What are you doing in your “downtime”?
Don’t waste your life and see ‘downtime’ as ‘Productivity Opportunity.’
Here are some examples:
- Commuting time, to and from work or appointments, can be a great productivity booster. Following are some ideas for being productive during commute:
+ Get and education to and from work. Earl Nightingale said if we invest just one hour per day studying one subject, in 5 years time, we will be one of the world’s leading experts. As a world’s leading expert, can you command more money for your valuable time? You bet your booties! You can get your education by listing to podcasts, MP3s, MP4s, CDs or streaming recordings of books, book summaries, books on CD, etc. Read books and book summaries on your subject.
+ Practice your presentations on the way to and from work. NEVER ‘wing it.’ Many people tell me, “Wow… I wish I could speak like you in front of a group. I get so nervous. I forget what I want to say. For you, it’s so easy.” Sorry, I WORK at it. As Mark Twain once said, “The best ad-libbed like are well rehearsed.” I PRACTICE what I say and do all the time. I practice in transport. I practice at home. I practice when everyone else is a sleep. Amazing when you work so hard it because ‘easy’ or seems ‘natural.’ It’s WORK! So…practice.
+ Feeling stressed? Use commuting time to relax. Don’t get frustrated by the jam. Listen to your favorite music. Close your eyes (assuming you are not driving) and imagine you are at that performer’s concert. Listen to the words if they relax you. Imagine you are the one playing or singing with them. Music has been shown to relax people and help them cope with the stressors in life.
- Find you’ve arrived early to a meeting or session? Get some work done. Use your Mac, PC or iPhone to be productive.
- Waiting in queue, return phone calls, text, Tweet and read emails.
- Lunch with colleagues, rather than complain about the boss, discuss how to get the boss into your system and get more done.
- Watch TV smarter via TiVo or on an HD recorder and skip all the commercial.
- If it’s broadcast TV and you still want to watch the show, during commercial breaks have some ‘C’ activities you can do in between like repair a torn bag, polish your shoes, wash dishes, read the newspaper or at least refresh your ice tea, answer emails and text messages and return calls. Just don’t waste your time watching ads for things you have no intention of buying now or shows you have no intention of watching.
- Call the people you can never get to during your ‘C’ time. Most people retrieve and reply to their own voice mail and leave it on 24/7. You can bypass many ‘gatekeepers’ by contacting big bosses at night.
You can be productive even in your downtime. Make it happen!!!
