Carschooling
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
It’s been over a year since I’ve commuted to work, but one of my best practices when I did have a commute was carschooling. My commute used to be 45 minutes each way every day, which was a substantial chunk of time. Since my commute to work was something I could do without needing to pay attention to directions, I started making that time in the car count.
Every couple of weeks I went to my local library and checked out audio books. At the time, I was checking out the CD audio books, but I know most libraries now also have digital books that you can check out. Every day during my commute, I was taking in autobiographies of famous people or listening to classic books I’ve always wanted to read or hearing the works of Shakespeare. My car became my classroom. In a week or two I would finish a book in time that would otherwise have been spent listening to commercials on the radio.
Not only was I learning new things but making use of my time in the car also had a bonus side effect of lessening frustration with traffic. Before I started carschooling, I would get really frustrated in traffic because it was such a waste of time. But when I started carschooling, I found that I no longer minded traffic because it meant that I would get farther in my book that day then I normally would. I should also mention that I’m the type of person who fills up her gas tank when it gets to about half full, so I didn’t have to worry about running out of gas in a traffic jam. And I also padded my commute times so even though I needed to pick up my child from daycare before it closed, I pretty much always was able to still get there even if there was traffic. So traffic was no longer a nuisance in my world.
What could you use your car time for? Or, if you no longer have a commute, what could you repurpose that commute time into? Check out your library to see what audio book options they have. Podcasts are entertaining and educational ways to fill your commuting hours. Are you trying to learn a new language? Practicing in your car where people can’t hear you is a great carschooling project. Daily commutes don’t have to be stressful, sunk times in our days. With a little planning, you can turn a mind numbing and sometimes stressful time to an enriching and relaxing part of your workdays.
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Productively Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team