Your Commute Doesn’t Have to Be a Black Hole

Like the majority of people in the DC metro area I have a commute to work. Let me restate that, I have a terrible, soul grinding, physically disabling commute to work. Yes, that feels more accurate. What almost makes it arguably worse is that my daily trip from Arlington to Herndon is one of the better commutes I’ve had in my career. In fact, it appears it’s just over the area’s average of 32.8 minutes (putting us at the third longest average commute times in the country).

We all probably know the variety of ways that a lengthy commute can negatively affect our physical health, mental health and, perhaps more importantly, our closest relationships. So now that you’re thoroughly depressed, I want to try to help you out. There are ways to take advantage of your time and improve your work/life whether you’re driving in stop and go traffic on 66 or waiting for WMATA to put out the latest track fire so you train can actually come. By the way, there are 26 million related google results for “What to do while commuting,” so I’ll only focus on the few that I actually do.

Plan your day:
I cannot stress this enough, literally every article, listicle, youtube post, octopus that predicts world cup winners, suggests that using your commute to prepare for the day ahead is an excellent use of your time. This could mean goal setting, practicing a speech or even preparing answers to some tough questions you might be face during the day. If you’re alone, do it aloud. Some ideas sound better in your head than they do coming out of your mouth. More often than not you only get one chance for say it, so practice.

Build Momentum:
This is one of my favorites particularly for the recruiting/sales business. Just think how often a successful day started off well. This isn’t an unrelated occurrence and the best part is you have chance to effect it. Try to identify some task you could do every day that can get you an early and easy win. It doesn’t even have to be “specifically” work related. One of the most successful people I met in my industry started his day each morning by calling his mother. He knew he’d have a great call and get a confidence boost that put him in the right frame of mind for his next call, usually a cold call or candidate call.

Read or Listen:
The access and ability to consume information has never been easier. Why not take advantage of this time to learn something new or just have a laugh? Pro tip: somethings require your complete undivided attention while some do not. Maybe listening to the complete unabridged works of Tolstoy is too complex for a car ride but I can assure you that you’ll get just as much out of the Harry Potter series listening to it on the toll road as you would if you were taking extensive margin notes. Try a podcast if you haven’t already. There’s one for just about every topic, from “Myths and Legends” to “How Did This Get Made?”

The Taoist Approach:
As with any meditative approach this one is hard to capture so I think I’ll just quote Oliver Burkeman here who wrote a post about people that enjoy their long commutes, “’Let reality be reality,’ said the ancient Chinese sage Lao-Tzu, who admittedly didn’t have to deal with a grueling commute, not least because he may never have existed. All the same, he’s right: “acceptance” needn’t mean resigning yourself to fate; but it does mean stopping pretending things aren’t how they are. You’re on a late-running, scandalously overcrowded train, and you hate it. So quit your job! Or don’t quit your job. But don’t imagine that half-quitting it – quitting on the inside, but not the outside – will help. The external world is annoyingly stubborn like that.”

John Rice is the Director of Business Development at NSS RPO, a consulting firm that provides on-site and virtual recruiting professionals. Contact NSS RPO to learn about how we can help your organization meet and exceed it’s hiring goals.