As we get older, time becomes are more valuable commodity. I clearly remember that as a college student, I was more than willing to wait in line for over an hour simply to get a free sandwich promotion. Nowadays, I’m not even too interested in waiting 20 minutes to be seated at a restaurant. Our priorities evolve.
One interesting aspect of time that remains relatively unchanged over time is our tolerance of commutes. We commute to and from work almost daily, and whether or not we like it, we do it. We have gone through great lengths to even justify the commutes:
- “There’s no way I’d want to live near the hospital I work.”
- “Junior needs to be in a good school district.”
- “There aren’t any good home options near the office.”
- “Housing near the clinic is too expensive.”
Most of my colleagues commute at least one hour each day for work purposes. Those who have to commute between offices easily add on another 30 to 45 minutes to the schedule. One of the recent reports on average commutes shows that one hour expected for everyone living in the Northeast corridor or California, regardless of profession. That’s about five hours of commuting every week, or 240 hours on a 48 working week calendar. Ten days in the car! If you took public transit, you’d easily double that. If you took call on the weekends, you’d clock in another day in the car each year!
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