The new year has begun and with that comes the usual business travel. When traveling on behalf of your company, it can be easy to fall into the trappings of leisure and spending on the firm’s dime, especially if you’re a young professional just starting out.
It’s always best to make the most of your trip in a way that ensures you’ll continue to be that go-to professional sent to close deals—not the one banned from using the company credit card or travelling ever again.
Brazen Careerist offers five steps to successfully completing a company business trip:
1. Use the company AmEx differently
Traveling with the company corporate card means eating three-course meals three times a day, right?
Wrong.
Forget that you’re “supposed to†expense as many indulgent, rich meals as you can squeeze in during your trip.
Go a different route. Abuse your AmEx to buy healthy meals and snacks.To prevent overindulgence at mealtime, fill your bag each morning with healthy snacks like granola bars, trail mix and pretzels. It should be enough to hold you over until your next meal.
2. Channel your inner hermit
You
may feel compelled to attend every networking event or stay late at the happy hour organized by the conference you’re attending because more schmoozing will help you climb the career ladder, right?In reality, mingling for hours on end, night after night, can not only be mentally exhausting, but also detrimental to your immune system.
Dedicate at least two hours a day to time for yourself. Put down your BlackBerry and shut off your computer. This time is for non-work activities.
Since you’re removed from other responsibilities and your friends while traveling, you can easily slip into a pattern of overwork. Burnout syndrome happens to the best of us, so make sure that when times are especially hectic, you get a little bit of alone time.