Productive Things To Do During Lockdown

I hope everyone is having a lovely day, well as lovely as they can with the stress of what's going on in the world right now. I've created a list of activities that I thought could be helpful to those with a lot on their mind at the moment, so hopefully you can make the most of this time at home. I haven't completed all of these myself and I'm aware that not everyone will have access to items needed for some of the activities. It is my own personal list that I am hoping to achieve so thought I would share in case anyone needed the inspiration. Hope you enjoy reading and manage to complete at least 1!

1. Donate

The most productive and rewarding activity is to donate to others in need. If you are working from home, you could possibly donate the amount of money that you are saving on your commute to charity? Or the amount that you would usually spend on a haircut or at the salon? There are a variety of different challenges online and on social media that you could complete and get family or friends to sponsor you to do. On social media, the #run5donate5nominate5 challenge is extremely popular, with the charity run by Virgin called Run For Heroes. You run/walk 5k, then donate 5 pounds to the charity and then you nominate 5 other people to do it. This is something that I have actually completed myself and I hope to keep running regularly in the future. You could also even volunteer for the NHS or make masks for the workers.

2. Clean and clear house

Tidy house, tidy mind! Now there's nothing better than getting to relax and sit back at the end of the day knowing that you don't have anything else left to do. I'm going to say this frequently throughout this blog, write a list! This helps you to organise all of the thousands of thoughts in your mind into one place, and you can tick them off once you've completed them and see how much you have achieved. I always like to write a couple of different lists, one for each room of the house. This way you can really visualise what needs to be done and focus on one chore at a time. Get creative and try to think outside of the box when DIY'ing. Try to use what you've got in the house for organisation. I've managed to use shoe boxes, old mugs and lids for a range of organisational storage. I mainly get my ideas from Stacey Solomon on Instagram and also 'The Home Genie' Georgina Burnett, who is also on Instagram and sometimes has her own crafting segment on ITV's This Morning.

3. Workout


It is hard to stay positive during a global crisis, as we are all lacking any structure during the day and any motivation to even get up in the morning. One thing that is guaranteed to produce those happy hormones is exercise! It doesn't have to be excessive or regimental in time or duration. Just write a list of all the things that you would like to get done that day and include your workout. That way you can do it at any time, to fit around your day. There are many ways that you can exercise; without any equipment at all. Try a home workout; like Joe Wicks on YouTube or make up your own! There are also various live workouts on Instagram aswell, for example RWL is a great account to follow. Walk around your neighbourhood for as long or as short as you want or run around your local park. If you have a dog, take advantage of your walks and enjoy the weather for a tad bit longer. Also, this may sound a bit childish to a few, but I love doing workouts on JustDance on my Nintendo Wii. The 'Just Sweat' section provides you with exercises ranging from 10 minutes to 45 minutes, filled with exercise and dance routines. My current goal that I am attempting is to run 5k in 35 minutes, which may not seem like a struggle to some but I have never been running before in my area and, trust me, the difficulty of running on mixed terrain feels a lot different to a running machine!

4. Read a book

Reading opens up the mind and expands your imagination. However, this does depend on what book you're reading. Carefully choose what book you read, as it is very easy to just disregard a whole genre if you didn't like one specific book. Every writer has their own writing style, make sure to read the blurb! I always flick through some of the pages and read a couple of paragraphs so I can get an idea of how easy it is for me to read and the tone of the novel. Pick a genre that you enjoy, or if you're not sure, then think back to what you enjoyed as a child, or the genre of film/TV that you like to watch and then explore. My all time favourite book is The Madness of a Seduced Woman by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer.

5. Relax and unwind


During our normal day-to-day life, we never really get the chance to properly relax. Even though the circumstances are tragic, it's left us with a lot of time to spare. Everyday you need to try and set some time for yourself, doing something that relaxes you can temporarily distract you from the stresses of the outside world. Too much stress can massively affect how your body functions; the state of your skin, mental health and physical health can dramatically deteriorate overtime. If you've got a bath, maybe jazz it up a bit with a glittery bath soak or a colourful bath bomb. Take a walk in your nearest park and admire the flowers that have bloomed this springtime. You could even try Meditation, there are some great phone apps to get you started. Breathing exercises can easily put your mind at ease if your days are becoming more melancholy. I would also highly recommend trying to reduce your intake of the news, as that can be very repetitive and can easily scare people who are trying to be positive and stay indoors. I have been watching the news once at lunchtime and once at dinnertime (5pm when the speeches from politicians are on TV), as I find that it the most useful time for me.

6. Plan Meals

Planning your week's meals is a task which requires effort but is extremely satisfying when you complete it. With the current climate, it is much harder to get the food that you want. Therefore, planing ahead might make it easier for you when shopping instead of getting caught up in the moment and panic buying. Again, I strongly advise writing a shopping list. My family and I use the 'Notes' app on our phones, we then write the list trying to keep it as healthy as we can, including a variety of different meats and fish each week. We sync it to each others phones and tick it off once anyone has bought any of the items, so that we don't buy duplicates and so we are all on the same page. Once someone ticks an item, the same tick appears on everyone's phones. It can be edited at any time.


7. Create a Skin Routine

When working, I never get the opportunity to create my own skin routine and actually stick to it, it's always just a quick 5 minutes of cleansing and moisturising in the morning. However now, I've organised all of my face and body products and have created myself a skin routine, that I try to do every morning/night and whenever I'm having a shower/bath. I try to treat my skin as much as I can, and put the effort in so that it will hopefully improve it's condition in the future. My favourite things to do are putting on face masks, using a body brush to help with cellulite and dry skin, using my body toner cream and Bio Oil. The more effort you put into it now, the less you will have to do when your routine goes back to its normal hectic state.

8. Do something productive related to work

Depending on your current situation or the type of job that you have, consider what you could do to improve your employability during this time indoors. I have personally been taking some time to work on my online presence as that relates to my career choice and would help me in any future job search. I barely have any followers on my blog's Instagram, so I am hoping to change that in the next 3 weeks of isolation. I will keep you posted!

9. Learn a new skill

We've probably got another 3 weeks at least of lockdown left, leaving you with plenty of time to learn a new skill. Whether that is knitting, mastering a new recipe or completing an online course; do whatever makes you happy. Set aside some time out of your day to work on the skill, not only is this fun, but you will feel a great sense of achievement afterwards.

10. Blog/Journal

Starting your own blog may seem daunting at first, but if you write what you love then putting the work in doesn't seem like a mundane task. Or if you're not feeling like making your views public, then start journalling. You could use any type of notebook, just open it up and start writing down your thoughts. Sometimes it is easier to set a time, like in the mornings or evenings specifically, where you can write down a multitude of things. YouTuber Elle Darby suggested to her followers to right down what they are grateful for each day, so you move forward with your day with a positive mindset, feeling proud of all that you have achieved and grateful for the life that you have.



Those are all of my tips on how to be productive during lockdown! Thank you for sticking around for the whole post. Trying to keep a positive mindset is all that we want during this difficult time in the world, but it could also be useful to understand that everyone in the world is experiencing the same threat, and will all be feeling some sort of anxiety towards this in some form, you are not alone. My next blog post will include all of the things that I am trying to do purely just for fun...everything that is totally non-productive!