Read time: 7 Minutes
Here’s a contrarian take of mine: I love Airplanes. I love them. I love flying. I love the bustle of the airport. I love the sensation of being tossed back into your seat as you take off. I even love turbulence that bumps you around as you rocket across the world at 30,000 feet above the ground. I love the reflective mood being alone and on my way to a new place puts me in. As a whole experience, I truly enjoy flying.
That being said there are of course aspects that I don’t like. For example, having someone lean their seat back into my lap isn’t my favorite encounter with a stranger. I don’t love the bathrooms, although being able to use the facilities while traveling over 500 miles per hour is a serious technical accomplishment. The food options, especially after covid, have taken a dive and now I no longer look forward to the snack cart coming through the aisle.
While I recognize the downsides and potential annoyances of air travel on the whole I am a huge fan of the experience. In fact, as I am writing this right now I’m hurdling from New York to LA returning from a work trip. I’ll put my money where my mouth is.
Of the things that I love about airplanes, by far my favorite is the complete ownership over my time that seems to only happen when I’m flying. This was particularly true before wifi on planes became so ubiquitous but it still remains true for me to this day.
When I get on a plane to fly anywhere for any length of time I get the feeling that while in the air my time is completely my own to do with as I please. I have done more reading on planes than I have anywhere else in the world. I have written deep reflections on how I’m doing at work, personal journal entries to unpack my stubbornly complex psychology, and even drafted more than a few pieces for the blog while flying. I’ve also watched dumb movies that I have no business spending time on. (I’ve seen Mad Max Fury Road about 15 times and most of those were over someone’s shoulder while I was aimlessly scrolling through photos on my phone, another cherished plane activity).
My plane time is sacred to me because there is truly nowhere else I could be and I have few options for what I could be doing.
In our modern lives, there are limitless potential options for how we spend our free time. The choices run so far rampant that FOMO was added to the official Merriam Webster’s dictionary in 2013. Most of us agonize over how we are going to spend our weekends or our evenings after work and that problem hasn’t gotten any easier as time goes on. The exception of course the time during peak COVID lockdowns. There seems such an excess of entertainment and activity options that deciding how to spend your time easily becomes an anxiety-inducing endeavor.
Not only is the choice of time allocation stress but the logistics that go behind every decision add yet another layer of potential stress. You have to figure out how you’re getting where you’re going, who is going to be there, how much money the experience is going to cost you, and whether that’s the type of activity you really want to be spending precious free time on. A lot of thought goes into every choice we make in this arena and many of us experience acute stress when trying to plan out our lives. I know that I do. It can seem overwhelming to navigate the choices that we have available to us and the how of getting around to doing all of the things.
All of that is why I love airplanes. All of that stress is removed because I’m already doing a thing (traveling) and not only can I not go anywhere else while I’m in the air I also have limited options on how to spend my time. I could watch a movie, read a book, write, work, flip through old photos, maybe play a game on my phone but that is about it. With my limited options, I am able to escape the Paradox of Choice and am empowered to make an easy selection from a shortlist.
That is also why I find myself to be so productive with respect to writing while on a plane. Both Neil Gaiman and Jerry Seinfeld force themselves to write by sitting down in front of their pen and paper (or computer) and telling themselves “I don’t have to write, but I can’t do anything else.” While not exactly the same, that is about the default state for me on an airplane. Yes, some planes have TV screens so I could hypothetically watch a movie. I could also read as I bring my kindle everywhere so ok, I’ll give you those exceptions. But for the most part, when I pop open my internet-less computer on a plane, I don’t have much of a choice. I am put in a position where writing becomes the most enticing option for how to spend my time. And oh do I write. I have done extensive journaling, drafting, editing, and editing some more while on a plane, and it’s in this creative state of mind that has produced some of my best work.
I may be an outlier on how much I enjoy flying but I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people are able to focus more deeply on planes than anywhere else. Constraints unlock creativity and there aren’t many true physical constraints quite like those you experience while on a commercial airplane.
Considering that this might be somewhat of a super-powered productivity cocoon for me and potentially others, the question that must be asked next is “How do I replicate this environment when I’m not on a plane?”
I guess I could physically lock myself in a room, shut off wifi on my computer, and set a timer for two hours. And while that would somewhat mirror the physical situation of air travel I’ve found limited success with that as a productivity hack. When I am home I have the knowledge of all of the life administrative tasks that I still haven’t done and the ability to do them (usually just not the desire). I know that I haven’t cleaned my room in a couple of weeks and that I still haven’t booked a dentist appointment this year. And naturally, this distracts me from the task at hand.
I’ve also tried going to a coffee shop without wifi and putting myself there for a few hours and seeing what sticks. What generally happens to me, in this case, is that I find myself getting distracted by the comings and goings of the workers and customers with whom I share the space with.
I have even gone to a WeWork after hours with the whole building and bottomless cold brew coffee to myself to try and get some writing done but again, to no success. The second I get hungry I think to myself “Well, another 15 minutes ought to do and then I can go get a snack.” (Yes, I’ve tried bringing my own but there isn’t anything as alluring as the snack that you don’t have in your backpack).
While unsuccessful with my experiments so far, it still pleases me to know that when I walk onto a plane and sit in my tiny coach class seat is that I am staring at least a couple of hours of free unscheduled time at my fingertips with which I can do whatever I like.
If you have any unusual productivity tips or locations where you get a lot of work done drop me a line. I’m still experimenting as it’s probably unsustainable that the place I get the most focused work done is an expensive and inconvenient location.
This hit hard. Plane rides prove to be some of the most productive (and unproductive) periods of my life. Gotta distract myself before I'm alone with my thoughts for too long!
Great take. Having an ironclad excuse to be unavailable usually leads to perceived freedom