There are those that think hitting the road is exotic – a chance to be away from the office, get waited on by hostesses and flight attendants, and leave the stress of work behind. These people never travel. Then there are those that get homesick as soon as they leave their routine. Every story about every snow storm gets amplified beyond reason, and nothing ever works out.
These people probably do travel, but are not good at it.
The truth lies somewhere in the middle for me. I do cherish being out of the office to refresh my mind and have uninterrupted time to focus on parts of our business that I’d never have time for at work (like this Blog). But there is nothing relaxing about a rain-delayed 7 PM departure from Salt Lake to Houston. There is nothing exotic about having to collect luggage and beat some poor dude to the Hertz station because you know there is only one car left – and you both need it – and he doesn’t know it.
For me, travel is all about anticipating problems and avoiding them. Its about having low expectations about how the trip will go so that I am always happy when things go my way. Its about shoes that slip on and off. This perspective pays off most of the time, and allows me to enjoy the real point of the trip in the first place. This week I visited our supplier in Houston
- Market Street Recycling. Upon arrival at their yard – my first ever visit
- Gene Wilkenfeld looked me in the eye and said, “I really appreciate you making the effort to come see us. I do, really and truly appreciate it.” I knew he was sincere – Gene doesn’t make small talk. Suddenly the rain in Salt Lake didn’t matter.
– Chris Greenfield
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