As I mentioned in my last post, I was furloughed July 1. This was not surprising, as there has been a halt in the live sports and entertainment industries. We also don’t know when we will be able to return to work, as this situation continues to remain fluid and lots of uncertainty lies ahead.

I am an INTJ, an Enneagram 3 (and 1), and someone who thrives off of productivity and staying busy. I haven’t had time to sit back and relax since I graduated from high school. With all of this spare time suddenly on my hands, I knew that I had to find a way to stay productive. I mean, I even left town for 6 days to occupy my time while I got adjusted to the lack of work. I needed to slowly adjust to this new normal and therein lies my issue of not knowing how to just be still.

Once I got back from my trip, I decided to implement some guidelines for myself after I started feeling unproductive. The first one is NO TELEVISION UNTIL 6PM on weekdays. I wanted a way to separate the work week from the weekend and this is one of the ways I’ve been able to do that. Sitting back and watching TV all day is a sure-fire way to feel lazy and unmotivated.

Instead of watching TV, I made an agreement with myself to READ 3 BOOKS PER WEEK. As a child, I used to read an insane amount of books. I would have my library card maxed out at all times and one summer in particular, I tracked over 160 books read. I have since neglected reading and let other distractions get in the way, but now is a great time to get back into it.

Over the past few years, I’ve found it difficult to focus on my personal brand. I purchased two domains, created the websites, designed the logos and created branding elements, wrote a few posts, and just let them sit. So I am committing myself to WRITE ONE BLOG POST PER WEEK. This could be a post here or on my triplesandsliders.com website, but I need to write and publish one post per week. While these sites are a side project and mostly just for fun, they are the culmination of who I am as a person and I enjoy having them.

The fourth guideline is applicable to everyone. It is so easy to get lost in social media. I regularly use Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Facebook, and even Pinterest. If a topic is trending on any social media platform, chances are I’ve already seen it and read through the discussions. The rate at which I consume social media is honestly a bit frightening, so I decided to implement a LIMIT SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE guideline for myself. By using Screen Time, I’m able to monitor my usage daily and weekly.

In addition to reading more, I decided that this would be a great time to LEARN SOMETHING NEW. There are so many courses that are available to us and I am no stranger to online classes. I took a coding class in college and learned the basics of C++, but I want to learn other programming languages so that’s what I plan to focus on.

My sixth and final guideline is the hardest for me to follow: DON’T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF. Regardless of the situation, I am my own worst critic. I’m a perfectionist and like to dissect every little thing in my life, whether a situation is within my control or not. I refuse to make errors. I need to work on letting myself release the need for control and understand that if I make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world.

I’m sure that I’ll come up with other guidelines for myself and I’ve also accepted that it’s okay to modify them. I‘ve found that this gives me a basic outline each day to work with. It lets me feel more productive and busy, as I’m basically following a schedule that I set for myself. In the future, it’s possible that I may even begin to set an actual schedule each day. But for now, this works.

If you’re struggling with feeling productive, I highly suggest sitting down and evaluating the way that you spend your time. Set aside an hour or two to make guidelines for yourself. You can use some of mine or come up with your own. It’s a difficult time for many people right now, but I’m trying to still see the positives in this mess. Best of luck on your productivity and let me know in the comments below what you think, or if you have any additional tips.