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As the number of miles that people fly continues to increase, understanding how to make the most of your travel days is becoming increasingly important.  It is possible to be very productive, even on a long day of flying. Last week, I had two very long days of flying.  I flew from my home in Saskatchewan, Canada to Orlando, Florida and back.  Each trip involved two flights totaling over five hours in the plane plus layover in between.  By doing many of the activities below, I was able to productively use my time.

Some things to remember:

• you have time after security but before you get on the plane
• once you are on the plane you have time before and during takeoff where some electronic tools are not available (same during landing)
• you have time during a layover, but be prepared to spend some time finding the correct gate
• things change and flights get delayed, if you are prepared you can still use time wisely, even when delayed
• you are not in control – understand that unless you are the President flying on Air Force One you don’t determine when a plane can or can’t fly.  Don’t get mad or upset over things you can’t control

Plan your work:

Just like any day in the office, the first step to being productive on a travel day is to plan out your work. Know what your priorities and goals are. Without planning your work, you won’t get as much value out of your trip as you could. Don’t go overboard, instead list three or four things that you hope to get done on the trip, and put them in order of importance.

Now, here are some things you can do that will keep you productive on a long day of flying:

1. Catch up on Emails - Catching up on your email and aiming for “inbox zero” can be a great use of traveling time.  Gary Vaynerchuk often mentions using his flights to respond to all of his emails.  Many email readers are full accessible offline, and now even online email browsers such as Gmail are now available to be used in offline mode.

2. Read - Another valuable and popular thing to do on a flight or in airports is to read.  I love taking a book that I can read quickly and easily while flying. On overseas flights I often set a goal of reading an entire book before the end of the flight.  In fact many times I have started a book after going through security at my departure airport and finished before landing.  It is very rewarding to complete a book, front to back, in that time frame. (My top 10 books are here). You can also read magazine articles.  I have found it useful to rip out the articles from a magazine that I want to read.  I then put them in a folder and take only the articles that I’m going to read with me, instead of the full magazine.

3. Meet people – It is amazing how connecting with a few people over the course of a day of travel can help you grow your network and possibly get you some referrals for your business.  You don’t have to spend all flight talking to someone to build a connection.  I look to visit with the person sitting next to me for a few minutes during takeoff – small talk – and a few minutes as we land and are taxing to the gate.  I use the landing time to see if there is a potential business relationship, or if they can give me any referrals.

4. Listen to podcasts – Traveling is a great time to listen to podcasts. I often put several of my favorite podcasts on my iPod for the day.  While you can certainly listen after takeoff, I usually listen to podcasts in the airport as I move between gates or wait for my flight to leave.

5. Exercise – People don’t often think about being able to exercise on a travel day, however there are opportunities to do so.  Obviously during the flight you are pretty restricted, but if you have any layovers then you have an exercise opportunity. The concourses of airports often are expansive and have a long way between gates.  These are a great place to go for a walk; instead of standing on the moving sidewalk take the time to walk.  Even if your gate is close you can go further and walk around the airport (perhaps listening to a podcast while you do it).

6. Write blog posts or articles – If you have a blog or some other communication outlet you may want to use the time to write a post or article.  You can brainstorm and outline on paper and then pull out your laptop to write the post.  I will often try to write an article on days where I am flying.

7. Think – Travel days provide a great opportunity to spend some time thinking.  You may want to dream about your goals or think through a problem you are working on.  You may want to brainstorm ideas for you business, or consider some of your next projects that are coming up.  Make sure you have a notebook and pen so you can write down thoughts as they come to you. You may also want to put your headphones on, even without any music so that people are less likely to interrupt you.

8. Relax - You may also chose to use the travel day as a time to relax.  You are away from interruptions of the workplace, away from family, out of cell phone range, and simply have time by yourself.  Feel the freedom to use some of this time to relax; watch an in-flight movie or do a crossword or Soduko.  Give yourself some time to relax and recharge as you prepare for what is next on your agenda.

If you have a long day of travel with a long flight or multiple flights, you can be productive.  Plan your activities and use your time well.  You can get more done than you may think and put yourself ahead of the game for the rest of the week. It is worth it.

Written by:

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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Tags: airplanes, Productivity, success, tips, Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.