Flight time is work time. Says Musgrave, "Time in space is so valuable that I tend to do things there that you can only do in space." While his work may differ from yours, the challenge of focusing on tasks in flight is the same. Musgrave's solution? Checklists. "Loads of them." Determine a realistic agenda and stick to it.
Productivity Agenda 1:
Gary Hamel makes a point never to talk to his seat companions during flights -- even when they happen to be Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Instead, he dons his $79 Noise Buster -- active-noise-canceling headphones from Noise Cancellation Technologies (800-278-3526) -- and digs into the carefully calibrated bag of reading his secretary has set aside for him.
Productivity Agenda 2:
Harvey Mackay makes a point always to talk to his seat companion. Sometimes he waits until 20 minutes before the plane lands to introduce himself to his neighbors, saving most of the flight to get his work done.
Productivity Power Tools:
Musgrave manages eight or nine ThinkPad and Grid notebooks on the space shuttle to coordinate mechanical operations, access data, and send e-mail. Novey-White only takes one laptop, but routinely writes 50% of her reports on the road.
Advice on mitigating the effects of mileage on body and soul ranges from good old common sense -- drink buckets of water but no alcohol, eat and sleep according to the destination time zone, wear comfortable shoes -- to New Age remedies -- potions of deer antlers, ginseng, and beetle dung; aromatherapy and acupressure -- to Dr. Feelgood -- take a few valium before and a melatonin after flights.
Some favorites:
Drink, Yes. Water, No
The right liquid, says one extreme traveler, is champagne!
Swallow half a bottle of the bubbly stuff when you board. The benefits: a pleasant doze plus the chemistry of carbonation.
Sleep. Ackerman reads until "bleary-eyed" during the first hour of the flight (he suggests the in-flight magazine) and then falls off into a restful sleep.
Light. Astronauts use bright lights to signal day and red goggles to signal night to their bodies.
The Purpose. The true goal of travel, of course, is not simply getting there. The deeper endeavor, says Hamel, is "becoming a citizen of the world." In Musgrave's case, citizenship extends to the entire universe. "Travel is at the top of the list of things that expand the mind," he says. "The best aspects of space are similar to touring down here: it broadens your horizons and takes away your own perspective to give you a different vantage point."
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