If I were to choose between taking MRT vs driving, I’ll definitely choose to take MRT and it’s not about saving money. Here’s why…
Last 4 months was one of the most enjoyable times of my life. I went back to school to become a student!
After working for 14 years as a teacher, going back to school to become a student was something refreshing. The course that I attended was a leadership course and the venue was the National Institute of Singapore (NIE).
For those who don’t know where NIE is located, it is located within the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). It is at the extreme west of Singapore. Getting there is a little troublesome. You have to take the MRT to Boon Lay or Pioneer station and then take a bus to NTU. Many people tend to complain about going there because it is tedious and you have to fight against the heavy traffic during peak hours.
For me, I don’t drive most of the time even though we have a car. My wife usually drives the car to work. I like to take public transport.
During the course, I was fortunate that one of my course mates stay near my place and she drives! You might be thinking that I could hitch a ride from her right?
I did not.
I chose to take public transport.
For most of my working life, I have been taking public transport. In the past when we did not have smartphones, I’ll definitely hitch a ride from my course mates. Now, with my iPhone, commuting via public transport can be a huge benefit to my productivity.
Let me explain.
Over the years of commuting via public transport, I have developed some ways of spending the commuting time productively. In this blog post, I want to share 5 areas that I like to do when I am commuting. You will be surprised that we can achieve a lot during commuting time and many things are those that we tend to complain we don’t have time to do.
#1: Reading
With the Kindle app, reading ebooks is such a breeze. I can open my kindle app and start reading my favourite books such as “Atomic Habits” and “Choose FI“. For people who complain they don’t have the time to read, this is the time. Sometimes I may choose to put my physical book in my bag and I’ll read it on the train journey. The most recent one that I’m reading is Simon Sinek’s “The Infinite Game”. It’s a brilliant book on leadership and my perspectives have changed a lot after reading this book.
Another recommendation is the audible app. When I’m walking alone, I may open up the audible app to listen to audiobooks. So in a 50 minutes journey, it is a lot of time to catch up on my reading.
#2: Planning And Researching
As a teacher, father and husband, I have different roles to play. Sometimes I need to plan for an upcoming event, design a particular lesson, research on a family trip and many other things. Commuting time is a good time to zoom in to one particular area and think about it. Travelling time is thinking time for me. Many times, I would open my Notion app, create a page and start dumping my ideas on a particular area. I love using Notion because it allows me to quickly capture ideas when I’m walking and process them later when I’m free.
#3: Blogging
I have a full time job. Where to find time to do my side hustle? This is a common problem many people face. Of course, there are many successful side hustlers who managed to do their ‘thing’ at home after they got home from work. Many of them bust their butt off from 8pm to 2am, building their business.
I prefer to spend my night time with my kids and by the time they got to bed, I’m super exhausted. I do not have the brain juice to write another blog post.
Therefore, the morning commute is the best time. Whether I’m standing or sitting in a train, I will whip out my phone, open the Google docs and start typing. I love it because I’m fresh and my ideas tend to flow better in the morning. In a 20 minutes journey from Buona Vista to Lorong Chuan station, I could write about 300-500 words. So within a week of morning commutes, I could come up with the first draft and then find another time to edit the post.
#4: Learning
Recently I purchased an online course, “Automation Academy” to learn about automating different tasks from organising files on my computer to type faster using text expansion tools. The course consists of many short videos and to watch the videos and apply the learnings take time.
So where do I find the time?
Bingo!
Commuting time.
I can choose to download the videos or just stream from the course platform and watch the videos. Within a few days of commuting, I have learned and applied effective files management practices, configure my email settings so that I receive less unimportant mails and setting up my text expansion tools to help me type faster.
This is one of the ways I used commuting time for learning. Sometimes I’ll listen to a podcast and learn some great insights from experts about personal productivity and investing. It’s so good!
#5: Just chill
Gary Vee was asked how he manages his time. His first response was to develop the ability not to judge yourself.
Do I always spend my commuting time on serious stuff like learning, and blogging? If I do something else like mindless surfing on social media, will I feel guilty or ashamed?
I used to feel ashamed if I caught myself surfing at shopping sites or watch YouTube videos for entertainment. I came to realise that I don’t need to judge myself because I’m in control. What I should do is to strike a balance between productivity and entertainment.
So once in a while, I will just chill and watch some entertaining stuff. I’m not a gaming person so most of the stuff I watch on YouTube are tech reviews and highlights of tennis matches. I’m more prone to watching tennis highlights during grand slams Seasons or the ATP Finals. I just don’t want to miss my favourite player’s games.
These are the 5 areas of things that I can do during my commute time and this is why I love taking public transport. If I’m driving, I could only listen to my favourite podcast shows for learning. It’s pretty limited for me.
I treasure my commuting time because there are many good things I can do.
How about you?
Comentários