An Unemployed Person’s Guide on How to Make Your Day At Home More Productive (or at least less lazy)

At the end of 2019, my place of employment closed down and I have since been in the ranks of the unemployed. 

I typically spend several hours a day seeking work online, working on cover letters and attending classes to hone my job-hunting skills. Despite all those tasks, there is still a lot of time when I’m doing…well, nothing.

It’s easy to get into a tail-spin of thinking a day off (even if forced by unemployment) is a day to be lazy and unproductive. Now that many are forced to stay home due to the coronavirus, I have a few tips on how to approach each day to make it a bit more productive.

Reclaim Your Sleep!  Most Americans suffer from sleep deprivation. Personally, I averaged around 5 hours of sleep when I was employed. This was because I used to stay up late to take care of family and personal tasks, and then I would get up very early to prepare breakfast for everyone before heading off to work.  

While I still volunteer to fix the family their breakfast, I no longer have to fit in my “me time” late at night.  I can do so during the day therefore I can go to bed earlier.  My average sleep is now 7 hours a night and I feel so much more rested and energized!  

Now that the family is required to all be at home during the coronavirus, I plan to shoot for 8 hours a night…but no more! There are things to do and sleeping all day is not the best plan.  

Establish a Wake-up routine.  This is not the weekend…or a vacation! Get out of bed after a good night’s rest and take your shower or start a morning routine immediately! Make your bed! Lazing about in bed all morning is counter-productive to other things you want to accomplish, whether they be “responsibilities” or “fun.” 

I found that having an unmade bed was far too inviting to crawl back in, so I would make my bed as soon as possible. Also, my mom always taught me that you can’t sleep well on a made bed, and who’s to argue with that?

Get Dressed!  It is very difficult to get the day started when you’re wearing your pajamas or lounging clothes. This tells your body, “Hey! Relax! Take it easy!” If you get in the habit of taking it easy, you’ll have a real tough time getting motivated! Get dressed right after you take your shower and put on your shoes! This tells your body that you’re ready to go get things done, even if you’re staying at home.

Leave the beer in the fridge.  As I said before, this is not the weekend. There are things you can and should do, and do so with a clear head. Goodness knows I enjoy a wine or a beer over the weekend, but having a beer for lunch as I complete job applications or paint the kitchen wall is not the smartest of ideas. Save the brew for a celebratory weekend.

Turn off the television.  In the morning, I typically turn on the local news, especially in these strange times. Later on, I’ll have the national news as background noise for no more than an hour while I prepare for the day. After that, I turn the TV off! Why?  For the most part, daytime television kinda sucks and it isn’t worth your time.  

I’m sure there are those that love talk shows such as The View or Wendy Williams (cringe) and there are those that love judge shows. Those just aren’t my cup of tea. However, if I run across some nature show on BBC, I’m hooked! As soon as I see hear David Attenborough’s soothing voice talking about the stridulations of the streaked tenrec of Madagascar, I lose all scope of time for at least two hours. It’s best to turn the television off and hide the remote.

Hide the snacks!  It’s important to establish an eating schedule similar to the one you’d follow at work.  For me, I used to eat a snack, usually an apple, every morning at 10:00. I would have a light lunch, and then another snack, perhaps a cookie or some other fruit at 3:00. On the way home from work, I would have one more snack in the car or grab something when I got home to hold me over until dinner.  

Now that I’m not working, I have the opportunity to snack on chips and cookies all day long. But I don’t. I try to follow the same routine that I did when employed. The only main difference is that my lunches are a little more extravagant. Instead of a tuna salad sandwich, I might fix a buffalo chicken wrap with a side salad.  Keeping a healthy…or at least a controlled diet helps you to be more energized and alert.

Keep your social media time to a minimum.  I use social media to assist with my job search.  I also use it as an outlet for other tasks, which I’ll discuss in another post. But I keep my social media time as brief as possible. I’m a sucker for click-bait and if I start reading “32 Unbelievable Stories about Gilligan’s Island,” I’ve lost a good 20 minutes of my day. 

Those are the basics on how to face your time home more productively. In my next post, I’ll discuss some of my suggestions on how to spend those spare moments in productive and possibly fun ways!