I currently spend around 100 minutes a day commuting to and from work. That’s almost 400 hours a year (not including vacations) or 50 8-hour days a year! The average commuter in the US spends almost 50 minutes a day on the road. If you focus on the negatives while driving…like why is everyone going so slow, how much time your wasting, why is the guy ahead of you not driving the way you think he should, the whole experience can be frustrating.

What if you could convert that wasted time into something useful?

Wouldn’t your time spent commuting be more relaxing knowing that your time wasn’t being wasted?  Let’s review some activities that might allow you to be productive while driving:

  • Plan – Turn everything off (not your engine obviously) and simply focus on what your goals are for the rest of the day and how to achieve them. This can work for the drive to work as well as the drive home. If you do this, you’ll find you are more relaxed during your trip and when you arrive.
  • Audio Books – There are thousands of personal and career development audio books to listen to while driving. These types of books also help to relax a person while driving. Sure, you may miss information at times, but there’s no reason to not listen to the book again…You have the time. Check out some Nonfiction Books on Amazon.com such as The Tipping Point or The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for instance. Also, sometimes a good classic can be just as productive as the latest trendy self-help bestseller. A good resource for these is LibriVox, providing free audio books in the public domain.
  • Podcasts – After purchasing my Apple iPod touch 16 GB, I started downloading all kinds of podcasts. Even though my vehicle has a Sirius radio, I soon forgot all about it when I hooked my iPod to iTunes. There are a lot of great podcasts focused on self-help, career enhancement, and industry-specific trends and topics.

Any of these activities have the ability to generate ideas that you can leverage later on. However,  most of these ideas are forgotten in about 30 seconds as other thoughts overtake them. One way you can avoid forgetting them is with a small voice recorder. The one I’m currently using is a Olympus VN-5000, it can record up to 300 hours of audio and is very easy to use when concentrating on driving.

You can avoid wasting your time while driving by some simple planning and a few basic tools. With everyone needing more time these days, this is a great way to spend what you have more effectively.