Staying Productive in Lockdown

Although we're all hoping to hear positive news in the next major government update this week, lockdown is currently still in place and the restrictions are set for the near future, so very few of us will ever have had so much time on our hands. It would be easy to let this time pass by, so we have put together some top tips on how to make this lockdown period more productive.

Routine
If you’re working from home, then the likelihood is that you already have some sort of routine as you need to be answering those video calls and available to answer the phone during normal business hours. However, if you aren’t working at the moment, then the days can merge together due to a lack of structure. We would recommend finding your own routine, even if you’re not working – getting up at a set time and having some structure to your day will help your mental wellbeing and with the compartmentalisation of your time.

Small Manageable Goals
The key to productivity is being effective over sustained periods, and that means lots of small but easily identifiable goals. Think about reading a large book – 30 chapters may seem excessive, but 3 per day is much easier to achieve and will at least have you making some headway into the task – by setting a target that is easily achievable, you will often motivated to exceed it and as such be even more productive.

Learn A Language
One way to make the most of this lockdown period is to learn a new skill, such as acquiring a new language. With websites and applications such as Duolingo offering structured and methodical teaching techniques for learning a new language. We would recommend a language such as French if you are going to teach yourself as you will probably have some basics ingrained from school, and the sentence structure and word stems are comparable to English.

Organise Your Home
There has truly never been such an opportune moment to organise your home and get rid of all those possessions that you no longer need! Why not look back at the lockdown as the time you organised your home; think about the kitchen cupboards, wardrobe, bath cabinet – all of the spaces that can be neglected.

Organise Your Finances
With the lockdown bringing fiscal implications for many of us, now is a good time to take stock of your personal finances. Spend some time analysing your own personal finances, looking at your monthly expenditure, savings, mortgage or rent and see how you can improve on your current status. That may mean opening a savings account and depositing just a little each month, or cancelling services that you no longer use, such as expensive gym memberships. Taking stock of your finances now could put you in a better place in future years, as you create better spending and saving habits. Our in-house Financial Adviser is available on a free helpline - 0800 368 9283.