Commuting does not (go to) work

The other day, while enjoying one of the most productive days, I thought to myself why? Why am I feeling productive working from home today? I realized that within an hour, before even opening my computer to for work, I had started the day with accomplishment instead of frustration.

Frustration from staring at a car’s rear bumper for 1 hour straight. Sighing audibly or silently from “other’s” driving habits on the busy 08:00 AM Athens roads. Frustration from parked cars in the middle of the road, from staring at red traffic lights.

The equivalent one hour at home this day was: cleaning the kitchen, tidying up minor things, a short but productive work on a personal project as well as a head start on work before the hideous sound of Microsoft Teams notifications about new meetings and important “5 minutes of my time turned half an hour”.

What I’m getting to, is the fact that one can expect a working person to have had a bad day’s start when they are required to commute to work everyday. Let’s face it, this non-cooperative game called commuting to work encourages frustration. How can we assert our soft skills and happiness metrics when the starting point of the majority’s mood is negative the moment they step into the work place?

Solutions ?

What are the solutions ? Well, more hybrid work for sure would bring a balance to the roads. Flexible work hours would also be something useful, say to avoid rush hour on some days.

Better roads are a no go in Athens. Better metro system ? Well it’s ok, you just can’t beat the sheer amount of people using it.

Incentive for people to move to other cities? Companies opening in other major cities inside Greece, could be interesting.

Also, how about not opening a company in the busiest areas of Athens? It’s not like we’re selling clothes or fresh baked goodies … are we 🤔 ?

Another option would be to …. well simply not get mad on the road. Which of course is attainable, but once you’ve had a taste of an actually productive way to start your day, its always at least a chore to go to work at the very best.

Meeting you work buddies can also be a goal keep in mind when navigating the treacherous wastelands of morning traffic. But … there’s also that pizza place you can all meet after work, or that beer you can grab, or the evening company event.

All away from rush hour.