Intercontinental flights are a reality for many people in the software industry - at least it is for me on a regular basis. Being able to manage jetlag well is clearly a nice trait to have...
What you were about to do
Let's say you're traveling from Paris to New-York, as I just did last week. As soon as you arrive, you're going to feel really tired. The trip in itself is tiring, but when your "usual bed time" arrives, your biorhythm will kindly request that you enter power save mode. Tiring day. Woke up early. Censored movie in the plane. Nighty night?
You were about to break the golden rule:
Don't sleep (just yet).
If you break this golden rule, it's going to take you days to recover, whereas if you exert your will a bit, you'll find out that you can adjust in a couple of days and do actual work the day after you arrive.
What you're actually going to do
You'll go to bed at night time. Before that, you're going to take your meals according to the local time, expose yourself to sunlight and you will not, I insist, will not, go to your room to "unwind and relax". Well that is, not before it's night time.
Don't listen too much to your body. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can stay awake for more than 24 hours. You're just going to lose a bit of alertness, but you're sure not going to die. Don't think about sleep. Stay busy. You'll sleep eventually (some day...) so stop thinking about it.
The ideal occupation is walking around in order to expose yourself to sunlight. You'll have to resist a "wave of fatigue" every two hours. That's much easier than you'd think...
A first tough night
Don't take a sleeping pill, unless you're into having sleeping disorders. Also avoid caffeine and the like for the first day. Your will alone is enough, believe me. The first night won't be very cool, because you're going to wake up in the middle of the night, 100% guaranteed.
When that happens, the golden rule is:
Stay in bed
Even if you don't sleep, stay in bed. Don't get busy. You'll actually fall asleep again very easily because you need more sleep than what your body believes.
In the morning, you'll feel weird. That's the jetlag. You're rested but jetlagged. It will hopefully fade away very quickly if you stick to
- Not going to bed before it's night
- Staying in bed as long as it's night
- Eat according to the local time, not according to your hunger
- Get as much sunlight as possible
Keep in mind that the more hours of difference, the harder it is. Nevertheless, if you're rigorous about this, you'll manage jetlag very well.
Shift the schedule
You can reduce the amount of jetlag damage by shifting your day slightly.
If you're westbound, start your day early and go to bed early. If you're eastbound, do the opposite. You'll gain a couple of hours. Organize your day accordingly. The first days you're going to feel very tired at very unusual moments within the day. Make sure that your business schedule is clear at that moment.
For example when I visit people in the silicon valley, I feel extremely tired around 1600h for the first few days. What I do is that I make sure I don't have a critical meeting at that moment. Fortunately I generally work with very kind people that accept to have meetings early in the morning.
Be realistic
If you're staying only a short time (less than 3 days), don't try to adapt. You won't make it in that few days and you'll be "in the middle" when returning. Just stick to your original time as much as possible. Don't hesitate to replan your trip or give yourself more days, even if you only have one day busy doing business. And guess what? Sometimes video conference is sufficient.
Going easy on you
Avoid connections. Don't think you're saving money with connections, you're actually losing some. Being tired costs you money. Connections are stressful and tiring - and incur an unwelcomed random factor when it comes to your arrival time.
If you're in Paris, fly Air France. If you're in Frankfurt, fly Lufthansa. If you're in London, fly British Airways. You get the idea. Companies will fly you to their hub and then to your destination. Good for them, bad for you. If you don't leave near a hub, don't fly to the hub. Think about the train.
You know what's great about the train? No stupid ban on liquids. No crazy security check. No "be there 4 days before the plane takes off or we will kill your family". You can walk. You can work. You can rest.
And last but not least, if you can afford business class, do it. Flying business makes it much easier to follow the advices I exposed here, because your back won't hurt, you won't be too tired by the flight itself and maybe you'll have some rest!
Unfortunately it's pretty damn expensive, especially when you're starting up your company. But as one of my former bosses said "it's almost worth what they make you pay for it".