Bored at Home? Here are 5 Tips To Stay Productive

Self-isolation regulation can be tough, but there are many ways to make yourself keep moving whilst staying at home.

The COVID-19 situation made us stay home more often than usual. In other words, it forces us to do most activities inside the home. However, with the limitation of spaces and resources, it may lead us towards boredom.

If you are reading this, welcome! Here are 5 top tips to stay away from boredom:

1. Find ways to stay on top of your work

“Work From Home” (or abbreviated as WFH) has been the most common phrase for people to encourage themselves working from home. WFH can be easy for some people that used to do video conferencing or staying online whenever they are. However, for someone new to this, it can be quite challenging. Limited resources remain to be the main issues for people that are new to WFH.

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Well, if WFH is new to you, here are some tips and tricks to set up an easy and convenient way to work from your home:

• Invest in great hardware — Ensure that you are familiar with the device that you will interact daily. Either Mac or Windows Computer, whichever you are used too. iPad is also a very good recommendation for portability and ease of use.
• Install on necessary software — Primarily Office Suite and compatible browser (Chrome, Safari or Firefox for instance). Install any necessary additional software if required.
• Set up video conferencing call account — This is very important to keep yourself communicated with your work colleague. There is plenty of software for a conference call, such as Zoom or Skype for Business. Most of this software are paid or requires a subscription, but usually, your business has set this for you, so you simply need to join for free.
• Make sure you have a high speed and steady internet connection — Invest more on premium internet package in your home, since you will be there most of your time.
• Set a dedicated area for your workplace: well it’s your home, be as comfortable as you can. If you don’t have much space in your home, tweak something with a little bit of decoration so it didn’t feel too boring.

These just some tips, but it certainly will help you be comfortable for at least a few months working from home.

2. Think about new things to learn

During this time, learning something new is the best thing to do aside from working. Moreover, some of us can’t even work from home, because of the nature and dependability of the business. Therefore, using this time to learn some new skills can be very beneficial, such as:

• Taking online courses — For instance, SkillShare offers a variety of classes and sessions to join, from cooking, crafting, designing, technology and many more. Becoming a member unlocks various classes and gains the opportunity to learn more. Otherwise, various universities also offer short online courses to achieve various qualifications in a few weeks or months.
• Taking an online tutor — Using conference call software, you also can reach people to do online tutoring. Find some connections online to start to learn new things.
• Learn courses from various books — If taking an online course is too overwhelming, then learning from books is also a great idea. Courses through books are easier to understand for some people. Try to look back at your bookshelves and you might find some books that you want to rerun again or even you haven’t read before. Otherwise, you can purchase any books online too and get them delivered.
• Learn from someone in your household — You can still learn from someone within your household. If you have family members or housemate, you can ask them to teach you something or even learn together.

3. Maintain yourself in shape

Being at home at all times doesn’t mean that we cannot do physical activities. As well as working at home, it is important to always stay healthy by doing some exercises. Exercises can be done in-home by doing Yoga, Pilates or even some basic ones. Many gym’s trainers offer free online sessions to keep our body in shape.

You can still go out and do some running. Most countries with high restrictions allow people to go out of their house to do some running. Subsequently, you can take your pets for a walk too. I like to cycle around the riverside, which is relaxing and enjoying the outside world for a bit.

4. Emphasise your hobby

Think about any activity that you like to do whilst you have your days off, like cooking, baking, decorating home, drawing, painting or gaming. Since this pandemic starts, we have more time to think about doing our hobby.

Emphasising your hobby is not just having it more frequently. A lot more than that. Think about how you can turn your hobby into your part-time job, or maybe your full-time job.

“Paul and I, we never thought that we would make much money out the thing. We just loved writing software” — Bill Gates

The photo above shows my auntie’s love and passion for baking. As she loves doing it, she has the ambition to make it as her small business. Then, everything starts by opening a home Chiffon cake shop that now has become her permanent job.

By doing something that you love and turn it into a business, it makes us enjoy our work even more. Not only that, but you will also feel less pressure and stressful too.

Just think about it. Are you not going to be proud if you can turn your current hobby into your lifetime fortune? Isn’t it right?

5. Keep in touch!

Being at home and unable to socialise with people can sometimes be intimidating. At least for a few hours in a day, make sure that you spare some time to keep in touch and communicate with someone that you love. Family, friends, relatives, partners, work colleagues are part of your important aspect of life. Ensure that you still keep in touch with them gives you a morale boost and motivation.

Well, if you reach the end of this article, congratulations! These are just some few examples from me, there are still plenty more things that you can explore throughout this quarantine season. Be mindful and stay positive whatever you’re doing. Stay home, stay safe and take care!

Christopher Reno Budiman is a writer, explorer and entrepreneur-minded person. He received Bachelor of Business (Hospitality Management) and Bachelor of International Hospitality Management with Swiss Hotel Association accreditation. He’s on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn if you would like to know more about him.

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