Flexible Working Life

Photo by Burning Image

The main reason most people want to work from home is to stop the commute.
I can understand this, last week I had to take my husband to the airport in rush hour traffic. Under normal circumstances, the journey would take us twenty minutes, however, the workers commuting into the city that morning made the journey last a whole forty minutes longer. Forty minutes longer and with a plane to catch!
Luckily we had planned for such an eventuality, but as we were crawling along down the motorway and I looked in at the commuters, I didn’t see anyone who looked like they were having a fabulous time. Alright, I didn’t expect banners and balloons and miniature parties to be happening in the commuter cars, but I expected at least one person not to be scowling. According to research, the average commuter spends almost 29 working days each year travelling to work – which is a month. February. So if commuting isn’t fun, or at least mildly amusing, then it’s like spending the whole of February under a black cloud.
And that’s not the commuters in London – in London those poor commuting souls spend a huge 96 days travelling to and from work …..18 years during a persons career! Holy moley.
Doesn’t this seem crazy?
Smarter working has to come into force, not only are people wasting their lives by the commute but it’s expensive, polluting and the main reason for stress.
I’m lucky working from home, but for those who don’t, and the commute is unavoidable, I’ve been thinking of ways to make it more pleasurable. I mean, this is the whole of February!

So my pointers are:

• invest in a good sound system
• always have snacks about your person,
  and,
• if possible, convert the commute time into learning time.

And all the time, no matter what, be on the lookout for another job that involves no commuting at all.

Stumble it!