making life impactful
My friend, Natasha, recently made a major decision for her career. She decided to take on a job that was pretty much on the other side of London {and technically not really in London}. This may not seem a big deal to most of you, but when you don’t have a car the commute from one side of the city to the other becomes quite the trek. Outside of having to wake up at ridiculous o’clock to get to work on time, she was worried about the time she would be “wasting” everyday during the commute.
Though I never had to sacrifice multiple hours for a commute, I’ve had commutes of different lengths and sometimes they are lot longer because I tend to travel outside the city or country quite regularly. Since I see commutes as blackholes of time, I decided it’s best to try to make them productive.
Recently, I’ve had quite the load on my plate. Lots of work travel coming up and before that are a series of deadlines and trying to designing a new project with Ryan who is my main man for all things web design London. And since it’s World Stationary Day tomorrow, I thought I would share some office tips on how to have a productive commute one with Nest!
listen to podcasts
One of my recently obsessions has been podcasts! I listen to anything from the news to stories and editorials. My favorite news source has been The Daily by The New York Times, which has been an incredible 20 minute analysis of the most pressing events going on in the world and at home. Along with that, I’ve been listening to This American Life that features journalistic non-fiction stories or events, Behind the Brilliance for some work inspiration and guidance and Missing Richard Simmons, which covers the disappearance of the fitness guru.
create a to-do list/work flow
Usually my tasks have a list of to-do’s below it, so I usually create a to do list for blog related things and for any personal admin I need to take care of. The easiest way to taking advantage of a productive commute. I LOVE scheduling my life, if you can’t tell, and organizing my life and day gives me life quite literally! I prefer to use the apps todoist to get my shopping list and daily to-do’s in order and the coach.me app to keep up with my long term goals.
read
Recently, I’ve been staying up pretty late working on client projects and sorting out blog collaborations, but I hope to get back into the routine of reading again. I did pick up a few new novels recently and decided to ditch the clutch and carry a bigger bag so I can read a few pages on the way to dinner or a meeting. You can find a review of my recent reads via the bookshelt posts. Reading is a simple and enjoying way for a productive commute.
language learning
When I was working in DC, I had to speak Arabic to a certain degree of fluency. There were new vocabulary I was introducing myself to on a weekly basis {close to 500 words a week}. My commute would be only 20 minutes on the train, but I took a bus that would take 50 minutes and spent that time learning those vocabulary words. I used traditional flashcards, but I have some former colleagues who use Duolingo today.
exercise
London has Santander bikes that you can use around the city, which I’m too afraid to use. Since I live so central, I usually just walk to meetings. Most of the time, it’s faster to walk somewhere than to take an uber, bus or the tube. And since I’m a big fan of multitasking, I usually spend this time walking to my meeting listening to podcasts or audiobooks. Exercise can most definitely be a productive commute.
