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 car schooling, that is, designing
Speaker 1: a curriculum to help you become an expert in a
Speaker 1: topic or just a more interesting person while you're getting
Speaker 1: to work. Despite the frequent news about the rise of
Speaker 1: bicycle commuting or new public transportation or work from home options,
Speaker 1: the vast majority of people still drive themselves to and
Speaker 1: from work. The average commute in the US has about
Speaker 1: twenty seven minutes each way, though this varies by location.
Speaker 1: A half hour commute isn't a huge chunk of time
Speaker 1: by itself, but the issue is that people do it
Speaker 1: over and over again about ten times per week, adding
Speaker 1: up to approximately five hours. This five hour chunk of
Speaker 1: time is incredibly easy to waste, and few people like
Speaker 1: to waste time. One of the reasons podcasts have become
Speaker 1: so popular is that you can listen to something interesting
Speaker 1: during time you're basically doing nothing else. Of consequence, podcasts
Speaker 1: are certainly a great option, and so is commuting with
Speaker 1: a friend or colleague to turn this into social time.
Speaker 1: But if you do have a reasonable commute, and you
Speaker 1: have big goals. One of the best options for these
Speaker 1: five hours is to turn them into learning time. It's
Speaker 1: like homeschooling on the road, or to use a better word,
Speaker 1: car schooling. There are lots of options for learning with
Speaker 1: some intention. Audio books are great. If you like listening
Speaker 1: to me, you could go listen to some of my books,
Speaker 1: such as Off the Clock and Juliette's School of Possibilities.
Speaker 1: But there are so many options out there. Google Modern,
Speaker 1: Mrs Darcy dot com and fifteen terrific audio books you
Speaker 1: can listen to in six ish hours or much less.
Speaker 1: For some recommendations of really short books to ease you
Speaker 1: into the process and then start reading. That is, listening
Speaker 1: to audio of books with a theme. For instance, you
Speaker 1: could listen to a slew of books on the Civil War,
Speaker 1: Team of Rivals, Battle Cry of Freedom, the personal memoirs
Speaker 1: of Ulysses S. Grant. In any case, studying any topic
Speaker 1: in depth will help you see things that you didn't before.
Speaker 1: You can also study topics that naturally lend themselves to listening.
Speaker 1: Many years ago, I had a job that involved a
Speaker 1: lot of filing and copying. My manager was fine with
Speaker 1: me listening to music while I worked, so I wound
Speaker 1: up borrowing CDs from the library with performances of a
Speaker 1: great many of the works of Shakespeare. Listening to these
Speaker 1: plays was a lot more accessible than reading the old English,
Speaker 1: and I learned a lot about the structure of comedies
Speaker 1: and tragedies. Someone driving to work could likewise listen to
Speaker 1: all Shakespeare's plays, or say all of beethoven symphonies or
Speaker 1: Wagner's operas. You might listen to lectures from an opera
Speaker 1: scholar and then listen to those operas again to see
Speaker 1: what you pick up on. Or you could just start
Speaker 1: with the lectures if you find yourself missing college, or
Speaker 1: you can get to take all the classes he wanted
Speaker 1: back in your student days. You can car school by
Speaker 1: listening to lectures from some of the greatest professors out
Speaker 1: there over at the Great Courses. For instance, you can
Speaker 1: get the audio of Professor John mcquarter teaching the story
Speaker 1: of the human language without anything approaching the Columbia University
Speaker 1: price tag. CAR time can also be great for learning
Speaker 1: a language. You can repeat phrases as necessary because no
Speaker 1: one can hear you. When it comes to language. Putting
Speaker 1: in the practice time really pays off. And a commute
Speaker 1: can mean a lot of time. Study Spanish for five
Speaker 1: hours a week in the car fifty weeks a year,
Speaker 1: and you'll be speaking it pretty decently in two years
Speaker 1: or so. I think of it this way, one way
Speaker 1: or another. The next two years are going to pass
Speaker 1: one way or another. You will be spending those five
Speaker 1: hours in the car getting to and from your job.
Speaker 1: You could speak Spanish at the end of it, or
Speaker 1: you could not. My guess is that at the end
Speaker 1: of two years you'll be happy you put in the time.
Speaker 1: Given how easy and how fruitful car schooling can be,
Speaker 1: you may be wondering why more people don't use this
Speaker 1: time for self improvement. I think the answer is that
Speaker 1: because commutes are boring and often unpleasant, we tend to
Speaker 1: just not think about them. We view them as a
Speaker 1: necessary part of the day that we're just trying to
Speaker 1: get over with, so we do whatever is easiest. This
Speaker 1: is the reason that shock jocks still exists. I mean,
Speaker 1: you really don't have to think about it other than
Speaker 1: turning on the radio, But wouldn't you rather speak Spanish
Speaker 1: than listen to yet another stunt? The key is planning ahead.
Speaker 1: At some point before each week and long time Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast listeners know that my recommendation is going to be
Speaker 1: Friday afternoon. Think through what you're going to listen to
Speaker 1: during the next week's commutes. Map out each day based
Speaker 1: on the time you have in the car. Then figure
Speaker 1: out anything you need to do logistically, down loading audiobooks,
Speaker 1: purchasing lectures, whatever it is. You're not going to wake
Speaker 1: up Monday morning hunting for something to listen to. You'll
Speaker 1: just trudge out to the car with your travel mug
Speaker 1: of coffee and then kick yourself when you've got nothing
Speaker 1: to fill the time. So do your future self a
Speaker 1: favor and make this more automatic, and you will very
Speaker 1: quickly become a much more interesting person. What have you
Speaker 1: learned while driving to work? Let me know at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast Podcast at i heeart media dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four. Then Breakfast p O d you and also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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