Can Dead Time not be so Dead?

It's Halloween and the boundary between the worlds of the living and the worlds of the dead will become a little blurry tonight. But I'm not talking about All Hallows Eve. I'm talking about how to take your perceived dead time and turn it into some not so dead time.

We all have a lot to do regarding both business and pleasure. Many times, on the business side, there's not enough time in the day to get done what needs to get done. We carry over our daily workload from one day to the next, with no breadth in between. So how can we get ahead of things or work on the non-day-to-day things? Let's talk about 3 parts of the workday that are typically dead times:

Driving in your car - Heading to and from work or heading to meetings can easily be turned from dead time to productive time.
- Always have a list of 5 people to talk with.
- Listen to your favorite book or podcast.
- And my favorite. Brainstorm an idea that you are working on.
Watching TV - If you have a habit of sitting in front of the idiot box (as my mom would call it), this can be considered dead time. Sometimes we need this distraction to get us to wind down from the day, but mostly it’s a very unproductive time.
- Try working on something that's not part of your workday such as; a new opportunity, increasing your network, or researching an interesting topic.
Distractions during the day - If you are in front of your computer during the day it's easy to have dead time with the internet and emails. At the end of each day, plan out the next day's work, along with the items that need to be completed. Be sure to include your driving time and TV time. Follow this as close as you can. Don't let yourself fall into the dead zone of the internet or email. Hours can be wasted here every day.