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?