As a CareerCOACH most of my clients hate their commute. Traveling 3 – 4.0 hours to and from work each day is the new definition of insanity. If you look at the true cost, it is amazing. A typical traveler using mass transit or driving will incur about $9,000 per year in cost. That’s after-tax dollars and the real cost is from $12,000 – $13,000 gross pay before tax, and you can’t deduct any of it.
Then there’s your time. If you are paid $25 per hour, you’re giving up $18,000 – $20,000 a year in productive time and income. If you’re paid higher, it’s $40,000, $50,000 or $60,000 lost if you earn around $75 per hour.  As I reverse-commute to my office 3 miles away, I look upon millions of dollars of cars just sitting on the freeway at a crawl in the commute direction. That is insanity.
But the real cost are the missed soccer games, school plays, time to work out, dinner with your partner, and host of other activities that are pushed to an already busy weekend because you’re stuck in a daily commute.
I’ve signed up for local Coworking space called Victory Workspace in Walnut Creek, just five minutes from my home. I have a quiet uncluttered space to work in that doesn’t have my dog, or my laundry calling me if I were working at home. Coworking spaces are the workplace of the NOW, not the future.
So if you have recently found yourself searching for, “shared office space near me,” negotiate with your boss a two-day-per-week offsite program and try it out. Many large companies are offering their workers this option and it’s beginning to change the face of the commute forever.
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