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HOLIDAYSSSS is one of the most favorite words for all of us, right? And the moment we hear about holidays, we tend to imagine a relaxed series of days, vacation, watching TV, eating food, and doing nothing. Apart from all this,
if we manage to stay productive during this time it provides us an edge over others in many ways. I am sure most of you agree with me. By staying productive I don't mean working for long hours or canceling your plans. Enjoyment and productivity should go hand in hand. There is a cliche, which I feel will really help here: focusing on “quality over quantity”.
First of all, to be productive you need to make yourself a proper timetable, this can be lenient as it's your break time, but don't ignore it completely as creating a timetable really helps to get things done and stay organized as we all know.
What can you do to stay productive?
To start with the academic perspective, the best thing one can do is to get enrolled for a course on an online platform such as Coursera related to your subject or any of your interests. This will help you in giving an edge over your peers in your professional life.
There’s a saying, “ He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own.” So one of the most valuable activities you can begin with is learning a new language. There are platforms such as Duolingo which can help you out with your journey.
Volunteering or interning can be a fantastic option to get hands-on experience in any field you are interested in. This will also add immense value to your resume in turn helping your professional life. There are many platforms such as Internshala, LinkedIn, etc to help in the job hunt.
All of the activities above are related to your academics in some or the other way. Now, do something for yourself by developing a new hobby. This can be anything that interests you, dancing, music, photography, etc.
Learning a new skill is a great thing to do in your break as it’s fun if you love that skill. It could be cooking, a sport, drawing, coding, etc.
Reading is an essential thing in the present world, reading helps update your knowledge and gives a completely different perspective. To start with, fiction books are the best as they are very interesting. Once you get the hang of reading, you can shift the genre to self-help, business, history, etc.
Not only reading by watching and listening to content also improves knowledge and helps give a different perspective. By content, I mean documentaries, podcasts, self-help videos on YouTube, etc. At the same time, you should not miss out on famous Netflix series too!
Vocabulary and writing skills are very useful in both your personal as well as professional life, so working on improving them may help you in
many ways. One way of doing this is through vocabulary.com, magoosh, etc.
Apart from all these, there are many tiny things that many tend to miss out on. Spending time with your family and friends is very important as you might not have enough time after the vacation. Invest time in your health, develop a habit of exercising regularly, and develop a healthy routine. Setting a goal for the next semester and developing a proper plan gives you a proper path on what to do and how to accomplish them for the next 5 to 6 months. Inculcate a habit of self-reflection before your bedtime.
Time management techniques
To stay productive during holidays and start implementing the above-mentioned activities, it’s very crucial to manage time effectively. These are a few techniques that will help you in your journey:
1. The most obvious thing one should do to manage time is to develop a realistic timetable. Make sure the timetable is not strict as it's your break, this is just to let you know what exactly to do and when to do it.
2. Writing down a to-do list and taking frequent breaks help improve efficiency.
3. One of the easy ways to take charge of your time is to know where and how much of your time you are spending. This can be done by drawing a time management square and dividing it into 4 equal pieces. Assume X-axis as important and Y-axis as urgent.
Now in the first quadrant (very important) allocate things that are important but not urgent, such as exercising, reading, etc. in the second quadrant allocate things that are not urgent as well as not important, watching movies, playing video games, etc.
In the third quadrant, allocate activities that are not important but urgent, household work, etc. in the fourth quadrant allocate activities that are important as well as urgent like assignments, projects, classes, etc. By doing this you will be able to allocate time, prioritize things and take charge of your time.
The holidays are a time to celebrate. Although being productive might not be all that exciting, it need not be a gloomy condition. With the advice given above, you can remain productive while having fun in the holidays. But keep in mind to balance! It's difficult to carry out all the things this blog suggests. And I'm sure you want to enjoy this break to the fullest. Don't let this overwhelm you. Instead, create a practical strategy.
--- Sai Shreyas Ravva