How often do you get home?

It has  been a tough couple of travel days, and decided that the night was better spent catch up on work.  For dinner I chose to eat at the hotel restaurant, which, to be honest, I prefer to avoid, except for rare occasions.

Like most of us, I usually mind my own business, and do not listen in to other people’s conversations but  after a couple of minutes,  the next table conversation turns into business-travel and one of the questions  that pop is:  How often do you get home?

As a seasoned business traveler, traveling 80% plus per year,  this simple question  caught my attention.   I had to interrupt their conversation before I found myself intruding into their private conversation too much.  After a bit  of small-talk, I found them to be good fun people, very focused on their start-up…   

Although I am very familiar with this life-style,   often the question asked is: “How often do you travel?” or “What percent of your job is travel?”  however, I have *never* heard it put in this way.

A large percent of my work involves helping customers see things from a different prospective so they are able to transform and change.  It is not an easy task to convey my message, and I am always in the lookout for simple ways to trigger  that  “click”   –   It is a most rewarding moment when I see it.

I am now in my room writing this and I have to say, that simple question which I overhead  a random restaurant in the table next to me by two random strangers taking is  still making an impression..  It probably will for a long time..

For me,  my travels involve customer visits  Monday  – to – Thursday.     So I am typically home Friday – Sunday.

Perspective is truly fascinating…  It is so interesting how life has a way to pop, when you least expect it, reminders of what you are doing and why you are doing what you are doing…