Earlier today I had the pleasure of presenting to a relative group of strangers at the HTG summit – folks who have never met me. Yet seemingly, my reputation always precedes me – so I always make a point to actually introduce myself:

“So my name is Vlad and I’ve been in this industry for a long time. I have said and written a lot of stupid stuff in my time but consider it a crime of passion. This is my family (pic of wife, kids, dogs, toys). This other thing is my business. It’s pretty much all I do and as a result I’m quite passionate about it.”

It sounds funnier in person, you kind of have to be there. Grown man doing a PowerPoint presentation with dogs and toys is humorous even without words.

Corrected

One thing that came blatantly apparent to me during my vacation is that time is quite limited and precious moments are very finite – I’ll blog more about it but I’ve had to make a number of changes in my lifestyle and schedule to get a little more out of my life.

Before I correct myself.. I’m a proud subscription member of the GoGo Wifi. I love working on a plane free of distractions, free of interruptions and with a very finite clock to get stuff accomplished. I don’t get that luxury anywhere – and am typically most productive on a plane. iPad included, Internet on a plane is perhaps the greatest invention for the business traveler this century.

But.. As I look at my 24 hours in a day, I’ve had to evaluate how I spend my time and what the most optimal way to go about it is. For example, I love working on a plane because there are no distractions and no interruptions. But I can work just as well with a few interruptions and disruptions elsewhere – or at night.

What I can’t seem to do anywhere is find enough peace, quiet and mental peace to read. I love to read. If self-help and business books were weed, I’d be Snoop Dogg.

So perhaps the peace and vacuum of a business flight is not best spent working – maybe it’s best spent reading and focusing on the subject without the emotion, without the late night eye strain and without the noise.

Books – and training in general – are an investment. Everything I learn makes me better. But work is relatively linear – I can do it later and get the same benefits as doing it right now.

Moving Forward

I will have a new category on this blog titled “Wrong” where I’ll try to correct some of my more genius stubbornness in the past. The more you know, right?  

P.S. You can buy the shirt from zazzle.com