Shaving 10 min off my morning commute means a lot to me than to my colleagues.

All my colleagues hate long commute but for majority (80%) of them their personal commute is tolerable in the grand scheme of things. That’s why they choose to make concession/sacrifice on this dimension, to trade for something personally more important, such as School District. When I question them on the tangible value of SD, I feel their answer is unconvincing, even though my view puts me in the minority.

I was also questioned “what do you accomplish with those 10 minutes saved from commute?” I list many items but none accumulates to a tangible and otherwise-impossible achievement, something I can point at and say “that’s what I accomplished using those 10 minutes” —

• MSFM degree
• progress on specific investment research.
  • without this 10min/day I am unlikely to get the required concentration. All the following items are personal hobbies on the margin.. relatively low priority. Marginal value of 10 minutes.
• yoga classes
• specific coding questions
• specific blog posts

See also time saved{commute as felt@early mornings

These answers are debatable and subject to interpretation, … Ultimately, the value of 10 min saved is personal — 99% positive feeling + 1% some measurable ROI. Personally, I feel my lifestyle is significantly enhanced by those 10 minutes saved. Likewise, I presume the value of a slightly better SD (rating 8 vs 7) is often nothing but positive feeling.

Except gym classes, there are rather few things you can do now that’s Certain to produce tangible ROI. The uncertainty is such a universal and fundamental factor that most of those perceived and proclaimed benefits sound subjective, unconvincing wishful thinking.

In fact, SD and commute benefits are still more measurable than things like

• value of living close to a beach like east coast park
• value of living at shopping district compared to the quiet Juliette St