COVID-19: TOP 5 IDEAS FOR BEING PRODUCTIVE DURING LOCKDOWN

The COVID-19 coronavirus is a global Pandemic that the world is facing. It has caused a global lockdown which is causing inconvenience to many people who work daily. As of 4th May 2020, more than 3.4 million people have been affected worldwide with more than 170,000 deaths and more than 1.1 million recoveries. 

  

In these times, people should look at it as an opportunity to do something productive rather than thinking all day what to do next. With this lockdown, people are looking for a way to be productive so here are Top 5 Ideas for being Productive in a Lockdown:

Learn something new

“He, who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.” Confucius

 

It is true. Learning something new should be on everybody’s to-do list. The things which you learn in your free time should be a priority whenever you feel like you are not productive enough. Learning something new could eventually open new doors which could lead to greater opportunities in the future.

This is the time to really figure yourself out. Focus on what you are good at rather than what you are stuck with. Finding your path should be first objective in this lockdown.

Refresh old knowledge

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler

Yes! Believe it or not, refreshing old knowledge might still make you more productive. A little of knowledge refreshment doesn’t hurt anybody. Even if you remember the previous knowledge you gained, you might still learn something new related to something you already knew. You should always be open to learn, unlearn, and relearn something.

When people sit around doing nothing, the mind goes blank and starts to forget the past knowledge you received. This may seem like a temporary effect but it is still very hazardous. In this lockdown, people can visit old books or useful internet links they read a long time ago.

Learn a new skill

One of my personal favorite things to do is learn new skills online. Not only do learning new skills make a person productive, but it could also open your eyes to new opportunities. Personally, as a graphic designer, I watch YouTube tutorials of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. In this lockdown, not only did I learn new skills, but I also had an opportunity to polish on old skills and learn some new tools which I did not know about.

One might ask where to learn new skills? Well with 100s of websites offering courses and people learning so much every day, you could just go to any of them and take your pick. The most popular for online courses are Udemy, Coursera, Skillshare, Bitdegree and believe it or not YouTube. If you do not want to pay for a certificate and just want to learn then Coursera is best for you but it is preferred that you pay for the certificate that way you can show to people that you have the talent.

Teach online

Already learned so much or have so much experience. Why not share this knowledge and experience with the world. Remember! Your knowledge could become somebody else’s treasure. There are numerous platforms that allow you to teach people. There will always be people who want to learn something and you can that teacher they can learn it from. The same websites which offer online courses, you could contribute to it as a teacher.

Sure! The experience of teaching an online course for the first time can be scary but when you get the bug, you will not back away from it. Think of it this way, you are stuck in lockdown and have a low source of income. How about teaching online and earn money while doing it.

Read a book

“The reason a writer writes a book is to forget a book and the reason a reader reads one is to remember it.” Thomas Wolfe

Well if all else fails, read a book. The most important skill you should have when learning something new is to know how to read books effectively. It is true that the book is a friend who will never leave your side. There are many benefits of reading a book like it increases brain power, it amplifies your communication, and it could also inspire you to do something.

THE FALL OF PRINTED BOOKS By Mohammed Salman

Do you remember the last time you actually picked up any book, opened it just because you want to read and learn something or you are bored and have nothing to do; and started reading it just to pass the time?

If you cannot remember then you are one of those majority people in this world who does not want to or do not like to read books.

Many people do not know but to learn something and have lasting impression of it; you must have a printed form of any source of knowledge (i.e. books, newspaper, and magazines)

According to a study conducted in 2019, only 72% of adult males in United States (that is 7 out of 10) say that they have read a book in any form (printed or online) in the past year. That is very low book reading time if you think about it. With the introduction of e-books and audiobooks, many of the hard to find books are available online (some are free to download while others can be purchased online). This is I think is the main reason that reading the printed book reading have become less rare in our society. According to same study, 25% read an e-book and only 20% of adult males listen to an audiobook. The reason is audiobooks and e-books do not attract attention of the reader unlike printed books which motivates reader to read more.

Analyzing these statistics we can conclude that not only the printed books are regressing but also our coming generation will become more relied on the internet and therefore lose their ability to think and imagine creatively.

Now let us talk about some of the major advantages of reading from a printed book over soft copy. The advantages of reading from printed books over e-books or audiobooks is that it is easier to read a printed book because you do not have to constantly look at a computer or tablet screen on hours end which have very bad effects on your health. Reading a book from a computer screen effects mental stability i.e. you lose imagination, and the radiation from computer screen can cause harmful effects on you.

Another advantage of reading from a printed is that it leaves a lasting impression on you and you remember the lesson or the theme of that book for a very long time. The reason it leaves its impression on your brain is because firstly they are easier on the eyes meaning the eyes does not get affected by the constant brightness of the computer screen and you will be less likely to get distracted.

When you read a book from a computer, there are many other distractions on that computer or tablet like games, social media, incoming calls or messages which makes you lose focus on the book you are reading. Secondly when you read a printed book, it motivates you to read more and therefore by reading more you will learn more.

A very interesting fact to know about printed books is that there Battery never runs out like a tablet or a computer. You can just read whenever you want and how much you want. An American journalist and a novelist named Ernest Hemingway said that

“There is no friend as loyal as a book”

It is very interesting to think that how can a book be a friend. Well! In my opinion; much like a true friend in real life; when you read a book, you forget about your personal problems for a while and it reduces mental stress. A very famous quote by Stephan King is

“Books are uniquely portable magic”.

I think this quote is very accurate. When you read a book, you can just transport to whole new world where you see yourself as a character in that world. A point to note here is that this effect is more powerful when you read a printed book and not a soft copy of it on a computer screen. This is because the mind is not calibrated to remember everything on a soft copy because it does not provide us with a special ability called spatial navigability. Our brains are calibrated to locate and find our way so when we read a printed book, we remember the page numbers, our feeling during reading a book and physical cues which leaves an impression on our brains. 

Let me share my personal life story with you guys. When I was in school, as a part of my subject, it was compulsory to read and fully understand the plot of the book. I remember reading a novel in school called the hound of Baskervilles which became one of my favorite novels as a student. One of my assignments after reading a page or two in a day was to take out hard words and use a dictionary to find meanings and synonyms of those words. By repeating this process, it not only increased my vocabulary but also helped me to develop a reading habit.

Reading that book in school and at home improved my reading abilities and it led me to read more novels like the Harry potter series by J.K Rowling, Lord of the rings series and novels by Dan Brown like Inferno, Lost symbol, Deception point and Da Vinci Code. By reading from a printed book, I remember all the plots and characters.

As started studying in university, many of the books I was referred were either available online or the teacher gave them as a soft copy. By reading from soft copy, even though I was able pass through my examinations and get good grades, the things that I learned did not leave a lasting impression and I started to forget the things I learned just after few months.

Any person who wants to excel and achieve his/ her goals in life should read from any source they can read from. My suggestion for you guys is to read as much as possible. Try to learn from books as much as you can because the more you learn, more you will have a chance for better future.