The coronavirus pandemic has forced a large percentage of the population to spend months inside their home, leaving only to buy essential goods. As the days continue to pass, for some the question becomes: How best to spend those hours inside?
For working professionals, finding productive use of their time is second nature. While living under a stay-at-home order is not an optimum situation for anyone, there are ways to maximize your time. Rather than simply mark time, it’s possible to better yourself and reach the other side of this crisis with more skills and knowledge than when it began.
Why Learn New Skills During COVID-19?
The world is experiencing a rare moment with the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in modern history, both work and personal schedules have been disrupted. Taking advantage of the opportunity to spend more time with family is a priority.
For some, though, that is not an option – they are home alone. And for others, after time spent with family, they may find time on their hands. As pointed out by Fast Company, you do not want to spend that time “getting lost in the sea of scary news and social media posts.”
With that in mind, here some ideas for staying productive during the coronavirus pandemic.
Improve Your Finance Skills
One lesson from the COVID-19 outbreak is that it’s more important than ever to know how to manage finances. Making money is great, but keeping as much as possible and spending wisely is just as important. Applying Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques can help you develop and maintain a solid personal finance budget. Also, online courses in finance are available for free from a variety of MOOC providers.
Earn a Certification
Earning a certification in a specific skill, such as becoming a Six Sigma Green Belt or Six Sigma Black Belt, can help elevate your career possibilities. Earning a certification demonstrates you have mastered skills in a specific area and proven it by passing an exam. The value of a certification manifests in different ways, from promotion opportunities to higher earning potential. For example, according to the Project Management Institute, those who earn a project management professional certification can help increase their earning potential by 20% more than non-certified project management professionals.
Attend Webinars and Virtual Conferences
Professionals already use the internet for this purpose, but now the opportunities for online learning have multiplied. Webinars on career-specific topics are only a Google search away. Most are free but will require you to register with contact information. And some conferences, such as the Adobe Summit, have posted all the conference content for free online.
Don’t Forget Self-Care
All the skill enhancement in the world does little if you do not commit to taking care of yourself. Build some form of exercise into every day. If you meditate or do yoga, find time for that, as well. While it’s completely understandable that nachos and ice cream sound like pretty good comfort food, try to stick with healthy food as much as possible. Most importantly, maintain human connections using videoconferencing, texting, FaceTime, or whatever else you have at your disposal.
Acceptance Is Key
To get into the right frame of mind to spend your time productively, acceptance will prove key. According to Inc., many professionals still are in a state of denial or anxiety that makes it difficult to focus on anything, much less be productive. The first step toward making the best use of your time is to accept you have no control over the current situation, and that the only choice is to make peace with it and accept the situation. Only then can you plan to put the above ideas into action.
