I nearly missed not hitting my goal last night since I slept for exactly 7 hours since this morning was an early start to make it to the airport.

It was hard to leave home this morning. I haven’t traveled for work in over 6 months so it wasn’t as easy as when I would travel 100k+ miles per year.  

It’s hard on both of us having me away from the house and also hard on Sasha who spent the entire day looking out of the blinds. 

It was a hassle-free flight to Vegas. I knew it would be a busy week but it got busier once I powered my phone on.  

I had to rush to the hotel, drop my bag in my room and head right downstairs for back-to-back meetings. Of course “heading downstairs” in a Las Vegas hotel can mean up to a 10-minute walk just to make it to the conference area. 

Once I finished those initial meetings the rest of the day was a blur working primarily with our PR team but also with our Events and Creative Services teams as well as our photographers on preparing for the upcoming week. 

We had our employee all-hands meeting and then I spent time volunteering as part of an effort that our Corporate Citizenship team organized. 

All day long I have had team members coming up to me expressing how happy they are to see me at the event. It reinforces that familial feeling that we have at Citrix. 

I also had several team members tell me that they’re reading what I’m publishing and take inspiration from the journey that we’ve been on. 

It made me feel good to see in-person just how many people have been affected by our situation. 

As the first day comes to a close I am feeling strong. I don’t feel fatigued beyond being tired from a long day at an event which is completely normal.