Turn those tedious and monotonous traffic jams into terrific study time

Every day, commuters waste millions of man hours in traffic gridlock. It’s frustrating to helplessly watch time slip away while stuck in traffic. Traffic problems don’t discriminate – they affect those who drive and those who use public transportation to work.

With mobile phones in almost every purse or pocket, and the cost of internet access on a steep decline, there are many ways to turn time spent in stagnant traffic to good use. One of those uses is personal development.

Personal development experts advise that there is no better time than in the morning to learn something that can make us better businesspeople, workers or human beings. We set the tone for the rest of the day by the way we begin our mornings – by feeding our brains and minds.

Unlike our predecessors who didn’t have the tools we have today, we have nearly unlimited opportunities to access good information online and learn new things. Suppose you spend four hours in traffic every day, Monday to Friday, that adds up to 20 hours a week, 80 hours a month and nearly 1,000 hours in a year. Suppose you spent that time studying a subject – you would acquire more knowledge than a full-time university student in four years.

In his blockbuster book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell made popular the 10,000-hour rule required for one to master a subject. Gladwell explains that it takes 10,000 hours of intensive practice to perfect complex skills and materials, like playing the violin or becoming as good as legendary leaders like Bill Gates.

Ten years may sound like a lifetime to wait, but the point is, every year, one gets closer and closer to mastery. No effort goes to waste.

There is a stockpile of study materials online that one can access through many channels using a smartphone. It’s possible to find podcasts and audiobooks for every topic imaginable – Politics, Education, Society, Culture, Comedy, Music, Business, Productivity, Health, Technology, you name it.

Listening to podcasts is a remarkable way to learn things and grow. If podcasts are not your thing, there are libraries of audiobooks and millions of free instructional YouTube channels that contain premium content at no cost.

The material you need is easily accessible through Google, YouTube and your purveyor of podcasts. You can watch the video or listen to the audio in traffic, at the gym, while strolling in a park, or in any other way that you prefer.

Here is the point; spending hundreds of hours in traffic can turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Robin Sharma, author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and The 5am Club, says, “Ordinary people waste the hours that extraordinary people use.”

Don’t wish for a shorter commute; embrace and use your tech and time productively.