My job requires me to drive about 30 minutes to the firm and 30 minutes back to home. How can I use this otherwise wasted time efficiently? Do you have special audio CD's or tracks you do listen to in this time? I could also use my mobile phone, if it matters, but I simply don't know how.
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I listen to audiobooks downloaded from Audible.com, which I download to my iPhone 4 using their app and then play through my car radio using its Aux input. Typical member prices are 30% off retail (e.g. a $25.00 audiobook would be $17.50). However you normally buy books using credits; I have the platinum level subscription for $23/month which gives me two credits a month. Most audiobooks cost 1 credit, so I am really paying only $11.50 per book, regardless of the price. (Some expensive audio books retailing for say $75 cost two credits, still a good deal). Typical unabridged audio books are 10-15 hours long, although some are much longer (Stephen King's The Stand, for example, is almost 48 hours yet still costs only one credit.) So a 10-hour book would last two weeks of commute time, 30 minutes each way. They have 6100 business titles, 2800 science & technology titles, 14,300 general fiction titles, 5300 sci-fi and fantasy titles, plus other genres. I usually alternate between non-fiction and fiction. Over the last five years, since I joined Audible, I have listened to some 260 books. Any that I have deleted from my phone are still stored at Audible.com if I want to download them again. |
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I second 0x6d64's podcast suggestion. Audio podcasts are, in my humble opinion, the single most productive way to use travel time (particularly time spent in a car, since you are not actually free to do much else). I use podcasts to both learn and keep myself up on current events. I've listed several that I've consistently listened to (in order starting with my favorite).
Experiment with others, then share which ones you like! |
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I would definitely recommend listening to podcasts while travelling. In my opinion BBC offers great variety of high quality podcasts, have a look here: You can choose podcasts on many different topics: economy, news, art, sports etc. Completely free, no ads, updated every day. I have been using that site as a source of podcasts for about 5 years and I can say it is just perfect. Listening to podcasts in general allows you to be up-to-date with current affairs, expand your horizons, learn about other cultures etc. I think it is also a great way of learning foreign languages and to make it even more effective you can make some notes about new words and phrases while listening. |
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You could also use self-affirmations when driving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-affirmation http://www.self-improvement-mentor.com/self-affirmation.html |
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I second (third?) the idea of listening to books. I've purchased a few audiobooks, and they've worked well for me, but in order to save money, I've started looking into librivox.org and Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/). PG's mission is to put all the books in the world that have passed out of copyright on the web for people to read for free. Librivox's mission is to provide audio recordings of everything PG has. But I've also seen some of PG's books provided as mp3/ogg/other audio formats. |
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I stream podcasts from my phone (Nexus S) through Bluetooth to my car's speakers. Before that I bought a Jambox to keep in the car as a speaker. I use the app BeyondPod, but my husband prefers Google Listen. I've tried Stitcher, and a few others. Play around until you find one that's good for you. The app will have a search feature so you can subscribe to podcasts. The app will automatically update them, and you will use the settings to decide how to delete them. These aren't assignments, so if you find you don't like one, unsubscribe! These are the podcasts I get the most value from:
Wizard of Ads
99% invisible
Manager Tools (they also have Career Tools)
Grammar Girl
Freakonomics
Get It Done Guy
Nutrition Diva I'm impressed with your question. You are obviously headed toward great things. I'll be cheering for you. W! |
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I'd advise you to use this rare time to do nothing. Doing nothing: - brings up ideas and solutions of problems you would never found when you were specifically looking for a solution - makes you relax - feels good See also: http://www.blogussion.com/favorites/doing-nothing-increase-productivity/ |
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The correct answer is move closer to work and stop wasting so much time and money commuting. |
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If you live in the UK I'd always recommend listening to radio 4. Fantastic for news and current affairs, including politics and finance (especially at 'drive time'), as well as documentaries on a wide range of subjects and literary adaptations. Best part is because it's a BBC radio station there are no adverts either. |
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I don't know if it may apply to your situation, but I'm a native french speaker and I listen to an English radio to improve my oral comprehension of the language. |
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Personally, when in travel or commuting, I'm listening to the audio edition of The Economist. All of articles are read by a lector. However, I don't do hat when actually driving (but it may be feasible for people with better attention-sharing skills or being stuck in a traffic jam, etc). |
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