5 Productive Things I Do While Commuting On The Bus (To Avoid Feeling Nausea)

I hate wasting time while I'm on the bus. So I came up with a list of things I can do to feel productive during this time. (not including reading or using my laptop)

• Commuting to work feels like time wasted.

• I don’t like that feeling, but I also can’t read or use my laptop because it makes me nauseous.

• I came up with a list of productive things I could do during my commute:

Podcasts

The obvious answer. I’m taking a subject I would like to learn about and download a few episodes. Now I’m into learning poker and listening to Tim Grover, who was Kobe's and Michael Jordan's personal trainer.

Also, listening and reading about a subject increases the likelihood of retaining information (instead of just reading).

Sometimes I listen to the news (instead of reading it) or listen to a podcast in another langauge when I’m trying to learn it.

Listening to an album

I love music and realized I don’t give this medium enough attention. It’s a nice change of pace to listen to an album, from start to finish, focusing on the words and production. It made me appreciate my Spotify subscription even more.

Mindfulness

I meditate a lot and mostly do it at home. But meditation is about focusing on the now. And I can (and should) train my mind to be mindful even when I’m around people on the bus.

So I use this time to challenge my mind to focus on the present moment even when there are a lot of distractions around me.

Catch up with friends and family

If I can talk on the train or the bus without disturbing anybody, I will check on my mom or call a friend I haven’t spoken to in a while.

Building and maintaining relationships is an important part of life.

Thinking

I know that doing nothing can also be considered productive, but I can’t get myself to do it.

But the closest thing I’ve found to it is making time to think.

I’ve found it to be the most beneficial thing to do from this list.

Thinking hard and well about a subject is the first thing I should do before I start every task.

Before I sit down to write, I need to figure out what I want to write about and the general outline.

Before I cook, I need to figure out what I want to cook, what I need, and when I’m going to find time to do it.

Most importantly, when there is any problem in my life that I don’t know the answer to, I need to spend time thinking about a solution.

I don’t think people dedicate enough time to thinking these days.

Commuting is an excellent opportunity to fix it.