Learning refers to the process of getting new or modifying existing skills, knowledge, behaviour and values. It’s a common fact that traditional learning takes place during early teens and early adulthood. For most people learning stops at graduation but for some learning is continuous - middle and old age.  Here are the Filipinos who studied later in life. Abzonie Reño - Studied college at age 23 and graduated summa cum laude. Melchor Eda, a 62-year old grandfather who graduated in an alternative learning system highschool in Naga, Camarines Sur. Generito U. Yusores, a 64-year old tricycle driver who graduated with a degree of Education at Western Mindanao State University. Salvacion Flores Nacario, an 81-year-old grandmother who graduated high school at Fort Bonifacio High School Makati Rosita Majait - A 66 years old student of Negros Occidental High School. Lolo Benjamin, a 75-year-old from Pangasinan, who took Political science at the University of Pangasinan. Virgilio Pentacasi, a native of Tagbilaran City Bohol, enrolled in senior high school. On the international level, here are some late bloomers to inspire you: Momofuku Ando - Japanese-Taiwanese inventor of noodles. Vera Ellen Wang - American Wedding dress designer who only wrote fashion until 39. Joseph Conrad - English-Polish writer who spoke no English until 20. Grandma Moses -  American folk painter, who only started painting from the age of 78. Dave McClure - American businessman and Angel investor who did no investing until the age of 40. Fauja Singh - British-Indian centenarian (aged 108) who made a marathon record of 6 hours and 2 minutes. Vincent Van Gogh - Dutch painter who until 27 only drew and didn’t paint.   1.  You could benefit from previous experience Being at the middle adulthood or late adulthood stage, you may have already earned enough experiences on various aspects of life such as emotions, skills, work and portfolios. Such things can help you get prepared and establish a solid foundation to learn higher skills. 2.  You may change careers Changing careers is a transition or switching to another job/lifestyle that is similar or different from the previous one. Career changes are long-term that could be 5 years or a lifetime. When you switch to another new career, such a situation will present another opportunity for you to learn a new skill by learning at school or at home and earn a certification. Learning is a fact of life whether you are a new graduate or a middle career employee. 3.  You can upskill or add another degree It’s possible to learn while studying for a degree. In fact, some Philippine schools offer classes for student workers. For example, if you want to pursue law, the University of the Philippines College of Law offers evening classes so that you can work in the morning and study in the evening. Be reminded that juggling studying and working can be tough. Time management may help in this situation. 4.  You’re free what to do At some point, you may or might already have a side or full-time business. Likewise, you could have a part-time or full-time job that you can use to finance your education. Such freedom means you have time and money to pursue your education. 5.  You’re more disciplined Discipline is a noun related to another noun “disciple” or a follower of code and rules. Younger people (pre-pubescent ages) tend to be less disciplined compared to adults. Being disciplined is an essential trait if you want to succeed in learning another skill because you’ll have to endure countless hours and fight your procrastinating urges while on your way to finish studies/degrees. 6.  You can learn more from mistakes Mistakes/failures let you learn so that in the next opportunity you can identify what and what not to do.  Many quotes from celebrities and notable people told about that failure is a teacher and that’s true when you search in Google/Yandex search engine. Failures teach you to get used to challenges rather than being stuck in comfort zone and helps you to introspect. 7.  You could have networks You can find networks at school, bar, company, street, volunteer organizations, parties, seminars, job hunt, and social media (internet). They could be your friend, fiancé, customer, boss, work colleague, former classmates, former teacher, and people whom you met on the internet or social media. 8.  You can bring more value to the company Companies admire employees who want to upskill or upgrade their skills. For employers, such men and women striving to hone their trade will help the company improve productivity and the quality of products and services. Upskilling employees have more chances to get promotions and salary raises. Learning-related or another skill lets you avoid being stuck in a career/job and gives you confidence and readiness to go for a well-paying job.

Skills empower people to easily find their targeted jobs or dream jobs. It provides you with a tool so that you can trade your services into a monthly pay and allowance that we call salary. We define skills as the ability to do something in order to accomplish a specific goal. Enhancing skills is crucial when you want to advance in a job and career. Use your free time to study new skills or review existing competencies. For example, if you’re a graphic artist with an intermediate knowledge in Adobe Photoshop and GIMP, you could watch video tutorials and read ebooks. You can practice the program while watching the tutorial. If you’re working full time, your free time could be the free hours before or after the shift, and weekends. If you’re working as a freelancer, your free time is longer and could be 4 to 6 hours before or after the freelance work.   Study through distance learning schools Distance learning schools or adult learning schools comprise a division of some major public universities of the Philippines. They might use web-based modules, tests, media, and physical tests for academic programs that need lab work and field practice. International MOOCs/ Distance Learning Schools Description Asian Institute for Distance Education There’s a fee for admission and courses Benguet State University  A 100 Php fee for admission and $25 for foreign nationals. CAP College Foundation   Central Luzon State University Digital Learning Environment   Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Open University System There’s a fee (100 Php per unit). They offer undergraduate and graduate programs. For reference, visit here. University of Northern Philippines Open University There’s a tuition fee for courses such as Education, Nursing, Public Admin, Social Work and Criminology. University of the Philippines Open University There’s a fee for admission and courses. Physical appearance could be required for field practice and laboratory work. Visayas State University VSU offers distance education in agriculture University of Northern Philippines UNP offers an MA in Education, Nursing, Public Administration, Social Work and Bachelor of Science in Criminology Study through MOOCs MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses are websites that offer free or paid short, long and diploma courses. You begin by signing up and choosing a course. These MOOCs could be completely free, partially free, and free training but with a paid diploma. The pros of using online courses are that they provide you with flexible means of online education by using only a laptop and an internet, you can study and earn certificates/diplomas without commuting to a physical school. International MOOCs/ Distance Learning Schools Type Alison Free training/Paid certificates edX Free training/ paid certificates GCFLearnFree.org Totally free training and free certificates. They rely on volunteers, donations and support from organizations. Openuniversity.edu Free training and badge Coursera.org Paid training and certificate Udacity Free for 200 courses but without a certificate.  Nanodegrees are paid. Udemy Paid training and certificate Khan academy Free training Saylor Academy/ Saylor.org Free training and free certificates. They have also a donation page. Attend seminars, classes and workshops Seminars, classes, and workshops are usually short-termed courses that are either free (totally free and partially free) or paid. If paid, the fees could cover food and drinks, modules and trainers fee. Workshops are timebound and they only exist on a specified date. Each of these seminars is either conducted by training companies or by government agencies such as TESDA. Earning a certificate from these seminars and workshops can expand your skills, experiences and they look great for resumes too. They comprise the following themes or categories: Category  Participating organizations and source Name of event Carpentry Tesdacourse.com Carpentry or Furniture making Crafts craftmnl.com Basic leather crafting, candle making, cardholder making Graphic design Tesdacourse.com Inventivemedia.com Graphics theory and graphic software usage. Food production sweetsuccess.ph Making of bread, doughnut, essential oil, macaron Hospitality and Tourism  Galastarsculinary.com coffeeschoolasia.com Certificate in Basic Culinary arts Events Management Services NC II Health redcross.org.ph Basic life support and first aid training Information technology Zuitt.co Upsitf.org Arduino training, web development, graphic design Money matters Learntotrade.com.ph financial-planning-manila.com Forex trading Financial advice Test reviews Britishcouncil.ph IELTS Practice and learn with a tomato timer Getting good at skills doesn’t happen overnight or the following day. If you’re learning Japanese and expect to be fluent after 3 months, then you’ll be setting up for failure or procrastination. Your body uses hormones (dopamine) that provide focus and drive, unfortunately, it’s limited, and when it runs out, you can lose motivation and will. One of the best ways to avoid procrastination is to use a Pomodoro technique which is also a time management method. Pomodoro is an Italian word for tomato.

If you worry about employment gaps, it’s worth knowing that most interviewers, if not all, may see such details in your resume history. And that could happen if the hiring personnel is meticulous. Worrying about Employment gaps? Just be honest and you won’t lose an interview unlike when you try to hide something or lie. You could lose the battle in front of the selection committee, if you say - I just watched grumpy cat videos on youtube for months unless you are working as a freelance movie reviewer. Employment gaps refer to months or years when you don’t have full-time employment whether it’s inside the company office or your home. Different companies have their own policies about employment gaps. They may or may not treat career histories seriously. Some companies treat a non-office based (freelance job) different from the office-based (inhouse) job. Gaps can happen because of various reasons - job-hopping, lay-offs, recession, resignation, termination, and career shift.  Two types of employment gaps Long-term  Transitional This refers to major life changes such as: Personal health issues ​Caring for a family member (sibling, parent, aunt, uncle, grandparents) Serious illness This lasts from 1 month to 9 months. A person may have taken a short stint in freelance, part-time job, and training before transferring to another company. Why employment gaps may mean an unspoken career issue? They may be concerned that you’re hiding something that could hinder your job performance. Being idle for months and years is not an attractive trait to employers and their HR. They’ll assume that you forgot your skills or you’ll be lazy in their company. Should you worry too much about Employment gaps? Employment gaps are not things to be afraid of but are life details that you should take seriously before you fire your resumes to hundreds of recruiters and job boards. Employment gaps make up the normal part of the career cycle. No two people possess 100% identical career history. Some things are beyond your control such as the economy, the temperament of the interviewer, competition, job trends, industry changes, and nature. You’ll be on the safe side if you say thoughtfully or honestly and make up for the things you can control (interview preparedness, dress, resume, and learning). How do deal with employment gaps 1. Stay honest Assume that interviewers are meticulous or might soon find your employment gaps if they do background checks. If the interviewer asks you about the specific days and months, say it truthfully. 2. Offer one or some of these reasons Emphasize the positives of learning from the following activities during your gaps. Reasons for Long-term employment gaps Reasons for short-term employment gaps Professional and skills training Part-time and freelance jobs Business Serious medical or health issue Volunteering Part-time and freelance jobs Short-term medical & health issues ○   Professional and skills training - You could have enrolled in an online course or in a physical school. When you studied, you demonstrate that you want to improve your career, sharpen your skills and land in a good job - things that employers value and admire. ○   Earned through a part-time/freelance job - Freelance and part-time jobs are acceptable as they show that you earned an income despite not having an office full-time income. You might have been doing these non-full time jobs: proofreader, moderator, home-based writer, and artist. ○   Took care of a relative (parent, sibling) - You resigned because you took care of one of your sick family members.  ○   Started a business - You might have started a small family business such as a mini-grocery store, a sari-sari store, and e-commerce. ○   Medical or health issue - Medical issues such as type 1 diabetes and another life-threatening disease that demand withdrawal from a full-time job. ○   Volunteering - Joining groups such as Habitat for Humanity, an organization that builds houses for the homeless, is an excellent way to learn valuable skills and show that you took your time productively even it’s an unpaid one. You could also add activities in the church or a community organizing. 3.  Explain for the two types of the unemployment gap Long-term - You can tell about your major life events - you became a parent, cared for an ailing family member or went for medication because of a life-threatening disease.  Transitional - Your obvious answer to this is that you’re looking for work. Sometimes you’ll run into situations - you got fired, laid off, just graduated and resigned. Job hunting can be time-consuming and challenging.  4. Get creative and make your employment gap less obvious but be ready if the interviewer asks for further details. Note: Some job board blogs/articles recommend this method while others don’t. This could backfire if your answers aren’t congruent with the details of your resume. Use a functional resume - This type of resume highlights your experience and skills instead of your work history. It’s commonly used by job seekers who are changing their careers. In the above example, you started as a warehouse assistant in January 2015 and resigned on February 8, 2019. You started at another company on December 15, 2019. You can make your 9 months less obvious by not showing the exact dates.  Note: The above example only works when the exact dates of employment aren’t brought up by the interviewer. If the hiring personnel asks you for it, be prepared to answer honestly and accurately. Likewise, you have to give your exact date of employment in job application forms or job boards.  5. Include training, classes, and seminars  Training, classes, and seminars look great in a resume and they emphasize that you prepared for your future job. Such skill-building activities could be online courses or outdoor ones - paid or free. Upon completing your training, you can print certificates and training details and bring them as credentials in your interview. The bottom line Resume gaps aren’t a big liability unless you had a criminal history (and that’s another topic). The truth will set you free whether it’s bad or good. By telling what’s behind your employment gap, you say to them that you are an honest and vulnerable person. Hiring personnel and employers will appreciate people like you who are making efforts to improve their lives. Being a person working for his/her dream is an admirable character.

The internet gave job seekers the liberty to scan hundreds to thousands of job ads. Employers have the liberty to select the best candidates. However, that freedom of easy access also opens the door for those with nefarious intent. Here are the red flags to watch out if the job ads you found in newspaper classifieds and job board, are genuine or just looking for their next victim. Beware that con men are getting more sophisticated.   Inflated number of recruits Job scams tend to exaggerate the number of recruits to attract more applicants. The real number of required personnel is different from a genuine advertisement. You can find such bogus job ads on Facebook and even in some job boards. One of the examples is the Mushroom-picker in Canada vacancies for Filipinos that was posted on Facebook pages. The job ad turned the legit number (about 14) into hundreds of vacancies.    Too good to be true Too good to be true job offers refers to the inflated salaries of a certain job that turned out to be bogus upon thorough research. Such jobs pay well and at the same time, no experience required and very flexible. While the pay scale differs among companies and cities, there’s an industry standard for the said position. One example, a Filipino guy (Mr.A) who was nearly scammed when he was offered via email of a high paying job in the United Kingdom.  It started this way. The job was an airport ground CSR. It pays well - around £ 5,000 per month. MR.A received instructions telling him to answer the online questionnaire. He complied by sending back the answered questionnaire. After two days, the advertiser told Mr. A passed the test and now he will be offered a job. The advertiser also sent letters with a UK government sea. Later, Mr A asked for advice from his best friend who told him that the job ad (offer) was a bogus one. His best friend discovered glaring grammatical, typo errors and similar modus from previously identified scam jobs.    Fees for processing, registrations, tests and software for freelance Bogus jobs will immediately ask for fees so that you can secure the positions or else - you lose the opportunity. They use a psychological trick of scarcity and immediacy by imposing time/vacancy limits so that you can quickly consider their offer or reduce your time to rethink or doubt. It’s like picking a rare product that everyone wants and that you must act buy ASAP or else you lose it. The scam artists may tell you to do their bidding by asking you to send credit/debit card details and send money through PayPal.  A fake job ad will require you to pay some kind of license to start working. Another example of a bogus employer is enticing a freelance applicant to pay for software. They would tell the job seeker to buy the work at home program and such fees will be reimbursed after the first paycheck. After paying, the said job and software never materialized. Scammers often make impostor Facebook pages akin to the real or official FB pages. There, the con men can use their new platform to harvest personal info and post ads asking for a registration fee. The short reminder about jobs that require you to pay - You don’t pay the employers, real jobs pay you.    Unsolicited job hunt: You didn’t contact them; they contacted you You may receive a job offer or an interview out of the blue even if you can’t recall when or where you applied. You can’t recall what kind of job board you signed up, or you received such popping job ad from a job site that you haven’t used for more than 3 years.    Interviews are online or there's no interview needed Unless you’re applying for a remote or freelance job, fake employers will just stick to online interviews. Con men could either use online interviews via messaging services or say - there’s no interview needed, you passed already.   Vague employer details Beware of job ads that don’t mention the job descriptions, experiences and place of work. Likewise, employer details are sketchy - no official website, office address or plainly with a hidden business name. On the other hand, con men can imitate the real company’s website and use such duplicate to trick applicants. Q & As  Questions Examples and description Does the company have an official email? Most or all companies use their official domain email address rather than the generic ones. For example, abccorp@gmail.com versus hr@abccorp.com  Do they have locations? Their office can’t be found both in search engine maps and physical address. Are there any discrepancies in company website and spelling? Awesome.com versus awesom.com   Unprofessional correspondence Whether it’s email or a letter, anything a written communication with glaring typos on job descriptions could be made by a software translator or someone who doesn’t care about the writing standards. Grammatical mistakes may not be the perfect signs of identifying scam artists but they are commonly found in the identified scam letters.   Exists in various type ○   Data entry scams - This one promises big bucks and a job that doesn’t need skills or some sort of skills set. Then it asks for an upfront fee for the program and training. If you fall for this one, you’ll soon realize that the promised program and training didn’t materialize. ○   Pyramid marketing - Pyramid marketing or scheme is an unsustainable or shaky business model that involves upline or top-level members who pay an upfront fee and in turn have their new underlings to recruit newbies. Pyramid marketing relies on recruitment fees and not from the sale of services or goods.  ○   Pyramid marketing with bogus business - They have a similar scheme to pyramid marketing in terms of recruitment. Their business model uses non-existing services. One example is an unlicensed and non-accredited multi-booking service. ○   Fake job offers and ads in social media - Fraudsters imitate official pages of DOLE, POEA, other government agencies and companies. The Philippine daily inquirer reported one incident when a bogus FB page posting as the DOLE central office used a false name to scam a job seeker. The scammer asked for a reservation fee (1,000 Php) from the victim who then later discovered that the said name of the government employee wasn’t among the roster of DOLE employees and sadly the job advertised.  ○   Jobs that charge for testing fees - Test fees for applicants before or after the interview.  ○   Shady jobs - These jobs could offer a job but hides their illicit method of qualifying applicants such as paying for IDs and registration. In the end, after you become an employee, you’ll be surprised that your salary is below than what you expected.   How to outwit scammers Remember the rule  Remember, as a job seeker, you are looking for a job so that you can earn your money or living and not the other way around. You're not the one who is going to pay money. It’s the employer’s business to pay you money in exchange for your time and services.   Do not give in to the sense of urgency Here’s a psychological one. Con artists make a sense of urgency by sending job ads that demand immediate need or deployment. They will tell you that what they offer are only limited and if you don’t act today, you’ll risk losing an opportunity. Others will come out of the blue and convince you to work for them and that if you act today you’ll get a paycheck after 2 or more weeks of working. Then, after you contact these scam artists to asks for your pay, they’ll no longer respond to your calls or emails. If you face such possible scam with a sense of urgency, think twice before you sign up or typing your bank card details. We often make wrong moves after we make hasty decisions.   Research the company Does the company have a professional website? Are there any grammatical mistakes or typos? You can use the search engine (Google, Yandex, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo) to look for mixed or different results. Use social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte) forums and blogs to uncover more details about the company.  ○ Look in the left of the URL. A website with https tag is more secure and trustworthy. It’s also called Secure Socket Layer or SSL. A padlock icon represents this security sign although more sophisticated forge padlock sign . So use a combo of research and verification methods. ○ Find the company’s postal address - Suspicious companies and fake ads have mismatched postal address or don’t have physical contact address at all.  ○ Read reviews - You could run into reviews of complaints unless you’re reading fake reviews. ○ Check the website through Who.Is - Here you can verify the websites registration info (date of website or domain registration).. ○ Use domain white pages - Job con-artists are getting more sophisticated so they set up phishing website or websites that look identical to the real ones. Use it to see all the domain info of that website. Suspicious looking websites could be a year or less than a year old.   Verify the company’s social media site The easy and fast sign ups lead to some social media accounts masquerading as DOLE, POEA and other official company’s accounts. Use the word “official” along with the “Facebook page name of a government agency or company when searching through search engines (Google, Yandex, Yahoo). Examples of Genuine/official social media pages versus impostors Genuine/official social media page of a government agency or company  Impostor social media accounts   DOLE - https://www.facebook.com/laborandemployment/   Dole Job Assistance-Local and Abroad POEA    https://www.facebook.com/poea.gov.ph/ POEA Job Hirings in New Zealand POEA Jobs Online OFW POEA Jobs Abroad POEA Jobs Abroad POEA Job Hiring USA POEA Job Hiring Australia POEA Job Hiring UK POEA Job Agency Hiring POEA Trabaho Abroad Hiring POEA Jobs in Dubai Work Abroad-POEA Licensed Company POEA Accredited Licensed Agency (1)   Spotting a bogus social media accounts versus genuine social media accounts   Genuine/official social media page of a government agency or company  Impostor social media accounts Blue checkmark - Blue checkmarks can be found in the pages of big brands and some companies. Also, the verified blue checkmark can be found in FB search results. Note: Blue checkmarks aren’t a perfect test nor an absolute sign of legitimacy because there are some genuine FB pages without verified checkmarks.  There’s no verified blue checkmark Review section - The page may or might not contain the review section but it may contain messages from recent, current and past customers. There could be some negative reviews but that would tell about customer service issues, not scams. If a Facebook page makes up a review section, then there could be some reviews from people telling that the page is fake. You may also find comments that warn people against the said page. Outbound link - The Facebook page/twitter comprises a link to the official website. The fake page comprises a link that leads to a dead or phishing website. Number of followers/likers - In Facebook and Twitter, more followers could number tens of thousands to a hundred thousand or more. Again, the number of followers/likes is not an absolute benchmark of legitimacy. The number of likes and followers may number a hundred or less.   Never give your personal info Scam job pages and posts on Facebook pages may run surveys and contests that ask for photos, numbers, emails and other personal info. Personal info includes the following: Home address Bank account number  SSS number TIN number Passport number Credit card number Ask for a contract A legal and signed contract details all the tasks, terms and conditions, and the rights of both parties (you and the employer). If they can’t give a contract or gives a contract with so many discrepancies and suspicious details, then be on guard. Be wary that even some legit employers do not disclose the exact working hours other than those stated in the contract. For instance, there are employers and recruiters (some jobs in the Middle Eastern countries) to state 8 hours working time in the contract while in fact, it’s topped with 4 hours overtime resulting in a 12 hours work. Reference:  1 - https://globalnation.inquirer.net/181944/fake-poea-social-media-pages-listed  

 Traffic is one of the stressors of Filipinos when they travel for work or go home. You have to adjust your time and route. Once you reach 5 or 6 pm time, you’ll have difficulty in commuting. According to BGC survey, Metro Manila ranks third in south-east Asia in terms of cities with the worst traffic.  Even if you own a vehicle or ride a metro, you can’t escape traffic. The good news is you can make ways to reduce stress from traffic and still arrive on time.    Eat healthy foods The way you eat controls your body’s physiological response to situations being at the centre of hordes of vehicles. Some foods can help your body cope with stressful and anxiety-causing situations while others exacerbate your stress levels.  Stress-reducing foods Stress causing drinks and foods Avocado Salty foods Asparagus White flour Berries Processed meats (hotdogs, jerkies, sausages) Oily fish (sardines, salmon) High sugar foods (soft drink, processed fruit juice) Oatmeal with berries and fruits Caffeinated drinks Seeds (sunflower, squash, chia) Fried foods Nuts (Almond, Peanuts - technically legumes, walnuts, hazelnuts) Aged, cultured and fermented foods (contains histamine that can trigger anxiety in susceptible people) Teas (Lagundi, Peppermint, chamomile) Processed carbs (white bread, white flour) Leafy greens   Herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage, dill.     QUICK FACTS   Get enough sleep The number of sleep can affect your concentration span and eventually work performance. According to some internet sources, sleep deprivation can slowly kill a person and his/her career. Some of the side effects of lack of sleep include hallucination, lack of concentration, risks of type 2 diabetes, impaired immune system, risks of stroke and heart disease, poor vision, headaches, migraines, weight gain and colds. Here’s a video of what happens if you stopped sleeping. A good or enough sleep leads to preparedness for tomorrow’s working day. The recommended sleep depends on your age. Age group                                            Amount of sleep needed Infants                                            14 - 17 hours per day 12 months                                      10 hours per night, and                                      1 - 2 hours for an afternoon nap 2 years                                            11 - 12 hours per night and                                                          1 - 2 hours for an afternoon nap Teenagers (14 to 17 years)             8 - 10 hours Adults (18 to 64 years)                    7 to 8 hours   Listen to Music  Research showed that music influences physiological variables such as heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, EEG measurements, galvanic skin response and body temperature. In fact, music can cause your skin to show goosebumps - also called aesthetic chills, skin orgasm and musical chills. Applied to traffic, music may give drivers and commuters with stimulation while undergoing the monotonous task - getting used to traffic jams. According to research from the University of Parma (Italy), University of São Paulo  (Brazil), and University of Oxford Brookes, listening to music decreases stress caused by traffic. They made the study by asking the volunteers to drive on the busy streets of Marilia town in northwestern Sao Paulo. The volunteers were fitted with sensors that can detect heart rate variability.  Another research showed that relaxing music can reduce anxiety. A survey reported that out of 2,000 drivers, those fans of classical and pop music are relaxed drivers compared to those who listen to rock and metal music. The researchers recommended listening to instrumental or classical music to reduce stress while driving or commuting.  Some of the relaxing music: Romantic music by Bach, Chopin, Liszt & Ravel Bossa nova instrumentals Jazz music  Benefits of music while commuting/driving: Eases your boredom Helps in passing time   Listen to Podcast Podcasts are audio files of discussions (one or two more people) discussing news, review, facts of the day, mysteries, Q & A, documentaries and stories. Listening to podcasts can help you become a better listener, more emphatic, and imaginative. You’ll increase your knowledge and skills through language learning and self-improvement podcasts. Like listening to music, podcasts can help you get away with traffic boredom while inside a bus and car.  You can listen to podcasts via live streaming (uses data) or wifi through these apps: Apple Podcasts Breaker Castaway 2 Castbox Laughable  Overcast Pocket Casts Podbean Radioben Soundcloud Spotify Stitcher TuneIn Radio Self-improvement Career Language learning Horror  TED Radio Hour Being boss with Kathleen Shannon & Emily Thompson Japanese The Nosleep Podcasts Inspire Nation The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes Filipino Haunted Places Optimal Living Daily The Charged Life with Brendon Burchard English Return Home Lead to win Earn your Happy Podcast Spanish  Generation Why The School of Greatness Time4Coffee with Andrea Koppel French The Strange and Unusual Podcast Changeability   German Unspookable Good Life Project     Let’s Not Meet       Unobscured   Plan ahead of time You can reduce being caught in traffic jams or getting late by: Use an alternate route - Follow a safe road or street that are less congested. For the same destination, you can use the second or third route instead of the usual/common route for commuting. For example, when you want to go to Cainta from Ortigas (a high traffic route) use Cubao - Libis - Floodway or Cubao - Marcos-Highway - Sta. Lucia.  Use a smartphone app - You can download various apps such as Google, Yandex, Bing and Waze apps. Travel during the off-peak period - If your work is flexible or falls within the off-peak period - between 10 am to 4 pm.   Use and learn through apps   Walk towards your workplace If you are only a few kilometres (2 or less) and you like to exercise, you can beat traffic by walking. Numerous internet articles and websites point to the benefits of walking. An added bonus, walking is a low-intensity exercise that doesn’t need expensive equipment, difficult workouts, training or a strong will to continue. Here are the benefits: Reduces visceral fat (abdominal fat) Increases cardiovascular (heart) and pulmonary (lung) fitness Improves management of medical conditions in people who have diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Improves creative thinking  Strengthens leg muscles Boosts Immunity Burns calories Extends your life span Notes:  Bring extra clothing for work Wear comfortable and loose clothing Wear comfortable and sturdy shoes. Bring a water bottle to stay hydrated. Add 30 minutes to 1-hour allowance before the start of your work. This prevents a stressful situation when you’re hurrying up and running because you have only 10 minutes left before the start of your work. The above benefits of walking can improve your mood and therefore your work productivity.