We only have limited hours in a day. There are too many things which demand our attention. We should utilize what we can. Travelling time makes a small chunk in some people’s daily life. Utilizing this time saves up some time at both work and in daily life.
I spend a total of 4 hours travelling from home to office and back. I have the luxury of taking the public transport — I neither drive the train nor the bus. I just sit or stand (depending on the circumstances) and enjoy the journey.
If you are like me who travels long distances to work then, these pointers might help you.
- Read- Catch up on the reading the papers, novels. In fact my friend who cracked one of the exams by studying in her travel time. She studied in the bus while commuting to office.
- Sleep- If you use the public transport to travel for more than 30 minutes and manage to secure a seat ,then get some shut eye. I have occasionally rejuvenated myself by sleeping in the local train. However please do ask the fellow passenger to wake you up just before your stop arrives.
- Socialize- Catch up with friends and relatives during this time.
This should free up your time at home. - Make friends- Make new friends. I have couple of train friends who like me are daily passengers. You never know who might inspire you. Do this only if you think if its beneficial. I have seen that its usually a waste of time but a good way to unwind your day.
- Watch videos- Catch up on movies and daily tube dose by loading videos on your smart phone and viewing it while you stand in the bus or train and thus saving time at home.
- Catch up with your work- You can send/ go through some of your mails/work while travelling especially if your work email is configured in your smart phone. I wrote the draft of this article while travelling in the train on my email.
7. Plan ahead- According to me the best usage of this time is to plan your next steps/tasks for the day ahead. Use this as your prep time before you reach office or to unwind before you reach home
For those who drive to work you could try the following
Listening : Audio books, Pod casts, or news on the radio are great ways to utilize the travel time while driving. This way you are learning something new.
Carpool: You could car pool with like minded people and discuss ideas and thoughts. A colleague of mine carpools with some members of his team. During one of these trips they managed to come up with a solution for marketing their product.
Hope you could implement some of it. If you have more ideas then please do let me know
