According to our research, 27% of employees feel like they’re wasting time on their commute. And when you add up all the extra minutes the mobile workforce spends getting to the office, meetings and attending events, there’s a lot of lost time. The solution? Use it to get things done. Here are our favourite ways to spend travel time productively.
Create a to-do list: Get ready for the day ahead by noting down all of your priority tasks. For the most effective time planning, record how long you estimate each activity will take, and the order in which you’re going to tackle them. There are dozens of apps like Wunderlist and Evernote that are specifically designed to keep your tasks in order. If you’re driving, you can even use an app like Dragon Dictation to avoid getting distracted.
Catch up with emails: Data from McKinsey & Company shows that we spend 28% of our week reading and responding to emails. If you can use your travel time to stay on top of them, you can focus on your colleagues and key tasks when you’re in the office instead.
Build your network: If you’re always on top of your emails, your travel time could be better spent making new contacts and touching base with colleagues and clients you’ve not spoken to in a while. That could mean being more active on networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, or creating a plan for ways to expand your contact base.
Learn a language: If you travel a lot, the chances are you have international colleagues. So why not use the time to take your overseas collaborations up a level by learning their language? It can help advance negotiations and build closer connections. Try an app like Duolingo and squeeze in 20 minutes a day.
Read: Taking time out to read has many benefits. Turning to the latest thought-leadership book from an industry expert will obviously help you stay on top of new developments, but even reading a novel can have positive outcomes. Recent research suggests that reading literary fiction helps improve empathy and our ability to understand others, both of which are vital to business according to negotiation experts.
休息：我們一直在討論效率，而休息似乎有點離題。不過，充足的休息對於高效工作來說是必不可缺的。如果您不想小憩，可以考慮做一些提升注意力的鍛煉。像Headspace和Personal Zen這樣的應用程式可以讓您保持頭腦清醒，到達目的地後讓您更加沉著專注地工作。
鍛煉：如果您整天坐在車上，會導致精力過剩，這也是個值得重視的問題。這時候您可能會考慮步行、跑步或者騎自行車上班。研究表明，步行或騎車上班可以降低血壓，而且在到達目的地後，您甚至會覺得自己工作更有效率。
過程比結果更重要。同樣，要選擇最佳的工作方式，不要讓通勤徒增壓力。
