5 Ways to Stay Productive When Youre on the Road

5 Ways to Stay Productive When Youre on the Road Traveling is a fact of life when youre in the business world. But being on the road doesnt mean that you have to fall behind on your work. Use these five tips to stay productive â€" even when youre traveling. 1. Store Everything in One Central Place Cloud-based applications make everything easier. You can access documents, calendars and a host of other things from any device, anywhere. But there are times when youll need to save and store documents the old-fashioned way. If you dont, youll find yourself at a standstill if you cant find access to Wi-Fi. Make sure that you store all essential documents â€" and anything else youll need â€" on one device. Having everything in one central location will prevent frustration and headaches later on down the road. Otherwise, you might find yourself rummaging through multiple devices â€" or calling Susan at the office to have her email you the latest copy of that client agreement you had been working on. 2. Time Your Tasks Wisely Need to work on an intensive project? You may want to wait until youre not sitting in the airport listening for your flight to be called. Use those brief periods of downtime to work on less-intensive tasks. Save the in-depth projects for longer breaks or when you know youll have peace and quiet. 3. Adapt to Your Method of Travel What if youre driving and not flying? Texting and driving is illegal and unsafe; so is using a handheld device. Using a hands-free device, you can schedule those calls you had been meaning to take care of. This less-intensive task doesnt require too much of your attention, so you can get things done without putting your safety at risk. If youre flying or riding as a passenger in a vehicle, you have more leeway to get things done. Just remember that Wi-Fi is very slow when youre up in the air, so you may want to focus on tasks that dont require Internet connection. Businesswoman working on laptop on train. Asian freelance writer or designer writing emails on computer while commuting to meeting in the city. Commuter woman urban travel. 4. Network Traveling is a great opportunity for networking. Whether youre in the airport, dining at a local restaurant or attending a conference, there are new people to meet just about everywhere you go. Make it a point to be friendly to everyone you come across. You never know who you might meet â€" and who might change your career. 5. Plan Ahead for More Intensive Tasks If a busy airport isnt the best place to work on intensive tasks, where is? That is something youll have to plan for. You should have a good idea of where youre going and how long youll be at each place. Plan ahead, and schedule your more intensive tasks for when youll have more time to yourself. Maybe you can work at the local coffee shop while you have your breakfast, or in the hotel room at the end of the day. Either way, planning ahead will help ensure that you get things done and arent scrambling to find a time and place to focus.