It may surprise you, but the there is one single thing that has increased my productivity in the last few weeks.

No it’s not getting up earlier or going to bed later. And no, it’s not watching less Top Gear, 5th Gear or Dr Who and neither is it revisiting my Torchwood episodes. In fact, I now take Budweiser the dog for a walk every day, and am trying to extend the length of these walks. The fishing still suffers, but the inventive cooking is coming back.

Nor have I farmed off more work to someone else – directly the opposite actually with plans for a third magazine and contemplations about creating a series of mini ‘workbooks’ on specialist products.

So what is this magic ingredient? H G Wells time potion? Nope. Typing faster after taken touch typing lessons?
Not that either.

Quite simply, it has been the addition of a 3G wireless card to my Acer Ferrari laptop. Now, precious business time that was uselessly wasted is being used productively without costing an arm and a leg.

In the past, as I fly regularly to Sydney and Melbourne, time wasted waiting for overdue planes and take off times would drive me spare. Sure, in some places you can get pay-as-you-go, but it is horribly expensive in comparison, the same as some of the in-house wireless setups are at hotels. I don't use too much data when on the road, so a 10GB plan for me is ideal, allows me to create and send the stories I do as a freelancer, and connect back to home base via LOGMEIN as needed.

Check each of the vendors out. It may help you too.