When you look at your commute to work in the morning, what does it look like?
Are you listening to your favorite tunes?
Are you getting lost in the world of a good audiobook?
Maybe you are getting deep in a podcast debate?
Well, I can tell you that evaluating your commute can be a game changer for your day to day life.
There are few times during the day that many of us are free of obligations and are able to just be alone with our thoughts. This is such an important time too because it can be used to set the tone for the remainder of the day.
For me personally, you can look at different parts of my life and find multiple different ways that I would use the commute.
When I was in my early 20s and just beginning my career in sales, it was all about getting the energy flowing. I’d either play my favorite high energy songs or I would find a motivational video online to play through my speakers.
I wanted to listen to things that would jumpstart my day and build my energy up before entering the office doors.
It worked as well.
When I first entered sales, the easiest way of finding success was early grinding through the through the CRM and getting all the accounts you could get before the veterans came in.
These motivational tactics played a vital role in how I brought the needed energy into my work to achieve success.
Now that I have a family, house and just an overall busy life, things have changed.
Now when I am commuting, I change things up depending on my work and how busy I am.
When I’m at my busiest, I actually don’t listen to anything. I either drive with my windows down or I just focus on my breath, doing somewhat of a mindful meditation. This ends up being my quiet time where I can allow my body and mind to just relax and ease up any tension that I may feel.
For me, that time to just release stress is essential. When my phone won’t stop ringing during that drive and I eventually have to answer, I can easily tell the difference on how stressful my day feels thereafter.
Now, I am currently in a kind of sweet spot.
We are in pre-busy season at work so, though there is plenty of work to keep my day completely filled, it isn’t overly stressful work. I also have few obligations on my schedule outside the office, so I have been spending more time finding ways to hopefully improve life for my family and myself.
During my commute, I am using a lot of the time to listen to a variety of life-improving audiobooks.
I have been listening to a lot of buddhist books on mindfulness, some books about creating success, and plenty of books on how to grow and expand my relationship with my wife.
When I find myself in a good place, I find that I can use my spare time during my commute to simply build on all the positives in my life.
Just as you will see with many of the topics that I discuss, there really isn’t one way to do it.
That’s part of the fun.
Just evaluate what your commute looks like and how it sets up the rest of your day. Look at ways that you can either build on positives or combat negatives. Get creative and try different things out!
Maybe that little modification can be the key factor in stepping your life up a notch?
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