When I started traveling early in my career, every time I returned from a trip, my task list was in total disarray. I was never as productive on the road as I was in the office and it always took me several days to catch up and recover from each trip. I made excuses for my poor road productivity citing the hectic meeting schedule, travel logistics, and constant on the go nature of my (usually short) trips as the reasons for the inefficiency. Eventually, my trip frequency crossed over the critical inflection point from which there wasn't enough time between trips to catch up before the next began. I was forced to take a hard look at my travel productivity and understand the causes of the inefficiencies.
The single largest cause I identified was context. When I was in my office routine, I had a set process for how to deal with my contexts. First thing in the morning, I quickly triaged my e-mail for overnight crises, then immediately tackled a large task that required creativity. Next I would hit a handful of @Internet and @Computer next actions that were coming due. Then I would move on to @Phone tasks where the person I am calling was east coast US. As I hit early afternoon, I shifted to low energy tasks (e.g. west coast @Phone tasks). When I hit my next infusion of energy near early evening, I start the cycle over.
When on the road, that routine just wasn't possible to follow. I had to teach myself to adapt to a new set of context habits.
At the airport: @Internet tasks
In the airline club: @Phone tasks
On the plane: @Computer and @Anywhere tasks
In the cab/car: @Phone tasks where the noise isn't an issue (internal calls, family calls)
At the hotel: @Internet tasks
I also learned to carefully plan my high energy tasks. I often schedule flights to coincide with periods where I will be high energy so I can be maximally productive. I'll also schedule flights where my low energy time is dominated by travel logistics (cabs, airport checkin and security). Often I'll look for a train instead of a plane to get the extra productivity time for larger tasks.
So, if you seem to have productivity problems on the road, think hard about your contexts and plan ahead. Also check out my post on being Just Plane Productive, for more tips on maximizing your airplane down time.
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