I’m year 2 at a travel-heavy strategy shop. My first quarter I did the classic 6:05am Monday out, Tue/Wed client dinners, Thursday last flight home, Friday “light.” It looked fine on paper and wrecked me by week eight. I kept slipping on pre-reads and showing up to Thursday debriefs foggy, which is not the signal you want in an up-or-out culture.
What’s worked better so far: lock Tuesday 4:30–5pm as a cadence for feedback with my manager, pre-book a Thursday return that lands before 8pm, and set a hard no-dinner rule on Wednesdays unless the partner says it’s strategic (I’ll do early working sessions instead). I also shifted some weeks to a Tue–Thu onsite if the client is cool with a Monday virtual pre-read; that gave me a real Sunday and better Tuesday energy. Still experimenting with whether Monday night vs Tuesday 7am flights are better for output.
I’m not trying to dodge hard work; I’m trying to make my week look consistently “promotion-ready” while not frying my brain. If you’ve cracked a default travel cadence that actually sticks—flight times, dinner boundaries, check-in windows, how you treat Friday—can you share your template and what moved the needle in your reviews?
nobody grades you on your hero flights, they grade you on clean deliverables and zero surprises. fly monday night if it makes you useful tuesday 8am, not a zombie. set a “latest dinner = 8pm” norm, but only after prewiring the partner. book the earliest thursday return and defend it. block 90 mins friday for cleanup + notes. every 4th week will blow up anyway, so plan for slippage. up-or-out cares about outcomes, not your step count.
stop flexing the 6am out, it’s performative and dumb if you can’t think straight by noon. my play: tue–thu onsite when possible, monday virtual pre-read, wednsday no alcohol, thursday 6pm cutoff to make the earlier flight. ping your manager with a 3-bullet progress note daily—saves you in reviews when memory gets fuzzy. automate expenses. eat boring. and yea, sometimes you’ll eat the late dinner—just don’t make it a habit. delivery first, wellness second, optics third. that’s the order.
quick hack that helped me
i switched to monday night flights + a set wed 30‑min check‑in. fewer 6am disasters, better thurs debriefs. also ask for early “working dinners” vs 9pm restos. tiny change, big energy.
my cadence
tue–thu onsite, monday virtual pre‑read, wed gym before 7am, thurs flight before 7:30pm. i drop a nightly 3‑line update in slack. mgr loves it, i sleep more. lol small wins.
Define a standard operating week and socialize it early. I recommend a Monday virtual pre-read, Tuesday on-site kickoff, a fixed Tuesday afternoon feedback window, and a Wednesday “no-net-new” dinner guideline unless it’s client-critical. Pre-wire partners that Thursday is for consolidation and executive debriefs, and book the earliest feasible return to avoid drift. Treat Friday as internal: close loops, draft next week’s pre-read, and log lessons learned while they’re fresh. Most importantly, tie your cadence to business outcomes: decision readiness by mid-week, artifact quality by Thursday, and zero surprises. When your manager sees consistent momentum and predictable checkpoints, they evaluate you on results, not heroics. Adjust for the occasional fire drill, but keep the backbone intact.
Love this!
You’re so close. Lock your cadence, communicate it clearly, and protect the key windows. Consistency screams “promotion-ready.” You’ve got this—strong weeks, better sleep, better reviews!
I torched myself doing 6am Mondays too. Switched to a Tuesday 7:15am when the client was flexible and front-loaded a Monday pre-read with the PM. Also made Wednesdays “no late dinners unless the partner says mission-critical.” That alone cut my Thursday rework. Biggest win was a 20‑minute daily sync at 4:40pm; kept surprises out of the room and my reviews started using the word “reliable.” Fridays became documentation and next-week scaffolding. Not glamorous, but it compacts the chaos.
Anchor around predictable decision points. Aim for a Monday pre-read (20–30 minutes) to align scope, a Tuesday working session to lock assumptions, and a Wednesday synthesis checkpoint to prevent Thursday surprises. Book a Thursday return before 8pm and defend it via a published week plan sent Sunday night. Convert dinners to early working sessions whenever possible; late dinners correlate with next-day slip. Track two metrics: pre-read hit rate and Thursday rework hours. If those trend down while manager touchpoints stay consistent, you’re signaling promotion readiness without sacrificing sleep.