3 steps toward embracing creativity on your flight

by Jason Barger on December 12, 2008

Instead of entering your next rigid airline seat with the attitude “let me just get through this,” I invite you to see that time on your flight slightly differently. The ceremonious turning off of your cell phone will begin your time of refueling: time where you can slow your fast moving body down, time away from the next phone call, email or meeting; time to yourself to just be. Adjust your approach so you begin to see your flight as an opportunity to spend time void of the typical distractions.

Perhaps you will then allow yourself to enter into a time of creativity that the Skymall invites. Who doesn’t want a Dough-Nu-Matic appliance that spits out a dozen hot doughnuts in six minutes? How about an $899.95 portable, inflatable, whirlpool spa for those moments you could go for a hot soak? Or, better yet, don’t you need a can of “Poop-Freeze,” which sprays a liquefied gas that super-chills and hardens your dog’s excrement in your yard to minus-62 degrees for easier pickup?

Thank you, SkyMall! SkyMall magazine, the airlines’ gateway to shopping land, is one of the highlights of my airplane experience. Every time I look through that collection of neat, strange, wonderful, horrible, ridiculous items, I am fulfilled. I see the Skymall as an invitation for us all to let our creative ideas wander. It is a space where every idea has a place.

I wonder how our experiences on the airplanes we travel would be positively changed if we threw the “let me just get through this” mentality aside and embraced a Skymall ethic of creativity. Some of my most creative ideas have come from the confines of a rigid airline seat. On your next flight, see what this change of approach and a blank legal pad of flowing ideas can do for your business, family, or personal life.

On your next flight:
• Slow down
• Enjoy moments to yourself
• Let your ideas wander!

Jason Barger is author of Step Back from the Baggage Claim: Change the World, Start at the Airport.

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Tagged as: airline seats, attitude, skymall

  • Marilyn Long

    I don’t know why some people hate to fly so much. During the flight there are few demands made on us other than to comply with a few simple rules such as fastening seat belts and turning off cell phones (for which I am very thankful). On international flights and still a few domestic ones, food and drinks will be brought to me; I don’t have to prepare that food or to clean up afterwards. I can watch a movie, listen to music, work a crossword puzzle, visit with traveling companions, read, or sleep. There is something quite soothing about the vibrations and noise from the engines that makes me drowsy almost as soon as I fasten the seat belt so I often doze off before we hear the safety announcements. I just don’t understand why this is considered such an ordeal or a hardship by many people. If you had to cross the country in a covered wagon, then you would have room for complaints. And no, I don’t work for an airline or any other company or organization connected with that industry.

  • MJ

    One of the most entertaining SkyMall items I remember reading about was a portable set of stairs for your dog to climb up onto his favorite couch/sofa. Whats more, it turned into a ramp if steps were too tough to handle. If you had a cat, it also doubled up as a scratching post.

    Made my red eye flight a lot more entertaining :-) !!

  • http://www.popwuping.com Clark

    Most of my qualms about air travel have to do with the airports and not the flight itself but spending 12 hours in a very small enclosed space, breathing poor quality air, can get trying. The poor service on domestic N.A flights also tends to sour the whole ordeal.

    I have fun reading the shopping mag as well.

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