Spending two hours commuting each day is a reality for many UK workers, says data that suggests Britons are willing to travel further and longer.
- Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show 3.7 million workers travel for two hours or longer every weekday.
- London cameninth from bottom, with public transport in the Big Smoke costing commuters £132 per month on average.
- Those who travel by car in London don’t fare much better, spending 74 hours stuck in traffic per year.
- MoreBritons endure “marathon commutes” than anyone else in Europe, research shows, with almost two-fifths of workers in the West Midlands travelling for two hours or more each day.
- Britain has the European city with the longest commute but it’s not London… Moovit was one of the biggest of its kind and showed that Birmingham workers spent on average 94 minutes every day on the trains and buses.
Why? Our knee-jerk reaction and probably the basis for anything is money. If we don’t have money etc… And it’s true. We all need money to make ends meet but have you ever asked yourself how much money do you need to make that jump from trading time for money? It may scare you to even address the thought. So my next question is; would you work closer to home for less money? My final question is; if money wasn‘t an obstacle would you still do your job?
The data suggest that the vast majority spend their lives commuting to a job they don‘t like (about 87% are disengaged or actively disengaged at work). When it boils down to it the majority have allowed money to be their master. At what cost? If you look up the top regrets of dying people making more money isn’t one of them but working too hard is.
So what’s the solution?
I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts. John D. Rockefeller
There are no shortage of solutions on this site and nothing of value ever comes easy. The solution rarely ever falls in to our lap and works straight away. The learning curve for some is steeper than others. Do your due diligence and don’t just ask if it works, ask does it work for me?
However, the one caveat I would say is – DON’T BUY A JOB!
In Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad he explains the 4 ways in which people can earn money. To be employed or self-employed is to have a job or be married to a job. While on the right hand side we have business owners and investors. These people don’t need to be present in order to generate an income (unlike a barrister, doctor, painter etc.). Make sure that whatever you decide to do has the ability for you to leverage your time.
What’s the cost?
They say that entrepreneurs are people who work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours per week. Clearly ‘they’ haven’t experienced leverage – the more you do the more you get as a direct consequence. I do about 20 hours each week because I love what I do and the compensation plan allows me to. The cost can measure in what you gain – you can never reclaim lost time but there’s always a chance to make more money.
Like money, time is a unit of measurement, a currency that you can spend. Like money, if you invest it wisely you get returns and you can amass it. The key is to know how.