Enjoy Your Commute

Most of us in the U.S. commute in our cars, doing fairly routine things like steering, accelerating, and braking. We have a lot of brainpower to spare. By concentrating fully, and taking only a few white-knuckle risks, you can probably reduce your commute by 5% or so. That seems hardly worth it, when balanced against the increased risk of collision and injury. So what can you do instead?

The obvious choices are radio and audio recordings. Here are some less obvious choices:

Commute with other people

Commuting with one or two friends — people you enjoy — can be most rewarding. The opportunities for humor, fun, support, and compassion are endless. If you're concerned about getting "stuck" day after day with someone you've grown tired of, arrange it as a once-weekly or once-monthly gig, which gives you enough space between times to keep things fresh and interesting. And it lets you team up with other people too, on other days.

Learn while you commute

Listening to audio recordings of professional books and training programs can convert your commute time from a black hole to a high point of your day. If you're learning new skills, and if the program is interesting and well done, you'll actually begin to look forward to your commute.

Hang up your cell phone

Telephone conversations are best when you can give your partner in conversation your full attention. Listening to audio recordings as you commute is different — you can always pause the tape or backtrack if you need your full attention for the world around you. But you can't pause another person, so if your driving demands your attention, the person you're talking to feels your inattentiveness.

Find entertainment you enjoy

Talking on your cell
phone while you drive
isn't just dangerous.
It's disrespectful —
people can tell
when your attention
is divided.

High quality entertainment, especially humor, can be a valuable defense against traffic snarls and the worries of the job. Look for entertainment that captivates you. If your mind wanders to your worries, or the rude drivers around you, your entertainment isn't doing the job — find something else.

Carry a pocket tape recorder

If you think of something you want to jot down, speak it instead into a pocket tape recorder. It's much safer and more convenient than a note pad, especially if you're driving.

Go for variety

Variety keeps you tuned in to the world around you. Vary your route, departure time, and transportation mode. If you usually drive, take the train once in a while if you can. If you usually take the fastest route, try a more scenic one.

Looking over this list, I feel a twinge of regret that my own commute is so short — 38 seconds. But it's just a twinge, and it passes quickly.  Top    Next Issue

The article you've been reading is an archived issue of Point Lookout, my weekly newsletter. I've been publishing it since January, 2001, free to all subscribers, over the Web, and via RSS. You can help keep it free by donating either as an individual or as an organization. You'll receive in return my sincere thanks — and the comfort of knowing that you've helped to propagate insights and perspectives that can help make our workplaces a little more human-friendly. More

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:

Take Any Seat: II

In meetings, where you sit in the room influences your effectiveness, both in the formal part of the meeting and in the milling-abouts that occur around breaks. You can take any seat, but if you make your choice strategically, you can better maintain your autonomy and power.

Logically Illogical

Discussions in meetings and in written media can get long and complex. When a chain of reasoning gets long enough, we sometimes make fundamental errors of logic, especially when we're under time pressure. Here are just a few.

What Enough to Do Is Like

Most of us have had way too much to do for so long that "too much to do" has become the new normal. We've forgotten what "enough to do" feels like. Here are some reminders.

Top 30 Indicators That You Might Be Bored at Work

Most of the time, when we're bored at work, we know we are. But sometimes, we're bored and we just don't realize it. Here are some indicators of boredom that might escape some people's notice.

The Limits of Status Reports: I

Some people erroneously believe that they can request status reports as often as they like, and including any level of detail they deem necessary. Not so.

See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming October 4: Self-Importance and Conversational Narcissism at Work: I

Conversational narcissism is a set of behaviors that participants use to focus the exchange on their own self-interest rather than the shared objective. This post emphasizes the role of these behaviors in advancing a narcissist's sense of self-importance. Available here and by RSS on October 4.

And on October 11: Self-Importance and Conversational Narcissism at Work: II

Self-importance is one of four major themes of conversational narcissism. Knowing how to recognize the patterns of conversational narcissism is a fundamental skill needed for controlling it. Here are eight examples that emphasize self-importance. Available here and by RSS on October 11.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenogMhuqCxAnbfLvzbner@ChacigAthhhYwzZDgxshoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info