On your commute today, ask yourself this question..

We all spend a significant amount of our waking hours travelling to a destination.

Whether we are travelling to work, to school, to family or perhaps somewhere more exciting, we all spend an awful amount of time in the car, on the train or even the bus. For those that are lucky enough, there is also the option of walking, running or cycling.

According to recent surveys, the average commuting time for someone working in London is now over 60 minutes. If you add the return journey to that, it equates to an impressive 2 hours of daily commuting.

Assuming that we all only have 24 hours in a day (I have yet to see any posts about time creation) and assuming the average adult needs 8 hour of sleep per night, then that only leaves 16 waking hours in which to “do stuff”. Suddenly therefore, spending 2 hours of your precious 16 hour allowance is a significant investment.

In the same survey, when asked what they do with their time, over 18% of people replied that they listen to music, 10% said they “work”, 4% said they sleep (presumably they didn’t get their 8 hours!) and 10% do nothing. I personally would love to see what someone doing “nothing” looks like.

The point here is not necessarily what people currently do with their time, but what they could do with it.

Two hours of commuting per day, equates to 10 hours of commuting a week, or 480 hours per year (allowing for some holiday). 480 hours is the equivalent of 20 full 24 hour days or 4 working weeks! 4 working weeks every year spent commuting!!

Now that you can see what a large investment it is of your time, how do you propose to use it better? I suggest that doing “nothing” is not the answer?

Here’s one thing you could try. On your commute in to work, ask yourself this question.

“What are the three most important things I must do today, in order to make today successful”

They don’t have to all be “work” related, but maybe a mixture of family and work related things.

And then, on the commute home, ask yourself the accompanying question :

“Did I achieve the 3 things I deemed most important this morning”

If you did, then you will be able to give yourself a large pat on the back. If you didn’t, then you have another 480 hours this year to perfect your technique.

Either way, concentrating on 3 important things every day will mean you complete 15 things every week or 720 important things every year, rather than just whittling away your precious and irreplaceable time.

Now that is a good use of commuting time!

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David Stack is founder of Brightfrog Ltd, an IT consultancy business with a twist. David has over 20 years experience in the Pharmaceutical and FMCG industries and uses common sense, great dedication, enthusiasm and a pinch of social psychology to deliver great results. (www.bright-frog.com)