How to love your commute? Quick maths.

Here’s how I changed my perspective from hating public transport to loving every minute of it through the use of simple math.

When I moved to Australia back in 2015, I had close to a 2 hour commute every day to uni and work through public transport. Needless to say, I hated the constant delays, cancellations and the bus replacements.

One day, I just decided to do the math ( partly because I studied engineering, thought It’d be cool to actually use what I learnt for at least once in my life)

‣ 2 hours X 7 days=14 hours/ week

‣ 14 hours X 4 weeks = 56 hours/ month

‣ 56 hours x 12 months = 672 hours/ year = 28 days

Now imagine if I had 2 extra days at the end of each month or 28 days more for every year you lived. So basically I spent one month travelling every year!

If I simply decided to scroll on my social media feed, listen to music and sleep through my commute I would have wasted 8.3% of my valuable time.

So here’s what led me to love my train time,

1. Wake up late →Skip boring lectures → Download the video → Put the speed to 2X → Cover 1 lecture each on the way to uni and back.
2. A year later, I figured all lectures were not worth my time so I only watched the ones that mattered. This gave me additional time to start reading books and listening to podcasts.
3. I bought my first book from www.bookdepository.com. Free shipping worldwide, how amazing is that? My first book was “ How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie.
4. I was HOOKED and before I knew it I was actually LOOKING FORWARD to my train ride. I loved the train ride so much that if someone offered a free ride from uni, I would actually turn it down and take my 1 hour train ride instead. What a turnaround.

I have never loved reading and never thought I would love it this much. The only material I read growing up were textbooks. But my view on reading changed as soon as I started reading and recognised how much of a positive impact it had made in my life.

Almost all the people I meet hate public transport and here I am ranting about how much value it adds to my life. At the end of the day, it’s all about PERSPECTIVE and I decided to make it work for me. I’m very grateful that I had a 2 hour commute instead of residing close to uni and just merely crossing the road for lectures. I have learnt way more things on my way to uni, than at uni itself (Thank you, book depository).

8 useful tips to read and learn effectively in the train.

1. Use a pair of high quality headphones(100% worth it) and listen to study music that works for you. The best binaural beats that worked for me were classical music and beta waves.
2. Move to another compartment if its noisy. Don’t stare at people if they are too loud, they’ll only get worse.
3. Keep an alarm before 1 minute before your stop ( Unless you have a boring lecture).
4. If you’re sleepy, have a 20 minute power nap. Science says that it’s optimum time for power naps. I have a power nap if I have training right after my commute.
5. Don’t keep your feet on the seats, you’ll get fined.
6. Highlight and make notes (Most important! Again, Science).
7. Don’t stress about delays, it’s beyond your control. If you’re late to work, your manager will understand. If he/she doesn’t, find a better employer or BYOB. If you have an exam or an interview, aim to be there 40 minutes early.
8. If you have problems with reading on the move, listen to podcasts and audiobooks.

The 2 hours on the train gave me some personal time to learn and reflect on my life and better yet, think of ways to improve on becoming a better human and adding value to those around me.3 years later, my interests, desires and passions have expanded in ways I would have never imagined and I’ve read over 30 books by making ONE SIMPLE DECISION.

Top 5 books I highly recommend to anyone.

1. How to win friends and influence people- Dale carnegie → Got me into personal growth
2. Mindset -Dr. Carol Dweck → Got me into psychology
3. Today we are rich- Tim Sanders
4. Barefoot investor- Scott Pape → Got me into personal finance
5. Rule 1 investing- Phil Town → Got me into investing and wealth creation.

Books I’ve read since 2016.

The greatest and the most successful people to have inhabited our planet have put their ideas, experience and strategies into these books. So my only advice is to get started with just 1 book. You’ll be amazed how much it helps you grow and become self aware.

The more you learn, the more you want to learn.

Thank you for reading.

Ash.