If you live in Atlanta, you know all about the ridiculousness of rush-hour (hell, any hour) traffic! I’m here to tell ya that it's not all bad. You can actually use that time to your benefit. I have sang the entire OutKast discography, painted my nails, made grocery lists, and tweezed chin hairs amongst other randomness all while finagling through the stop and go of Atlanta traffic. However, since becoming an entrepreneur my commute to and from my 9-5 has been the best time to plan out my world domination (insert evil laugh)! These are just a few ways it goes down during my daily commute making productivity my bottom bitch!
1. Ride in silence.
Riding in silence only occurs after I drop the kid off to school in the morning and before I pick him up from football practice in the afternoon. This timeframe for peace and calm is usually shorter than my total commute time, but it allows me to think things through and talk things out. Even if no one is in the car with me, it sometimes helps me to verbalize my thoughts to ensure they make sense. And I keep my headphones in to make it appear as though I'm engaged heavily in conversation to on-lookers. I do not want to be the subject of somebody’s Vine.
2. Record voice memos.
It's difficult to grab a pen and paper while you're driving. Hell, most folks don't even keep pen and paper on hand anymore. I do, I'm old school like that. But when I'm on the go, I use my smartphone to record voice memos for those gangsta ass ideas I only come up with on the go. If I don't capture it in the moment, it's good as gone.
3. Make return/follow-up calls.
I'm extremely diligent about keeping my 9-5 and Joonie & Jake’s completely separate. It’s also the only way I stay sane. However, I receive calls all throughout the day regarding inquiries about my services. I sometimes have calls that need to be made to vendors, artists, and customers. I always make a list at night of the calls I need to make in the morning on my way to the office. And before I leave the office parking lot, I listen to my messages, jot down the numbers, and program them in my phone for easy call backs on my way home. I don’t have the luxury of answering every call during the day, but I do like having the opportunity to know exactly what my clients want before I talk to them.
If I have any free commute time left over after I’m done with business calls, entrepreneurial mantras, and auto-tuning my voice memos I call my “Maw Maw” in New Orleans and catch up on her day. I swear, my grandparents have a more active social life than I can ever imagine and they are hilarious to boot. Occasionally, they even provide solid business advice! #winning
So, how do you rock out your commute? Sharing is caring! Let us know!
-j
1. Ride in silence.
Riding in silence only occurs after I drop the kid off to school in the morning and before I pick him up from football practice in the afternoon. This timeframe for peace and calm is usually shorter than my total commute time, but it allows me to think things through and talk things out. Even if no one is in the car with me, it sometimes helps me to verbalize my thoughts to ensure they make sense. And I keep my headphones in to make it appear as though I'm engaged heavily in conversation to on-lookers. I do not want to be the subject of somebody’s Vine.
2. Record voice memos.
It's difficult to grab a pen and paper while you're driving. Hell, most folks don't even keep pen and paper on hand anymore. I do, I'm old school like that. But when I'm on the go, I use my smartphone to record voice memos for those gangsta ass ideas I only come up with on the go. If I don't capture it in the moment, it's good as gone.
3. Make return/follow-up calls.
I'm extremely diligent about keeping my 9-5 and Joonie & Jake’s completely separate. It’s also the only way I stay sane. However, I receive calls all throughout the day regarding inquiries about my services. I sometimes have calls that need to be made to vendors, artists, and customers. I always make a list at night of the calls I need to make in the morning on my way to the office. And before I leave the office parking lot, I listen to my messages, jot down the numbers, and program them in my phone for easy call backs on my way home. I don’t have the luxury of answering every call during the day, but I do like having the opportunity to know exactly what my clients want before I talk to them.
If I have any free commute time left over after I’m done with business calls, entrepreneurial mantras, and auto-tuning my voice memos I call my “Maw Maw” in New Orleans and catch up on her day. I swear, my grandparents have a more active social life than I can ever imagine and they are hilarious to boot. Occasionally, they even provide solid business advice! #winning
So, how do you rock out your commute? Sharing is caring! Let us know!
-j
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