How brilliant you must be at your job if you’re paid to fly around the world to do it
How brilliant you must be at your job if you’re paid to fly around the world to do it.
I saw this reframe shared a few weeks ago.
It really stuck with me.
I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the world, many times, for work.
And it’s funny, because at the time when I was travelling regularly, there was an element of “I have to go to {insert amazing place} again.”
Work travel can be a slog. Early morning flights, full days of meetings (or on stands at events), nights out for dinner or drinks - often very little sleep.
Over a three year period, I went to Cannes for work at least 6 or 7 times.
And instead of having the mindset of “oh my gosh, I’m working from the South of France” - that was there - but what normally led was “the wifi is crap”, “the taxi lines are long”, “I’m not going to see sunlight from the stand”, etc, etc.
It was a similar feeling when jetting off to New York, Milan, Stockholm, Paris, Munich or anywhere else I was lucky enough to go.
There were very few times that I had the thought “Wow, I’m being sent on this trip because I’m great at what I do.”
And I was great at what I do (still am).
And I really wish I was thinking that way at the time.
I mean, I’ve been to New York - one of my favourite places in the world - 5 or 6 times. And I’ve only ever personally paid for it once. The rest - work trips.
Mindset is such a big part of how we frame the stories we tell about ourselves.
Sometimes it’s the things that you don’t realise are gems; really are the gems in your story that will set you apart or make you memorable.
I’ve got so many great stories from the trips I’ve been on for work.
From being told by Charli XCX’s record label exec that she was about to release the “song of the summer”, just before she performed at our beach party in Cannes. That song, which was the song of the summer, was Boom Clap - her first big solo hit.
Through to standing on one of the most incredible roof terraces at Google NY’s office, after getting agreement from their marketing team to publish an article about a product we’d just launched - which then set us apart from the competition. And this started by me sliding into the Twitter DMs, a story of its own.
And so many more.
So if you’ve ever travelled for work, did you “have to travel” or were you lucky enough that someone paid you to travel the world because “you’re brilliant at what you do”?
By popular demand, I’m hosting another Unearth Your Story session.
This is a great opportunity to spend a little time digging into your career to unearth some of the brilliant stories you have to tell.
When: 6th August
Time: 4pm AEST (7am BST)
Where: Online
Cost: Free
Spaces are limited, you can register here
Thanks for making it this far, here’s that hit from Charli XCX:
Article first published on Marketing Life. You can subscribe for free here.
