If you are one of those people who feels like 15 hours a week of time-waste (that’s like a part-time job!) is too depressing for words, but a shorter commute or other job is out of the question, then it is time to spice up your travel.

Eliminate the waste
Feel better about your commute by actually making it a productive time of the day. Although you can’t do laundry, spend time with the kids or respond to emails, there are other things you can do. By making it a time you are doing something for yourself, you can at least come to terms with the time spent traveling and even begin to enjoy it (a little).
Here are some ways to get productive while on the move:

Audiobooks
No time to read? Listen to your books on tape! Nowadays it’s more like ‘books on mp3′. There are a bunch of online resources for audiobooks, but the most straightforward would be Audible.com. If you like the classics, there is the open source (FREE) option of librivox.com. Librivox literally stands for ‘free voice’. The books are recorded by volunteer readers, and made available as free audiobooks online.

Learn a Language
Always wanted to learn how to order a coffee in Italian? No time for courses (really, who has the time these days!?), then audio-courses are a great solution. You’ll learn pronunciation , vocabulary and grammer in one. Find an audiobook that you might like and download it to an MP3 player. Audible.com has hundreds of language learning audiobooks available, and what is so great about this site is the fact that they let you listen to a sample of each book before you purchase. Listen to them all to see whether someone’s voice annoys you, or if you feel the book is too advanced or too simple for your needs. “That’s how I found the book that was right for me to catch up on my French,” says Angela K., e beginners student in French. “I am using the Michel Thomas method, it’s different than other audiobooks because it teaches you the language, not just fixed sentences,” she says, “and that works for me.”
At a bookstore you don’t get the chance to listen to the CDs, which gives Audible a major advantage over the conventional brick-and-mortar store.

There are also language podcasts you can subscribe to for free to boost your language learning. Try Radio Lingua, who produce podcasts such as the Coffee Break French language podcast.

Catch up on the News
Find a podcast you like and stick to it. You can catch up on world news, stocks and other programs on your iPod. Just get into the habit of plugging it in each morning or evening to download the latest programs, and you’ll see how fast time will start flying by. Browse iTunes or podcastalley.com for interesting shows.

Meditate
Do not attempt this if you drive to work! However, if you take public transit this might be just the time to zone out for a little while and meditate. As long as you don’t strike a pose in the middle of the train aisle and hold on tight to your belongings, you should be fine.

How will I ever get done
I can’t get to sleep early, I have a million things to do
I’m exhausted and the dishes arn’t done, the bills are not paid yet, and the laundry also needs folding

These are common thoughts and frustrations keeping us up at night, putting strain and stress on our relationships and depriving us from enjoying our lives. Compound any regular person’s responsibilities with the crippling inability to be efficient because you are so bogged down by the many things that need to get done, or by natural causes such as depression or other mental illnesses, and it is easy to understand why bills are past due and the laundry is piling up.

If the things you have to do are keeping you up at night, you need to reorganize your life and learn to make some handy to-do lists.

When we have too many tasks on our hands, it is really difficult to keep track of each one that needs to be done and to prioritize. As a result, most people resort to the oh-so-familiar “where do I start? exclamation as they grab their head in frustration.

This is where a good To Do list comes in. So,… how do we go about making a To Do list that will work for you and give you the peace of mind you deserve?

How to prioritize to keep your sanity
Each one of us have a slew of bills to pay, house work to do, kids to look after, pets to care for and sometimes elderly or ill parents, our jobs and about a million other things to worry about.
Knowing what needs to be done when is half the battle; there is no point fretting over your visa bill if it is really just due in two weeks. However, keeping it on your desk with a pile of other papers that need to be filed or looked at will only make sure it is on your mind when it doesn’t have to be.

The trick is not just to make a to-do list to keep sane, the trick is to know what needs to be put on the to-do list.

Ask yourself: What needs to be accomplished today, what are the things that can absolutely not wait?
Here, you include tasks such as cleaning a spill in the kitchen, sorting laundry (only if you ran out of underwear and have the option of going to work commando the next day) and paying the bill that is already overdue.

This will be your to do today to-do list. It is imperative to remember ONLY the most urgent matters can go onto this list. Anything that can reasonably wait until tomorrow should not be written down yet.

Ask yourself: What do I need to get done by the end of the week?
Here, your next list will include those tasks that are less urgent but do need to get done in the next few days. This may - for example - include doing groceries, buying pet food, filing bank statements and paying this month’s bills.

Ask yourself: What would I like to get done this month?
On your last list you write down the tasks or issues you’d like to get done within the next 30 days. This is more of a goals-list than a to-do list because it can include enjoyable tasks as well. For example; you may want to look at your stock portfolio and do some research, you’d like to get the dryer fixed or shop for a new winter coat.

By writing out everything that needs to get done, and categorizing the tasks according to their urgency, you can learn to clear your mind and discover how satisfying it is to start striking items off the to-do list! If we are trying to remember everything we need to do, and we cannot effectively organize these things in our head, the sheer pressure of possibly forgetting something important can be nerve-wrecking and the weight of everything that could possibly need attention in the next month (or longer!) can feel paralyzing. This of course ends in you not being able to do anything at all, or at least be less effective than you could be if you were less stressed about your to-do list.