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