Unless you are a masochist, commuting to and from work isn’t the best part of your day. No one enjoys miles of gridlock or hours spent in a car doing nothing but tapping their fingers on the wheel.
Luckily, there are ways that you can make your commute work for you. Here are 10 tips for making the most of your drive time:
1) Learn a Language
You’ve always wanted to learn Spanish.
Why not take the opportunity and learn it now? Pop a CD into your stereo or plug in your iPod. While you may not be conjugating verbs by the time you hit the office door, you’ll definitely know how to say “hola” and “adios” by the time you get out of the car.
2) Run Errands
No one loves getting up at zero-dark-thirty, but getting up 30 minutes earlier can mean killing two birds with one stone. There’s little doubt that at least one store is on your way to work.
Get the shopping done before work rather than after. Grab your dry goods and hygiene items before you start a long day behind a computer screen.
3) Meet with Clients
While it’s never recommended to chat away on your cell phone when you’re driving, it’s relatively safe to use your Bluetooth while you’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
A teleconference will never be as effective as a face-to-face meeting, but it’s better than nothing. If you decide to take a meeting, make sure to keep your eyes on the road.
4) Pick a New Route
You think that taking the scenic route is just a dumb thing to do, but what you aren’t thinking about is your mental health.
Sure, you’ll have to leave 10 or 15 minutes earlier, but taking a new route to work stimulates the neurons in your brain. If you’re like thousands of other people, there are days you get to work and can’t really remember how you got there.
That’s because your brain switches to autopilot when you take the same route over and over. Switch it up and make your brain work.
5) Cram for Your Exam
Are you taking classes? Perhaps you’re planning on changing careers or maybe you’ve entered grad school to climb a few rungs on the ladder.
In either case, you’re going to have exams that need aced. Spend your time staring at your notes instead of the bumper in front of you.
Make a recording of yourself reading your notes and listen to it during your commute. There are creative ways to get a few last minutes of studying in while you’re driving to work.
6) Return Phone Calls
There are phone calls that all of us avoid when we’re home.
If you’ve been ditching your mother’s phone calls because you want to relax and unwind after a long day at work, call her during your commute.
Not only will Mom be pleased that you’re thinking of her, you’ll have a ready excuse to get off of the phone when you pull into the parking garage.
7) Listen to a Book
Of course you love to read. In fact, you used to call yourself a bookworm.
Now that you’re working 40-plus hours a week, you don’t have time to turn a single page, let alone read an entire novel. Rent that book you’ve been dying to read from the library, but rent it on disc.
You can listen to someone else read you the book, and your mind is taken off of the aggravating commute that you’re forced to make.
8) Car Pool
If you work with people who live in a few mile radius of your home, consider starting a car pool. Switch drivers each week.
Carpooling can make the drive to work and home more interesting. When it’s your time to be chauffeured, eat your breakfast, make edits to your presentation, or pop your earbuds in and listen to the newest music from your favorite artist.
9) Breathe
You breathe all day long, so why would you spend your commute breathing? The answer to that question is simple: You don’t breathe correctly.
Instead of spending your commute busying your mind, free it. Pay attention to the way that you are breathing. Inhale through your nose for a three-count.
Exhale slowly through your mouth, and empty your lungs completely. You’ll be paying so much attention to your breathing that you’ll forget how annoying your commute is.
10) Backup Your Computer
When is the last time you backed up your laptop? Make your laptop your passenger and empty your important files into a flash drive.
Defrag your hard drive, edit pictures, or put all of your to-do lists into one document. 15 minutes stuck in traffic can see your computer as clean as the day it came out of its box.
While no insurance agent worth his salt would tell you to do these things while sitting in traffic, they can be done safely if you pay attention to what lies around you. You know if you can use your Bluetooth and drive at the same time. It doesn’t make sense that the only thing you get out of your daily commute is road rage.