Tuesday, March 24, 2020

What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do at Home


In my last post, I listed a few suggestions on what to do (or not do) to be productive during your quarantined downtime. I promised to list some actual activities, but I wanted to list two more suggestions to help organize your day.

Make a To-Do List! I found that when my wife and kids were at work/school, I would make a to-do list of large and small tasks to tackle through the day. This provided a great reference and goal for my day. Now that they’re all home during this virus, I have neglected to make lists and find my days floundering in indecision and laziness. I need some structure and a list provides that for me.

Make Your Goals Attainable. This is a standard life lesson, but it applies to maintaining your motivation. You might be the type t tackle a project head-on, but I’d rather establish smaller goals so that I feel a sense of accomplishment. You MUST be a bit aggressive…”Getting out of bed” should not be your primary goal of the day.

Now let’s move on to some suggested activities:

Document Your Experience!  We are living during an historical and incredible time. Record how the events are affecting your life and how you feel each day. Remember all that you can because one day, your children or grandchildren will ask about the big virus outbreak of 2020. If you still buy newspapers, keep some around. Yes…they still print newspapers.

Clean the House.  Yes, I know you’re disinfecting every part of your house right now (if you can find cleaning products in the store), but you might as well do your spring cleaning.  In previous years, you probably did your spring cleaning during a hectic weekend. Take a little more time now and be more relaxed when doing it.

Tackle a Back Burner Project.  I took the wallpaper off my kitchen walls 3 years ago. I painted five walls in a lighter shade of gray than I wanted, so I completed the rest of the kitchen in the darker shade. A couple of weeks ago, three years later, I finally painted three of the original five walls the darker shade. I was glad to finally have that project off my list. Why didn’t I complete the final two walls? 
Read on…

Make a How-To Tape for Others.  I decided to record an instructional video for fun on “How To Paint an Inside Wall.” I plan to go over details on how to prepare and then how to paint the walls. If it turns out to look halfway decent, I might post it on YouTube for the heck of it. If it becomes somewhat popular, I might create a similar video on another topic.  If nothing else, it’ll be a video my kids might want to refer to later in life.

Organize Those Photos. We all have a pile of photos somewhere that we planned to organize “someday.” It’s now that day! You don’t have to be a scrapbook expert, but at least you can sort them in some kind of order. Keep the better ones for hanging. You don’t even need to frame them, just clothes pin them up like my daughter does along her headboard.

As for digital photos, you probably have photos stored in memory sticks, SD cards, flash drives, cameras, and all sorts of other places. Now is the time to track them all down and try to upload onto the cloud, such as Google Photos. Whether printed or digital, sorting through photos can be an enjoyable and emotional experience, especially if shared with family.

Work on Your Resume. Okay, this one is easy for me because I’m actively looking for a job. But I also learned that it’s important to keep your resume updated even when you’re not seeking employment. Along with this, make sure you have similar updates in your LinkedIn account. Post a comment on LinkedIn and let people know you’re active in your field. This can help you in your current business or a future endeavor.

Get Outside! Being cooped up inside can be stressful and create anxiety or depression. Getting a breath of fresh air during a walk or bike ride is therapeutic as well as good exercise. Sure, there might be some restrictions on where you can go under quarantine conditions, but even a little digging in the flower bed or walking around the house is better than sitting on your couch all day long. Your butt will thank you for the rest.

Contact Friends/Family.  With social media today, it’s easier than ever to reach out to old friends or even to make new friends. Search out high school or college friends on Facebook. If you can find an address, write or type an actual letter while enclosing a photo you may have found while sorting. If you have a little one in your extended family, send a card with a dollar bill. All of these things will make someone smile!

Celebrate the Weekend!  I know in my last post I reminded you that your free time during the week is not the weekend. But the weekend IS the weekend. If you have all of your usual weekend projects out of the way, you can finally crack open that beer and enjoy the weekend without a looming to-do list.

I hope these suggestions help you to make your free time during unemployment or virus-induced isolation a bit more enjoyable and productive. Even if you're not working from home or a busy stay-at-home parent, it’s important to have some purpose to stay motivated during the week so that you don’t feel that your day was wasted as you head to bed. Make a reason to celebrate and enjoy your weekend!

Make the best of your time, and it’ll make you the best you can be!

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