Robert Jackson
-

Although I have a couple of different topics concerning the life of someone who travels frequently for work that I wanted to write about this week, my mind and heart are filled with thoughts and concerns for a good friend and his new baby girl. I've been waiting for weeks to get a status on his new baby girl, and this morning I heard that since her birth Monday night, she's been in the intensive care unit. As soon as I read the update, my heart began to ache, and my eyes started to tear. Now, I'm not the most sensitive person in the world, but the thought of my friend's baby girl struggling for her life just rips me apart.

Throughout our travels, we get the opportunity to meet more people than imaginable. Some people we would love to call a friend and see every day, and some we hope to never see again! Years ago (not that many years), it was easy to travel, work with customers or vendors, and bid farewell, never to see them again. However, in the days of LinkedIn and Facebook, the ability to maintain contact with a one-time introduction becomes as easy as catching up on the day's news.

We've all done it. Waking up before the crack of dawn, at a time when, not long since, we would be just leaving the clubs and bars. Jump into a hot or cold shower (or alternate) to try to wash the sleep out of our eyes. Walking outside, we take a quick glance at the stars that we so rarely get to see, before we take a seat inside the car, and start wondering how we'll make it back to the driveway that night. Day trips certainly are not fun, but they have seemed to become a necessity for improving productivity ... or have they?

Prepping for a day trip isn't unlike any other trip. Confirm the itinerary, check-in online, review tasks and meetings planned for the day, etc. After spending a full day at work, we go home, visit the family, and perform our typical nightly routine, If we're lucky, we get to sleep slightly sooner than usual, but nothing seems to help with that early wake up call.