Twice a day, every weekday, I often find myself fighting the battle to stay productive on my 1.5 hour train ride to/from NYC. I do a great deal of work on the train before most of my coworkers even get out of bed. Its a great time to stay concentrated because there are no meetings to go to, no unexpected visitors (hint: put your ipod on and no one will bother you)and no phones to answer (hint: turn your cell on vibrate and put it in you’re bag where you won’t feel the urge to answer it).

Most of my friends say, “but you’re like an internet guy, what can you do without a connection?”. Well there are loads of things I can do. Here is a pretty good list of what is possible to work on during your morning commute (don’t attempt this while driving a car though!):

• Fill out your task list for the day - The first thing I do when I get on the train is open my FranklinCovey, fill out my task list, and prioritize them for the day ahead. This way I have a good idea of what motions I’ll be going through for the rest of the day.
• Set your meeting agendas for the day - According to the Covey way, you are suppose to write down all of your meetings in advance in your planner, but sometimes I occasionally slip.
• Reply to the previous day’s emails - I often get flooded with emails for project reports and new business opportunities between the hours of 4 - 7pm. Because it is so late by the time I get home (typically 9pm), I often wait to reply to these emails in the morning. This works out perfectly because you can concentrate on what the person is telling you and really think about what you want to say. Much different then the quick 30 second emails that we often have to send off during the course of our day.
• Work on Proposals - I always make sure that I physically have all of the information I need to create a proposal for any new business opportunities that may have come in from the night before or may be lingering around from days past. On my computer I keep a record of all of the proposals I have ever sent, cost sheets, and all the possible analysis tools I may need (standard hosting costs, maintenance costs, etc.). By doing this I can usually bang out one well put together proposal before I get to the office and then all I need is the partners approval to send it on its way!
• Design - Just because we work in Word all day and talk on the phone doesn’t mean we can’t still be creative. I believe that in order for Biz Devs and Studio Owners to be the most successful, we can’t lose site of our love for design that got us here in the first place. One thing I’ve been toying with is making shirts for threadless. I haven’t posted any yet but it gives me a nice relaxing moment to concentrate on my creative side again, even if for just a half hour a day.
• Code - Yeah you read thats right! I code. I know I must sound like the devil to some of you but coding is one of the best ways to keep your mind sharp. I am not talking about creating any crazy applications with C++ or anything, although you probably could if you wanted to, rather I am talking about creating web apps with PHP & MySQL or Mac apps using the new version of RealBASIC. Check out my latest invention, the Business Quote Collector - feel free to add some of your favorites!
• Read a Book / Listen to an Audiobook - Since I’ve getting my iPod three years ago, I have become obsessed with audiobooks. Don’t get me wrong, I like to read but there is something about audible learning that seems to work better for me to absorb information the first or second time around rather than 4 of 5 times. But you don’t have to stop there! I often “rip” feeds during the day to listen to on my train ride home. If you are on a mac (sorry PC users), you can invest $32 in this great piece of software called Audio Hijack Pro which will listen to any sound from a specific application and then record it to .WAV, .MP3, or .AAC format for you. The makers of it say it is “like a vcr for internet radio”. For example, with this you can record your favorite episodes of Design Matters then listen to it on your iPod as you ride home.

With these ideas you have a pretty good idea of what I do on my commute. So now how about you? Feel free to add to this list. Let me know what you do on your commute. Oh, and sleeping doesn’t count!