Working Across Time Zones
Today, even small businesses like mine serve national and global clients. Regardless
of how you conduct business, you will eventually need to tackle how to work with--
or around, time zone differences.
It happened to me just yesterday. I expected a phone call from someone at noon, but
the phone actually rang at 9:00am, because I forgot to figure in time zone differences.
No matter how much experience I have, dealing with multiple time zones, I still make
mistakes.
Which time zones are best for business?
Before I moved into the US Pacific time zone, I would relish the fact that my day started
several hours earlier than my clients in California. If I started my day at 6:00am, I
had a full four hours to wrap up any details before it was 8:00am at their office. Since
I moved to the west coast—not only have I lost that advantage, but my east coast clients
now start their days three hours before I start mine. This leads me to believe that if you don't live in your client's time zone, you want to live in a time zone east of your clients.
Managing Time zones
Here are a few ideas for managing time zone issues.
Time zone converters
Here's a handy time zone converter. Please notice that the times vary depending on season
and if a time zone is participating in daylight savings time.
How do you Adjust to Time Zone Changes When Traveling?
A few years ago, I made frequent trips to Europe. Those days would usually start with a
2:00pm flight and end with an early arrival (6:00am or before) in Amsterdam. While I
truly appreciate all the amenities at Amsterdam's airport, Schiphol, I associate it
with extreme exhaustion.
Fourteen and Thirty-one hour days
International flights that travel west-to-east are circadian
rhythm killers. It was extremely important to try to get sleep on the flight, but sleeping
on airplanes isn't always easy. My habit was to request two servings of red wine with
my meal, to help me sleep.
But as my doctor said, red wine will get you to sleep, but it won't keep you sleeping.
Perhaps worse were the red-eye Aeroflot flights I'd take from Madrid to Moscow. If I remember
right, those flights departed at 11:00pm and arrived in Russia around 5:30am, leaving little
opportunity for sleep.
The best things to do to adjust to new time zones
When confronted with being in a new time zone, it's best to:
- Try to adapt to the new time zone right away, without taking naps, etc.
- Get outside and absorb some sunlight. The sun can reset your sleep patterns.
- Sleep at the normal time, in a dark room.
- Eat normally and avoid alcohol.
Time Zone Weirdness
Extreme travel between time zones is hazardous. I can remember on more than one occasion
waking up in the middle of the night and not knowing what country I was in. I also got
to the point, that now matter what I ate, I could not keep from losing weight.
Though international travel is exciting, we clearly were not meant to live in multiple
time zones for any length of time.
--Michael Schrenk
September 9, 2013
Las Vegas Nevada
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