Business trips take a lot of planning, preparation and organization. From packing a suitcase to making sure you have everything you need for your business meetings, business travel can be stressful. When you’re stressed and jet-lagged productivity can suffer. Being away from home and the office can throw off your every-day routine. Without your normal routine, you may not be able to get tasks done timely and efficiently. Here are some tips on how to stay productive when you are away on business.

Prepare a to-do list
Planning a to-do list is one of the easiest tasks to complete before you are ready to fly out. Creating a list and being able to check things off as you complete them will also make you feel like you are accomplishing your tasks. There are also many smartphone apps that can help you with planning your daily activities and scheduled events during your trip.
Communicate with co-workers
Before leaving for your business trip, check with some of your co-workers to see what tasks they can handle for you while you are away. Even something as simple as returning phone calls to clients on your behalf can be helpful. Any small tasks that are handled by co-workers can be helpful in lightening your workload and can relieve a potential pile-up of paperwork and phone calls to return when you get back. Be sure to keep open communication with your co-workers while you are away and make sure you return the favor if they are ever summoned for a business trip as well.

Make technology your right hand man
When packing your technological gadgets, decide which ones will be best for your trip. You may not need to pack every gadget you have under the sun. Your smartphone can serve as a lot of different tools such as a day planner. You can also use a document app for writing up something quick. If you need to brush up on industry news before getting to your destination, you can sign up for WIFI in flight and access your favorite news forums online. Unless you have to write a bit or need certain digital files, you may be able to forgo your laptop making your travel a bit lighter. If you don’t need your laptop, pack a flash drive with all the files you need for easy printing at your hotel or business class lounge at the airport should you need to.

Make your hotel room your home and home office
Once you get to your hotel room unpack everything immediately. Leaving everything in a suitcase can make you feel unorganized and the last thing you want to do is have sift through your luggage every day to find the tie that goes with your suit. Put your clothes in drawers and hang suits and ties. Set up your toiletries and beauty equipment such as curling irons and blow-dryers in the bathroom. Set up the hotel room desk for business. Get your laptop set up and your chargers plugged in and ready to go.
Happy and safe travels everyone!