3 Productive Ways to Use Your COVID-19 Down Time
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Google Play
This is definitely a crazy time as we all figure out how to deal with the coronavirus situation. Most people’s work schedules, in addition to every facet of life, are being affected right now.
That certainly applies to my work as well as my wife’s work as we have been juggling a lot of changes and situations that are changing every day. In fact, you might have noticed that I’ve been on a short hiatus for the last couple of weeks as I regroup and make some adjustments.
However, I really wanted to get this episode out there to offer some simple tips on how to use your extra time during this crisis.
First things first
First, I want to make sure you’re doing OK. That is the most important thing to me. I may not know you personally because I don’t know everyone who listens to my podcast or reads my blog.
But regardless of who you are, I really care about your well-being and just want you to know that I hope you’re doing OK.
In times like this, it’s vital that we take care of ourselves. I’m sure you are feeling extra stress, whether it’s from your business, maybe from having kids at home more, or maybe just from the general panic and uncertainty of life right now.
It’s easy to just stop caring and binge Netflix for hours at a time, sleep all day, just eat junk food that feels good at the moment, and basically give up on life for a while. But I want to encourage you not to give in to those impulses. Times like these call for our best, not our worst.
Please take care of yourself, stay healthy, and do as much as you can to maintain a sense of normalcy.
A lot of people’s work schedules are being upended now, and both my wife and I are working from home. I imagine most of your are a similar situation, or perhaps you already work from home.
Regardless of your specific situation, I’m sure you will some extra time on your hands during the next few weeks. I’d like to offer three ways to use your extra time so you can stay more productive and forward-focused.
1. Work on your writing.
Chances are pretty good that you have a book you’ve been wanting to write. Or maybe several. You probably have blog posts or podcast content that is backlogged, or even client work, that is waiting to get done.
This is a great time to put the pedal to the metal and make serious progress on those projects. Even if you just take an hour extra per day for your writing, that’s six hours per week–almost a whole workday, if you work Monday through Saturday.
And if you were to write two hours a day, that’s twelve hours per week. You can get a LOT of writing done in twelve hours per week.
The main thing that I’m working on now is an outline for my next book, which will focus on being a smart and productive business writer. I’m putting together my outline and am planning to launch the book this Fall.
I also have to mention a couple of resources that are super helpful to me right now in terms of productivity.
The first is Joanna Penn’s excellent book, Productivity for Writers. It’s a short little book but is absolutely packed with great tips on getting more writing done. Joanna is a machine in terms of her writing output, so she’s the ideal person to teach you how to be more productive.
Another person whom I greatly admire and respect for her amazing writing output is Honoree Corder. She has an amazing book called You Must Write a Book, and it will help you plan, organize, and launch your book.
2. Work on your planning.
I know it seems like this crisis will last forever. But the reality is that this will pass, as all things do. And when it does, we will all be glad that we took the opportunity to plan our writing and our business activities.
I encourage you to try and plan out your content for the rest of the year. It doesn’t mean you have to create it all right now. It just means that you know what content you need to create, and when you will create it.
For example, I know my main writing project is my next book. I’m also going to have a draft of another book done by the end of the year, but that’s a whole different project. I’m also working on my plans for the podcast, and lining up topics and themes we’ll be talking about for the next several months.
I also want us to think about financial planning. This coronavirus pandemic is affecting us all, and it’s probably thrown your business for a loop. This is the time to get proactive about building relationships, which we’ll get to in a moment.
This is really all about mindset. It’s tempting to sit back and get depressed because this situation is throwing a huge wrench into every aspect of our lives. But instead of doing that, ask yourself, “What does this make possible?” What new opportunities does this give you?
Here’s the cool thing: as a writer and content creator, this whole thing is an amazing opportunity. Why? Because more people are going to be home, and they are hungry for stories, ideas, how-to articles, great books, audiobooks, podcasts, and so much other stuff. And we can provide that for them!
So take this time to re-assess where your writing and business are at, then make whatever adjustments you need to make and most important, TAKE ACTION. This is not the time to do a long term study. It’s time to make plans, take action, and then adjust as needed.
3. Work on your connections.
I’ve heard it said before that “your network is your net worth.” That’s putting it kind of in crass money terms, but the general sentiment is true — your success in large part is determined by the quality and size of your network.
Our first impulse is going to probably be looking for clients or readers, and I totally get that. But I would encourage you to focus on giving and adding value right now. People are very open to you reaching out and seeing how they are doing. They appreciate that.
I will always be grateful for my background as a pastor because that is kind of baked into who I am. The typical church size in America is around 75 people or so, the last I heard, so maybe that is a good template to use when thinking about your network.
Imagine that you have a personal congregation of 75 people that you need to check on within the next four weeks. That’s about twenty people per week, or just four people per day. That is very, very do-able.
If 75 seems impossible, then start with just ten people. Who are ten people that you care about? Ten people who have impacted your life? Ten people on Facebook or LinkedIn that you have a good connection with? Maybe ten clients or prospective clients?
Just shoot them a message to check in and see how they’re doing, and let them know you’re thinking about them.
Something else you can do that is really effective is using the Loom software to create short videos to send to someone. Then you send that video link to the person.
There are many ways to connect with people, and lots of different systems. My friend Jennifer Harshman is an expert in this, and I’ve learned a lot from her ability to connect with people. The main idea here is to add value to people, to give before you ask for anything. It really goes back to the golden rule: do unto others and you’d have them do unto you.
The choice is yours
In summary, my main response to all this from a writing perspective is this: you can choose to sit and worry this whole time and get very little work done, or you can choose to take advantage of this extra time to set yourself up for success after the initial crisis passes. The choice is really up to you.
The fact of the matter is that as soon as quarantine measures are over and people start getting active again, there is going to be an explosion of activity. People will have been cooped up for a while and will be ready to spend money, get outside and get active, and get re-engaged with all aspects of their life. And when that time comes, you will wish you would have gotten more done and made more progress when you had some extra time.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on all this. How do you plan on using your extra time right now to make progress on your writing and grow your business?
Thanks for Listening!
If you’d like to share your thoughts:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google, and elsewhere.
This episode was sponsored by ConvertKit, the only email marketing service I use and recommend. Click here to begin your FREE 30-day trial.
