In this short monologue, Tod Maffin shares four practical "rules of two" to improve the experience of frequent business travelers. The first rule, the "Taxi Two‑Step," advises checking the taxi interior before exiting and memorising the cab number to aid recovery of lost items. The second rule recommends requesting two hotel room keys, keeping one in a wallet as a backup in case the primary key is left inside the room. The third rule suggests scheduling two wake‑up calls about fifteen minutes apart to ensure you’re up on time. The fourth rule introduces the use of two essential oils—rosemary for daytime alertness and lavender or clary sage for nighttime sleep—both in the hotel and at home to condition the brain’s response and combat jet lag. Maffin frames each tip as a simple, repeatable habit that can make business travel smoother and more successful.
Chapters
Hi, Tod Maffin here for Chris Brogan's Man on the Go with my own set of business travel tips. I group mine into rules of two, and I've got four rules of two that if you do a lot of business travel, you should probably give some thought to. The first one is what I call the Taxi Two-Step. Sometimes you get out of a taxi, you know, in your pocket your cell phone is pretty easy to slip out. I know I've lost about two or three cell phones of mine and never really gotten any of the stuff back, certainly not money. Here's what the Taxi Two-Step will do that will prevent you from losing things. First of all, it's kind of a no-brainer. Step one, when you shut the just before you shut the door, turn around and look inside the taxi. Now, it's amazing how few people actually do this. Second is even more important. After you shut the door, look for the number of the taxi. If you can remember that, make it like a little mental game for yourself, you'll be in good stead in case you do actually miss something in the back of the cab. That's the first thing. The second rule of two is when you check into the hotel. First of all, I always ask for two keys whenever I get in. Now, a lot of hotels will offer this right off the bat. Do you want one or two keys? And at first I thought, well, I'm just here by myself, why would I Why would I need two? Here's why you want two. Take one of the keys, put it in your wallet, and forget about it. Use the other key regularly. I don't know about you, but if you do a lot of business travel, you are apt to forget a key in the room. You get all the way down to the conference center and back or something, you realize your key is locked in there, you have to go down to the front desk and so on. Always ask for two keys, put one in the wallet, and forget about it. Easy as pie. That's the second rule of two. The third one is two wake-up calls. Sometimes wake-up calls just don't happen. Or you don't hear them, or there's noise, or whatever. Always ask for 2 separated by about 15 minutes apart. What's the worst that can happen? Hey, you're already awake and you just have to pick up the phone and say thank you. A lot of the times they're automated. You don't even have to say thank you. And the 4th rule of 2 for business travel is a little bit odd sounding, but believe me, it does wonders. It's about essential oils. The olfactory glands, the things that you smell with, are incredibly powerful when it comes to business travel and putting yourself into a better space for jet lag and so on. I use 2 oils when I travel. The first is rosemary. It's a great oil for just working in your room and so on. Just burn it, get one of those little ceramic rings that go on top of a light bulb, or just bring your own little ceramic burner. It's incredible how much that smell will actually help you work. The second one is for nighttime. Just take 2 or 3 drops of lavender oil or clary sage. Now that's not sage, that's clary sage, 2 words. And put 2 or 3 drops on your pillow at night. Amazing how powerful those will be to help you sleep. However, the secret is this: also use those same oils at home. So every night at home, use clary sage or lavender, 2 or 3 drops on your pillow, and burn rosemary. And what will happen is when you check into the hotel, those scents will automatically trigger in your brain the same feelings that, say, melatonin might do for sleeping, or other kinds of chemicals in your brain that really get activated by those things. So those are my 4 rules of 2. Make sure you check in behind, uh, when you leave the taxi cab and you get the number. Second, get 2 keys. Get 2 wake-up calls and use those 2 oils, and I guarantee your business travel will be a lot more successful. I'm Tod Maffin from TodMaffin.com for Chris Brogan's Man on the Go.
