Plane trips, although stress-provoking in today's world, can also be great times for "catching-up" and strategic thinking.
I took a short vacation in August, and despite the angst of removing my footwear at the airport and other travel inconveniences, I thoroughly enjoyed the 3-hour flight. I left my laptop at home (because it was, after all, a vacation) and the movie was unbearably bad, so I simply reverted to my little purple notebook and a great gel pen as a means of capturing my thoughts. I had lots of reading material (Fast Company, New York, and the in-flight magazine. The expanse of time, free of phone calls and other office distractions, led to some creative new ideas and focus for my own business and my clients.
Lest you think I am a total work nerd, I must assure you that I did manage to squeeze in other activities during the flight. For example, I:
- Did a crossword puzzle
- Listened to my i-pod and learned the correct way to use ear buds from an informative advertorial in the in-flight magazine. (I couldn't figure out if it was satire or not. After all, the airlines DO feel compelled to teach you how to put on a seatbelt.)
- Read selected sections of the Sunday New York Times and scanned a couple of celebrity rags, which I am too ashamed to mention by name
- Drank a cup of (bad) coffee
- Window-shopped obscure Sky Mall products. Does anyone really order the home corndog cooker? The rat zapper? The remote control snack feeder for the pool?
I came back from vacation refreshed and tan, but also with a draft of a 2007 marketing strategy for theONswitch, a to-do list for the about 20 pages of inspiration and notes for clients extracted from various magazines, and a resolution to get out of the office for "think time" at least once a quarter. (Although theONswitch team might lobby to keep me earthbound, because this inspirational trip resulted in follow-ups for them too.)