9 Productive Things You Can Do During Lockdown
Up until now, I have avoided talking about the current crisis and lockdown situation on my blog. This was because I wanted to keep business as usual and maintain some normality. However, I for one have been struggling with my lack of productivity during this time. For this reason, I wanted to write a post that included some helpful (and fun) productive things you can do during this lockdown.
Please note that if your preferred level of productivity at this moment in time doesn’t include side hustling, exercising or learning something new, that’s fine too! We’re experiencing a global crisis and it’s okay to not be okay with that or want to be productive. Please stay safe and do whatever you need to do to keep your mind healthy.
Productive Things You Can Do During Lockdown
Get your finances in order
Whatever your financial situation, sorting your finances is one of the most productive things you can do. If you’re struggling financially, you may be able to claim elements of Universal Credit if you need help with costs for children or housing. You could be eligible if you and your partner or spouse have savings of less than £16,000.
Whatever your financial position I’m sure that some extra money wouldn’t go a miss. Thanks to easy-access cloud systems, and ever-improving network capabilities your online income potential is increasing daily! Last year, I managed to earn over £1000 from home within a month through search engine evaluation, surveys, and taking advantage of cashback offers! There’s never been a better time to explore an online side hustle or business idea. Here are some of my favourite ways to earn extra money online:
- Taking part in surveys
- Completing tasks on Swagbucks
- Search engine evaluation
- Blogging
- Earning money from Ads
Lockdown is the perfect time to take back control over your finances. There are number of steps to take to improve your financial security with the extra time you have.
Update your CV/LinkedIn
The current climate has raised many questions about the sustainability and security of jobs in certain sectors. If you’re like me, you may be using this time to evaluate your career and where you’d like to progress in the near future. Updating your old CV and LinkedIn profile might be a good start.
For obvious reasons many companies aren’t currently recruiting but that doesn’t mean you can’t get ready for when they do start recruiting again.
Learn a Skill
I’m sure I’m not just speaking for myself when I say that we’ve never had as much time on our hands as we do now. Why not make the most of this time by learning a new skill. You could learn how to knit, finally conquer the Rubik’s cube or enrol on an online course, such as an online finance course or a digital marketing course.
With the ever-changing economic landscape around us, many have had to think about re-training for a new career. If you’re looking to make a career change in the near future you could use this time to learn something that will help you secure that dream role. Even further, you may consider full training, such as a project management training course, to prepare you to enter a new job market once lockdown rules are lifted.
Take up a new hobby
My favourite hobby is blogging so I’m using the next few months to set up a new blog! What better time to take up a new hobby, you could even get friends and family involved by hosting a video call of you all taking part in this new hobby.
I’ve seen people learning how to knit, taking up martial arts, writing, painting, gardening and more! There’s never been a better time to explore something new. Blogging started as a hobby for me and it turned out to be one of the most productive things I ever did – it now earns me a great side income.
Boost your health
With the extra time we all have in lockdown, now is the perfect time to introduce some new healthy habits. From exercise, to skincare, heathy eating to making your mental health a priority there’s no better way to spend lockdown than getting ready for your best post-lockdown life.
We’re allowed to go for 1 jog a day, why not make the most of this opportunity by taking up jogging and training yourself to run 5k, 10k, or more! The couch to 5k app is a great workout assistant and the fresh air and exercise will do you good!
Please do remember to stay 2 meters away from people as you walk or jog past them, wear sun cream if you need it and stay hydrated.
Learn to cook
I’ve been meaning to up my cooking game for some time and now we are locked up at home, this seems like the perfect time! Try looking up a recipe you want to give a go before your weekly food shop so that you can make sure to get all the ingredients in one go (and avoid making unnecessary trips to get odd bits).
One thing that I do when cooking to increase my productivity is to cook extra portions to have for lunch or to freeze for another day.
Start a new family tradition
It’s amazing to see all the creative ways that families are staying in touch and keeping their spirits up. For example, I’ve seen a lot of families begin weekly quiz nights via video call. If you haven’t already, suggest to your friends that you have a weekly quiz or catch up, some people are even having video call brunches together! And remember, this doesn’t have to be something you only do during lockdown, let’s carry on these traditions after all of this is over.
Good karma
I’ve seen thousands of people raising money for charity during lockdown, from the Head Shave Challenge to Run 5 Donate 5, and more! Add “doing good” to your lockdown agenda by getting involved in fundraising, volunteering, signing petitions, and raising the awareness of good causes.
I’m challenging myself to raise £500 and have lots of effortless ways that you can do good from the comfort of your own home.
A DIY project
Households up and down the country have been taking this time to complete some DIY projects around their home and in gardens. Get some paint out of the shed, put up that shelf and give your home a new lease of life.
If you need to fetch paint and materials in order to get started with your DIY projects please remember the social distancing rules.
More Productive Things You can Do
Most Recommended Money Saving Tools
How I Plan to Pay My Mortgage Off Early
There is absolutely no pressure to to productive things during the craziness of the current situation. But if being productive will help you to keep your mind active then I hope this post has given you some ideas on how you can spend your lockdown time.