A funny thing happened on the way to Asana. As I’ve been learning the program and working with my assistant Leanne, I’ve dropped a few things that haven’t found their way into my field of vision when they should have.

To use one example, I learned late on a Friday that I needed to have a lot of text prepared for an editor on Monday. This had escaped my attention during the migration from one task manager to another. It wasn’t a difficult task, but it was Friday night, Saturday was my birthday, I was traveling Sunday morning, and I would be speaking all day at McKendree University just outside of Saint Louis. Time was a bit tight: I was excited about spending my birthday hanging out with my family (and, I must admit, taking a very long nap), and I didn’t want to spend a good chunk of the day writing about comparative advantage.

Fortunately, I had booked a first-class ticket to and from Saint Louis as part of an experiment with paying extra for convenience. Given the constraints I was facing, the extra few hundred dollars were completely worth it. Premium boarding means I can drink a cup of coffee and work on my laptop for a solid 20-30 minutes while the plane boards, and given that first class fills up quickly there isn’t a lot of distraction from waiting for two people to try to crowd into the seats next to me, to say nothing of the additional workspace I have at the front of the plane. Being first off the plane means a precious extra few minutes I can spend at the Delta Sky Club, where I can drink another cup of coffee and have a snack while I continue working. Being first on the second plane again means another solid 20-30 minutes and yet another cup of coffee while the plane boards.

By the time I landed in St. Louis I had a solid draft of my chapter. This meant my list of things to do in the afternoon and evening was one item shorter, and therefore I had more time and energy to spend visiting friends I haven’t seen in a few years, more time to take a nap in the afternoon and more time and energy to focus on preparing for my material for Monday.

And, I might add, more time to watch the new episode of The Walking Dead on the hotel TV.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”