Commuting Activities

A number of years ago as I considered two job offers within a couple years, I had to think through making the switch from driving between Chicago suburbs as my normal daily commute to taking the train into the city every day. I did the math and the number of "lost" hours on the train at first deterred me from seriously considering the job in the Loop. But then a friend of my dad said I should look at it differently. Instead of thinking of this extra commute time as "lost" time, I needed to ask how I could use that time. And I quickly realized that there were definitely things I could accomplish riding the Metra train in and out of the city that I could not do driving my car.

Years later, I am still surprised or at least question when I see someone playing Solitaire on their laptop or mobile device as the way to pass the time of their commute. And I don’t mean casually playing either. They look to be "all in" for Solitaire. That doesn’t compute with me. I have some regular train activities that I prove more valuable to me And to no one's surprise after reading this far, they don’t include Solitaire or other games. Rather I typically have my quiet time reading the Bible, journaling and praying on the morning ride in and working through email, creating deliverables, doing some homework for a class at church or reading a book or article -- whether for career or to push and grow me spiritually -- on the ride home. Those activities make my commute time valuable to me.

How about you? What are your favorite commuting activities? What is your approach to all those hours every year? Why?

Keep It Short

We all get pounded with so much information. We need to devise ways to process it all.

What do I absolutely need to pay attention to? What can I afford to delegate, delay, delete?

Many times we turn to quicker, shorter, more immediate communications (e.g., IM over Office Communicator). And we eliminate much of the extra information in those chats. I propose we start doing the same in Outlook meeting invitations. Many of us now have our calendar synched to our mobile device. Often the meeting subject is so long it cannot be viewed easily from a smart phone or other mobile device. So here is my short list of words -- I could come up with more but I don’t want to give you too much information to wade through ;-) -- to eliminate from Outlook invitations Subject and Location:

• Daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc. - This is evident from how often it shows up on the calendar.
• The Month or Day -If the Service Review is scheduled in October, chances are it's the October Service Review.
• Meeting - If there are other people invited, assume it is a meeting.
• Conference Call - If there is a dial-in number or an OC link, it's a conference call.
• Discuss - This happens in most meetings. Otherwise I am not sure why several people would be meeting.

Feel free to add to the list. But remember to keep it short.