What I’m really asking is, “Are you committed or are you involved?”
I’ll explain. If you’re making eggs and bacon, for breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is COMMITTED.
Think about it. The chicken has to be involved to lay the eggs you’ll eat, for breakfast, but it’s still alive. As for the pig, it has to go all in because it must die in order for you to eat bacon. If you’re truly committed to something, you can’t let anything distract or disrupt you from going all in. This includes traveling for work. People ask me, all the time, “How do you do it (mentally, physically, electronically, etc.)?”
Here are some tips I have for taking care of yourself, both on another continent, and in cyberspace.
Plan ahead. A day in advance, set yourself to local time. Don’t take a nap when you arrive. It gets rough, but I fight it every step of the way, because I need my body to adjust to local time. Then you’ll get a great night’s sleep, your 1st night there, so you’ll be refreshed and ready to rock your meeting the next day.
Exercise is one of the best tools to overcome being jet-lagged. When you start exercising, don’t stop moving. Even between machines, jog in place or do jumping jacks or something to keep the blood pumping. Getting a heart monitor is an awesome, inexpensive way to make sure your heart rate stays up.
Free weights will build muscle, but using the machines, also, work great while reducing your risk of injury because they are self spotting and help control your motion. More reps with lighter weights can help you to lose weight quicker, as opposed to fewer reps with heavier weights, which tend to add more “bulk” to your muscles. Unless you’re a professional athlete, I recommend doing more reps with lighter weights. 7 sets of 8-12 reps is what I aim for. *Remember to consult a Dr before starting an exercise regimen.*
If you’re traveling, even locally, but especially internationally, be super careful with your electronics. Today’s adversary is advanced, but they’re always seeking the easiest, most efficient way to compromise your data. One of the fastest ways for the adversary to get in is with physical theft, i.e. stealing your phone or laptop at an airport.
Here’s a scenario that happens a lot.
Two people (the adversaries) will purchase cheap plane tickets. This way they can get thru security. One of them will go on through and wait on the other side. The other will stay back and wait for you to put your laptop on the belt. Then they will cut in line and do something to flag security. So when security stops the whole line (which is exactly what they will do when they’re checking someone who just set off the alarm), that person will take their time emptying their pockets to hold the line up. Meanwhile, the other person (who’s already made it through security) has taken off with your laptop. By the time you get through the line and realize that your laptop has been stolen, the adversary is long gone (with all of your data).
I always put powders (example: vitamin or protein shake powders) in the same bag as my laptop. This guarantees that my bag will always get flagged, so they will pull it aside and wait for me to get there to check it. Yes, that takes a few minutes extra to get through security, but I’d rather lose a few minutes of my time than lose all the data on my laptop.
Going the extra mile isn’t convenient, but neither is having my data compromised. Just like I’m a target, YOU are a target! I’ve seen people offer to pay millions of dollars for executive’s or consultant’s laptops! You have a lot more information / data than you realize. The sooner you grasp that, the sooner you will stay a step ahead of the adversary.
Beware of what information is already out there about you. Search yourself on google. Also, look at your metadata, on Facebook. (Facebook gives you that option to search.) Your life is being recorded. There is no “delete” button in cyberspace. Just because you’ve deleted it locally doesn’t mean that it’s deleted on the internet. 21{eb2dd144dc077676a5023eacca2d01ef9c3f02c22330f35001e7063f427f969c} of students are not getting into the college of their choice, and 43{eb2dd144dc077676a5023eacca2d01ef9c3f02c22330f35001e7063f427f969c} of adults are not getting the jobs they want, because of what they’ve posted on social media… because they can’t delete what’s been on the internet. Be extremely careful and deliberate of what you post on social media. Also, in social settings, be very careful with anyone who has a camera.
For more information on how to make cyberspace a safe place to live, work, and raise a family, reach out to me, at secure-anchor.com/contact.
