Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 2: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that plain time and travel time in
Speaker 1: general can be hard to use well. Some people manage
Speaker 1: to get.
Speaker 2: A lot done, but if you are one of those
Speaker 2: people who has a harder time with this, you might
Speaker 2: be better off just accepting that and figuring out what
Speaker 2: you can still do. I have been on a lot
Speaker 2: of long plane flights over the last few months. It
Speaker 2: has been a necessary part of getting to see some
Speaker 2: amazing places like France and Portugal and Hawaii. I bring
Speaker 2: my laptop and a list of things to do, and
Speaker 2: often I do make it through some of these things.
Speaker 2: But sometimes it is just hard. Sometimes flights are bumpy
Speaker 2: and it is impossible to do anything except think about
Speaker 2: the turbulence. Sometimes the person next to me is doing
Speaker 2: distracting things. Sometimes I am tired, especially on long flights.
Speaker 2: I believe in doing the best job we can today.
Speaker 2: Conditions may not be perfect, but we can always do something.
Speaker 2: I have written a lot of Before Breakfast episodes on planes.
Speaker 2: But we can also decide that when something is not happening,
Speaker 2: it is just not happening. Eventually you will be on
Speaker 2: the ground and will be at your workspace where you
Speaker 2: can't help but be productive. If it's incredibly painful to
Speaker 2: work now, well how about watching something really good. I'll
Speaker 2: admit I have watched the BBC Asia documentary offerings on
Speaker 2: American airlines twice. They are fascinating. And some people are
Speaker 2: much smarter about this. They go ahead and download whatever
Speaker 2: series or movies they want to watch beforehand, so they
Speaker 2: are not reliant on the airline's offerings. Or you can
Speaker 2: plan out your reading. I've enjoyed saving some books I
Speaker 2: know will be zippy for long plane flights. For instance,
Speaker 2: I read Dave Berry's memoir Class Clown on the flight
Speaker 2: to Portugal and it really made the time go faster.
Speaker 2: I read a lot of mel Robin's book about her
Speaker 2: Let Them Theory, on a flight to France and got
Speaker 2: into that too. If you have magazines you particularly like reading,
Speaker 2: you might save them up when they come and you
Speaker 2: know you've got a long flight coming up, hide them
Speaker 2: away and then make sure to put them in your
Speaker 2: backpack or purse for the flight, Or if you don't
Speaker 2: subscribe to one, let it be your airport treat, go
Speaker 2: pick up a copy in a bookstore before your flight,
Speaker 2: and reward yourself for being on a thin tube hurling
Speaker 2: through the clouds by lingering over the pages. In the
Speaker 2: recent Before Breakfast interview episode with travel entrepreneur Henley Vazquez,
Speaker 2: she mentioned being honest about what sort of work she
Speaker 2: could get done on planes. Big picture strategic thinking is
Speaker 2: not happening when you are bouncing around as if someone
Speaker 2: suspended your plane in a bowl of jello. But she
Speaker 2: could get caught up on email and instant messages from
Speaker 2: her team. That sort of work doesn't take as much concentration,
Speaker 2: and it does need to get done at some point.
Speaker 2: Doing it in the clouds buys you time.
Speaker 1: On the ground for the good stuff. I keep hoping
Speaker 1: someone will come up with a way to make air
Speaker 1: travel either faster or much more pleasant. Maybe in the future,
Speaker 1: some virtual reality version of travel will make me feel
Speaker 1: like I'm just sitting at my desk even as I
Speaker 1: am hurtling towards, say, Barcelona. But until that happens, it
Speaker 1: might be worth being realistic about how you will feel
Speaker 1: in the sky, or for that matter, on long bus
Speaker 1: trips or the passenger in a car. Maybe you can
Speaker 1: do some low focus work, and sometimes you might just
Speaker 1: need to settle for enjoying some really good entertainment. I
Speaker 1: am a fan of anything that makes it feel a
Speaker 1: little less like you are counting the seconds or wishing
Speaker 1: them away. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.
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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.