I can’t stand sitting in traffic–the waste of time is just colossal. Our local chapter of NAPO changed from meeting on Saturday afternoons to now meeting at 6:30 in the evening. I live far south, and the meeting is far north, and that means the commute there is right in the middle of rush hour, right through downtown. In traffic it might take me way over an hour, maybe even 1.5 hours– without any traffic it takes right about 25 minutes!
So my time management strategy in cases like these is to be super-early. Would you rather be sitting in traffic, or getting a pedicure? My solution is to leave just around 4:00, get there two hours early, do a little work remotely, and then treat myself to something. Why not? I would have been sitting in my car behind a Hummer instead! So the last couple of times I have gotten a pedicure right before the meeting. I brought something useful to read during the pedicure so that was even better, since I did not have to read an outdated gossip magazine.
Could you figure out ways to creatively manage your time to avoid traffic? I bet you could. It’s so easy now to work remotely with cell phones and wifi connections. Think how much gas you would save! And if you have to drive during rush hour, at least get yourself some audiobooks. Lifehack.org had a great article recently saying you could basically read 50 more books a year by just listening while driving. I like Audible.com books loaded on my iPod. What are your favorite traffic strategies?
Lorie, I do the same thing now that I have a laptop. I will often take my laptop along with me if my first or last appointment for the day will put me smack into rush hour. This way, I just head to someplace that has free wifi, get a little tea and do a little work. It’s relaxing and by the time I get on the road, either to go to my appointment or to go home, the traffic is over. I could never have done that before I had my laptop.
~Monica