How I spend 1 month every year commuting

About 7 months back I was offered a job. It was a great job, working on an interesting problem with interesting people doing something I loved doing and had been wanting to do for a few years.

The only issue was that there was a commute. Roughly an hour and a half each way. Or 3 hours a day. 15 hours a week. 60 hours a month. 660 hours a year (assuming 1 months holiday). 27 ½ days. February (give or take half a day). Yeah, February. A whole flippin' month (including sleep time), every year, just trying to get to and from work.

See, I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked, sitting on a train for a month each year wasn’t high up on my new years resolutions. Next year, I want to get fit, learn a language, and spend a whole month travelling to & from work. Yeah, that’d be great.

So, the job itself was great. But that commute tho. My last commute had been out of bed, down the stairs and 20 feet to the dining room table. Not exactly strenuous. This one would be a tad different.

So what did I do?

I took the job, obviously. I was really looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead, stretching my existing skill set & working on an innovative, interesting product, and I was really looking forward to the commute.

Yeah, I was really looking forward to the commute. Now, don’t get me wrong, some commutes are less than ideal (although this guy seems to be enjoying it). Mine, fortunately, would be quite simple by comparison. A fifteen minute walk to the station, fifty minutes on the train, twenty minutes on the underground and then I’m there. It was a commute. It was my commute, my first, and I was genuinely looking forward to it.

You were naïve right, reality wasn’t so sweet?

Now, 7 months on, I’m glad (and a little surprised) to say I still genuinely enjoy my commute. Honestly, I thought I’d be fed up by now, the novelty having long worn off. But no, despite the worrying calculation that I spend a whole month every year commuting, I’m still enjoying it.

Why? Are you a glutton for punishment?

When I was working from home my schedule wasn’t exactly the most disciplined. I woke up when I wanted, worked when I wanted, and slept when I wanted. I naturally feel more productive in the quiet of the night, so pretty soon my sleep schedule was all over the place.

A big part of what I was looking forward to with the commute was the discipline it provided. I’ve long desired to schedule in specific time to read, listen to podcasts & audio books, write, and generally have some time to think. Now I have a set time each morning & evening in which to do these activities. It’s forced me into a morning schedule, and I’m a lot more productive as a result. Sure, sometimes I’m tired, but even then I can doze whilst listening to a podcast or audio book.

Sadly, most people I see on the train are either sleeping, texting, reading the newspaper or candy crushing. Now, none of these activities are wrong in and of themselves (well, except candy crush) but none are really helping much either. These activities are fine, but, if you’re spending a whole month every year crushing candy or reading largely irrelevant news stories, then maybe there’s more you could be doing with your time.

Turn your commute into an opportunity, rather than a chore, and all that changes. No longer are you wasting hours each day, now you’re using them. You’re finally reading the books you’ve had gathering dust on your shelf or sitting in your Amazon wish list, you’re listening to podcasts that you’ve never found the time to listen to and, who knows, maybe even writing blog posts in your spare time.

Writing blog posts on the train? Well, that’s exactly what I’ve started doing. In fact, this very blog post was written & edited in my commute today. I wrote it in the morning, and edited it in the evening. For a long time I’ve wanted to start blogging, it turns out my commute gives me time for that.

Commuting then, isn’t always as bad as its made out to be. It provides a schedule, boundaries, and a bunch of (albeit limited) options with what to do with it. Ultimately, it turns out that commuting isn’t always the issue, often the real issue is simply what we do with it.

7 months in, and it’s still going well. Will I say the same a year, 5, 20, 40 years down the line? Well, I certainly hope I’m not still commuting then, but that’s another issue. But for now, as a young-ish guy with lots to read, listen to and write, I’ve gotta say, it’s working out pretty well.

How do you use your commute? Are you a sleeper, reader or candy crusher? Hit respond and let me know, I’d love to hear from you.

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