Today we have a guest post from Tony Schwartz. Tony is President and CEO of The Energy Project, a company that helps individuals and organizations fuel energy, engagement, focus and productivity by harnessing the science of high performance.

Tony's most recent book, Be Excellent At Anything: The Four Keys to Transforming the Way We Work and Live, was published in May 2010 and became an immediate New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. His previous book, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy Not Time, co- authored with Jim Loehr, spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into 28 languages. 

Tony is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, and is one of HBR.org's most popular bloggers.

I was walking through the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose one day last week just before 6 pm, feeling a bit bleary after three consecutive weeks flying back and forth across the country to visit five different cities.

The question at hand was whether or not to attend a cocktail party being thrown by my corporate hosts. Then I spotted the spa. Impulsively, I walked in and asked if I might be able to book a massage. Minutes later, I was lying on a table, unbelievably happy to be there. When I walked out an hour later, I felt incredibly relaxed and rejuvenated.

It was a powerful reminder of a core principle we teach our clients: The greater the performance demand, the greater the need for intermittent renewal. It's just common sense. If you're spending down more energy than usual, you need to refuel yourself more than usual.

Of course, most of us do just the opposite. When we're facing a tough deadline, or a difficult set of demands, the default behavior is to hunker down, push the envelope, stay the course, burn the midnight oil. The clichés abound because the practice is so common.

If you spend any time traveling for business, the overwhelming likelihood is you struggle with delays, get to sleep late in your new city, wake up early, and pack your days with as many meetings as possible. If you take any time at all to relax, it's usually over dinner, and you're likely to eat too much and drink too much (especially if someone else is pouring).

My massage last week reminded me how vastly much better I feel -- and subsequently perform -- when I take time on the road to truly renew. Here are my six key strategies:

1. Do whatever it takes to get enough sleep. There is no more critical form of renewal, period. Only one out of every 40 people requires less than seven hours of sleep to feel fully rested, so the odds are that person isn't you.
   
   When I travel, I calculate how many hours I'm going to be able to sleep when I arrive, and if it's less than eight, I try to make up the difference on the plane. I always bring a mask and earplugs. If you struggle to fall asleep, try a non-narcotic sleeping aid, such as Melatonin. Even a prescription sleeping pill is fine occasionally.
   
   
2. Get at least 20 to 30 minutes of physical exercise in the morning, because if you don't do it then, you won't do it. (But don't do it at the expense of sleep.)
   
   You already know how healthy it is to exercise. It's also an incredibly reliable mood-enhancer. Choose a hotel with a good fitness facility, unless you're happy to exercise outside.
   
   A walk is a reasonable option, but you'll get more bang for your buck, and likely feel better if you do some sort of aerobic exercise. At the simplest level, that means raising your heart rate enough that you're truly exerting yourself.
   
   As a stopgap, bring a Dyna-Band, which you can learn to use in a few minutes and allows you to get a full-body workout in your room.
   
   
3. Never, ever take the key for the minibar. There's nothing good in it, trust me. If the minibar doesn't have a key, consider asking that it be removed from your room before you check in. So long as you have one available, you're more likely to eat or drink something you don't need.
   
   
4. Breathe between meetings. Obviously, you're always breathing, but I'm talking about something more deliberate. Take at least one full minute to breathe in through your nose to a count of three, expanding your abdomen, and then out through your mouth to a count of six.
   
   By extending your out breath, you get more renewal. It's possible to clear your bloodstream of cortisol -- the most insidious of the stress hormones -- in less than a minute by breathing this way. It's also a great way to clear your mind.
   
   
5. Call home. It's incredibly important to stay connected with the people you love - for you, and for them. It's also best to call when you're feeling reasonably relaxed and unrushed, because it will go better, and that will make you feel better.
   
   
6. Don't let airport delays get you down. They're unpredictable and inevitable. Always leave the day before your meetings, and be sure you have at least one backup flight. Travel with plenty of stuff to keep you happily and productively occupied on the plane, and if you're delayed.
   
   I bring two or three books, so I have choices about what to read, depending on my mood. I also carry a journal, because I've found there is no better place to think reflectively, without interruption, than on a plane, or in a quiet corner in an airport. Quiet time alone is precious, so savor whatever you happen to get.

Reprinted with permission from HBR.org.

Want to learn more about increasing productivity? Watch this free webinar recording to hear Tony Schwartz talk about why the way we're working isn't working and share his 4 keys to transforming performance. You can also check out the Q&A from the webinar here.

Two recent surveys by the Small Business Authority make for interesting reading. Perhaps not surprisingly, uncertainty about the U.S. economy has been identified as one of the top three challenges facing small businesses, fueled by ongoing concerns about the growing U.S. debt and deficit (46%) and over-regulation (35%). Economic uncertainty is once again seen as the greatest obstacle to hiring more employees (55%).

Contrast this with another finding which revealed that 71% of small business owners had never heard of cloud computing. It went on to show that of the 29% of those questioned who had heard of cloud computing, 74% could not describe just what cloud computing is. Not surprisingly, many small and mid-size businesses are apparently still struggling to understand its relevance to them.

How are these two situations related? Well, with business confidence wavering, shrewd executives should be looking for ways of running their operations more efficiently. Taking advantage of new cloud-based computing solutions might well prove to be highly beneficial, enabling organizations to free up capital, with more predictable associated operating costs, enabling organizations to just pay for what they use.

Cloud computing can be very simply viewed as on-demand computing services delivered by third parties over the Internet. Historically, in order to do tasks such as word processing, a business needed to buy a computer and license the relevant application that was installed on the device, often known as a server. The application was invoked through another computer (or client) and the user created the necessary files, which in turn were stored either on the client or on another computer on the office (local area) network. Backups of files, particularly data files, had to be made, so that if the computer storage failed, the user did not lose all their data - those precious digital letters, presentations, models and other documents upon which they, and their business, depended. All of this required upfront capital outlay - the business had to pay for these assets before they could use them - only to witness them depreciate over time. For larger businesses, it often became necessary to hire people with expertise in these systems just to fix things when they went wrong and to help keep everything running efficiently.

With cloud computing, organizations no longer have to own the servers, the storage, the networks and the applications that they once had to purchase in order to be able to undertake business. All that is now required is browser-based access to the Internet from any preferred device (desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet). A wide range of both free and subscription-based services are then immediately available on-demand to the user. No additional hardware or software needs to be purchased upfront, and the business essentially pays for the services it uses. Files can be stored locally or in the cloud on the service providers' computers where they are professionally managed. Furthermore, there is no need for the business to require dedicated IT support staff to help maintain these systems.

So all your stuff can now live in the cloud. Instead of having to go to work in your office, (whether it be a home, remote or official location), where most of your stuff still physically resides, you can now go to work in the cloud - your own office but now residing in the Internet. It's cheaper, arguably more secure, and typically accessible 24x7; best of all, it allows you to focus on your business and not on the technology needed to run it. Instead of owning computers on which to work, you simply have a device from which you can access your own personal cloud. All the stuff you need to digitally work or play is always at your disposal on your preferred devices, enabling you to do what you want, as you need. With your office in the cloud, you may not even need all that physical office space that was once so necessary and you can save on commuting related costs. So, welcome to your new office in the cloud - the place to be as the economic climate becomes increasingly stormy!

Photo Credit: dannykboyd

Oh, Prague, how I love thee. Because relatively few houses and sites were destroyed in World War II, much of its old-world charm remains. The home of Kafka is very much the same as it was in the 14th Century. So much beauty. Old Town. The Charles Bridge. The Astronomical Clock. The Estates Theatre (where Mozart first performed Don Giovanni). Fantastically designed and well-kept buildings appear wherever you look.

But equally as fantastic as all of that, it is a great environment for digital nomads like us. Wi-Fi is prolific. The mobile networks are better than average for Eastern Europe. Most places don't care if you stick around for a while. There's one Starbucks (for those "Dammit, I need an iced coffee!" moments). And as an added bonus, pivo (beer) is cheaper than coffee is (most bars also have free Wi-Fi). I shot a little update from the streets of Old Town for you.

Recently while I was in a hotel room in Tusayan, Arizona, the sun was coming up around 8a. The family's asleep, internal clocks still set to Eastern Time.

So was mine, but I had been online for the better part of 3 hours.

As a writer, my work travels with me to wherever my laptop-in-tow sniffs out an Internet connection. That day, that was 5 miles from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I emailed editors back East, scheduled some interviews for when we return, written a client blog and Facebook note about our adventures and reviewed the Nikon D3100 digital SLR that's chronicled almost every moment of our trip.

A fairly full morning from a quiet hotel room

My clients often wonder aloud why I "work" while on family getaways. They chide me, though their comments are offered as gentle, constructive advice about powering down. They're not suggesting I just turn off the laptop now, but that I disconnect in the greater sense - from work while away. Absorb the vacation, they say. Get into the moment.

Twenty-two years into workshifting, almost 20 years navigating that intersection where home-based entrepreneurship meets parenthood - and just as many years spent traveling with family and work in tow - I've discovered a thing or two about getting into the moment. I realized long ago it's a deeply personal thing, ingrained into each of our DNA.

Frankly, my moment comes before the first family member stirs in the morning. By the time they'll awaken today, I'll have logged more than 1,000 words of varying sorts - both billable and non-billable. They'll be none the wiser; my clients will feel, well, if not "lucky," then thankful that I delivered their project (even though I warned them before leaving home that I would NOT be working - and IF I happened to deliver work, then that would not be an invitation for them to open the floodgates to more requests or obligations).

Workationing is about managing expectations - of family, of clients, of yourself

I don't push the issue with the family, though as the children of an entrepreneur, my kids can connect the dots between work, paycheck and vacations. As for myself, I abide by the limit we seem to have worked out here: once the family is awake, the laptop soon closes, likely until we hunker down for the night. Then my time is my own again.

So working from the road means different things to different people. To me, it's about finding balance in life and work - and frankly, I love what I do. As a writer, I enjoy the writing and editing process. I find catharsis in creativity and release in the moment I hit Send to deliver a finished product. I feel blessed that freelancing affords me the chance - or shall I say, the freedom - to pursue my career from anywhere: a hotel room near the Grand Canyon, a lodge in the Ozark Mountains, or a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

As the family awakens, it's time to power down (the laptop, not my workshifting). I still have my BlackBerry; I still get work emails and correspondence in need of response. And I respond. My family won't chide me if I peek and reply here and there.

They're OK with that.

And so am I.

Photo Credit: chrissam42

Several years ago, I wrote about the role of impromptu telework after an ice storm shut down parts of North Carolina. For those caught without power, workshifting was an effective, albeit makeshift, solution to keep themselves productive when Mother Nature did her worst.

Visiting Los Angeles this week with my family, I discovered first-hand how traffic is a crab walk here at the best of times. Having heard our trouble, a friend who commutes daily from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills added that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority would soon be shutting down 10 miles of Interstate 405 for 53 hours to tear down an overpass.

The closure, scheduled for July 16 and 17, is expected to affect a half-million drivers. Few believe officials' promises that it will be completed by Monday morning's rush hour. Many are anticipating traffic chaos that will dwarf the usual snarl.

Some are already preparing for what's being likened to as a Northeast pre-planned "snow day." Rumor has it many commuters with a choice are planning long weekend getaways and mini-vacations.

Think about the lost productivity.

Why not workshift instead?

Why not plan ahead, discuss the situation with employers, employees and coworkers, arrange to bring home work that can be done outside the corporate office, and avoid the snarl - and excuses - altogether?

Alternatively, find or create a telework center or temporary workspace where people can continue working without having to traverse the affected 10-mile zone. It could be an executive suite or idle space at a peer's location. Contact your attorney, accountant or other professional services firm to see if space may be available.

Then, assuming this impromptu telework "pilot project" or telework center experiment succeeds, explore expanding it into a regular telework program. All it takes for most will be a computer with Internet access, relatively comfortable workspaces and a mind open to new possibilities.

The company may benefit from increased productivity - in both good times and bad - beyond this one-time opportunity. Next time construction (or poor weather or an earthquake) shuts down an interstate or otherwise makes transportation impossible, people in unaffected areas can continue working.

As we were traversing the L.A. freeways this week, we were aghast at how long it took to drive even a short distance. It would seem L.A. and workshifting were made for each other - even without the impending chaos of a 10-mile closure of the 405.

Photo Credit: Bugsy Rocker

Laptop? Check. Cell phone and charger? Check. Mindset to work productively from the road during the family's extended summer road trip? Uhhh...

Preparing to take a "workation" from the road is not as simple as it may sound. Think of it as "mind over motel" - you have to find that place where your creative spark feels comfortable igniting, even if it's a place you've never seen or been before.

As our family heads out on a three-week road trip from South Florida to Northern California, I've promised myself not to work too much. But, in addition to the "slob gene" I wrote about previously, I also bear my father's habitual early rising. So while they slumber, I'll surf or work.

I've read with interest Rhonda Hughes' dispatches as she's driven some 4,000 miles from California to Massachusetts. As a four-year teleworker, she's accustomed to working outside the traditional office. But working from the road? "My experience will no doubt teach me new skills," she wrote.

Indeed. I've workationed before in an adventure we call Home Office Highway. Each year, we take an extended road trip, usually in an RV - to the Carolinas, the Jersey Shore, Henry David Thoreau's Walden in Massachusetts, even Toronto and northern Ontario.

Before each journey, parallel preparation is launched. My wife packs the food and family supplies. She shops for road gorp like we're heading on a three-week walkabout in Utah. My kids (hopefully) will pack all their clothes and belongings. What they'll definitely bring along are their laptops and smart phones. Chargers? One can only hope.

I focus on the tech. Packing for a road trip isn't just about having the stuff you need to work. It's about having the right stuff, where it belongs, so you're mentally prepared to work from the road. Think of it as Jack Bauer (24) meets George Clooney (Up in the Air). Whether they carried a messenger bag or a TravelPro suitcase, both were packed before each adventure.

My trusty Oakley knapsack is my TravelPro. It's been my pop-up office-on-the-road for the better part of a decade now. Even when we take a weekend away, I just grab it and go. It's like an expecting couple's hospital bag; pre-packed with clothes and toiletries, it's good to go when baby says, "It's time."

This time, it'll carry:

• My Verizon 4G Mifi broadband wireless mobile hotspot. Mobile Internet has proven very handy indeed when on the road previously. Unlike the USB mobile Internet I once used, with the Mifi, five devices can log on at once (i.e., five people, five users). For a dad who wants to work, or a mom looking for a hotel, restaurant or tickets for a whitewater outing, mobile Internet is golden. Even if you get a short-term agreement, if you plan to work from the road, this is the way.
  
  
• A power transformer. We'll have to charge the laptops, tablets, iPods, phones and Kindles along the way (alas, one at a time, folks). The Town & Country we rented actually sports a 115v outlet. So I'll pull out and plug my Belkin mini, four outlet surge-protector / power strip in and we'll have all the power we need.
  
  
• USB headset for Skype calls home. The kids' Macbooks have iChat. But this'll allow dad to chat with family or clients from the road.
  
  
• Flash drive and card reader. I'll use these to transfer pictures to my laptop, then upload them to Picasa in the cloud. Data portability is important. More important, I'm not keen to wade through and download 1,000 pictures when I get home. I'll clear the camera's card (and delete bum shots) along the way - ensuring they're protected, should something happen to the camera. The camera's replaceable. The pictures are (hopefully) priceless.
  
  
• Carbonite account updated and all my stuff backed up. In journalism parlance, they call this "burying the lead" (putting the most important detail toward the end of the story). People who use online back-up generally enthuse about its effectiveness. Sure, I'll upload key files to Google Docs. But if I want to reference or work on something on my hard drive back in the home office, backup-to-the-cloud is invaluable. Just renewed this month. It's easily the smartest $54 I'll spend over the next 12 months.
  
  
• Laptop cable locks. Another permanent item in my Oakley. Think of it as insurance. You can never be too safe. Alas, people will be people.

Some added possible accessories: Motorola walkie talkies, if we split up somewhere in the Utah countryside; an LED flashlight, strong and powerful, it cuts through the blackest night; a GPS locator (part compass, part GPS, you mark a spot and it'll guide you back to that spot - not matter how far off the path you venture); my laptop transformer and camera and BlackBerry chargers (of course); a bottle of Excedrin and a toothbrush.

And I always stash a couple of pens and a notepad. Hey, typing is productive. Journaling is cathartic. Just ask Mr. Thoreau.

What will you take on your summer vacation?

Photo Credit: dbaron

A lot has happened in the past couple weeks since my initial post: Happy Trails. We've driven through 15 states and traveled almost 3,700 miles, from Santa Rosa, CA, to Atlanta, GA, and we are now heading north to Boston, MA.

It's been an amazing adventure so far. Some of the highlights include the snowcapped mountains of Utah, off-roading in Wyoming to see wild horses and staying in a historic mansion in Charlotte, NC.

The sights have been incredible but working while on the road hasn't been as easy as I'd hoped. Check out this short video to hear more about my experience so far.

I sat down recently for coffee with a man who quickly informed me that he once hiked along the Great Wall in a pair of cowboy boots. I followed his gaze to his feet where two travel-worn boots were cooling beneath the table. I knew right then that this wasn't going to be any ordinary conversation.

Alex Bajwa brings this down-to-earth sense of adventure to his law practice. Specializing in wills, estate planning and small business law, you might say he's a man with a plan and a unique way of navigating the world.

He's traveled widely- from bustling cities in China to the remote hills of Kashmir - with a cowboy hat atop his tall frame. But when he gets down to business, he keeps it local. In fact, he's been workshifting from a home office since graduating from law school. He's quick to point out that early workspace renditions were more multi-use rooms - his first was an "office with a bed," then came "the dog room" and finally his wife's "craft room" complete with pink velvet bolts of fabric.

Today Alex primarily works from a fully-fledged office in his house. He also maintains a virtual office, which provides him with a business mailing address, receptionist, access to conference rooms and other à la carte business services. With a penchant for working paperless, he scans important documents into his PC and securely stores them in the cloud. That way they are always available when he needs them, whether he's meeting with clients in their homes or drafting contracts at his home office.

Flexibility is essential to Alex, who has designed his firm from the ground up just the way he wants it to be, determining his specialization, work times and locations. He keeps his overhead low by eliminating expensive office space, paralegal staff and unnecessary paper file storage. Packing light, so to speak, gives him a competitive edge. His rates are generally about fifty percent lower than other attorneys in the area. According to Alex, "it's harder to justify getting a physical office today."

Remember, this is the man who hiked the Great Wall in cowboy boots.

He explains that right now, traditional office hours at a law firm would not suit him, mostly because the obligation to report to work between fixed times would take precedence over actual output. Instead, Alex - a man who has chosen his own path and what he wears on that path - has successfully established a work routine that enables him to be highly productive while maintaining his independence and flexibility.

His advice to anyone contemplating a similar arrangement: Set up a segregated home office from the get-go.

I enjoy talking with people - particularly workshifters - about their working lives, and I continue to be impressed by the variety of jobs, personalities and working styles that are naturally accommodated by workshifting. What seems to be consistently present in those who choose the workshifting path is a strong intuitive sense of how to get work done no matter where they are, cowboy boots and all.

What commonalities among workshifters have you noticed?

Photo Credit: awyatt

I don't travel a whole lot. Well, definitely not as much as some of you. But as I was getting ready for a trip to Chicago last week, I pondered my options for what type of technology I'd bring with me. Do I leave the laptop at home and go entirely mobile? Could I get by without a full-fledged computer with keyboard etc.? Or would I be able to do everything I needed to do with just a tablet and a smart phone? Perhaps now was the time to try a little experiment.

So, armed with only my iPhone and iPad, I trimmed the gadget fat and set off for the windy city. Though my trip was mainly about catching up with friends, I did have some work things that I knew I'd need to take care of. Dealing with my usual daily emails would be no problem, but I did have some blog posts to get out, and some social media work to do for a client. I also had a web site launching on Wednesday. In theory, anything I needed to do for these projects I could do with my mobile devices...but I wasn't 100% certain. I decided to take a chance. After all, if I got really desperate, I'd be hanging out with a lot of geeks. Surely I could find a laptop if I absolutely needed it, right?

Well, it turned out that I WAS able to do everything I needed to do using only my iPhone and iPad. This was more a test of the limitations of the devices than anything, and of course, as with any technology, there are a few. I had to live without Flash (but I didn't miss it one bit). Uploading images to my blog proved to be a bit of a challenge, but I made do. Not every post has to have an image. I was able to deal with the social media tasks easily and efficiently. I edited a few documents. And, thanks to my awesome business partner and our fantastic development team, the web site launch went smoothly.

What I learned from this experience is that mobile is getting there. 2 years ago - heck, 1 year ago, it's not likely I would have felt like I had everything I needed to be able to comfortably travel without lugging a big old laptop with me. Nowadays, we can get an awful lot done with just our mobile devices. We can manage email, social networks, create and post content, work on documents, and myriad other daily tasks. It's not all perfect yet (Google Docs still has a ways to go to be fully functional on a tablet, and I still can't edit video), but it's getting there.

I think the more time goes on, the more mobile devices are going to become the primary way that workshifters work. Anywhere, anytime computing is more of a reality now than it's ever been, and I think this trend will probably continue. I am thrilled to be able to travel light when it comes to technology. After this trip, I've gained new confidence in my ability to truly work from anywhere.

How are you embracing the mobile era?

Photo Credit: bfishadow

Have you ever dreamed of a cross-country trip? Taking your time to go from state to state, meeting people, seeing the sites and...working? That's right, working!

On May 15th my Mom and I began our cross-country trip from Santa Rosa, CA to Atlanta, GA, for a cousin's wedding and then we'll be continuing our adventure north to Boston, MA, for my brother's wedding. (That's more than 3,888 miles!) Armed with my laptop, a wireless card, an iPad, my cell phone, GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC, my plan is to workshift along the way, mixing business with pleasure! (Disclosure: I work for GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC.) 

While I imagine the sites and experiences will be incredible, the trip actually came about because my mom has a lung disease and can no longer fly. While that may be the reason we're taking the trip, it provided a great opportunity for me to combine my love of travel with my ability to work from anywhere.

Having been a full time teleworker the past four years, I'm accustom to the challenges (and advantages) of working outside the office. However those won't compare to what's in store while travelling over rivers, mountains and through the woods. With intermittent internet and phone access, I will need to adapt to a work environment that is in constant flux. My experience will no doubt teach me new skills and I hope it will give you some ideas too.

We have a general plan laid out with some stops in mind but other than that, we'd love your input on the best places to stay/see/eat - the more random the better! And who knows - your suggestion might just inspire an impromptu Meet & Tweet!

Here's a snapshot of our route. You can also view it (and its updates) here:

I'll also be vlogging the trip, my experiences and workshifting lessons on YouTube, sharing photos and snippets on Facebook and tweeting out tips.

Have you ever driven across country or taken on a big workshifting trip? I'd love your tips, suggestions and lessons learned! Leave them in the comments below or tweet them out using the hashtag #WSRhonda!