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Travel is for Salesmen, Executives...and Creatives?!?

I've been traveling quite a lot for work recently. I find travel of any sort, even for work, exciting, but it can be incredibly draining. New time zones, getting up before dawn to catch a plane, and those dreaded red-eye flights all can wreak havoc on one's internal rhythms and one's ability to focus and be productive. As a creative professional, I've found the greatest challenge in business travel to be staying creative when out of my usual routine.

Like many creatives, I am not natively the most organized person. I am easily distracted (which I am increasingly convinced is a typical creative person's curse), my mind wanders a lot (in many directions, and quickly), and I can be preoccupied at times. None of which are very helpful in being on time, being organized, or maintaining razor-sharp focus.

I am not a seasoned "road warrior," nor am I a hardcore GTD nerd, but when you need to travel thousands of miles and be in front of a client tossing out creative ideas the next day, it's critical to stay organized and to conserve one's limited mental capacity for creative work. I've been using a few simple tricks to keep myself fresh and focused...here are my own personal Road Rules.

Road Rule 1: One Carry-On Only.

I'm the type to leave expensive things sitting around, and it's only through the goodness of human nature that I've not lost cameras, cell phones, and worse. Keeping everything I need in one single bag, for me, is a critical simplification...especially since I never spend more than three days on a given trip.

My messenger bag is my new best friend when it comes to flying. It holds as much as a backpack, is soft-sided, and is quite comfortable to wear. Being soft sided, as opposed to the dreaded rollerboard style of luggage, it can be crammed almost anywhere, so it's very unlikely I'll have to check it as luggage on an overbooked flight.

The goal here is simplicity: you take one bag when you leave, you gather one bag after your flight, you grab one back out of the taxi. I've just found that this removes one more worry - leaving a bag behind - while traveling.

Road Rule 2: Everything Gets Its Own Bag.

Some interior organization is crucial when traveling with a 2,000-cubic-inch black hole.

I have a separate slim laptop sleeve for my mobile computer, a power cable, my notebook, and a magazine if I have to wait anywhere. I have a small black mesh bag for my iPod accessories, and another for my smartphone accessories. I have another bag for socks and underwear. Yet another bag has snacks. Another bag has just the bare minimum of toiletries (all hotels have lotion, shampoo and conditioner: don't pack any!). All these bags are mesh or see-through plastic so I can identify them easily (and airport security personnel can evaluate them quickly, in case you are chosen for screening); placing colored plastic tape around the bags' grabloops is also a good trick for quick identification.

Clothes need some special attention. I've found that using flat packing aids are a great boon for short business trips. They allow clothes to be folded neatly, compressed heavily, and still arrive only slightly wrinkled. Having your clothes in a broad, flat envelope makes messenger-style bags more comfortable to wear.

Does packing effectively increase creativity? Not directly. But it's one tiny little step towards conserving mental energy. Every momentary "Where is it?!?" freakout I can save myself reduces stress and frees the mind to do more important things.

Road Rule 3: Develop a Routine.

One-day trips are the worst; they usually mean early starts, late returns, and a full day of activity in between. But on multiday trips, establishing a routine has helped me tremendously. Get up at the same time, every day. If there's a gym in the hotel, get down there and get the blood pumping (even a stroll around the block will get you moving, if the neighborhood allows it...I've stayed in places that definitely did not invite outside strolls). Don't drink too heavily; it'll just mess up your sleep patterns.

If you need to do focused work on your trip, plan for it. I've found that sneaking minutes of productivity here and there forces a lot of context-switching that I find frustrating. Planning for 2-hour work periods in the morning and evening is a better way for me to get a lot more work done than interleaving it as time allows, especially if it's creative work.

Avoid working in hotel lobbies, regardless of whether or not they offer wireless internet access there; it's impossible to focus and is far too distracting with other patrons' comings and goings.

The benefits of a work/travel routine are, of course, decreased context shifts, improved focus, and just a dash of predictability in an unfamiliar setting. If you can change a one-day trip into even a single overnighter, do so!

Road Rule 4: Recharge As Needed.

Travel is incredibly draining because you're in new surroundings, surrounded by strangers, and are always fighting against the clock. To stay creative, shift your brain into low gear from time to time when the opportunity arises. Watch TV in the hotel for an hour. Read a trashy novel. Take a nap. Meditate. When you are on the road for business, conserve your mental and creative energies when you don't need to use them. For me, this includes most plane flights (my laptop stays stowed unless a deadline is looming), all taxi rides, and even parts of meetings that get technical or legal in nature. Don't tell anyone about that last part.

Travel can be distracting, exciting, and demanding on your senses; when you can, shut down for a bit to recharge.

Road Rule 5: Tracking Expenses

Some business travelers use expense notebooks, ledgers, and small supercomputers to track their expenses. I used to just jam my receipts in my pockets and hope I didn't lose any on the flight home.

My receipt tracking system is limited to two items: a large envelope (labeled with the trip name or job code) and a pen. When I get a receipt, if it needs to be tagged with a note, I jot it down quickly, and into the envelope it goes. I've taken to using binder clips to attach the envelope right on the inside of my bag; rip open the bag, pop the receipt in, close bag. It's not elegant, but it splits the difference between filing them and losing them!

In the image above you'll notice my other ersatz filing system: a binder-clipped expandable folder with a piece of cardboard in it (also clipped) for reinforcement, to keep papers from getting munged in the dividerless central area of my bag.

Road Regrets

The biggest regret I have in regards to travel is not getting a smaller laptop. Never had I thought that I'd want to sacrifice performance for less weight, but after some recent trips, my massive Dell XPS laptop is breaking my back. With an extra battery and power supply, it weighs in at about 15 pounds! In total, my bag and all its contents weighs 30 pounds. If I could shave that by even 5 to 7 pounds, travel would be a lot less fatiguing...and I could finally fit an extra pair of shoes in my bag. If you're eyeing a laptop purchase for travel, don't overlook the weight issue.

None of this adds up to any great mantra for the traveling creative professional, but I've found that these tactics help me focus on the business of my trips by removing many organizational and planning stresses that I've encountered on previous trips.