10 Tips For Staying Productive During Quarantine
Life has been totally different since the Covid-19 outbreak. At the moment, some countries are on complete lockdown, which has forced most people to even work indoors. In places where a lockdown hasn’t been placed yet, citizens are being advised to remain in quarantine until things get better. In this article, we look at 10 best tips that can help you to stay productive during this period. So, read on to find out.
Life has been totally different since the Covid-19 outbreak. At the moment, some countries are on complete lockdown, which has forced most people to even work indoors. In places where a lockdown hasn’t been placed yet, citizens are being advised to remain in quarantine until things get better. In this article, we look at 10 best tips that can help you to stay productive during this period. So, read on to find out.
Some of the most vital tips that we’ll be talking about in this article include:
- Have a flexible schedule
- Take breaks
- Learn new skills
- Exercise
- Spend less time on social media and watching the news
- Clean your workstation
- Eat healthily
- Meditate
- Dress up
- Stay in touch with friends and family
1. Have A Flexible Schedule
If you are working from home, then you need a flexible schedule. Having a schedule is mandatory because you can easily find yourself procrastinating since you believe you have the whole day.
Depending on your type of work, you might be needed to complete many tasks by the end of the day. Therefore, having a schedule will allow you to allocate enough time for everything. When creating the timetable, you must ensure it’s spaced out. What this means is you shouldn’t try to do all the work in a limited time frame. Doing this can drain you and make you feel exhausted hence affecting your productivity.
Rose-Anne Uwague insists on this point by saying that you should be honest with yourself and avoid performing tasks when you feel too drained. However, if the lack of desire to do that task is just laziness, then you must drop the excuses and work.
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2. Take Breaks
After working for some time, do not forget to take a break and relax. Taking a break doesn’t mean that you spend hours from your work. You should always allocate time in your schedule for a short break to read a book, watch an episode, or even go for a walk outside.
To help ensure you don’t spend excessive time during the break, set an alarm, or look for a unique software that you can use. A high-quality time tracker will allow you to ensure you spend the exact time you had allocated for your break and get back to work.
Doing all this will enable you to get back to your workstation feeling more motivated and creative, thus allowing you to boost your productivity significantly.
3. Learn New Skills
Having more skills on your resume is always great as it allows you to be unique, which might help you big time in the future. There are many free courses that you can take online and learn something new. However, some are usually subscription-based, but they are worth it. Below are some excellent skills that you can learn online today:
- Coding
- Professional copywriting
- Software development
- Business management
- New languages
As you can see, you have many choices when it comes to the skills that you can attain when in quarantine. However, look for a great course that will teach everything you need to know, thus allowing you to apply whatever you learnt and see great results.
4. Exercise
Exercising is among the best ways that can help you to ease up and be more productive. Although gyms are closed during this time, you shouldn’t let that limit you. There are many gyms, and yoga studios that are now offering online classes. So, make sure you take advantage of that opportunity and attend those classes. Doing that will allow you to burn more fat, keep fit, and always feel relaxed before working hence boosting productivity.
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5. Spend Less Time on Social Media and Watching the News
Watching news is good, especially during this time. However, doing that every time can leave you feeling sad and overwhelmed. When that happens severally, you might find yourself depressed hence affecting your productivity since you can’t even focus when working.
You should also avoid comparing your quarantine life to other people’s on social media. Doing this will only make you feel like you are not doing enough, and like you’re the only one having a hard time. It is best that you even avoid using social media not unless necessary. That way, you can easily focus on your work, thus producing better results.
6. Clean Your Workstation
Working in a clean place allows you to feel at peace and happy, thus making it easy to focus on what you are doing. A tidy workstation also gives you a professional feel, thus making you work like you are in your actual office. Therefore, make sure you clean your house, wipe the office desk, computer, seat, and even the shelves, if any.
7. Eat Healthily
If you are spending most of your time in the house, then you must buy enough food to last for a while. That way, you can always have the right foods to give you the needed energy to complete your projects. Therefore, it’s vital that you fill up your fridge with stuff like seeds, nuts, veggies, fruits, and even proteins. Remember to avoid junk foods as they will only provide excessive sugars and fats, which might affect your health negatively.
Also, there are many recipes that you can find online. Therefore, look for several that seem easier to follow. Doing that will allow you to have different things to cook, thus making it easy to avoid junk foods.
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8. Meditate
Meditation is great as it enables you to relax the mind. With a more relaxed mind, you can easily reduce negative thoughts, anxiety and worries. That way, you can focus on your work hence helping you increase productivity.
Meditation has also been observed to help people sleep better at night. So, if you meditate often, then you’ll always sleep early hence allowing you to wake up easily and start your routine on time. If you have never been to any meditation class, then don’t worry. There are many free apps that can teach you how to go about it in no time.
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9. Dress Up
One thing that most people might ignore during quarantine is working while dressed officially. Working online does not mean that you sit in front of your computer with your pajamas. Sitting at your workstation with your formal clothes like you are in the office, makes you feel more responsible and determined to complete your assigned tasks.
So, make sure you wake up early as usual, shower, brush your teeth, dress up, take breakfast then start your work. Doing this daily will undoubtedly help to boost your mood throughout the day, and make you to always look forward to the next day, even if in quarantine.
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10. Stay in Touch with Your Family and Friends
The social distancing rule has made it hard to meet with friends and family and spend some time with them. However, that doesn’t mean you should not communicate. With your phone or computer, you can now schedule some calls with your relatives and friends and catch up.
You can even plan group video calls and do fun things together online such as playing different games. Doing this will help you not to feel alone since you remain connected to your loved ones despite the hard times.
The Coronavirus outbreak has affected everyone on the planet. So, you must do everything possible to ensure you stay safe during quarantine. As you can see from this article, working during quarantine does not have to be boring. There are many things you can do to ensure you have fun and remain productive. Therefore, explore all these options and choose those that seem more applicable to you. That way, you’ll have a more bearable quarantine period, and still hit all the targets you are supposed to.
References
1. https://www.iamexpat.nl/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/10-tips-staying-productive-during-quarantine
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