Perhaps the trickiest part of business travel is getting the work that is generated from that travel done while you’re not in the office. Here are some ways to keep your productivity at its peak even though you’re not sitting at your desk.
You may not think this first tip is an effective use of time, but we think it can be a game changer. Creating a strategy for completing the work you need to do before you dive in will give you a guide to keep you on task and on track once you hit the ground. Using your travel time to get organized may be the most helpful thing you can do to make the best use of your time once you arrive.
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Once you’ve formulated your strategy, organize your devices by decluttering your inbox by listening to voicemail messages, deleting junk emails, filing documents into folders, and clearing out old emails that you don’t need any more. Plowing through the plethora of unorganized details will translate into increased productivity when the real work begins.
Get your own hotspot. Don’t depend on the wifi at the airport or the hotel. Carriers have these portable devices, or your smartphone may have an integrated hotspot mode as part of their service. These provide truly high speed internet access on the go. For a monthly fee, which you may be able to expense, you have the peace of mind that you’ll have the internet you need to do your work anywhere, anytime. Plus it’s a lot more secure than public wifi.
Check into mobile coworking spaces. If you’re in a city between meetings for a day, or you find yourself in the same territory regularly, but don’t have access to an office, coworking spaces offer you an area to work that’s more conducive to productivity than a hotel room or coffee shop. For a daily fee, Copass can give you access to 500 coworking spaces in 300 cities and 75 countries. WeWork offers a similar arrangement on a monthly basis in 29 locations in 14 cities around the world.
Finally, prioritize your tasks to complement your method of transportation. Phone calls can make any drive efficient, and writing while cruising at 30,000 feet (without the distraction of a pinging phone) can transform sitting into serious production per mile.
Getting work done while you travel doesn’t have to be an elusive dream. With a strategy, some organization and the right environment, you may find you work better away from the office than you ever thought you could.
How do you get work done while you’re traveling? Do you have any productivity hints that will help the rest of us stay ahead of the mountain of work waiting for us when we get back? Share them with us in the comments below, on our Facebook page, or in our Twitter stream.
Photo credit: InformationStartupUK (Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 4.0)