“How’s the lock down treating you so far?” Isn’t that a common question we’ve been asked for the past few days? Aren’t you tired of checking out your Facebook news feed filled with Corona and Quarantine Memes? Isn’t it boring to update your WhatsApp with “Send me a ❤️” status and sharing the pictures of your friends? I am pretty sure you got time to catch up on all those missed out TV series and movies. Aren’t you still bored of repeating the same activity again and again? For how long do you think you can keep yourself occupied in such a way? Looking at the bright side of the current situation, we are all blessed with something which has greater value than Money. And that is undoubtedly “The Time” – Free Time to be more precise. Rather than just spending your time lying around and doing nothing or repeating the same activity again and again, let us look into some productive and interesting list of things to keep ourselves active and occupied.
Read a Book
If you are a book worm, this is the right time for you to finish that book you have been waiting to. If you are not a book worm, you can give it a try! There’s nothing to lose in trying. There are quite a lot of Self Help books which gives us something in return to think about. Few examples are: The 5AM Club, Predictably Irrational, Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus, Getting things done, Think and Grow Rich, The subtle art of not giving a f*ck, Everything is f*cked, Google Work Rules, Cash flow Quadrant, Rich Dad Poor Dad, The 7 habits of highly effective people, The Monk who sold his Ferrari. These are few examples of good reads. If you’re a tech savvy person, you can simply download the eBook and begin today! Trust me, reading takes you to a totally different world. Why not give it a try?
Self-Education
“Self-education is Self Empowerment” a quote I found on google. Educating ourselves on certain common topics is of utmost importance. We have our own specialties and our own areas of expertise. Sticking to our areas of expertise is too mainstream. We are living in the 21st Century where the Corporate we are working for requires us not only to do our job but to develop our skills to fulfill the duties of our peer colleagues at the time of their absence. Hence, why not improve yourself by learning some brand new topics? For example we can research and learn new things on topics like: Environment, Social Media, Social Issues, How the mind works, Animal Rights, Economy of Sri Lanka, World Economy, Sustainable Development Goals. Being Rotaractors serving this community while focusing on our self development it is imperative to be educated on several topics. This might help you and your club to even come up with the best project idea!
Start a Blog
Referring to the last topic, why limit yourself to just research on interesting topics? Put them in your own words and write a blog – simple as that! The knowledge you share with the others helps you to enhance your knowledge further. If you are not a tech savvy person who doesn’t know how to start a blog, you have two options: Watch a video tutorial on how to start a blog or as a Rotaractor you have the golden opportunity of writing for your club’s blog! Why wait till an event or a project takes place to write about! You can share your knowledge by writing for the club’s blog. Volunteering doesn’t necessarily have to be involved in a project or conducting a community service activity. You can volunteer to write contents for the club blog which in turn will reduce the burden of your Club President. Think about it.
Talk to Your Loved Ones
Communication between the family and friends are important because it permits us to express our needs, wants and concerns with each other which brings a connectivity between us. Let me also rephrase this thing as “Be a good listener” While talking time your loved ones, give your undivided attention to them. Always make sure to stay focused on what they’re saying and finish listening before you start to speak. Have you come across this quote “The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply”? Why not practice being a good listener during this free time?
Cook / Bake
To all those foodies out there! Now that it’s time to cook/bake all those mouthwatering food you tried out in the restaurants. It ain’t rocket science. Simply have a look at the video tutorial on your favorite recipe. I think this is the right time for you to bring out all your cooking and baking skills. We never know, you can be the Sri Lanka’s Master chef.
Practice Concentration
Since your childhood days everybody asked you to concentrate. But did they ever teach you how to concentrate? We are all famous for Multitasking. But do you know that multitasking can result in time wasted due to human context switching and apparently causing more errors due to insufficient attention? What happens when you multitask? In simple terms, you will not be able to give your 100% to a particular task. Hence, it is imperative to practice concentration. Let me explain you with a simple example: Refer back to point number 1 “Read a book”. While you’re reading you hear the “ting” sound in your phone which is a message or a WhatsApp notification. Don’t you run back to the phone, check the messages and then get back to reading? You won’t feel like spending much time in that but unknowingly you would have wasted at least 15 minutes with the phone. Here you’re breaking the attention you were giving while reading the book. Why not try disabling the notifications while you’re reading or while you’re being engaged on a particular task? This is the right time for you to practice concentration while you’re at home.
Time for Self-Reflection
The word itself says so. It’s about “reflection”. Why not make use of this time to assess yourself? Meaning, your ways of working, assessing your ways of doing things and reflect on your self as to what more you can do to improve your self further or the areas that needs to be improved. Do you have a goal or a dream in your life? I’m sure we all do! But have you ever reflected on what steps or actions you need to take to achieve them? Have you given your self a time frame to achieve the same? We update our Instagram stories and Facebook with this post which says “A dream written down with a date becomes a goal, A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan, A plan backed by actions become reality” but how many of us have actually done this? When we face an interview the most famous question we’ve been asked is “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Some of us even say that we will be the CEO of this company! Trust me, it’s not impossible unless you have a proper plan on what needs to be done to be there! Remember, now is the right time for you to do this. Better late than never.
Check Out Investment Opportunities
This is a vast area but let me simplify it this way. Have you heard of the 50/30/20 rule? When you receive your monthly income, you should reserve 50% of your budget for essentials like food, transport, bill payments. 30% should be reserved for non-essentials like vacations, purchase of luxury items and at least 20% should be saved. The proportion we save differs from person to person depending with their income and expenditures. But remember, the more the merrier. Once you start saving you can look into options on Investing. In simple terms, an investment is acquiring an asset with the aim of generating a higher income or capital appreciation. Investments can be into bonds, mutual funds (which is known as unit trusts in Sri Lanka), gold, real estate or even into the Stock Market. You can check out video tutorials about the top investors like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and check on how to invest, their respective investment portfolios, how to pick a stock, and their experience and knowledge on investments.
Make a Personal Financial Plan
Are you a great spender? I’m sure we all are in some way. Why don’t you streamline the way you manage your cash inflows and outflows? It is very simple: list down your monthly fixed expenses, allocate a certain portion for other expenses. Pick the unwanted expenses and cut them off from your list. Think of alternatives on how you could manage them. If you’re addicted to order food online, why not quit that and get used to the home cooked meals which is healthier.
Share Your Knowledge
When you share your knowledge with others, it helps deepen your own knowledge and it further develops what you know. .Being a part of the Corporate World or your own business for any length of time you surely have some level of professional expertise. You have your own unique set of skills, knowledge and experience. Think about all the ways you can use it to impact others’ lives. Sharing your knowledge with colleagues is a great service. It gives you an opportunity to think about others and not just yourself. If you want to be seen as a leader in your field you must stand up and be vocal about what you have to offer. When your expertise helps your team, you become a more valuable part of it. Success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life. It’s about what you inspire others to do.
These are few ways of making use of your time productively which brings you self growth and moreover, self satisfaction and success. It’s not too late for you to start on this. You can even challenge yourself to practice all that is listed because what you do today can improve all your tomorrows.
Written by:
Rtr. Evelyn John.
To all those foodies out there! Now that it’s time to cook/bake all those mouthwatering food you tried out in the restaurants. It ain’t rocket science. Simply have a look at the video tutorial on your favorite recipe. I think this is the right time for you to bring out all your cooking and baking skills. We never know, you can be the Sri Lanka’s Master chef.
Are you a great spender? I’m sure we all are in some way. Why don’t you streamline the way you manage your cash inflows and outflows? It is very simple: list down your monthly fixed expenses, allocate a certain portion for other expenses. Pick the unwanted expenses and cut them off from your list. Think of alternatives on how you could manage them. If you’re addicted to order food online, why not quit that and get used to the home cooked meals which is healthier.
