Skills You Can Acquire And Work On While You Are Under Lockdown... FOR FREE!
Weve been under lockdown long enough to have exhausted all the major shows on Netflix Amazon Prime Hotstar. We are all pretty much bored of Ludo and card games with family and nothing seems to be interesting enough to while away time. So maybe we should try something different and worthwhile - something that might add to our skills. None of this asks you to order things online or spend money at all - you can acquire new skills for free Ivy league...Read More
We've been under lockdown long enough to have exhausted all the major shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar. We are all pretty much bored of Ludo and card games with family, and nothing seems to be interesting enough to while away time. So, maybe we should try something different and worthwhile - something that might add to our skills.
Owing to the lockdown we have a lot of time on our hands that we previously did not. So, why not hone some skills that can boost our resume or make our lives easier in general?
None of this asks you to order things online or spend money at all - you can acquire new skills for free.
- Ivy league courses
Most of us are stuck in homes. Some time or they other, we have all wondered about doing a course from a foreign university, well now is the time. There are hundreds of courses out there on a variety of subjects like science, marketing, etc offered by Ivy league schools FOR FREE!
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You can simply google them, and apply for a course at universities like Yale, Brown, Harvard etc and learn about your interest in detail!
Since we are under lockdown, it's possible that you have been surviving on packets of Maggi and pasta - because you were probably too dependent on your house help/cook - but how long are you going to do that? Now that you HAVE to cook, might as well learn how to cook a few basic things like rice, idli, dosa, dal etc. There are thousands of videos available on YouTube on how to cook each dish. One thing I learnt is that I can make a chocolate cake from biscuits, oil, milk and sugar! No eggs or white flour needed.
Acquire the basic culinary skills, they will surely come in handy sooner or later; actually, sooner rather than later.
PM Modi recently released an animated video of him doing yoga, to urge people to take up this healthy regime. He is right. Yoga will not only render you physically fit, it will help you stay mentally fresh too.
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Take up just a few basic yoga exercises, perform them at a fixed time of the day - they will increase your flexibility, and keep you calm and composed in general, and God knows we all can use some of that.
- Freelance
If it does not come in conflict with the company where you are working at, or if you are a school or a college student just looking to save some money (this is a good time to save as there is hardly anything to spend money on) you should look for freelance opportunities.
Given we are all saving more than a couple of hours a day because of lack of traveling and dressing up, you can invest that time into making more money for yourself!
- Learn Social skills
Introverts or extroverts we all have our problems when it comes to dealing with people in social circles. Depending on what your nature is, you can take the time out to work on your social skills.
Just like for everything else, there are a number of YouTube videos and courses available on how to hone your social skills. Apart from helping you with personal interactions these will also help you professionally as well.
- Take Up A Certification
Many certification courses have cut down their registration fees tremendously, as no students can attend offline classes.
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This is a great time to add a skill to your resume and learn some new tricks and trade of your profession. With almost no financial investment, it can prove to be tremendously beneficial for your career.
- Take up e-reading
This is less of a skill than a hobby, albeit one that can prove to be very essential. No you don't have to buy books online, though it would be a good idea to first read those.
Ereading
There are thousands of e-books available free of cost, that you can download and read in your devices - fiction, non fiction, anthologies - this will not only help you gather knowledge but expand your vocabulary. Reading activities creative thinking, and you could always do with more of that, right?
- Write Blogs, Create Vlogs
It's time to let that latent talent lose. You cannot say that you are not getting the time to create that blog or record that video. This is the time, take up a pen or your laptop and start writing.
Or pick up your phone and start recording. This is the ideal time to create content and learn how to do it right.
- Learn a new language
This will require you to stick around for longer than the lockdown period. but this is the ideal time to start learning a new language. Having more than two languages on your CV really ups your chances of getting hired and it is certainly a desirable skill.
You can pick up the language of the country you want to visit next, or pick from the popular ones like German, Spanish or French, tutorials for which are available online for free.
- Learn to dance or sing
None of these could be your forte but if you ever thought that you have the slightest interest in either, it is time to start honing.
Take those jazz lessons available on YouTube or classes for singing.
It is easy to simply sit and say ¡®I have nothing to do¡¯. With access to the Internet there is nothing in the world that you cannot do right now, from the comfort of your home. And you already know you're going to have to stay put for a while, so why not use this time fruitfully?
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