Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to try commuting with a friend, thus turning
Speaker 1: commuting time into relationship building time at least once in
Speaker 1: a while. Few people enjoy their commutes. They tend to
Speaker 1: be a necessary part of getting to work, but studies
Speaker 1: of human happiness find that the morning commute is the
Speaker 1: lowest moment of people's days. The evening commute isn't quite
Speaker 1: so bad because you arrive home afterwards, but the morning
Speaker 1: commute has no such redeeming features. To deal with this misery,
Speaker 1: we listen to podcasts and such to make the time
Speaker 1: go faster. But here's another option. Consider commuting with a friend,
Speaker 1: a colleague, or your spouse on occasion. This can turn
Speaker 1: a low point of the day into one of the
Speaker 1: day's highlights. First, I'll say that I know a lot
Speaker 1: of people already socialized during their commutes because they're on
Speaker 1: the phone. People send me the tip all the time
Speaker 1: to call relatives during a commute, but the truth is
Speaker 1: that dialing and talking can be quite distracting. I try
Speaker 1: not to do phone calls while driving, and I'd encourage
Speaker 1: you not to either. But having another adult in the
Speaker 1: car isn't nearly as distracting because that person can see
Speaker 1: when you've encountered a tense situation. When break lights come
Speaker 1: on suddenly, the other person in the car gets quiet.
Speaker 1: But all the other good parts of socializing are there.
Speaker 1: You can catch up and keep each other entertained. Many
Speaker 1: people say that they don't spend enough one on one
Speaker 1: time with their spouses or their friends. By sharing a ride,
Speaker 1: you find time for fun during something you had to
Speaker 1: do anyway. It seems straightforward enough, but every year or
Speaker 1: so I get sent transportation surveys finding that very few
Speaker 1: people carpool regularly, even with HOV lanes adding an incentive.
Speaker 1: I think there are a few reasons for this. We
Speaker 1: like to leave when we want to leave. We don't
Speaker 1: like to think about our drives ahead of time. If
Speaker 1: commutes are unpleasant, we don't want to go out of
Speaker 1: our way, even if it would make the whole experience
Speaker 1: much better. There are also some funny psychological issues going on.
Speaker 1: Even if we always go straight home from work. Maybe
Speaker 1: we like to entertain the fantasy that today is the
Speaker 1: day we'll take off for Atlantic City. Instead, and of
Speaker 1: course you can't do that if the carpool is waiting
Speaker 1: for you, so we waste time and money holding onto
Speaker 1: the fantasy. In any case, there's some value to flexibility,
Speaker 1: so you probably don't want to do this every single day,
Speaker 1: but if you feel like you never see your spouse,
Speaker 1: it could definitely be worth driving ten to fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: out of your way one day a week so you
Speaker 1: can share the ride both ways on that day. Or
Speaker 1: maybe you have a friend who lives ten minutes from
Speaker 1: you and works ten minutes from you, and it's sort
Speaker 1: of a twenty minute time cost on both ends, but
Speaker 1: not really, because the extra time will feel enough better
Speaker 1: than the time you were spending that you'll probably be
Speaker 1: happy about it. Work friends, of course, have the upside
Speaker 1: of being located much closer to you on one end
Speaker 1: of the commute. It might be wise to treat this
Speaker 1: as a strategic career boosting time. Find someone you think
Speaker 1: is a real go getter, and the two of you
Speaker 1: can strategize how you'll conquer the world when you share
Speaker 1: a ride one day a week and no one else
Speaker 1: will be around to hear your plotting. Have you ever
Speaker 1: turned your commute into social time. If so, please let
Speaker 1: me know. You can email me at Before Breakfast podcast
Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
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