Good news: Americans are more productive than ever. Unfortunately, that also means that we're working longer hours. Worse, the time that we're not in the office is no longer protected the way that it once was. These days, odds are that you have a cell phone, blackberry, one or more email accounts, and a long list of people unashamed to contact you outside of what used to be called "normal business hours."

So how can you, the ambitious but overworked professional, find time to travel?

Start by eliminating one common misconception. Repeat after me: "A trip doesn't need to last a week or more in order to be worthwhile."

We all know this intuitively. If we didn't, we'd never go anywhere--the zoo, a football game, home for the holidays, or even one of those endless "business appointments" that keep coming up. But we've been conditioned to see travel time as an investment, one that needs to get a rate of return. Because of that conditioning, we avoid taking trips where we spend a long time traveling unless we can spend a long time at our destinations.

The biggest problem that this thinking creates is that it prevents busy people from traveling at all. Busy people are lucky to be able to count on their weekends. Maybe they can take a Friday or a Monday off, or an occasional four-day weekend, but a week? Not happening.

As a result, busy people stuck in the rate-of-return mentality just can't get away. But the premise is flawed from the start, and you can break free by changing your mindset. Here are a few tips to help:

* When you're busy working outside of the office, that means you have work that can be done while you're traveling. So, time spent on a plane from New York to London, or from San Diego to Alaska, isn't wasted at all; it's actually work time, uninterrupted productivity. When you arrive, you'll just finished working, so enjoy your time at your destination without worrying about what's waiting for you back home. If you do still have more work, there's a return trip tomorrow for you to get it done.
* Use time zones to your advantage. Schedule westbound flights early in the morning and a lot of your travel time is offset, allowing you to arrive shortly after you left. Leave late at night when you're heading east and sleep on the plane; you'll arrive early the next morning.
* Understand, really understand, that there is no relationship between time spent traveling and time spent at a destination. Either the destination was worth seeing or it wasn't. Enjoy your trip for what it is. You don't have to convince anyone else.

By treating your travel time as blocked-aside work hours, you do more than free up time for travel. You let go of a lot of the stress that builds up from spending all of your time at work. You recharge so you can approach the next challenge with more energy. You create a life outside of work, one focused on open spaces, exciting places, and new people. Make the decision today to see the world before you retire. You can do it without having to give up your career.