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Nobody likes being stuck in traffic during the morning commute, but if that describes your morning routine, then here are some ideas about how you can make the best use of that time. It might not make the daily commute any more pleasant, but it will at least make it a bit more productive. Note that all of these assume you’re stuck in stop and go traffic and have significant amounts of time when you’re not moving. We certainly wouldn’t advocate texting and driving or any such thing.
Scheduling
All sorts of possibilities here, but odds are good that your cell phone can connect you to your work email account and your calendar, so you can schedule training, meetings, and possibly even do staff scheduling while you wait. One bit of administrivia down that you don’t have to deal with when you hit the office.
Returning eMails
Not the ones that will require lengthy replies or attachments, mind you. Just the ones you can answer quickly and be done with them. Note that these are the sorts you can offload to your virtual assistant when you get one, but until you do, the next best solution is to provide quick answers while you’re in your car to and from work. Plus, reading the ones that will require longer replies will at least give you the ability to reflect on them during the drive, so you can mentally map out your reply when you get to the office.
Make Those Morning Phone Calls
Odds are that a number of the people you’ll be wanting to reach out to (if they are in the same time zone) will be in a similar situation. Reach out to the ones you need to call early, if you know they’ll be up and available. The two of you can hammer out the details of whatever you needed to talk to them about before you even get to your desk, and that’s one more thing off your daily list!
Teleconference
It’s even possible to schedule more involved teleconferences during those early morning hours. As long as you’ve had a bit of prep time the night before, there’s no harm in scheduling one of these during the morning drive. Besides, it will take your mind off of that guy in the big SUV who just cut you off.
Set Assignments for Your VA or TR’s
If you’ve already got a Virtual Assistant and/or a cadre of Task Rabbits to do your bidding each day, that morning drive is a great time to marshal your troops and give everybody their day’s marching orders. By lunchtime, you can check back in with all of them to track everyone’s progress and make course corrections as needed, and by the time you get home, all those administrative tasks that eat up so much of your time are done!
Note: If you’re not sure how to best go about hiring a virtual assistant, read Tim Ferriss’ excellent book, “The Four Hour Work Week,” which, among other things, outlines the entire process. And head to taskrabbit.com to see if your city is on the list yet!
Take the drudgery out of your morning commute. Turn it into a powerful part of your day.
