Staying Productive While On The Road: Part 1
I’m on the road again. That usually means decreased productivity and feeling like you’re constantly behind.
I’ve talked about this before – and how one of the most important things you can do at times like this is the following two steps:
- Decide what is truly important – cut out the rest or delay until you can devote the proper amount of time.
- Batch tasks – get ruthless about your attention to tasks and group them together so you attention isn’t divided.
For me, part of being focused is having a decent place to work. Now, don’t get me wrong – I can set up with my laptop in a Starbucks and knock something out if I need to, but take active steps to make sure that I have something better whenever I can.
For this trip, I’ve got a hotel room in Toronto (beautiful city!) and I cleared off the desk and set it up so that I’ve got what I need and not much more. I suppose that I could clear off the junk the hotel put on there, but I was content to push it into the corner for a couple days.
This, for me, is very helpful in that it helps create the environment for just “getting things done”. When I’m sitting there, I’m more in the zone and find it easier to focus.
I’ve found that being prepared for travel and having a few tools at your disposal to keep productivity up while still enjoying a trip takes attention and focus, but really pays off!
This is a short part 1 of an important topic on travel and productivity. I’ll be continuing to put it to the test as I travel to Panama next week for a company meeting. More task batching and task-triage is in order!