Working During Executive Travel

If you’re an executive road warrior, blazing through airport terminals and stepping in and out of corporate sedan service with ease, you know the importance of staying productive in a variety of atmospheres under pressure. Productivity on the go is often an elusive concept for those who are new to the road warrior lifestyle, and finding your perfect balance between getting enough sleep, eating enough food, and being productive enough in your professional life can be difficult. Luckily, there are a few tricks to staying productive in any environment under any amount of pressure, and this productivity can lead to an easier work life, an easier travel life, and a happier you.
  1. Don’t Rent a Car (Get Car Service)

There are a few key elements that renting a car can provide you with, like independence to travel on your own and drop-of-the-hat excursions around whatever new city you’re in. But when remaining productive is at the top of your list for your business travel, renting a car is not the best option. Not only do rental cars allow the temptation of abandoning your work tasks for a late-night outing into the city, but they also put the responsibility of driving squarely on your shoulders, which means that that hour-long traffic jam that you’ll sit in during rush hour on the way to your hotel from the airport will just be logged as dead time spent tapping the break and pressing the gas.

If you spring for a car service on the other hand, that time can be spent organizing a presentation, answering emails, making phone calls and getting caught up on your reports. Letting someone else drive you during your corporate trip equals less time stressing out about navigating and getting around the city and more time devoted to keeping your productivity at that desirable high level.

  1. Find Better Apps

If you’re a road warrior, you probably know how vital your Smartphone or tablet is to getting work done while you’re sitting in traffic jams or waiting on your plane to board. So having the best apps downloaded can make all of the tasks you need to complete in your downtime that much easier. Some of the most useful apps for executives on the go include Expensify which helps executives sort and create expense reports and is a great tool for getting financially organized with a few easy steps.

CardMunch is another Smartphone app that can expedite the professional process, as it allows you to take a picture of the business cards you collect from others and load the information on the cards into your phone as contacts, as well as connect the cards to the users’ LinkedIn accounts. A third useful app for your road warrior down time is TripIt, which can take all of your car, flight, and hotel reservations and create a simple itinerary right at your fingertips.

  1. Organize (and Prioritize) Your Tasks

Getting organized in your road warrior down time is one of the most effortless ways to make your business travels worth every moment. That old adage about multitasking being the highway to work success? Completely false. In fact, recent studies have shown that multitasking often actually lowers the brain’s ability to focus, creating a less productive mind when productivity is essential. If you consider that multitasking isn’t actually completing several tasks simultaneously at all but just quick switches from one project or area of concern to another, the chances of actually accomplishing anything by splitting your attention in fourths every time you have a moment of respite on your work trip are slim. Remember to dedicate your undivided attention to each task you have to complete; doing this will ensure that your mind was fully engaged and on point when the work was done, reducing the possibility of simple gaffes or mistakes.