Road Productivity

I’m in kind of a hot streak of travel. Between Open events and speaking, 2014 is off to a rather busy start.

It’s a mixed blessing for me.

• I love what I’m doing. It’s fun to be at a place where you can pick and chose what you want to do instead of just having to take what you can get.
• I really like to travel. Visiting new places and meeting new people is fun for me.
• It’s tough on everyone at home when I’m not home. Kristen has to do way more stuff and that’s not 100% fair to her.
• It’s tough on me when I’m not home. While it’s not debilitating, I’m constantly aware of not being home and helping Kristen… it’s really just homesickness. I love being home with my family!

But one real and actual problem with being gone right now is my struggle with productivity while traveling. I should be able to get more stuff done than I am able to get done.

See, whether it’s hosting an event or speaking at a school– I’ve still got a full load of things that need to get done each day, each week, and special projects to boot.

At home, I have routines for managing forcing productivity. And I know I can always pull a late night session to catch-up.

But there are several factors which cut that productivity way down.

1. I don’t sleep well in hotels. Different beds, different noises, forced heating/cooling. I get on the road and I just turn into someone who tosses and turns. It drives me crazy. The longer the trip, the bigger the sleep deficit, and the more I need to recover when I get home.
2. I want to be fully present where I am. If I’m speaking at a school or a church or hosting an event I want to be there for that thing. If someone has “paid for” my whole day, I’m agreeing that they are the most important thing of my day and that means I’m not good about slipping away for 2-3 hours to work on other stuff.
3. Traveling can be tiring, in and of itself. It seems like sitting on a plane for 5-6 hours shouldn’t leave you tired. But it does. Then when you land you have to find your rental car, somehow navigate a place you’ve never been, get to your destination, dealing with human stuff, like eating, checking in at a hotel, etc. That leaves me tired. (But unable to sleep.) So I’ll end up laying around and not being productive… which leads to the compounding reality that you should be getting more done!
4. Traveling is hard for a creative to find space. It feels like the act of traveling should be more productive than it is. So I’m sometimes able to get something done on a plane or in the airport… but so much of what I do requires me to be in a creative space. So if I have 15-30-45 minutes to “work” it can take me more than that to get locked in on a design task. (I can’t just sit down and start creating. That’s just not how creativity works for me.)

I share all of this not for empathy or looking for solutions. But I share this because it’s a struggle. 

Trying to get where I need to be and keeping on top of the things I need to do is a battle I feel like I constantly lose. I get home, exhausted. And I get home desperate to catch-up with my family and my to-do list.

There’s no place like home.

And with that, it’s time for another trip to the airport. 

Home sweet, home today.

Amen and hallelujah.