dispatches from the new world of work

3 in 5 = Yuck

Three international redeyes in five days (Boston-Madrid, Madrid-São Paulo, São Paulo-Chicago); no way to treat a 63-year-old (or 33-year-old) body. That's why in the Men's room in the Red Carpet Club, I passed a mirror (bad move) and figured out what "3 in 5" does—not pretty.

Q: When will I learn? A: Never. I had wonderful audiences in both Madrid and São Paulo. (I was asked by a TV reporter in São Paulo what made a "good speech." My answer was "good body language from the audience" and "that I'm so exhausted by the expenditure of emotional energy that I collapse into the arms of the organizers the second I walk off the stage.")

Tom Peters posted this on 03/24/06.

Comments

Geez, Tom - you should take better care of yourself. 3 in 5 is just torture.

Any chance you'll hit scandinavia (preferably Denmark) sometime soon by the way?

Posted by Lars Olufsen at March 24, 2006 10:36 AM

In answer to your (I assusme rhetorical) question - I suspect you WON'T learn Tom and if fact IF you slowed down would you really be happy inside?

DO TAKE CARE - we need your inspiratation for a few more decades yet - but keep going at a pace YOU feel ok about and listen to your body :-)

Posted by Trevor at March 24, 2006 11:33 AM

Tom, after reading one of your past blog entries, I got all pumped up and tried that "sleeping for 1 and half Hrs" stunt. Didn't work for me :-( ...I was cranky all through the next day and was tired by the evening. Very unproductive for me.

I recently read a book ( YOU - The owners manual by Dr Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C OZ) . In this book he recommended 7 hrs of sleep at least.

I've been trying to stick to his advice and I suspect he is right. It really makes a whole lot of difference in my workday.

Posted by Namith at March 24, 2006 8:41 PM

Tom - we need an avatar for you to do the heavy lifting - easy part left for your brilliant visits.

Posted by Sean at March 25, 2006 10:55 AM

Having been brought up as an expatriate, I actually love the thrill of squeezing in red-eyes like this - especially when stage performing.

Yes, there's a really exhusting sense to it (sometimes in which you wonder why you do it at all), but it's just a case of the better of the evils ... it's the only lifestyle I could ever live with.

Posted by Daniel M. Harrison at March 28, 2006 5:46 PM