How To Make The Most of Your Commute To Uni

As a university student, you may feel as though your time is limited, especially if long commutes take valuable hours out of your day. According to a 2014 survey, the average commuter spends 10,634 hours on their journey to work – and students are no exception..

Are you a commuter looking to make the most the time spent travelling to university? Here are a few ideas.

Plan your schedule

If you have an extremely busy day on the cards, one valuable way of making the most of your time would be plan your daily schedule. Setting yourself targets means you’ll be much more productive and efficient during the day. If you have essays or exam revision to complete, plan ahead as to when you’re going to make time for these tasks so you’re never behind with your workload.

Likewise, you could create a to-do list for your personal life. For example, setting yourself a slot to go to the gym or any family activities which need to be pencilled in.

Catch up on reading

If you haven’t had chance to go over the reading your lecturer has set you, your commute would be a great way of getting these tasks completed. During a commute, you won’t have much else to occupy you unlike the vast amount of distractions at home. A calm train or bus ride would be an ideal space to keep your mind focused.

If you’re a bookworm, you may even decide to spend the time reading books you’ve always wanted to pick up. You could even set yourself the challenge of reading one book per month.

Choose a reading tool that works best for you. To avoid carrying around a large amount of physical books, consider purchasing e-books on a Kindle or similar device. Likewise, if your reading notes from university can be accessed online, it may be best to access these via a tablet instead of carrying large amounts of paper copies.

Talk to new people

If you consider yourself to be a shy person, talking to other commuters may be a great way of building on your social skills. If you notice the same commuters on a regular basis, it wouldn’t hurt to introduce yourself and start a basic conversation. You never know where these conversations may lead and the links you may make which could benefit you in your work or social life.

Spending time getting to know people is never wasted time and you may just bag yourself a train buddy. Just don’t try it in London; there are some crowds that are just too tough to please.

Train your mind and body

One way to wake-up your brain in the early morning would be to train your brain with puzzle books and crosswords, or perhaps even brain training apps which can be downloaded. If this just isn’t your thing, you could seek information to seek and inspire you by listening to podcasts, educational talks or online courses such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). MOOCs take around 3-5 hours to complete, which is just the right amount of time to tie into a daily commute.

If there’s any way you can jog or cycle part of the way to university, take the opportunity to exercise. Jump off the bus and jog the rest of the way to your lecture instead of catching a second bus. Daily exercise can really help to boost your mood and productivity and according to the NHS, may even reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer by 50%.

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