Lockdown learning

Learning is a great way to help you stay sane during lockdown, which can also bring some very welcome extra income, writes Simon Hall, from experience...

Cambridge city in lockdown

Here we are again, but this time with experience. 

So over the next four weeks of the lockdown in England, I'm going to write about ways to make the time more bearable, and perhaps even productive. 

I'll start with my favourite ally in the fight against the misery these weeks can bring - learning.

 

Most of us have got more time on our hands now.

Cambridge was very noticeably quiet when I went for a walk around on Thursday, the first day of the new lockdown. 

There's less commuting, less going out, a lot less working for many, sadly. 

But that free time also brings an opportunity for expanding your skills.

 

I know it can be difficult to get motivated. But let me try to help. 

The last time around, I bought a second hand professional camera and taught myself about photography. 

I know lots of people will worry about the cost of investing in something new.

But it's actually proved to be a money maker. 

I've taken pictures for a few businesses and people now, and that's repaid the investment with plenty of interest. 

More importantly, learning about photography gave me something to look forward to, and feel like I wasn't just wasting the time. 

And for me, the wellbeing thing is one of the greatest challenges of lockdown. 

 

The other way I spent a lot of time was writing.  

It's a love of mine anyway, but I've never written a non fiction book. 

So I wondered what might be worth publishing, reflected on my time in Cambridge, and the answer was obvious:

- Business communication. 

So many companies and entrepreneurs ask me about it, I've made a very good living from it, so there was an obvious market...

The result is Accelerating Your Business Through Communication, published next week. 

Again, it's financially worthwhile, but more importantly:

It made me think, analyse, write, work, rewrite, interview, rewrite some more, learn and grow. 

Which was also great for my wellbeing. 

 

Finally, don't get me wrong. I hate Covid with a raging passion. I detest what it's done to our world. 

But if we're stuck with the vicious thing (hopefully for not too long) then we might as well use our wonderful human spirit and try to find some small ways to get over on it. 

If you've got others, do let me know. I'd appreciate hearing them, and I expect many others would as well.



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