According to SUCCESS magazine – the average American worker spends 46 minutes a day commuting to and from work. That’s 199 hours – 25 eight-hour days, each year. Find a way to work from home and you just found 1 full extra month a year.
What could you do with a full uninterrupted month? Write that book, fish, travel, take a course, build your back-yard deck or immerse in reflection at a monastery.
Dan Miller's Blog 
January 8, 2010 at 7:52 am
I am always listening to audio books or the bible on cd in my car and on my ipod. sure beats hearing radio commercials all the time. Just trying to fill my time and my head with positive things.
January 8, 2010 at 8:42 am
And that’s an average! Personally, I commute every day 1h15 divided in 30min driving and 45m walking or on a bus. I split it into 30min of road university and 30-45min of blog/newsletter/book reading. On the way back, peaceful quality time talking with my wife.
That’s in the UK, so I don’t really know whether US stats apply, but what I do know is that interestingly, reader commuters seem to be found in the underground more than on buses (perhaps we can say that poorer commuters use buses AND read less.)
I am from Barcelona, Spain myself, where car, bus or underground commuting means a looong face and empty stare for the whole trip. A sad, sad picture.
January 10, 2010 at 12:42 am
How much time I used to waste on the road communting when I could have been emmersing my mind with so much knowledge and inspiration. Well a few years ago I adopted the concept of “Toyota Camry University”, and everyday I went to school, privately earning my personal degree in the comfort of my own care… and now that my wife has finally picked me up and MP3 player I can even use that time to listen to inspiration and educate myself while I’m in the gym or out on a jog. If we stopped to think, and look at time from the perspective you just laid out, I think people may find that we truly have alot more time than we perceive. Thanks again Dan!
January 10, 2010 at 6:38 pm
I’ve been blessed to be commuting with my bro-in-law for 3 yrs. We laugh, do voice impressions, share ours joys and struggles and pray together. We’re reading Wild at Heart now.
Sadly, he’ll be moving, so our times will end, so I’ll spend quiet time with God, turn on Christian radio, listen to a podcast or audio book or perhaps my favorite jazz cd. I’m like you Dan, I appreciate my solitude.
January 11, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I sure wish my boss could realize this!
Collectively, think of all the time — and resources — we waste in commuting. Not everyone can work from home, but perhaps, as time goes on, we will be forced to rethink our work model
David R.
Red Letter Believers blog
http://www.redletterbelievers.com
“Salt and Light”
January 18, 2010 at 3:14 am
Ooo. Great subject. I just have to reply. I’m no strager to the commute. The trick is that if your employer (like mine) suggests that your role is not one that is able to work from home consistently, at least use the time in the car/on the train/on the bus/at the airport/driving the hovercraft wisely. I’d personally love a hovercraft, but it’s just not realistic as the insurance, I’m sure, is outrageous.
Like others that have replied, I, too, spend the time in the car with audiobooks and podcasts to help educate and enlighten myself. I never thought of it as “Road Warrior University”, but that is pretty accurate. I also catch up on literary classics using the audiobooks app on the iPhone that “reads” literary works in the public domain from Librivox to me. I’ve made it through Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Pride and Prejudice so far with that approach.
Still, even with this, the time that is lost by being away from family is what is the REAL tragic loss in my mind. If I were able to work from home, I would make more family dinners, help with kids’ homework, and possibly even have a little time to do nothing by simply being with my wife.
Then again, commuting via hovercraft WOULD be cool.
January 21, 2010 at 3:25 am
Nice posts and comments. Jason, what a nice tribute. I love impressions! I listened to my Success Magazine CD in the car today for the 2nd time (suggestion from Dan). Other times I listen to Dan’s awesome podcasts!