Q: which solutions are proven effective?
A: Short answer — very few, if any, but still we will keep trying.
- solution: read letters or other compulsory reads
- solution: read parenting magazines or books
- solution: print out my blog and read? Fewer than 20% of the time I felt it was effective.
- solution: fuxi tech books? About 20-30% of the time I found it effective.
- solution: print out email draft and edit it in pencil? good
- solution: laptop for coding practice? seldom tried. I am concerned about the warm-up
- tip: call family?
- solution: jog part of the journey
- solution: wfh
- U.S.tip: wtc route (with a $2.75 cost) — has minimum standing time (only 3 min from ExchPlace to WTC). Can read and blog on subway and also at WTC benches!
- U.S.tip: Hoboken route — eliminates standing time
- — now the numerous (subtle) obstacles that make the “toll” really hard to avoid
- obstacle: no seat. Standing time is completely unusable:(
- obstacle: dependency on pencil
- obstacle: train frequency — This issue can effectively adds 20 minutes to the “toll”. You dare not miss the train so you end up coming in early and wait longer.
- obstacle: concentration — Unless I go all the way to the final stop, my reading concentration is always interrupted.
- obstacle: transfers — A transfer easily destroys 10 minutes of “concentration”
- obstacle: brief train journey — due to concentration and other factors, I never made effective use of 5-minute train trips, where the total time taken (including transfer) is 10 minutes.
- obstacle: train delays as Nirav described
[1] much longer than the station-to-station time.
— The problem of zsms and loss of control
For recreational reading/blogg, try to do that outside commute. Doing so on commute reduces my sense of self-mastery.
magazines/newspaper? higher chance of effective “itch-scratch” for the “toll” problem, than tech books.
— The (original ) problem of the “toll” and “penalty” — the door-to-door [1] time on commute shortens the “free” time I get for email, blogging, learning, exercise, chores etc.