Articles

The Top 5 Ways to Fight Jet Lag

Rental Car Insurance - Take It or Decline It?

7 Tips For More Effective Business Meetings

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The Top 5 Ways to Fight Jet Lag

If international business travel is a regular part of your life, then you know that the number one issue you have to deal with is jet lag.  The world’s largest economies and markets are inconveniently located on opposite sides of the ocean.  If your company has intentions or relationships beyond your own backyard, then you need to spend time face-to-face with these folks.  Which means you have to figure out what to do about your brain being mush during normal waking hours.  I’ve tried everything you can think of, and after hundreds of trips I finally have come up with a system that works:

1.  Keep yourself well-hydrated on the flight over.  The inside of a flight cabin is one of the driest places you’ll ever encounter, and it’s important to keep up with the water every chance you get.  Otherwise you’ll have headaches and muscle aches that will make your jet lag just that much more miserable after you arrive.

2.  Stay awake the first day.  If you land sometime during the day (and it always seems like I arrive somewhere between 8 am and 3 pm), then do not go lie down and take a nap after you check-in to the hotel.  This will totally scramble your wake-sleep pattern and you’ll regret it later that night and the next day.  Instead, make yourself stay awake by taking a shower, going for a walk, doing some sightseeing, etc.  Use the buddy system if possible for support during weak moments.  Make yourself stay up until 9 pm.  It will be hard, but it’s worth it.  Then you’ve got a good shot at sleeping through the night and waking somewhat fresh the next day.

3.  Have an alcoholic drink with dinner or after dinner.  The hectic pace of travel and the unfamiliar surroundings and culture shock will all work to keep your head spinning. You’ll be keyed up for hours after you finally get some time to yourself, so give yourself permission to unwind a bit with a beer or cocktail.  It’s dehydrating, I know, but the benefit outweighs the risk here.  Just don’t overdo it.  And make sure you top off with water before you go to bed.

4.  Take an Ambien before you go to bed.  It’s guaranteed to put you down and keep you down for a good 5-6 hours.  If you don’t take something like this, then your body clock will work against you and you’ll be wide awake at 2 am and unable to get back to sleep.  This is a prescription medicine, so you’ll have to see a doctor first (which is good, because I’m not a doctor and you need a medical professional to tell you this is ok for you).  Please don’t cheat and bum some off someone else.

5.  Drink caffeine whenever you need it during the day.  You know your own tolerance for caffeine, so don’t go nuts with this.  But at the same time, don’t feel like you need to be strict with yourself either.  If you’re head is getting fuzzy, reach for the coffee, tea, or cola and get that little boost.  Even if it’s 3 pm and you normally don’t have caffeine at that time, go for it anyway.  When the urge to sleep hits you in the much-too-warm conference room filled with high-ranking guests, the bigger sin is to nod off and embarrass everybody. 

Sometimes you’ll hear advice about eating specific kinds of foods, or taking melatonin, or getting light to shine on you at certain times.  Been there, done that, doesn’t work.  I’m not saying it won’t work for you, but these are things that I just can’t recommend.  Try the routine I’ve outlined above.  You won’t be performing at the top of your game, but you’ll be functional and effective, which is the best you can hope for on your overseas business trips

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Rental Car Insurance - Take it Or Decline It?

Remember the last time you drove a rental car in a snow storm? How your anxiety level ratcheted up with the iced over windshield, treacherous roads, and blowing snow reducing visibility to zero? You're in an unfamiliar vehicle, so what would happen if you don't judge the brakes right or if you underestimate the responsiveness of the steering? It's times like this that you wonder if you should have taken the rental car company up on their insurance offer.

Undoubtedly, having your approach to this kind of insurance sorted out before you arrive at your destination is the preferred way to travel - one less worry and headache to deal with. And one less risk to your financial well-being. Don't leave this important question an unsolved mystery as you stare blankly at the customer service rep at the counter and she asks you again if you want the coverage or not. The good news is that you probably can say "no thanks" because you are covered already. Here's how you find out for sure:

1.  Check with your auto insurance company. Your policy will likely cover you if you are driving a rental car in the same country as your policy is based. If you are traveling abroad, then you may or may not have coverage - you need to check. The big insurance companies usually have partner programs in place with certain rental car companies, too. This is a good deal because not only can you get a substantial discount with the rental car company, but you can get extended coverage due to the agreements negotiated between the insurance company and their partners.

2.  Check with your credit card company. If you rent a car using their credit card, then the credit card company will often have a rental car coverage clause in the fine print. It's worth 10 minutes of poring through it to save some bucks and uncertainty at the counter. To qualify for the coverage the credit card company will usually instruct you to decline the rental car agency's insurance. The benefits of the credit card's insurance are pretty good (coverage on deductibles from your primary insurance, physical damage to the vehicle, theft of the vehicle), but there usually is a long list of things not covered, too (like SUVs, trucks, and theft of personal items). You need to understand what you're getting and what your not, so print this out or copy it and keep it with your travel items.

3.  Check with your employer. If you're traveling on business, your employers will typically have insurance that covers their employees who drive on company business. Check with Finance or HR to see if you should take the insurance from the rental car company or decline it. Your company will usually have a policy in place already about how to handle this.

In the unlikely event that you don't have coverage from one of these angles, then yes, take the rental car coverage. But it should be a last resort.

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7 Tips For More Effective Business Meetings

How often have you run into this when you are running a meeting?

• No shows or late shows.
• Chatter, gossip, joke-telling - - in general not paying attention.
• Laptops open and attendees typing away on who knows what.
• Cell phones going off and folks stepping out of the meeting to take the call.
• Boredom and lack of participation.
• Ultimately no decisions or action items.

I could keep going and easily make the list of annoying meeting habits a dozen or more. But you get the idea. You invite people to a meeting to get input and make an important business decision, but instead it turns into a complete waste of time. I've run hundreds of meetings and there are a handful of techniques that work to keep the time-wasters and disappointment at bay:

1.  Send out an agenda ahead of time that clearly outlines the purpose, the issues, and the expected outcome.  

2.  In the agenda make it clear (in big, bold, attention-grabbing letters) what homework or materials need to be brought to the meeting. Then follow-up with another email a day or two before the meeting reminding them to have their stuff done and ready. This is baby-sitting, I know, but you've got to compete for your participants' time outside the meeting effectively.

3.  Start the meeting on time. Don't cater to those who show up late or not at all. Press ahead and make the decision without them.

4.  Establish ground rules at the start. "No laptops open", "all cell phones off or on silent", "anyone who is expecting an urgent call let me know now", "only one conversation at a time", and "don't interrupt one another" are some key ground rules that make a world of difference.

5.  End the meeting on time. If you didn't accomplish what you wanted, then you need to have another meeting. It's vital that you respect your participants' time as much as you expect them to respect yours. Otherwise they won't come to your next meeting.

6.  Review the action items and decisions at the end of the meeting. You don't want ambiguity and non-commitment to keep your action plan from moving forward.

7.  Send out notes immediately after the meeting. While it's still fresh you need to capture key decisions and action items with due dates and who owns them. It helps to keep your participants accountable and you can re-use it to follow up and get a status report.

These are techniques that I had to learn the hard way over the years. It's not comprehensive (there are entire books and courses dedicated to this stuff), but there are some good nuggets in this list that will make an immediate impact.