Be More Productive While Driving to Work

(Photo credit: neoporcupine)

In many of my post I advocate using your commute time on the train to get some of your work done. Which is great, if you live in the city like me, but I know many people who commute to work by car. I remember the days, I used to do it myself.  I’d drive an hour each way back and forth to the city when I lived in the suburbs.

Here’s some ideas to get more done while you cruise:

Audio books – I love reading, but finding the time to sit down with a book can be difficult. So why not listen to one on your commute? iTunes does an audio version of most books, or you can always try a service like audible.com.  You could also try an app like Umano which read out popular articles to you.

Carpool – Joining a local carpool group is a great way to make new friends and help save the environment. It’s also gives you extra time in the morning to check your emails and browse your social media. You can use an app called Pocket where you can save articles you want to read for a moment just like this.  Well that is whenever it isn’t your turn to drive.

Have an E-mail Power Session – Before you get in your car, send out emails that you need a reply to as soon as possible.  Set a time limit, like 15 minute, and reply to or send emails in a rapid-fire fashion. Hopefully you’ll have some replies when you get into the office so you can hit the ground running.

Podcasts – Listening to audio books is great, but if your commute isn’t that long it can be a bit of a pain constantly dipping in and out of a good book. Podcast also cater to more specialized subjects, whatever your hobby there’s probably a podcast about it! (I’ll be starting one of my own soon, stay tuned for that!)

Conference call – Rather then leave during rush hour to make it to the morning meeting, why not use a hands-free set to conference call in and leave a little bit later. This gives you a chance to get a little more done in the morning and cuts down on the amount of time you spend in traffic.

What are your top work while commuting tips?