Have an upcoming flight and want to make the best of the time up in the air?
Here are a few ideas for productive plane time:

• Read a few magazines that you’ve been collecting at home. Toss the magazines into your laptop bag with the goal of leaving them behind at the end of the flight. Scan the pages and read the articles most important to you (you don’t need to read every article). Rip out any articles, recipes, tips, etc. that you want to follow up with later. Then hand the magazines over to the flight attendants when you’re finished with them. Chances are the flight attendants will be grateful for something to read (even if there is a page or two missing!) or they’ll recycle any magazines they’re not interested in.

• Write thank you notes or greeting cards. Finding the time to write a thank-you note after an important meeting, interview or event is a challenge, so do it on the flight home. To keep your writing stable, write a few note cards before take-off and then wait until the plane has reached its maximum altitude to avoid the bumps. Bring along stamps so that the note cards are ready to be mailed once you’re off the plane.

• Write up your to-do list and day-by-day agenda for the upcoming days. I find that my time on a plane is very valuable for giving thought to tasks, business ideas, my schedule, etc. when I am uninterrupted by emails and phone calls.

• Clean up email. If you’re not connected with inflight Wi-Fi, yet can still get into your email (Outlook, Lotus Notes), then take advantage of the time to respond to emails, clear out the clutter of old unnecessary emails, and send a few quick hellos to contacts you’ve been meaning to keep in touch with. If using inflight Wi-Fi, you may receive new emails that you can quickly respond to and they won’t be waiting for you to land.

• Meditate. We rarely make time to get in touch with our feelings, be relaxed and calm, and be mindful of what our feelings are telling us. Have some meditative music on your smartphone or notebook and just let your mind and conscious breathing take over for 20 or 30 minutes. When you rouse yourself, write down any feelings, ideas or other things that came up because these can be very inspiring thoughts.

• Take a nap. You’re either beginning several days of meetings or conferences or just wrapping up from jam-packed days. Take some time to relax and let your eyes close. I’m usually asleep before the wheels are up, and a 15-minute cat nap does wonders for my productivity.

• Meet your neighbor. Some of your seatmates may seem like people you’d want to meet, so say hello. If you’re both interested in talking, then relax and enjoy the conversation. I’ve met some amazing people sitting right next to me on the plane and some I’ve done business with. Always have business cards handy if you want to share your contact information.

Obviously you’d need a four hour flight or longer to do all of these things on one flight. Even if you get two or three productive items done while in-flight, you’ll feel a big sense of accomplishment and know that the flight time was time well spent.

Wishing you enjoyable and safe travels!