WEBVTT - Try carschooling

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to try car schooling, that is, designing

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<v Speaker 1>a curriculum to help you become an expert in a

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<v Speaker 1>topic or just a more interesting person while you're getting

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<v Speaker 1>to work. Despite the frequent news about the rise of

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<v Speaker 1>bicycle commuting or new public transportation or work from home options,

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<v Speaker 1>the vast majority of people still drive themselves to and

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<v Speaker 1>from work. The average commute in the US has about

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<v Speaker 1>twenty seven minutes each way, though this varies by location.

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<v Speaker 1>A half hour commute isn't a huge chunk of time

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<v Speaker 1>by itself, but the issue is that people do it

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<v Speaker 1>over and over again about ten times per week, adding

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<v Speaker 1>up to approximately five hours. This five hour chunk of

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<v Speaker 1>time is incredibly easy to waste, and few people like

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<v Speaker 1>to waste time. One of the reasons podcasts have become

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<v Speaker 1>so popular is that you can listen to something interesting

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<v Speaker 1>during time you're basically doing nothing else. Of consequence, podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>are certainly a great option, and so is commuting with

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<v Speaker 1>a friend or colleague to turn this into social time.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you do have a reasonable commute, and you

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<v Speaker 1>have big goals. One of the best options for these

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<v Speaker 1>five hours is to turn them into learning time. It's

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<v Speaker 1>like homeschooling on the road, or to use a better word,

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<v Speaker 1>car schooling. There are lots of options for learning with

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<v Speaker 1>some intention. Audio books are great. If you like listening

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<v Speaker 1>to me, you could go listen to some of my books,

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<v Speaker 1>such as Off the Clock and Juliette's School of Possibilities.

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<v Speaker 1>But there are so many options out there. Google Modern,

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<v Speaker 1>Mrs Darcy dot com and fifteen terrific audio books you

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<v Speaker 1>can listen to in six ish hours or much less.

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<v Speaker 1>For some recommendations of really short books to ease you

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<v Speaker 1>into the process and then start reading. That is, listening

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<v Speaker 1>to audio of books with a theme. For instance, you

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<v Speaker 1>could listen to a slew of books on the Civil War,

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<v Speaker 1>Team of Rivals, Battle Cry of Freedom, the personal memoirs

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<v Speaker 1>of Ulysses S. Grant. In any case, studying any topic

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<v Speaker 1>in depth will help you see things that you didn't before.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also study topics that naturally lend themselves to listening.

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<v Speaker 1>Many years ago, I had a job that involved a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of filing and copying. My manager was fine with

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<v Speaker 1>me listening to music while I worked, so I wound

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<v Speaker 1>up borrowing CDs from the library with performances of a

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<v Speaker 1>great many of the works of Shakespeare. Listening to these

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<v Speaker 1>plays was a lot more accessible than reading the old English,

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<v Speaker 1>and I learned a lot about the structure of comedies

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<v Speaker 1>and tragedies. Someone driving to work could likewise listen to

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<v Speaker 1>all Shakespeare's plays, or say all of beethoven symphonies or

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<v Speaker 1>Wagner's operas. You might listen to lectures from an opera

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<v Speaker 1>scholar and then listen to those operas again to see

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<v Speaker 1>what you pick up on. Or you could just start

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<v Speaker 1>with the lectures if you find yourself missing college, or

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<v Speaker 1>you can get to take all the classes he wanted

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<v Speaker 1>back in your student days. You can car school by

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<v Speaker 1>listening to lectures from some of the greatest professors out

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<v Speaker 1>there over at the Great Courses. For instance, you can

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<v Speaker 1>get the audio of Professor John mcquarter teaching the story

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<v Speaker 1>of the human language without anything approaching the Columbia University

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<v Speaker 1>price tag. CAR time can also be great for learning

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<v Speaker 1>a language. You can repeat phrases as necessary because no

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<v Speaker 1>one can hear you. When it comes to language. Putting

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<v Speaker 1>in the practice time really pays off. And a commute

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<v Speaker 1>can mean a lot of time. Study Spanish for five

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<v Speaker 1>hours a week in the car fifty weeks a year,

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<v Speaker 1>and you'll be speaking it pretty decently in two years

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<v Speaker 1>or so. I think of it this way, one way

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<v Speaker 1>or another. The next two years are going to pass

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<v Speaker 1>one way or another. You will be spending those five

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<v Speaker 1>hours in the car getting to and from your job.

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<v Speaker 1>You could speak Spanish at the end of it, or

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<v Speaker 1>you could not. My guess is that at the end

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<v Speaker 1>of two years you'll be happy you put in the time.

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<v Speaker 1>Given how easy and how fruitful car schooling can be,

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<v Speaker 1>you may be wondering why more people don't use this

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<v Speaker 1>time for self improvement. I think the answer is that

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<v Speaker 1>because commutes are boring and often unpleasant, we tend to

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<v Speaker 1>just not think about them. We view them as a

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<v Speaker 1>necessary part of the day that we're just trying to

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<v Speaker 1>get over with, so we do whatever is easiest. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the reason that shock jocks still exists. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>you really don't have to think about it other than

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<v Speaker 1>turning on the radio, But wouldn't you rather speak Spanish

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<v Speaker 1>than listen to yet another stunt? The key is planning ahead.

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<v Speaker 1>At some point before each week and long time Before

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast listeners know that my recommendation is going to be

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<v Speaker 1>Friday afternoon. Think through what you're going to listen to

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<v Speaker 1>during the next week's commutes. Map out each day based

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<v Speaker 1>on the time you have in the car. Then figure

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<v Speaker 1>out anything you need to do logistically, down loading audiobooks,

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<v Speaker 1>purchasing lectures, whatever it is. You're not going to wake

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<v Speaker 1>up Monday morning hunting for something to listen to. You'll

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<v Speaker 1>just trudge out to the car with your travel mug

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<v Speaker 1>of coffee and then kick yourself when you've got nothing

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<v Speaker 1>to fill the time. So do your future self a

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<v Speaker 1>favor and make this more automatic, and you will very

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<v Speaker 1>quickly become a much more interesting person. What have you

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<v Speaker 1>learned while driving to work? Let me know at Before

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<v Speaker 1>Breakfast Podcast at i heeart media dot com. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the

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<v Speaker 1>number four. Then Breakfast p O d you and also

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<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast at i

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<v Speaker 1>heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out

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<v Speaker 1>with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

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<v Speaker 1>to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

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<v Speaker 1>I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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