Turn Your Daily Drive From Madness to Manageable

Living in southern California, traffic is as common and everyday as the sunrise. Assuming normal “work” hours (9-5, so to speak), just about any freeway in the land will be packed to the gills with cars during rush hour (which is a funny name, if you think about it – nobody is actually rushing anywhere). Yes, and I am one of those people who spends almost 2 hours per day in the car driving to and from work. And unless I manage to become independently wealthy or get a job around the corner from my house, this is how it’s going to be for the foreseeable future.

But spending all of this time in the car has given me some time to think about it. What is it about a long drive to/from work that makes people so crazy? Really, what’s the only restriction placed upon you while driving a car? You must pay attention to the operation of the vehicle – that’s it. Now, I don’t know about you, but in my 13 years of driving a car, I’ve gotten pretty good at doing it + something else. For example, I can have a conversation (either in person or on the phone) while driving my car (and I don’t care what anybody says – it can be done without risking the lives of the whole world). I can also think about just about *anything*.

Consider that for a moment – aren’t we all in the “make life better” club? So why not take the time you spend in the car and turn it into productive (or, dare I even suggest, enjoyable) time?

First, some tips for being productive in the car:

• Call People – Bust out that @Phone list and start digging through it. Especially if you sit in very still traffic for most of the drive, then there’s no reason in the world why you can’t tear through your list of phone calls while staring at some dude’s bumper sticker collection
• Empty Your Head – I don’t know about you, but I don’t get a whole lot of time to just sit and think about things (while keeping my eyes on the road, of course). I’m either doing work stuff or family stuff when I’m not in the car (except for late at night), so the opportunity to be alone with my thoughts is enticing. So you get yourself a little voice recorder (or a cell phone that can record voice notes) and start a little Kerouac-style stream of consciousness. Talk about whatever comes into your head (so you can go over it later – this should sound familiar to you GTD folk). It’ll definitely help to pass the time and maybe you’ll have that next million-dollar idea.

I know what you’re thinking – “Sir! How can you possibly claim to be able to make my drive home *fun*!”. Well, I’m not making any guarantees here. If you want your drive home to suck, then suck it shall. All I’m saying is that there are definitely ways to improve the situation. Here’s a few things you can do to make your commute actually kind of fun…

• Podcasts – Ok, so this one isn’t exactly earth-shattering. But there are some really great (free) podcasts out there that make my hour home *fly* by. This American Life and The Sound of Young America are both favorites of mine, and they actually teach me something sometimes!
• Audiobooks – Along the same lines as a podcast (in that you listen to it and it’s not music, nor is it live), but spreads out over many days (or weeks). Audible.com has an incredible selection of books (click here for a free one) read by some amazing authors. Plop one of these badboys on your trusty Music Playing Device™ and enjoy. By the way, I recommend Freakonomics by by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
• Sing – I’ll let you in on a little secret… When I’m alone in my car (and am no surrounded by other cars), I like to belt some stuff out. It’s really a pretty enjoyable thing, even if you don’t sing very well (just turn the radio up in that case).

All long drives (to and from work) suck to a certain degree, but they don’t have to leave you with so little will that the rest of your activities suffer as a result (and don’t think I’m exaggerating – I’ve seen it happen, friends). Try the above tips to help make your commute a little less painful – or come up with your own!

Anybody else have any cool tricks for beating the drive? Tell me all about them in the comments!

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