How are you spending your time during the quarantine days? Unless you are a member of health, shelter, food, logistics, security, etc. sectors you must be at home. If you are working from home, your time must be well spent already. Otherwise, being stuck at home due to the pandemic must give you plenty of time.

You have completed the long to-do list that has been sitting on your kitchen board for ages. Your house is cleaner than ever. You have read quite a few books. Furthermore, you have tried all the recipes you wanted to try.

Now that you still have time in your hands, it might be wise to benefit from this downtime by investing in yourself as there is no limit to improving your knowledge and expertise.

This could be your chance to shine

Social gatherings are out of the question nowadays thanks to COVID-19. Though the social media, that crawls into our lives through our devices and mesmerizes us like a mermaid, is still there more than ever. But if you can manage to unglue yourself from your screen(s), you can use your time to;

• promote your business or the company you work for online,
• connect with more likeminded people through LinkedIn or other professional networking platforms,
• subscribe to online training sessions or courses by Lynda.com (keep in mind that you might have access to Lynda.com for free through your local library account, make sure you check it out), or other providers,
• educate yourself on strategies and technologies relevant to your career,
• stay up to date on your job and industry by following professional associations related to your field,
• seek a mentor and keep in touch with them, pick their brain on your questions,
• make a list of your short and long term goals,
• in case you are planning to make a radical change in your career, start your research and create a path to follow.

Be smart

After this long break. if you go back to work with;

• a couple of professional training or course certificates;
• a few ideas on how to reach your, your team’s or your company’s goals;
• a list of what you have learned from this extraordinary experience; or
• anything that shows that you are eager to learn and to help your organization any way you can,

I believe your supervisor would be impressed. Well, I know I would.

Always look at the bright side of your circumstances and use them in your favour. Don’t throw a pity party. Instead, use your time wisely. And make sure you come out of this mandatory break stronger and well-prepared than ever.