by Nick Vandell

Created on: February 03, 2009

Depending upon the nature of the commute you might have, there are a number of ways you can transform the stress that goes usually goes along with commuting into a productive time. Again, this all depends on the nature of your commute.

For example, if you have a commute that's about an hour and it involves connecting from one train to another, there is not a whole lot you can get done, especially if the commute also involves many distractions like crowds squeezing by or lots of chatter.

If you happen to have a long commute like I do, with no connections to make along the way, which also happens to be a whopping two hours each way, then this is the commute I will be discussing.

I commute on an express bus to and from New York City for an hour and a half each way; sometimes over two hours with traffic. I've been doing this for almost ten years now. I usually sit all the way in the back seat corner of the bus and I almost always never get disturbed nor does anyone sit next to me since the bus hardly ever fills to capacity.

During the morning commute, however, I almost always sleep the whole hour and a half. I always say that you can't get enough sleep. So I continue to dedicate the morning commute to beauty sleep.

The evening commute is where the fun begins.

Luckily, I was fortunate enough to carry a laptop computer along on during my daily commute. It also has a decent wireless internet connection and a battery with a life which lasts much longer than the hour and a half commute. If you have the means, this is a valuable asset to have if you intend to transform tedium to create growth while commuting to and from work.

I can't tell you in one Helium article how many things I've accomplished with this very laptop during commuting. But I certainly will give you some examples.

When I first began commuting with the laptop, I had just happened to finish up reading up on how to research and trace our ancestors and create family trees and so forth. As a result, I purchased a family tree software and traced my ancestors. I've built up a family tree database of over three hundred names into that software. I've subscribed to several genealogy websites and found out loads of information about my ancestors. I've traced one of my blood lines back as early as the mid 1500's. This process took me about three years and I will still continue the research every now and then, although most of the research had been complete, thanks to my long commute.

After I came to a stopping point with

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>