Right now, while you’re working from home, you’re not fighting traffic during your daily commute, you’re sitting in on fewer meetings and, unfortunately, things might be quieter with some of your clients. Do you know what that means? It means you’ve got a little extra time on your hands.
And you have three choices as to what you can do with that time. You can do more work. You can do something mindless (like watch reruns on TV and snack on Cheetos) or you can work on something you probably don’t spend enough time working on… yourself! Right now, with those available extra hours, is an ideal time for personal development. And here are 5 ways to make that happen…
Read. Think about starting your day reading, before the daily ‘workload’ really kicks in. Read a book, subscribe to blogs, browse informational websites, scan your LinkedIn and Twitter feeds, scroll through your Google Alerts and so on. Spending a few minutes every morning over that first cup of coffee – staying abreast of news and trends in Market Research and in the industries or markets you serve – is a great way to start the day!
Watch. There is virtually no topic that’s not accessible on YouTube. Research methodologies, research applications, relevant TedX talks, industry experts, and so on.
Attend. There are hundreds of webinars and online workshops that can teach you all kinds of tips, tools and techniques to help you do your job better… from the comfort of your dining room table (or wherever your office is these days). Browse some of them at https://www.quirks.com/events or http://www.mrweb.com/diary/training.htm.
Browse. Sometimes, when you’re feeling a little adventurous, try typing a key word or phrase into your search engine and see what happens. For the best results, put your search term in quotation marks, so instead of focus group moderating, for example, you would search on “focus group moderating”. In addition to Google searches, you can also search for recent posts on LinkedIn and Twitter (knowing key hashtags will help).
Get personal. Personal development is not just about professional development. Right now is also a good time to work on ‘you.’ Keep your fitness level up by going for a brisk walk or riding your bike, read a novel – for fun!, have a play break with your kids, spend some quiet time with your significant other, start a new hobby, etc. “All work and no play…” 😉
Conclusion
If you can’t – or won’t – dedicate a little extra time to personal development right now… when will you? Once things return to normal, this unique window of opportunity for personal development will be gone (or will, at least, be very different).
Even if you have to put these items on your Google calendar or tape them to your office wall so you see them every day to make sure you do them… that’s fine. Do whatever it takes for these activities to become habits! Think about it this way… with the extra time on your hands used properly, you can exit the pandemic a better person than when it started.
Don’t waste this opportunity!
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