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2x 40 min of train everyday. Best way to spend them?

8 points by dgellow ↗ HN
Hi HN community,

I'm a 22 years old developer. For the next 2 months I have to do 2x 40 min of train travel everyday to move between my home and my workplace.

What are your advices to spend this time in the more productive way?

How do you spend your time travel?

40 comments

[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 112 ms ] thread
bemmu
Listen to podcasts or audiobooks. Or just think.
dgellow
Do you have any audiobooks or podcasts that you'd be happy to share?
it_learnses
i'm also going to be commuting about 40 min by bus. I get motion sickenss if I read or look at a screen on the bus, so some podcasts would be very helpful!
chunky1994
Stumbling upon happiness: Dan Gilbert. It's witty and pretty fascinating, and one of the best books I've heard.
codfrantic
ThisAmericanLife is usually a really interesting listen, not anything Hacker specific but usually a nice insight in other (people's) worlds.
ElongatedTowel
Finding good stuff is so damn hard. I'm listening to that stuff whenever I do anything that doesn't require too much focus. Time that adds up.

Three I can recommend:

http://shoptalkshow.com/ - Webdesign and development mostly

http://javascriptjabber.com/ - If you're interested in JavaScript development

http://www.dancarlin.com//disp.php/hharchive - Free older recordings of history podcasts. He adds a lot of emotion and perhaps bias to every story but as a result they are never dry and often from an unusual perspective

deadfall
+1 for Dan Carlin. I only listened to the history of the Mongols.
sahil_videology
Have you checked out Audible? There are plenty of options. I prefer biographies and self-help books. I recently listened to "Getting Things Done" by David Allen and "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.
deadfall
I use to ride the train from San Francisco to Sunnyvale and was able to read a lot of books. I had to be careful though because if I got too into the book I would miss my stop.

Audio Books:

Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin -- https://librivox.org/the-origin-of-species-by-charles-darwin...

The Art of War by Sun Tzu -- https://archive.org/details/art_of_war_librivox

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift -- https://archive.org/details/gulliver_ld_librivox

Podcasts:

Ruby Rouges (ruby programming talks/programming in general)-- http://rubyrogues.com/

StarTalk with Neil Degrasse Tyson (Space, comedians, science) -- http://www.startalkradio.net/

wanda
Project Euler. That's what I used to do while commuting to London.

https://projecteuler.net/problems

dgellow
I started doing the exercises as a way to learn Clojure some time ago. I can pick up where I had left.

Thanks for the idea.

T-zex
Put some ambient music, close your eyes and meditate. You don't have to be productive 24x7.
dgellow
I think you are right. I don't need to stay focus on the "productive" word.
ctrl
I used to have a commute like this and thought it was going to be such a time waste. Then i realized it was good me time.

great time for reading and also note taking. Look into your options on your phone or tablet and really pimp them out with consumption as well as productivity.

For note you may want to write your own little app, evernote will open by the time the commutes over.

midgetjones
I've been working on live coding of audio during my commute. It's a good way to keep the brain active and learn a new language, with the added benefit of being hypnotically relaxing. Also doesn't have to require internet.
dgellow
I'm not sure to understand what you're calling "live coding of audio". Are you talking about things like the music on toplap.org or the clojure's lib "overtone" ?
1337biz
Try talking to one new person each day on your ride. And play your level up until you are able to enter an engaging conversation with anyone on that train. Social skills are having in my opinion the most severe impact on your life.
ForHackernews
Please don't. Most people riding commuter trains just want to be left in peace.

Developing social skills is absolutely a valuable thing, but it's not fair to make innocents on the train be your tutors.

Practice social skills with co-workers, at networking events, or in shared-interest groups (join a book club, an outdoors society, etc.)

Komsomol
Totally agree with this. 99% of people want to have their coffee and contemplate not being on the train.
1337biz
I'm sorry to disagree, but I promise you that at least the strong extroverts would be happy to talk to somebody at least. Just by the numbers that should make up and not too small part of a train passengers. Plus it is easy to wander around or pretend to exit on the next stop in case the situation gets too awkward.

In fact I would argue that this is exactly the right social environment for practicing social skills as it takes place outside the typical peer groups and "save" settings. In a setting where people know somebody already a sudden change in social interactions might come across as weird and odd. The same thin a train is totally random and chances are super small to meet these people again.

ForHackernews
> Plus it is easy to wander around or pretend to exit on the next stop in case the situation gets too awkward.

Again, I'm sorry, but I really think this is a bad idea. You're talking about making somebody to get up and move seats or cars to avoid you?

> chances are super small to meet these people again.

Except not if it's a commuter train. If you ride the same train at the same time, you're likely to see mostly the same people going to and from work.

anishkothari
Totally agree with this. Try to make small talk with someone every day. If they engage in conversation, continue talking until one person reaches the destination. You will be surprised by 1) how much you have in common and 2) what you can learn from them.
mcv
Reading. Offline programming (or online, if the train has wifi). Or anything else, really. How do you normally spend your time? What do you want to do with your time?
gopalv
Carry a notebook, if you actually sit down in the train.

You'll find that you are far more insightful and lucid when excluded from wasting time online/starting at a screen.

Doodle, write, note down each station - just treat every page as a blank page.

You will be surprised by the results.

womitt
Stanford eCorner and Harvard Business Review podcasts are really good to listen to if you have to stand. If you've listened to all you can go with conference speeches, I usually grab them from Youtube.

If you can sit most of the time I would advise you to buy a Kindle and read books or blogposts. It is much more easier to concentrate on the material and it doesn't make your eyes tired like a phone.

gesman
I'd suggest to stay away from coding (unless you can't help it of course).

Listen to personal development / inspiration materials / something to enrich your spirit outside of workspace.

meerita
I read a lot if I have those 40 mins. I try to learn stuff.
dirktheman
I have a 2x47 minute train commute, and I use it for side projects. It's also the most productive time of the entire day, and I always look forward to it!
robbyking
I have my Instapaper feed delivered to my Kindle, so I use my commute time to read that and the NY Times. Using that "dead" time helps me keep up with what's going on in the world.
slugslog
Podcasts are the way to go. I cannot recommend RadioLab podcasts highly enough. At so many levels it's the best radio program ever made
bbody
I have done a 2x 40 minutes train commute for the last year, before I started I bought a Kindle and read a lot of books. I have found it to be very productive, if you are really motivated you can read books which are related to your job. So when you arrive at work you are ready to apply some new things you learnt. Otherwise I sometimes catch some sleep if I am tired.
ronaldbradford
I find when I commute that writing an email TODO list of the work I will be doing today, or a TODO list of things I want to do next on my side project. Generally it gives me lots of simple ideas.

A train trip can be disruptive. Take on tasks that are small in nature, and your thought process will not lose out on in-depth analysis of any one problem.