Every Efficient Person Should Be Doing This While They Drive
Efficiency- Michael: Improve Time Quality
4 Years ago I had a 2.5 hour daily commute where I flipped through radio stations
“Commercial…”
“Terrible pop song…”
“Commercial…”
“They are still on Commercial?”
“They are playing that song again?”
“Ahh no one cares about that celebrity…”
And I’d flip through again for the next 3-5 minutes waiting for commercials or songs to end, hoping the next content would be better. I was working the midnight shift, and if I was tired, this commute was downright dangerous. After a year of this painful commute, I moved within 5 minutes of my workplace. Much needed.
Years later, I was offered a job with a 2 hour daily commute. It was a high paying dream job, I couldn’t refuse. I made a promise to myself, I would not be wasting 500 hours a year in the car.
Podcasts and Audiobooks
With everything from
- Comedy
- Business
- News
- History
- Entertainment
- Education on Anything
- Foreign Languages
- Religion
- Self Help
Podcasts and Audiobooks are life changing.
Podcasts often present education and facts in an extremely entertaining format. Audiobooks can have as much detail as a graduate level university course. These formats will have something that you enjoy. Its like watching a movie, reading a book, or taking a class for 14 hours a week.
Now, instead of getting amped about one person flying down a lane before it ends, I get to listen to an extra few seconds of entertainment. Even after a 1.5 hour commute, I’ll often wait in my car a few minutes because I’m dying to hear whats next. I had almost no interest in history, but after listening to podcasts, I find it more interesting than any novel. I actually prefer driving to most days of work! Commercials? Expect 60 seconds every 30 minutes, and strangely enough, the commercials were to great products that I’ve actually investigated and started using.
Some Recommendations
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History : Wrath of the Khans – This podcast is like watching a blockbuster movie. Its a great first experience into the world of podcasts.
Planet Money – An entertainment podcast about different odd things in the business world. Everything from why people pay 200,000 dollars for a generic looking bag to odd economic forces at play. Everything is told in an entertaining format, and sometimes they go way further than I expect as they often will show up halfway across the world to interview someone I thought was unreachable.
BBC Business Daily – A world news type of podcast which is a superior replacement to the daily news from the mainstream media. Top notch production.
Stuff You Should Know – 2 personalities give you a detailed 30 minute insight on topics you should know. How Chili Peppers work, How caffeine works, How panic attacks work, and so much more. They arent experts, but they spend hours and hours researching and give you a 30 minute overview on the topic.
Old Episodes of Freakanomics – A team uses economics to find the answer to psychological phenomenon. Very entertaining, very informative. The new episodes are not worth listening to, but search for topics you find interesting on his older stuff.
Radiolab – Story telling with a lesson. Every time I listen to these, I feel like I learn more about humans.
The great part, they are all free and have plenty to offer you in terms of entertainment and education.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks have a cost, but are so cheap that I have difficulty comprehending how its possible. It seems almost futuristic. Take for instance a best selling business book.
You take your pocket orb that connects you to the internet
Buy a book for $10, the cost of working minimum wage for an hour and 20 minutes.
Get the experiences and knowledge of people sent directly to your brain!
No reading required, but you get high quality content.
A Fun Recommendation is Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.
No more scanning the radio, start enjoying your commute, and begin absorbing information!