Can you find Cuba on a map? What else do you know about this Caribbean nation with a population of about 11.3 million people?
What Do the Objects in Your Home Say About You?
Find all our Student Opinion questions here.
What could someone learn about you by visiting your home — or by seeing it in the background of a Zoom meeting or video call? Choose three objects and explain what each says about you.
In the article “The ‘Credibility Bookcase’ Is the Quarantine’s Hottest Accessory,” Amanda Hess writes about what books and bookcases, in particular, can say about someone, especially while in the background of a television interview:
Imagine that you are a member of the expert class — the kind of person invited to pontificate on television news programs. Under normal circumstances, your expertise might be signaled to the public by a gaudy photograph of skyscrapers superimposed behind your head. But now the formalities of the broadcast studio are a distant memory, and the only tools to convey that you truly belong on television are the objects within your own home. There’s only one move: You talk in front of a bookcase.
As the broadcast industry shelters in place, the bookcase has become the background of choice for television hosts, executives, politicians and anyone else keen on applying a patina of authority to their amateurish video feeds. In March, when the coronavirus put the handshaking and baby-kissing mode of presidential campaigning on pause, Joe Biden conspicuously retreated from public view for several long days as his team scrambled to project an air of competence from within Biden’s basement. When he finally re-emerged, it was in front of a carefully curated wall-length bookshelf punctuated with patriotic memorabilia like a worn leather football and a triangle-folded American flag.
In April, an anonymous Twitter account, Bookcase Credibility, emerged to keep an eye on the trend and quickly accumulated more than 30,000 followers. Its tagline is “What you say is not as important as the bookcase behind you,” and it offers arch commentary on the rapidly solidifying tropes of the genre as well as genuine respect for a well-executed specimen. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki appears before “a standard credibility wallpaper presentation in the unthreatening homely style.” The migrants’ rights activist Minnie Rahman’s Encyclopaedia Britannica collection “is a lazy hand wafted at convention.” And the British politician Liam Fox’s “bold grab at credibility is somewhat undermined by the hardback copy of The Da Vinci Code.”
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
Look around your home and choose three or more objects that say something about you. For each object, introduce what it is and share why it is meaningful or what it could reveal about you.
What do you think about the idea of the “credibility bookcase” that Ms. Hess discusses in the article? Do you think the books sitting on someone’s bookshelf say anything about that person, even if the person never reads them? Do you have any books in your home that say something about you?
Have you been using video meeting platforms like Zoom during social distancing? If so, explain how you decided on where in your home to appear? Did you move anything around? If so, what did you choose to display — or remove — from other people’s sight? Do you ever sit in a different place, depending on who else is signed in?
A related article — “What Do Famous People’s Bookshelves Reveal?” — contains photos of several well-known people in front of their bookshelves. Take a look through the pictures.
What person, photo or book interested you the most? Why? What, if anything, do you think the book or collection of books says about the person? Can you think of another celebrity that you would like to see in front of his or her book collection? Explain why you chose that person.
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Lesson of the Day: ‘“Murder Hornets” in the U.S.: The Rush to Stop the Asian Giant Hornet’
Sightings of the Asian giant hornet have prompted fears that the vicious insect could establish itself in the United States and devastate bee populations.
In this lesson, you will learn why this insect is such a threat, what is being done to stop it, and why experts believe there is a short amount of time to act.
Warm Up
What do you know about bees? What is pollination, and what role do bees play in it? How does pollination contribute to the cultivation of foods like fruits and vegetables?
What have you heard or read about the decline in the bee population in recent years?
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article, then answer the following questions:
1. What details from the article explain the Asian giant hornet’s moniker “murder hornet”?
2. Why were beekeepers seemingly among the first people in the United States to see the Asian giant hornet?
3. Why do scientists believe the Asian giant hornets found in Washington and British Columbia were not part of the same colony? How did tests confirm this theory?
4. Who is Chris Looney? Why does he feel there is a small window of time in which the hornets must be stopped? How does he hope to trap the hornets?
5. What challenges do Dr. Looney and others working toward the same goal face? How might technology play a role in stopping the hornets?
What is the difference between Japanese honeybees and European honeybees, the most common pollinator in the United States? How has the Japanese honeybee adapted to the threat posed by the hornet?
What’s Going On in This Picture? | May 4, 2020
Students
1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:
2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)
3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.
Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.
4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?
Why we get bored and what to do about it
Most of us will have experienced boredom at some point in our lives. Usually, it’s explained away as a lack of imagination, motivation, or organisation.
But the causes of boredom go far beyond this and, when properly channelled, boredom can be a powerful tool to motivate ourselves to achieve our goals.
We’ve taken a deep dive into why we get bored and why it’s not always a bad thing, and put together some ideas on how to make boredom work for you.
What is boredom and why is it important?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the first usage of what we now understand as boredom dates back to 1853, and Charles Dickens’ novel Bleak House. However, this is hotly disputed with various sources citing the existence of the word many years before 1853.
We now understand being ‘bored, as defined by Lexico, as:
“feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one’s current activity”.
But this definition somewhat underplays the importance of boredom.
If not properly addressed, research has shown that chronic boredom can have serious consequences, ranging from depression and feeling alone to problems with your physical health.
But, it’s not all bad. As human beings, most of us don’t enjoy being unoccupied. We’ll do almost anything to avoid boredom, and it’s this insatiable motivation that is seen as a major driver in our evolution.
Our natural curiosity, together with a desire for purpose and occupation has led us to discover new tools, develop different skills, and create new technologies.
This isn’t the only benefit of boredom either.
In our day to day lives, allowing ourselves to be bored and not immediately searching for a solution is linked to increased mindfulness and improved creativity, and can motivate us to reassess things like career goals and priorities.
In fact, if you want to take thing a step further, there’s even an annual Boring Conference where you can truly embrace the beauty of boredom.
Why do we get bored?
Boredom can be caused by a number of factors, but the most common is being stuck in a repetitive or monotonous experience.
We can notice this almost anywhere, from tedious tasks at work and studying right through to waiting in line at the supermarket. Our brains don’t respond well to experiences that are too predictable, and this lack of stimulation can trigger a negative reaction.
As civilisation has developed, we’ve been presented with more and more opportunities to be bored. Our ancestors were largely focused on survival, and even as recently as a few hundred years ago, essential tasks that we now take for granted would have taken hours. Our minds now have to work harder to occupy that time.
Attention span is also closely linked to boredom. If we’re not giving our attention to what we’re doing, then we’re much more likely to get bored by it.
This is a particular challenge for those with attention deficit issues, and these groups tend to have a higher tendency towards boredom.
Of course, we don’t all experience boredom in the same way. Some of us have a greater need for external stimulation and excitement than others and therefore are more inclined to suffer from boredom than our introverted counterparts.
What to do when you’re bored
As with any problem, understanding it is the first step to overcoming it. As Psychology Today outlines, it’s important to actually understand what’s causing our feelings of boredom. Temporarily distractions – like social media or watching television – are common, but they won’t help us overcome feelings of boredom.
Some common cause are:
- Loneliness. We are social creatures by nature and feeling bored when you’re alone is common.
- Lacking stimulation. Maybe you’ve got stuck in a rut and need a new experience to stimulate your mind. See the next section for some ideas on things to do when you’re bored.
- Inactivity. It might seem like a lot of effort but even just a small amount of physical activity is incredibly beneficial for your brain.
- Avoiding an experience. You might have disconnected to avoid engaging with a particular topic. Try talking about it with someone you trust.
Boredom-busting courses
If you’re looking to beat boredom, keeping your mind active and engaged in fun things to do is a great place to start. We’ve put together a selection of courses from top universities and fascinating cultural institutions to do just that.
Our courses also encourage you to discuss each step with fellow learners from across the globe – meaning they’re a great way to meet with, chat to, and learn from new people.
You can discover boredom-busting courses in everything from career development to taking the first steps on that passion project you’ve been thinking about starting.
We’ve compiled a short selection of our favourites below, but you can find the full collection of courses here.
If you’re feeling like you need a new challenge to beat your boredom and you’ve an interest in computers or programming then this course could be for you.
You’ll get to grips with the basics of computer programming and learn how to build your own mobile game in just five weeks.
Screenplays are the building blocks for all of our favourite films. A great film needs a great script, after all. Maybe you’ve always had an idea for a screenplay but haven’t had the confidence to put it down on paper? Or maybe it’s just something you’d like to know more about?
This online course explores the key concepts behind a professional screenplay and is available to anyone with an interest in scriptwriting.
Is it time to unlock your inner Sinatra? This course will introduce you to the tools and techniques you need to write that first hit.
You’ll also hear from established musicians and songwriters who will share their tips on how to write a great song.
Upskilling can be a productive use of your time if you’re feeling bored. This course will help you to refocus your career goals and discover what skills you’ll need to achieve them.
Covering everything from improving your job applications and interview techniques to building your professional networks, it’s a great way to channel your boredom into something helpful for your future.
Smash a Coronavirus Piñata. You’ll Feel Better.
If you cannot join, beat. Such is the resolve of creative people bashing piñatas to defeat a pandemic (or at least, excise some of their feelings about it).
In Durham, N.C., Xaris Martínez, 37, a historian at the Center for Documentaries at Duke University, used tinfoil and toilet paper rolls to fabricate a “true-to-life” coronavirus piñata for the lonely 33rd birthday of her friend Haley Schomburg. “She’s an extrovert — if this wasn’t happening, it would’ve been an event,” Ms. Martínez said.
The toilet paper rolls were painted red, a reference to the now well-known image of the virus rendered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which showed a gray ball with red spike proteins sticking out of it. The reference was not lost on Ms. Schomburg, who has been on the pandemic’s front line as an emergency department technician.
Ms. Martínez and several other friends left the piñata, packed with treats and toiletries, on Ms. Schomburg’s porch, along with a six-pack of Corona Extra, limes, N-95 masks, toilet paper and a Dolly Parton record. “I’m so grateful for friends who are willing to show love in such fun and unique ways,” Ms. Schomburg said. “Especially in this unprecedented season of our lives.”
Ms. Martínez isn’t the only one constructing coronavirus piñatas for cathartic destruction at (necessarily) underattended birthday parties. It helps that the novel coronavirus structurally resembles a piñata, but at least one family has retrofitted a Corona Extra beer piñata for the occasion.
“I think it’s very healthy,” said Matthew Field, 43, the British ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the phone from his residence in Sarajevo. Mr. Field’s son Milo recently turned 10 under the country’s strict lockdown. “There was no prospect of a party,” Mr. Field said. “When I asked what he wanted, he said: ‘A coronavirus piñata to smash to bits.’”
By that time, the boy — having developed a taste for piñatas in Brazil, where they are a party fixture and where his father was last posted — had not been allowed to leave the house for three weeks. Mr. Field, his wife, and their younger son created a homemade papier-mâché pathogen, strung it from a plum tree in their yard, and gave Milo a mask (for his eyes) and a baseball bat. Milo took it from there.
“I’m in craft mode,” said Rachel Yoder, a novelist in Iowa. “I have a 5-year-old. I had a balloon.” For her husband’s birthday, Ms. Yoder, 41, covered the balloon in newspaper that she’d borrowed from neighbors and dipped it in a paste of water and flour.
She interpreted the virus’s protrusive spikes with tufts of red tissue paper left over from Christmas, and filled up the corona’s hollow with sparkly pompoms and unshelled nuts. A single whack brought the mean thing down.
Like most makers of coronavirus piñatas, Ms. Yoder was unaware that she was part of a mini trend. “And then I saw on Instagram that my friend Jen Percy made one!” she said. The two women laughed about that. (They messaged back and forth: “Miss you!” and “Miss you too, JP. So much!”)
Ms. Percy, 36, a journalist, had created a “coroñata” for her boyfriend’s birthday in Brooklyn. “It functioned like one of those anger rooms where you go to bash things,” she said, citing the couple’s exasperation over the Trump administration, and the need for some delight. She stuffed the piñata with slips of paper that prescribed activities for the couple to do together. “Make s’mores on the roof and pretend we’re camping, for example,” she said.
Others are buying their virus-shaped piñatas from pros.
Rocina Jimenez, 55, an owner of J&R Party, in Los Angeles, has temporarily closed shop but is offering $35 virus piñatas for local delivery. The store has already sold about 50, she said.
On Amazon, one vendor has run out of its $29.99 version, formed like Apple’s slime-green germ emoji, with bat silhouettes pasted on. “Catch the candy not the virus,” the product description reads.
And Lilia Barba, 37, who sells handmade party decorations through her Etsy shop, Craftophologie, said business is booming, in part because of the drive-by parties that have become popular in suburbs like her own, outside Chicago. A pandemic theme is en vogue right now, and Ms. Barba — anticipating demand — is at work on a design for smaller-scale virus piñatas that could serve as goody bags.
People have also bought and wrought coronavirus piñatas for an unknown date: for when the outbreak is in the past; for when we can throw celebratory “after-parties,” the more the merrier.
Ms. Schomburg is saving her coroñata for such an occasion. So is Katie Hanlon, 27, a schoolteacher in Southhampton, England. “It’s hanging in my window at the moment,” she said, dreamily. Ditto Steven Limon, 29, a delivery driver who scored his last month at a piñateria in Mexicali, Mexico.
Jocelyn Warren, 51, a public health administrator in Eugene, Ore., said that when she made one, “the ‘after’ seemed more imminent.” She added: “Now it’s rather vague.” Until better times, the gigantic germ is waiting in her department’s emergency operations center.
It should be said that this kind of destructive creativity can help people cope with uncertainty. After they smashed their coronavirus piñata, Monica Wideman, 37, of St. Louis asked her kids, “‘Do you feel better now? And the answer was ‘Yes.’”
Peggy Drexler, a research psychologist in Manhattan, wrote in an email: “Hitting something (that should be hit, like a punching bag or a piñata) produces a physiological response that helps relieve tension and work through negative feelings (and, possibly, overcome them).”
“I was really wanting to pummel something,” said Natasha McCagg, a yoga instructor in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories, who made three piñatas with her daughters, who are 9 and 15. (“It came to me after my daily meditation,” she added.)
They wrecked one piñata, Ms. McCagg, 44, said. The remaining two are going to health care workers.
“Maybe it’ll be a movement, hey?” she said. “Because the next big problem is going to be the mental health fallout. There is joy in destruction.”
Word + Quiz: creche
creche ˈkresh , ˈkrāsh noun
1. a representation of Christ’s nativity in the stable at Bethlehem
2. a hospital where foundlings (infant children of unknown parents) are taken in and cared for
3. a group of young animals cared for by one adult
_________
The word creche has appeared in four articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Aug. 3 in “Wild Pups Romp Again in an African Paradise” by Natalie Angier:
Yet the wild dogs were unbowed, and this year, after migrating to a less serpent-y sector of Gorongosa’s one million acres, they made up for lost time in spectacular fashion. Beira give birth in late April to 11 pups, who emerged from their den in early June and appear on camera trap footage to be thriving, as well as inexcusably cute (although the runt of the litter eventually died).
… Gorongosa’s pup eruption didn’t end there. Not far from the Beira-Nhamagaia creche, a group of four adult dogs that had split off from the original pack in the spring — three males and one female — appeared to be successfully rearing yet another litter of eight pups.
_________
Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist?
Is there a place for both kinds of outlook during this current crisis?
In “How to Stay Optimistic When Everything Seems Wrong,” Kristin Wong makes the case for optimism in the face of the challenging present and uncertain future:
With the endless stream of urgent news pushing the boundaries of our mental health, it seems laughable to suggest optimism right now. Maybe you’re worried about losing your job, losing your home or losing a loved one. Maybe you already have. Maybe you’re worried about your own health, and maybe you feel helpless or doomed. Whatever it is, optimism feels like a luxury that few of us can afford.
But at its core, optimism doesn’t require you to sweep those anxious, negative feelings under the rug. It’s not about smiling when you don’t feel like it. Optimism is simply being hopeful about the future, even when the present feels wholly negative. Cognitively, this is a challenge, because it requires you to acknowledge your positive and negative emotions at once and to allow them to exist simultaneously. As hard as it may be to make the case for optimism during a time of crisis, that’s when it happens to be the most useful.
“There is an extraordinary level of uncertainty right now, and that produces fear, despair, helplessness and anxiety, which are all understandable and appropriate under these circumstances,” said Stephanie Marston, a psychotherapist and a co-author, with her daughter Ama Marston, of the book “Type R: Transformative Resilience for Thriving in a Turbulent World.”
“Especially during a crisis,” Stephanie Marston said, “we just have to be even more attentive to our emotional state. When we do that, we’re able to more quickly move beyond our stress, discomfort or pain.”
Jennifer Senior makes the argument for “defensive” pessimism in “In Praise of Pessimism.”
Confession: I have a secret talent for making lemons out of lemonade. It may not be readily apparent. I smile a lot and make cheerful conversation; my end of the dinner table is not some horrible event horizon beyond which all sunlight disappears. But tucked inside me, almost always, is a grumbling Eeyore.
That Eeyore is having her moment. The coronavirus is springtime for pessimists. Every gloomy thought I’ve had about this pandemic has more or less come to pass. So when I read of a possibly more devastating wave of Covid-19 this coming winter, or that recovered patients in South Korea are suddenly becoming reinfected, or that a vaccine might take north of 18 months to develop and mass produce, I merely think Welcome to my brain. Those are the lyrics of my personal death-metal soundtrack. They’ve been playing in my head all along.
In the coming months, all of us are going to have to figure out how to gird ourselves psychologically for whatever the new normal might be. “Optimism tempered by realism,” tends to be the favored formulation, and sure, that’s fine; it may even be politically and economically sound.
But I’d also like to make a positive case for pessimism. Defensive pessimism, specifically. Because if things start going downhill, defensive pessimists will be the ones with their feet already on the brakes.
And what, you may ask, are defensive pessimists? They are people who lean way into their anxiety, rather than repress it or narcotize it or allow it to petrify them into stone. They busily imagine worst-case outcomes and plan accordingly. This tendency can drive their more optimistic friends and relations bananas — defensive pessimists are destroyers of worlds, harshers of mellows — but it is, for the calamity-howler, a constructive adaptation, far more useful than trying to cheer up. There is no cheering up, as far as defensive pessimists are concerned. They reject what the theoretical psychologist Barbara Held calls “the tyranny of the positive attitude.”
“Defensive pessimism is costly in that it doesn’t get rid of your anxiety,” Julie Norem, a professor of psychology at Wellesley College, told me. “But the flip side is that it keeps your mind anchored and focuses you on things you can control.” Which is what distinguishes it from generalized anxiety, garden-variety neuroticism and catastrophizing, by the way. Defensive pessimism is productive.
Students, read ONE or BOTH articles in their entirety, then tell us:
Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
Is one outlook on life better suited to these difficult times? Can, or should, you be both?
What factors and experiences have shaped your outlook and mind-set? If you are an optimist, is it easy for you to look on the bright side of things? If you are more of a pessimist, do you wish you could be more optimistic? Or do you get tired of people telling you to cheer up — what the article labels, “the tyranny of the positive attitude”?
Which arguments in favor of optimism or pessimism did you find most persuasive and why? Which aspects of either article resonated with your own experiences during the coronavirus crisis?
What other strategies and tools have you used to maintain your sanity during the pandemic? Which would you recommend to others?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Lesson of the Day: ‘Their Met Gala, Their Way. You’re Invited.’
Find all our Lessons of the Day here.
Lesson Overview
Featured Article: “Their Met Gala, Their Way. You’re Invited.” by Vanessa Friedman
This year, the Met Gala, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual fashion show, has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, a virtual fashion event, planned by teenagers, remains on the calendar. High Fashion Twitter, or “hft,” will host its first hft Met Gala on May 4. The hft Met Gala was conceived by a group of Gen-Z students last November as a companion event to the Met Gala — an event they follow but are unable to attend.
In this lesson, students will learn about the history of the Met Gala and reflect on their own experiences with teen-centered spaces. Then, they will create their own designs for the hft Met Gala.
Warm Up
In the featured article, you will learn about a version of the Met Gala that was created by young people for other young people. Before you read, familiarize yourself with what the original Met Gala is by watching the below video from Vogue. Then, answer three reflection questions.
Based on the video, who appears to attend the Met Gala? You can think in terms of identity — race, gender, age, class — and also more specifically about people’s professions or connections, if you recognize anyone featured in the video.
How would you describe the focus of the event? What narratives, or experiences, seem to be central?
Who does not appear to be part of the Met Gala? Why do you think that might be?
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Read the article, and then answer the following questions:
1. Why did Aria Olson, a 19-year-old aerospace engineering major, decide to organize the hft Met Gala? Who are some of the curators and coordinators she is collaborating with? How did they get involved in the hft community?
2. How can someone participate in the hft Met Gala? How is it similar to, and different from, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s event?
3. How has the hft community responded to Vogue’s Met Gala virtual event, the #MetGalaChallenge? What is your reaction to their challenge?
4. The writer of the article, Vanessa Friedman, said there is a “French Revolution-like air” to what the hft teenagers are organizing. Do you agree with her? Why or why not?
Going Further
Option I: Respond
What is your reaction to the hft Met Gala? Are you interested in attending the event? Why or why not?
One focus of the article is on teenagers creating a space to come together in because they are not granted access to the original event. Can you think of any other examples of teenagers organizing something like this?
Do you think it is important for teenagers to claim and create their own events or communities? Are you part of any teenager-created and -led groups, either online or through your school or community? How do you feel when you collaborate with peers versus participating in an adult-organized event?
Option II: Design
Design your own look for the hft Met Gala event. According to the event sign-up page, you can participate in one or more of the following categories:
Photoset Creation — I will create a photoset using images I find myself
Brand Challenge — I will create a photoset using images from a particular brand archive [brands will be randomly assigned]
Wardrobe Styling — I will post photos of myself in clothes I already have in my wardrobe [formal look not required]
Illustration Expression — I will post photos of my own fashion illustration of an original or archival design
Open Creativity — I will be participating in my own way [i.e. creating my own garments, etc.]
As you look at the list of options, does one of the categories appeal to you? For example, if you love to draw, you can illustrate a fashion design. Or if you are more interested in graphic design or photographs, you could create a photoset of images.
If you want to officially submit your design, you can use one of the templates that hft Met Gala has created, or you can create designs on your own and share them with your classmates.
How to be productive when home working
So, you’re working from home? Great, right? No more commuting, no more awkward conversations in the staff kitchen. But with all those benefits, there inevitably come challenges. How do I stay focused? How can I manage my schedule? How do I stop my back hurting?
We’ve put together a summary of well-known methods on how to be more productive, plus some general working from home tips to get you going.
Productivity may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word Pomodoro, and for that you can be forgiven. But over the last 30 years, the much-loved tomato has become just as famous for its eponymous productivity technique as for its delicious flavour, and it’s a valuable tool if you’re looking to work from home.
Named after the tomato-shaped timer that inventor Francesco Cirillo liked to use, the Pomodoro Technique breaks down large or difficult tasks into short 25-minute bursts of work, broken up by five-minute breaks. This trains your brain to focus for short periods, helping you stay on top of your workload. After four of these 25-minute ‘Pomodoros’ you’re advised to take a longer break to give yourself time to recharge.
All you really need to give the Pomodoro Technique a go is a timer. If you prefer a manual timer, like Cirillo himself, you might enjoy a Pomodoro Timer in the ‘official’ shape, or there are several free digital programmes including Tomighty (Windows/Mac) and Marinara Timer (Web) to help you stay productive.
‘Don’t take your work home with you’ – is something most of us will have heard that at some point. But now you’re working from home, just go ahead and disregard that immediately. Your work has now officially moved in with you, and you’re going to need to spend some time working on how to live together. Your home office is going to be key to that.
Think about what type of office environment normally helps you to work at your best, and set about recreating that at home. Remove non-essential household items that can serve as distractions – dirty washing, televisions, family members – and instead surround yourself with work-enhancers like plants and space for your files and folders.
If you’re working from home you’re also likely to spend a lot of time sitting down, and without your usual office chair, this could lead to bad posture and, in many cases, back pain. Take some time out to make your set up as ergonomic as possible. The Guardian have a helpful guide to setting up a comfortable home office.
This doesn’t necessarily mean breaking the bank on a high-end desk and fancy chair. Work with what you’ve got – raise yourself up with cushions on your seat, use large books to make a stand for your laptop (eyeline should roughly be level with, or just below, the top of your screen) – and be creative.
If you’re unsure what type of home office space will be the most productive for you, this guide from Success uses the Myers-Briggs method to design a workstation that fits your personality.
The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple tool to help you understand how to be more productive with your time. Rather than aiding concentration, the focus falls more heavily on prioritisation, which is perfect for navigating your way through a build-up of work.
Named after, although not invented by, the former President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, this productivity method helps you decide which tasks are urgent, important or neither.
All the tasks on your to-do list, big or small, will fall into one of the four quadrants. Urgent matters require immediate attention and come with consequences if you don’t complete them. Important tasks have long term value but can be planned ahead. Those that are one or the other can either be scheduled for a later date or perhaps delegated to another team member if that’s an option. If an item is neither urgent nor important, it should be removed.
The Eisenhower Matrix asks you to really think about whether the work you’re doing is actually important, or just urgent. The good news is you don’t need anything more than a pen and paper (possibly a ruler) to get started with the Eisenhower Matrix. Here’s a helpful video from Eisenhower.me to get you started.
Now you’re working from home, technology is very much your friend. Firstly, look to utilise it as frequently as possible to stay in contact with your colleagues. Of course, a video call isn’t quite the same as a face-to-face chat, but apps like Zoom are crucial to feeling like you’re still part of a team.
If you’re struggling with the ever-present distractions that technology also brings, then consider investing in apps that fight the battle on your behalf.
A good start is Forest, an app that helps you ignore the distractions on your phone, whilst at the same time earning credits that can be used to plant real trees! Lifehack has a thorough summary of the best productivity apps for phones or here are some ideas from GetCloudApp for turning your computer into that productivity machine you always knew it could be.
Getting Things Done is another well-established time management tool which you can use to be more productive when working from home. The principle is to take all those nagging tasks, to-do lists and schedules from your head and write them out in front of you, in order to make them more manageable.
To begin, take all of those things – everything from the mundane household chore right through to the most high-pressure work projects – and record them in one place. Then break each task into the actions you need to take in order to complete it.
Next, group the task into categories (e.g. Work, House, Studying) and prioritise each one. Set realistic due dates and reminders in your calendar to keep you on track.
Then it’s time to put the kettle on and reflect on the work of art you’ve just created. If anything in there doesn’t have a clear action to get you started, then you need to go back and re-simplify it. The Getting Things Done method is designed to be constantly updated so best to write your tasks down digitally so you can easily edit.
FutureLearn has an array of courses to keep you learning during lockdown.
If you’d like to learn more about how to be more productive working from home, check out Coventry University’s course on ‘Work-Life Balance and the Impact of Remote Working’
If you’d like to know more about COVID-19 itself, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s ‘COVID-19: Tackling the Novel Coronavirus’ course explores coronavirus from its inception to the search for a vaccine.
