Second Cup: Commute with a friend

Turn wasted time into a highlight of your day

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to try commuting with a friend, thus turning
commuting time into relationship building time at least once in
a while. Few people enjoy their commutes. They tend to

(00:26):
be a necessary part of getting to work, but studies
of human happiness find that the morning commute is the
lowest moment of people's days. The evening commute isn't quite
so bad because you arrive home afterwards, but the morning
commute has no such redeeming features. To deal with this misery,
we listen to podcasts and such to make the time

(00:46):
go faster. But here's another option. Consider commuting with a friend,
a colleague, or your spouse on occasion. This can turn
a low point of the day into one of the
day's highlights. First, I'll say that I know a lot
of people already socialized during their commutes because they're on
the phone. People send me the tip all the time

(01:08):
to call relatives during a commute, but the truth is
that dialing and talking can be quite distracting. I try
not to do phone calls while driving, and I'd encourage
you not to either. But having another adult in the
car isn't nearly as distracting because that person can see
when you've encountered a tense situation. When break lights come
on suddenly, the other person in the car gets quiet.

(01:32):
But all the other good parts of socializing are there.
You can catch up and keep each other entertained. Many
people say that they don't spend enough one on one
time with their spouses or their friends. By sharing a ride,
you find time for fun during something you had to
do anyway. It seems straightforward enough, but every year or
so I get sent transportation surveys finding that very few

(01:54):
people carpool regularly, even with HOV lanes adding an incentive.
I think there are a few reasons for this. We
like to leave when we want to leave. We don't
like to think about our drives ahead of time. If
commutes are unpleasant, we don't want to go out of
our way, even if it would make the whole experience
much better. There are also some funny psychological issues going on.

(02:18):
Even if we always go straight home from work. Maybe
we like to entertain the fantasy that today is the
day we'll take off for Atlantic City. Instead, and of
course you can't do that if the carpool is waiting
for you, so we waste time and money holding onto
the fantasy. In any case, there's some value to flexibility,

(02:39):
so you probably don't want to do this every single day,
but if you feel like you never see your spouse,
it could definitely be worth driving ten to fifteen minutes
out of your way one day a week so you
can share the ride both ways on that day. Or
maybe you have a friend who lives ten minutes from
you and works ten minutes from you, and it's sort

(03:00):
of a twenty minute time cost on both ends, but
not really, because the extra time will feel enough better
than the time you were spending that you'll probably be
happy about it. Work friends, of course, have the upside
of being located much closer to you on one end
of the commute. It might be wise to treat this
as a strategic career boosting time. Find someone you think

(03:24):
is a real go getter, and the two of you
can strategize how you'll conquer the world when you share
a ride one day a week and no one else
will be around to hear your plotting. Have you ever
turned your commute into social time. If so, please let
me know. You can email me at Before Breakfast podcast

(03:44):
at iHeartMedia dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

(04:05):
Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast
is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast

(04:33):
is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
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