1. Listen to Podcasts

For those unfamiliar with podcasts, a podcast is a digital radio show that you can download. There are podcasts for pretty much any interest you may have. You can get anything out of podcasts. There are podcasts about movies, history, politics, music, and so much more. If you want to become smarter, there are tons of podcasts that will increase your knowledge. If you want to laugh, you have plenty of comedic podcasts to choose from. If you are weird and prefer to cry on your way to work, there are probably podcasts that can achieve that too.

You can download podcasts via a variety of mediums, but the most popular are iTunes or Stitcher (Android app). When you find a podcast that you like, subscribe to it so that it is auto-downloaded to your device. Then, it will be there and ready for your commute.

baldr90 via Flickr

2. Learn a New Language

The time spent in the car every day can be put to good use by using this time to learn a new language. Many language learning programs rely on flashcards or apps that would take your eyes off the road. However, the highly regarded Pimsleur Method is an audio course that works great in the car. The Pimsleur courses are pricey, but if you are serious about learning a language, it will get the job done quickly.

Thomas Sauzedde via Flickr

3. Yell at Inanimate Objects Near the Road

If you get bored on your long commute, why not have conversations with objects on the side of the road. Curse at that tree and ask why it has not erradicated poverty. See that light pole? See if it knows what the meaning of life is. Maybe you should get especially tough on that power line running overhead. Why doesn’t it get a job and contribute to society!? Sure, the people in cars around you may think you are crazy, but we’re all a little crazy, right?

Rottlady via Flickr

4. Ponder Your Life

If you prefer to keep your dignity intact by not yelling at inanimate objects, you can silently use your imagination to ponder your life. What’s the closest you’ve come to death without even knowing it? What would life be like if you had chosen a different field of study? What will the world be like when you are old? The possibilities are endless. When you get lost in thought, the time of the commute can slowly slip away. Just be sure that you are alert enough to keep your eyes on the road and your reaction time short!

Brian Fagan via Flickr

5. Make a Playlist You Can Jam To

We all have those songs that are our guilty pleasures. You would never get caught listening to them by people you know. However, when you are on the road surrounded by strangers in their cars, it is socially acceptable to jam to those embarrassing tracks. Make a playlist of all your guilty pleasure songs, turn the volume up, and make that steering wheel your microphone. At least you will make the people sitting in traffic around you laugh.

Cliff via Flickr

6. Audiobooks

Sometimes it’s hard to find time to take in literature in today’s digital society. Your commute is an excellent time to catch-up on your reading list. If you want to use your time productively, you can listen to informative non-fiction books. If you’d rather be transported to a faraway land where they don’t have traffic, fiction books will do the trick. Think of all the books you can get through in an entire year of commuting.

Laura via Flickr

The post 6 Ways Guaranteed To Make Your Daily Commute Suck Less appeared first on InMediately.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rocks a gray t-shirt most of the time. United States President Barack Obama usually sticks to blue or gray suits. Apple founder Steve Jobs always sported his famous black turtleneck.

Are wildly successful people boring, or is there some method to their madness?

Steve Jobs claimed that he stuck to the black turtleneck because it was convenient and it presented a signature style. For the man behind Apple’s iconic image, the need to create a signature style, or “personal brand” as some people would call it, makes sense.

What about Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama, though? Gray t-shirts and blue/gray suits are not different enough to create a “signature style”. Every college student owns at least one gray t-shirt and every businessman wears blue and gray suits.

The answer lies in a psychological principle called decision fatigue.

Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue refers to the decline in the quality of the decisions that an individual makes as that individual makes an increasing number of decisions in a period of time.

For example, a study showed that court judges are more lenient in the morning than they are in the afternoon. This is because by the afternoon, their minds have been worn down by all the decisions that they already had to make earlier in the day.

Successful individuals running companies and countries, like Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama, have to make numerous important decisions every day. Eliminating little decisions like what to wear can, theoretically, leave more brain power for the decisions that matter later in the day.

Both Zuckerberg and Obama have more or less confirmed that this is the reason why they usually wear the same outfit.

Mark Zuckerberg explained to his employees that he wears the same style of clothes every day because he’s busy and it gives him less to think about in the morning.

Barack Obama told America’s Vanity Fair magazine: “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing because I have too many other decisions to make.”

Does this mean that you should throw out everything except your plain white t-shirts?

People like Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama are able to pull off wearing the same thing every day because they are influential. Chances are that if you try this, people will start to think that you are a bit weird.

What you can take from this is that the little decisions do not matter.

When you get dressed in the morning, put on the first outfit that you see. Do not stress over how you look. In all reality, no one is really going to notice any way.

Feature image source: Matthew Yohe via Wikimedia Commons

The post Want To Be Successful? Science Says Wear the Same Thing Every Day appeared first on InMediately.

The truth is, the time spent by yourself is some of the most valuable time that you can ever experience.

It feels good to be around other people, and being social can be a great thing.  The best memories are made when you are around the people that you love.

There are, however, many reasons why alone time is very important. Here are a few:

1. Finding yourself

It is said that you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. There is a lot of truth to this statement. When you are always around other people, you start to conform to their ways.

In order to discover who you truly are, you need to spend time alone. During these times, you have no one to impress but yourself. You can try new things without people judging you.

What do you enjoy doing most when no one is around? The answer to this question should tell you a lot.

2. Time to Do What You Love

Several of the most popular hobbies are best done alone. The most obvious example is reading. It is hard to focus when other people are around, so alone time is a welcomed treasure for avid readers.

Maybe you prefer to experiment or build something. When you are alone and your mind is perfectly challenged by a task, you can slip into a flow state. Have you ever been working on something and noticed that the hours just seemed to melt away? This is a flow state, and most people would agree that it is a great feeling to experience.

3. Learning

In school and at work, you are forced to learn about subjects that someone else thinks you should learn about. If you are lucky, you enjoy these subjects. If not, learning may become torture for you.

When you are alone, you can learn about anything that you want. If you enjoy world history, there are countless books and documentaries that you can watch. If you enjoy business, you can spend your alone time starting a small business online.

4. Personal Reflection

When you are busy or around other people, you often forget to take time to truly think. You get caught up in the flow of things and, in a way, you are acting on autopilot.

Taking time to reflect is an important part of successful people’s lives. Look at the decisions that you made. What went right? What went wrong? What would you do differently next time? Are you being the best person that you can be? Where can you improve?

Learning to engage in critical personal reflection will let you answer these questions for yourself. If you are honest with yourself when you reflect, you will end up a much better person as a result, and success will follow.

So, remember:

If you are spending a lot of time alone, you can learn to cherish it. Boredom is a luxury, and you should be taking full advantage of it by bettering yourself and doing what you love.

The post Why Being Lonely Sometimes is a Gift appeared first on InMediately.