Making the Most of a Lockdown

You can come out a better version of yourself.

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash

Venturing through my Monday morning Facebook scroll, one post shot out and stunned me.

“If you don’t learn a new skill during this pandemic, then you’ve wasted your time,” it read, seeming to grow and embed itself deeper and deeper into my mind.

My thoughts began to race. I had lost count of the weeks we’d been in lockdown and the thought of doing something productive, besides watching Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever or Lifetime’s Married at First Sight, had long since vanished.

Was I a failure because I hadn’t begun to learn a new skill or pinned down what I wanted to learn? After a few minutes, the answer was clear to me. Of course not. This pandemic isn’t a vacation or free time blessed upon us. It’s a global health crisis that impacts those infected and not infected — both physically and mentally. It’s critical to take care of ourselves and those around us first above all else, in whatever way that may be.

But unfair as the post may have been, it did get me thinking. At the very least, were there ways I could re-prioritize my time and regain a sense of purpose during the lockdown? Ultimately, I found there were, through a fairly simple approach.

The Secret Sauce

The key for my quarantine reset was recognizing what I valued most and setting new goals aligned with those values. For me, these value-aligned goals can then be divided into two categories:

1. Personal
2. Professional

Others may suggest that you try to coordinate strategies across both sets of goals. However, I personally feel that doing so ignores the key differences between the two categories— namely, many personal goals are everlasting, while most professional goals have a definitive end. This changed the way I tackled them.

How to Set Your Quarantine Goal(s)

The first thing you should do is write down what you value most and dig deep. Make sure it isn’t as vague as “my family and friends.” Describe what specifically means so much to you. With regard to your “family and friends”, maybe you value your strong relationship, the supportive environment, or the humor you share among one another.

Don’t be afraid to list several items. Below, I have provided a few of my values as examples:

1. Maintaining Strong Relationships with Family & Friends
2. Building a Strong Relationship & Learning More About My Significant Other
3. Creating a Sustainable World & Gaining More Knowledge About Sustainable Development

These are now guiding points for making the most of your quarantine. Take some time and reflect on where you are in your life with each value. Have you spent enough time on each of your values over the past month, 6 months, a year? Have you reached or missed any milestones?

Now that you’ve identified what matters most to you and reflected on where you are in fostering these values, you can work on setting realistic and meaningful goals during quarantine.

Then, take some time to write down your goals based on your initial values. Separate each one of these goals into the two categories mentioned earlier: (1) Personal Goals and (2) Professional Goals.

Below, I have provided steps that I found helpful in working through these goals:

How to Make the Most of Your Personal Goals

Photo by Meghan Holmes on Unsplash

1. Get Specific About Your Goal — What is it that you want to accomplish? Why is this so important to you? Get granular about the personal goal by using the five “W”s as your guide — ask yourself the “What”, “Where”, “Who”, “When”, and “Why” questions. For instance, “I want to maintain strong relationships with my friends and family” may not cut it. Something more clear can be “I want to strengthen my relationship with my parents during quarantine through learning more about my family’s history”.
2. Set a Designated Time — If you want to achieve a set goal, you’re going to have to spend some time on it. This could be on a daily, weekly, or potentially monthly schedule, depending on your goals. Place calendar events and reminders on your phone, planner, or your work calendar if you have Outlook or another e-mail system.
3. Consider Enlisting a Friend to Help (If Applicable) — A friend can help you stay accountable towards your personal goals. Perhaps your friend has a similar goal and you can work together (such in the case of working out) or your friend can check in every so often to make sure you’re on track to accomplish your goal.
4. Welcome Failure — You learn the most about yourself from your failures. Don’t be afraid to use them to your advantage. For instance, maybe you have been working on a goal to get in shape but a mesmerizing donut overpowered you (I know we’ve all been there). Don’t give up. Knowing that you have a sweet tooth, you can set these as rewards towards your overall goal.

How to Make the Most of Your Professional Goals

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Whether you’re trying to learn a new skill, find a new job, or brush up on your networking skills, professional goals have one thing in common: there is an end goal. There is something definitive or specific you want to achieve to feel you’ve made it.

To achieve these goals, I’ve always found it helpful to do the following steps:

1. Think Backward: Where Do I Want to End Up — The more specific you can be about your end goal, the easier it will be to envision and guide you through the end.
2. Actionable Items: What are Key Steps to Get There — After outlining your goal, consider what action items would need to occur before achieving your goal. Growing up in an immigrant family with little formal education, I always dreamed of being the first to get my Master’s degree. But in order to obtain a Master’s, I’d have to finish undergraduate, take an entrance exam, and build up a resume worth a university’s time. After outlining these, I realized my actionable items had their own actionable items, including a high GPA, strong job history, and glowing recommendations. The process of writing down each component helps you gauge where you are in the process and what your next steps could be.
3. Write Down Your Goal & Your Action Plan for the Next 30, 60, and 90 days— According to a study by Psychology Professor Dr. Gail Matthews, writing down your goals increases your commitment to take actionable steps. However, if you have a very long-term goal, this can be intimidating. By creating short-term goals, you can create milestones that will help to keep you motivated. I generally recommend creating these steps in 30, 60, and 90 day intervals. This provides you with a manageable actionable goal while still allowing for flexibility as things change. For instance, in preparing for my financial licenses in my last year of school, I sectioned out when I would reach chapters or take practices. This helped make studying more digestible than worrying about the looming exams.
4. Reward Yourself Along the Way — Celebrate at each milestone. In college, when I had late nights and felt ready to give up on a reading, I’d place a sour worm after the next few pages. It revitalized my interest and helped me push forward. For you, this could mean having a video happy hour with your friends after you’ve finished your practice test, sent in that resume, or finished up the online course you started. Set these celebrations as you write down your actionable items. This means that if you don’t reach the item you should not celebrate.

The uncertainty the pandemic has caused can be extremely overwhelming and we should not make light of the current situation. However, it may also allow us an opportunity that we’d be remiss to ignore — an chance to reflect on ourselves, the world, and ultimately, reach a better place than where we started. I hope you’ll give it a shot as well!