How to Make Your Daily Commute a Productive One

December 16, 2014 by Christine

The average American has a commute to work of at least 20 minutes every single day. For people that live in urban areas, a lot of this time might be spent sitting in rush hour traffic moving at extremely slow speeds.

Rather than getting frustrated with the stress of your commute, there are ways that you can actually make positive use of that time, even while you’re behind the wheel. Here are some tips for how you can be productive on your morning commute:

• Listen to podcasts, webinars, TedTalks etc. It’s always great to stay up-to-date on the latest news and advancements in your industry. Download some podcasts, audiobooks or webinars that are relevant to your industry or otherwise valuable to your work and listen to them on the way to work. While you won’t have the ability to take notes on the things you hear, it’s still a great way to gain some new insights and ideas and keep yourself mentally stimulated while on an otherwise boring commute.

• Hold teleconferences, Skype or FaceTime. If you have a hands-free set that you are comfortable using, your commute can be a great time to hold teleconferences to catch up with a few employees or clients. This is a good habit to get into to make sure you’re maintaining solid communication practices within your company.

• Carpool, mass transit. If you have colleagues that live near you, you can save time and energy by driving together to work. This offers you a built-in way to discuss important action items in a low-key setting and get in some additional production during time that would otherwise be spent sitting in busy traffic feeling frustrated.

• Bring a laptop or tablet on the bus. If you take the bus or train or other type of public transportation, bring a tablet or laptop along and get some work done. This could be a great time to catch up on all of the emails you need to read and respond to before you get to the office and have a lot of larger, more complicated tasks to tackle.

• Outline your day. Think of everything you need to accomplish that day and put together a mental outline of what you need to do and when. You could create a voice memo if you have a hands-free system that you can play back later to remind yourself of your tasks for the day.

For more tips about staying productive even during your commute, speak with us today at Viral Solutions.

Copyright 2014 Viral Solutions LLC

Watch out elephants! This slayer of business challenges comes with 30 years of record breaking sales, marketing, operations, training and leadership experience . He has worked face-to-face with 100’s of small business owners as well as large firms. His love of creating, communicating, developing and executing results for clients shines with each project, publication and training event. His entrepreneurial spirit, passion, industry experience, education, problem-solving prowess, charismatic personality and been-there-done that attitude leads his client focused approach.

Filed Under: Analytics