Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Externalized Cost and Time Management

I have been traveling a lot lately and have been highly frustrated with the process (so you know I was not flying private). It starts with driving to the airport. Indeterminate traffic/drive. Wasted 25 minutes for traffic. Then navigating the maze to find parking.

Then line after line. Boarding pass (if not printed ahead or if there is a problem), customs, security, check in. 20 to 30 minutes depending on the time of day. Crazy.

All the time wasted costs me and the other citizens. It is externalized cost. The airlines/governments cost does not increase by having me wait.

One problem with all the short snips of waits is they are too short to dig in and do anything. I am blogging right now in a Starbucks - using a more substantial time chunk. Short snips and standing in line is what I call and inconvenient waits. I never resent a good chunk of time.

Now I know I can gripe about the inconvenience but that has little impact. What I choose to do is to figure out how I can better spend my "inconvenient wait times".

1 - phone calls (although some areas like US customs clearance do not allow it and others it is too public to have meaningful conversations and in some cases impolite).

2 - Listen to audio books. I have tried this and all it takes is a bit of preparation. And be prepared to stop/start.

3 - email on my Blackberry. This is why the Blackberry was invented. I realize I am font challenged now. Need to carry reading glasses or use a bigger font.

4 - Exercise. Ok - looks a bit geeky to do squats or pushups and I do not want to get to sweaty. That said, I have a number of exercises that I do - making a game of it. So a few of my muscles will be well worked.

Like using all time well - preparation helps.

2 Comments:

At 7:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about games on your phone

 
At 3:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Travel less. Simple Solution to an otherwise seemingly complex concern.

Do you really need to be there? Can't it be done over skype ( for the most part ). I am certain you already do this, and analyse the necessity of travelling where air travel is involved. Of course there are the tradeoffs, not being present in person, may show a lack of interest, or missed networking opportunities. The after meeting meeting that occurs or the before meeting meeting that occurs, you miss out on. All of these are considerations that make travelling decisions difficult sometimes.

 

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