Be realistic about on-the-road productivity

Know what you can do and what you can't

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Today's tip is that plain time and travel time in
general can be hard to use well. Some people manage
to get.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
A lot done, but if you are one of those
people who has a harder time with this, you might
be better off just accepting that and figuring out what
you can still do. I have been on a lot
of long plane flights over the last few months. It
has been a necessary part of getting to see some

(00:44):
amazing places like France and Portugal and Hawaii. I bring
my laptop and a list of things to do, and
often I do make it through some of these things.
But sometimes it is just hard. Sometimes flights are bumpy
and it is impossible to do anything except think about
the turbulence. Sometimes the person next to me is doing

(01:07):
distracting things. Sometimes I am tired, especially on long flights.
I believe in doing the best job we can today.
Conditions may not be perfect, but we can always do something.
I have written a lot of Before Breakfast episodes on planes.
But we can also decide that when something is not happening,

(01:30):
it is just not happening. Eventually you will be on
the ground and will be at your workspace where you
can't help but be productive. If it's incredibly painful to
work now, well how about watching something really good. I'll
admit I have watched the BBC Asia documentary offerings on
American airlines twice. They are fascinating. And some people are

(01:53):
much smarter about this. They go ahead and download whatever
series or movies they want to watch beforehand, so they
are not reliant on the airline's offerings. Or you can
plan out your reading. I've enjoyed saving some books I
know will be zippy for long plane flights. For instance,
I read Dave Berry's memoir Class Clown on the flight

(02:14):
to Portugal and it really made the time go faster.
I read a lot of mel Robin's book about her
Let Them Theory, on a flight to France and got
into that too. If you have magazines you particularly like reading,
you might save them up when they come and you
know you've got a long flight coming up, hide them

(02:34):
away and then make sure to put them in your
backpack or purse for the flight, Or if you don't
subscribe to one, let it be your airport treat, go
pick up a copy in a bookstore before your flight,
and reward yourself for being on a thin tube hurling
through the clouds by lingering over the pages. In the

(02:57):
recent Before Breakfast interview episode with travel entrepreneur Henley Vazquez,
she mentioned being honest about what sort of work she
could get done on planes. Big picture strategic thinking is
not happening when you are bouncing around as if someone
suspended your plane in a bowl of jello. But she
could get caught up on email and instant messages from

(03:19):
her team. That sort of work doesn't take as much concentration,
and it does need to get done at some point.
Doing it in the clouds buys you time.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
On the ground for the good stuff. I keep hoping
someone will come up with a way to make air
travel either faster or much more pleasant. Maybe in the future,
some virtual reality version of travel will make me feel
like I'm just sitting at my desk even as I
am hurtling towards, say, Barcelona. But until that happens, it

(03:52):
might be worth being realistic about how you will feel
in the sky, or for that matter, on long bus
trips or the passenger in a car. Maybe you can
do some low focus work, and sometimes you might just
need to settle for enjoying some really good entertainment. I
am a fan of anything that makes it feel a

(04:13):
little less like you are counting the seconds or wishing
them away. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks

(04:34):
for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app,

(04:56):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.