By most accounts, on average, every average American who is gainfully employed spends an hour of his life on their daily commute. That's just the average though. People who live farther away from home, or ones who get to travel through congested arteries, can end up sitting in their car or bus for much longer. In some parts of the world, say California or New York or London, a four-hour daily commute is not uncommon, especially if you are heading for, say, a conference center in London.
It's an outrage that there is all this time that you are devoting to doing something for employer (getting yourself to work) and you aren't even compensated for it. In fact, the gas is on your nickel. Wouldn't it be nice if you could at least use this time you sit in your car to help yourself get ahead in life or something? There are all kinds of products out there that help you make the most of your commute time.
For instance, what if you could take a great class by a world-renowned professor so that you could learn about the world around you? How about a course in astronomy or understanding the stock market or something? You could always wow people at a company party or the meeting or something, throwing up some kind of great piece of knowledge that you've learned.
There are all kinds of businesses dedicated to putting commute time learning products out. The Great Courses company for instance, gets the world's best professors in many subjects to record their best lectures for you to learn from. Where else could you know about great things from around the world at the knee of professors from Harvard or Stanford?
All you need is an MP3 player, and you're on your way. Their place their products on sale from time to time. Alternatively, you could take free college courses on iTunesU. Some people choose to learn a foreign language in their car. Researchers actually say that there's something about learning a foreign language in your car that especially works out well.
Know how they always lament that ever since the Internet came around, people just don't read as much as they used to? Well, that doesn't have to be you. Use your commute to either read an actual book or to listen to an audio book or podcast. You can actually set your smartphone up to download podcasts while you're connected to your home Wi-Fi. It would actually be free then.