the airport.
  

If you're going to another country, convert some of your advance money into their currency before your departure. You'll need it for tips and cab fares when you arrive.

Work hard, play hard. Work and play are not opposites. Each requires concentration and each provides pleasure through success. The mental shifts and differing physical activity required by each allow you to alternate between the two and recharge for both. Because everyone acknowledges the rewards of hard work, hard play, whether a nap on the sofa or a game of racquetball, can provoke as much guilt (for not working) as it does recreation.

Billie Goforth Kissinger (see later in this chapter) was horribly homesick when she went to work in Japan. Even though her work was challenging, if she hadn't learned how to play-to socialize with new friends, to travel whenever she could, she could have been miserable for a long time. But Billie did play as hard as she worked. In the process she gained professional and personal confidence, characteristics that continue to serve her in her career as a counselor.

When you travel, you need to play as much as you need to work. The intensity level while working and traveling is very high. Determined to accomplish your objectives, you do so without the support systems normally provided by the home office: typing, copying, easy access to your boss for guidance. Your work may also include social activities such as extended meals with customers. When you can play, take advantage of it.

Playing, of course, includes anything that isn't work: Sightseeing tours, plays, restaurants, walking tours, sports, concerts, or simply chatting with your co-workers about the day's events. If you're with a group, arranging play activities comes naturally.

A PT traveling alone, though, may feel uncomfortable going out and spend too much time in a hotel room. The first few times you go out on your own may be difficult, but you'll find the effort well worth it. What you do and see is yours, colored by viewpoints of others only if you want them to be. This is especially true if you've relied on travel professionals to winnow the good from the bad, only to find they were wrong.

Many PTs enjoy solo travel as a time of reflection and solitude. This is especially true of PTs who between work and home have little time to themselves. They may do nothing or engage in thought-provoking activities like visiting museums. Most of us need a degree of solitude, and traveling alone provides it.

Enjoy yourself while on your own, but take the same precautions as when traveling alone in your home town. Talk to the hotel staff about unsafe areas of town. If you're without a rental car, ask them whether to take mass transit or a cab. Mastering public transit provides a great deal of mobility at low cost, but a taxi makes you feel safer after dark.

Sometimes you arrive early enough in the day to have fun, but feel exhausted. You convince yourself that a meal from room service and a quick shower is as much playing as you're going to do. If that's all you can do, make the most of it. Give your play time as much significance as your work time.

• Elevate room service meals to a dining experience.
  

Lay out the tableware and covered dishes with the same attention to detail you would provide for a friend eating at your house. Turn on soft music on the radio. Savor every mouthful. If a room service meal is abysmal, though, and couldn't be elevated to the basement of a greasy spoon, write a postcard to someone close. Describe the meal and your elaborate efforts to enjoy it in the funniest terms you can think of. The meal won't improve, but you'll feel better and the recipient will enjoy a good laugh and think you're very thoughtful to send such a witty postcard. And you won't have allowed one unfortunate incident to color your whole trip.

• Read books about the areas you are visiting.
  

Enlist the help of your librarian. Don't confine yourself to travelogues and histories produced by well-meaning genealogical societies. A good novel about an area's first settlers can be entertaining and give you a sense of the forces that shaped the community. In addition, reading a pertinent book after your visit is as enlightening as a pre-trip one.

• Get enough sleep.
  

Try rising early to eat at a restaurant outside the hotel. Small restaurants patronized by locals frequently provide good food, insight into their issues of concern, and an overall feel for the area's personality.

• Always buy a local newspaper.
  

It's the source of entertainment news (movies, concerts, parades, church socials, rodeos, etc.), editorials, and letters to the editor. All point the way to having fun.

Sometimes your trip is a losing proposition. Your work doesn't go well. You have no time to look around. The weather is so miserable you don't want to anyway.

Look on the bright side. Remember that you are probably building credit on any of a number of frequent traveler bonus programs. Airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies have them. When you use their services, you earn credit. As you travel a great deal anyhow, you are automatically earning prizes like free trips to Europe or reduced hotel costs for your next trip. When everything else about a trip is bad news, take comfort in this knowledge.

Second wind. Athletes argue whether a second wind, the renewal of energy and endurance in the midst of great effort, is psychological or physical. The distinction is not as important as the effect, which empowers fatigued athletes to even greater effort and ultimately victory.

After a period of intense concentration on work-related activities, your ability to continue despite exhaustion may seem nil. Notwithstanding your desire to complete the job to your satisfaction, getting away from the problem for a time helps renew your focus on work and find solutions that eluded you before.

You must wait for a second wind, especially when you are a PT. Your schedule and job are more demanding than most and your opportunities to see the world are greater than most. With these claims on your abilities and interests, rationing the demands for your time to avoid exhaustion and maintain your energy level is the hallmark of the successful PT.

Alternate work with recreation while you're on the road, using one to create a second wind for the other.

For the most part the hours you work are predetermined. Recreation is up to you. When the demands of work tempt you to exclude other activities, take some of the following actions to help you regain balance. You'll be more content and more valuable to your employer.

• Regularly use any of the workout facilities (swimming pool, jogging track, racquetball court, weight room) the hotel offers.
  

Fees associated with these services sometimes seem expensive until you compare them to the cost of buying a few drinks in the hotel bar. Then it becomes easier to set priorities that ensure you'll enjoy your trip.

• Ask the hotel for a suggested walking/jogging path around the city.
  

Many hotels have them, you just have to ask. A. C. Forden proudly claims to have jogged in every city she's visited, even overseas. She says it's better than a tour , jogging help really getting to know a place. Her most recent jogging tour started at her hotel in Washington, D.C., crossed the Potomac River, wound past the famous monuments, and brought her back to her hotel about two hours later. She loved it.

"If s like the first time you see anything famous," she says. "At first I was disappointed by the very human dimensions. Then I began to feel the majesty of it all. Finally, by the time I got back to the hotel, I felt I was extremely lucky to have been born in a country whose founders had such foresight."

• Use the "first visit free" invitation offered by many exercise studios and gyms.
  

This practice is especially helpful when you're staying in a town for a brief period. You get a workout without paying a large membership fee. You also discover through conversation and bulletin boards other hot spots for local recreation.

• Call a local athletic apparel store.
  

The people who work there will be able to tell you if any "fun runs" are being held. If the distance is one you can handle comfortably, jog along. If not, go as a spectator. Many runs are held in conjunction with festivals that frequently include carnivals and craft booths. These festivals attract large numbers of people, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to make new friends.

• As you work, take occasional rest breaks with deep breathing and stretching at various times throughout the day.
  

This is especially helpful when you're dealing with jet lag. As noted in "A Futurist Abroad," in chapter 4, jet lag is stressful. If you treat your body gently, you'll get over the jet lag sooner and will  be able to enjoy both work and play.

Enjoying life is essential to your success as a PT. With a positive outlook and concentration on both work and play, you'll maintain good health and positively glow in the light of personal fulfillment.

Taking That First Step- Laura Green

"I just had to get out of Missoula and see what it was like on the other side of those mountains!"

Laura turned down a scholarship in Home Economics and refused to go to school in her home town. Her father couldn't understand it. "Why can't you stay here?" he asked her. What she felt he was really asking her was, "Why won't you let me hang onto you to another four years?"

The answer to the "why" in her father's question was that Laura thought life at home was just too safe and comfortable. Even when the family went to San Francisco or Mexico City, the spirit of adventure it kindled was soon dampened by her father's cautions. "My dad was always there, watching and making sure that we went to the right places and did the right thing. I never had that time to myself to just take off. If I saw some place out of the corner of my eye that I might want to explore, I couldn't."

It cost money, however, to see what was on the other side of the mountains. "I really couldn't afford to travel," she says. "Without a job that would take me traveling, there was no way I was going to see the world." So she investigated the most obvious choice for a young lady who wanted to travel-the airlines. The job of Flight Attendant turned out to be amazingly well-suited to Laura's personality. "I used to just love to wait on people. I had three brothers, and I did all the cooking and cleaning, and I always thought the best job for me would be one where I could wait on people. I enjoy it."

She took a position with United Airlines, and headed away from home. Ironically, the freedom frightened her. "When I started working for the airlines, I thought I was going to go to all these places, do all these things, and have fun, but it didn't work out that way. At night, we usually flew in to places about midnight and the other girls would go out for a few hours, but I wouldn't. I'd be too afraid. I took my embroidery and I crocheted. The first time we went to Japan and Thailand, I couldn't leave my hotel room, I was so scared! I was only twenty years old when I first started with the airlines, and that's young. It's a good career for an older girl because a more secure person can enjoy the opportunities much more than a very young one."

Laura does not feel she was naive, however. As a native of a small city, she feels she actually had an advantage in sizing people up because she'd always been around sincere people. "So many people run through your life in a month that they reveal themselves to you much more than they think they do. If you're with someone on a flight for three or four hours, talking to them quite a bit, you can pretty well tell whether or not they're sincere. With just two exceptions, it was easy for me to 'pick up' on people."

Laura today is a far cry from the timid woman who stayed in her hotel room crocheting. She is a lovely young woman who stands tall with self-assurance. She's becoming quite successful in the sales field and using her well-honed ability to meet new people every day and make them feel comfortable. She isn't traveling now, but ifs obvious that her time spent on the "other side of the mountains" has added much to her life in terms of maturity.

Opening Exciting Vistas Billie Goforth Kissinger

Attractive and independent, Billie Kissinger is an accomplished and self-assured elementary school counselor. Now in her middle thirties, she will tell you that this description of her did not fit the uncertain woman who more or less backed into a job in Japan ten years ago.

Pre-Japan Billie was an overprotected home girl who never strayed far from the small town of Lancaster, ten miles south of Dallas. Even during her college years at Baylor University, traditionally a breaking-away time, Billie went home weekends. When she started teaching after graduation, she roomed with three other women because acquiring a place of her own never entered her mind. When she walked into a workshop for teachers in the summer of 1971, she "hadn't been anywhere or done anything," by her own assessment.

During the workshop, however, she met a "military brat" who had lived all over the world, and they became friends. When Billie's new buddy told her she was applying for a teaching job overseas, Billie decided she would, too. She was at a point in her life where she needed to evaluate an uncertain relationship, and felt leaving the country in the company of a friend could provide both a necessary change of environment and an element of security. So Billie filled out an application with the Department of Defense. She was twenty-seven years old, but was still clinging to home. "My parents were not thrilled," she says now. "They couldn't believe I'd go through with it."

The application was followed by an interview. Then a letter arrived saying she had twenty-four hours to decide if she would take an assignment in Japan. Since her friend had withdrawn her application in order to get married, Billie's first reaction was despair. Peer pressure turned her around. "My roommate told me I'd be stupid if I didn't go. I didn't want to be stupid, so I went." Billie's parents didn't go to the airport because the break was too difficult.

Her assignment took her to Misawa, Japan, a small farming community similar to her home town in its small size, but thanks to official government holidays Billie had many opportunities to visit the exotic cities of Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The crushing homesickness of her first few weeks gave way to excitement and great enjoyment, and she learned to meet challenges both on and off the job.

"I was hired to do a job done previously by two men, which really gave me confidence in my counseling. I think I also conquered the language barrier in a rather creative manner on one occasion." She fondly remembers that particular time, during the Cherry Blossom Festival at a nearby town. She was approached by a Japanese gentleman who wanted to talk with her but was unable to speak English. Billie indicated that she couldn't speak Japanese. They pondered the problem. Somehow-she still can't put her finger on the precise magic involved-they discovered a common bond in the Spanish language! The sight of an American woman and Japanese gentleman standing and conversing excitedly in Spanish together must have amused bystanders.

Billie says she returned much more sure of what she wanted to do. "Number one, I came back knowing that, in regard to the relationship, I could do just fine without it." Number two, Billie realized that the beautiful things she'd purchased in Japan would look best in a place of her own. For the woman who had always lived with other people, this was a big change.

Billie did not consider herself a rigid, prejudiced person before going overseas, but she does feel that working with people from Montana, New England, and Kansas-areas far from Texas-gave her an opportunity to befriend people she might never have known otherwise.

Her new group of friends had lifestyles radically different from her own. Motorcycles, homosexuality, and interracial marriages presented new colors in a life spectrum that she grew to accept without judgment. "It's made me a lot more accepting of things that I see here now, and it doesn't seem to bother me as it does some people. If they're neat people and good people, and interesting to be around, that's what is important." And she'll argue for that point of view. Formerly non assertive, she now says, "I think I almost thrive on disagreeing with intolerant people." The same woman who left for Japan? NOWAY.