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You can turn your dreaded daily commute into something you look forward to. Here’s how to take control of those wasted hours and turn them into an investment into your future.
Traffic Was Killing Me
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably spent a regrettable amount of your life feeling “stuck” behind the wheel, just sitting in traffic. I lived in Chicago for seven years and commuted to one of the northern suburbs every day, and let’s just say I didn’t love it. In fact, one of the reasons I left Chicago was because spending so much time in traffic was making me miserable. I wanted to live in a smaller city with less traffic, and I fell in love with the more laid-back, small-town vibe of Nashville.
Alas, in one of those strange twists of fate, so did thousands of other people. Nashville grew exponentially, and now the traffic is bad here too.
In another strange twist of fate, I’m once again commuting to a northern suburb every day, and at first this filled me with the same helpless rage that spurred me to leave Chicago. But these days it’s a different story. Now I actually look forward to my commute, even when traffic is bumper to bumper.
Why My Commute is Now My Secret Weapon
What is the secret I finally stumbled upon to magically change my quality of life, you might ask? Audiobooks and podcasts. Not just in a “something to occupy my mind” way, but in a “something to transform my mind” way.
Right now I’m a graphic designer who happens to blog as a side gig, but I’ve got bigger ideas for my life. I’ve been working on changing my inner monologue for a little over a year now, and I’ve already made progress that I’m excited about: a better attitude, a more positive outlook, and an excitement about the future that I didn’t have just a year ago.
Changing Your Paradigm from the Comfort of Your Car
Bob Proctor says the way to change your paradigm – this is the programming that subconsciously affects how you live your life – is by the spaced repetition of new ideas. I want to improve the quality of my life, so I’m listening to books that will help me do that – and sometimes it’s the same books over and over.
Let’s say you spend half an hour driving to work, and half an hour driving home, every day, 5 days a week – for me that’s about 12,000 miles per year. Zig Ziglar spells it out this way: in 3 years’ time, you would could receive the equivalent of a 2-year college education – on the subject of your choice. With that kind of regular, focused time devoted to studying new ideas, you could completely transform your life. And, you wouldn’t be as bummed out as you might be from listening to the news for an hour every day, like I used to be.
Whether you download free podcasts, pay for an Audible membership, or check out books on cd from your local library, you have no excuse not to start changing your life right this second from the comfort of your own car. I know you’ve got bigger dreams for yourself than a life spent stuck in a cubicle. Start learning what you need to NOW to make those dreams a reality.
My commute has turned into the best kind of “me” time – yours will too!
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