8 Activities (plus practical how-to guides) you can Ace in the 21 Covid-19 Lockdown Days!
- March 26, 2020
- Health
As the plague of Covid-19 continues its morbid crusade across the globe countries are rolling out draconian measures in a bid to contain the marauding contagion and to arrest the spread of the pandemic. In most countries, South Africa included, the shutdowns have escalated from travel bans to the total temporary shutdowns of non-essential mobility and business activities. Most industries and business are screeching to an involuntary halt and most of us will for the first time in a long time, be confined to our homes. The shutdown does not imply a total shutdown of productivity and this applies on both macro and micro scales. Businesses have found tech savvy ways of ensuring that productivity is sustained through a coterie of work from home arrangements. On a macro scale, your life does not have to come to a grinding halt. Besides the fact that you still have bills to pay, there is intrinsic value to productivity.
Expound presents a cleanly curated catalogue of 8 activities you can embark on for the next 21 days. We have gone an extra mile to select activities that are meaningful, rewarding and actionable. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we present a brief overview of the idea and then link to a dedicated and comprehensive resources or platforms to empower you, our reader. I must emphasize though that the emphasis is more on getting yourself on a head start on these concepts than seeking to accomplish or come full circle on them within 21 days.
In the comprehensive post we cover how to achieve these milestones in 21 days
- Break a bad habit
- Write a best-selling book
- Learn Digital/Pencil Illustration
- Learn music theory
- Learn a music instrument
- Learn a computer programing language
- Improve your Critical Thinking
- Upskill yourself with an online course
1. Break that bad habit
Perhaps this is one of the biggest outcomes you can emerge with
out of the 21 lockdown days. The buzz around 21 day challenges is not far-fetched.
The idea that it takes 21 days to break a habit or to form
a new one is scientific.
“Dr Maxwell Maltz wrote the bestseller Psycho-Cybernetics. Originally a Plastic Surgeon, Maltz noticed that it took 21 days for amputees to cease feeling phantom sensations in the amputated limb. From further observations he found it took 21 days to create a new habit. Since then the ’21 Day Habit Theory’ has become an accepted part of self-help programs. Brain circuits take engrams (memory traces), and produce neuroconnections and neuropathways only if they are bombarded for 21 days in a row. This means that our brain does not accept? new? data for a change of habit unless it is repeated each day for 21 days (without missing a day).” Aristole Blog.
Neurogenesis is the branch of science concerned with the
development of new cells every day and particularly the type that is potent to
reverse pathways formed by bad and negative thinking. For this reason, Dr. Caroline Leaf, a
communication pathologist and cognitive neuroscientist, presents a 21 Day
mental detox challenge in her Book “Switch on your brain”.
21 days is a great opportunity to break from:
- Laziness (yes, the fine art of resting when you are not tired and literally sleepwalking your life away)
- Pornography
- Internet Addiction Disorder (including compulsive social media use)
- Procrastination
- Purposeless living i.e. living your life as a victim of circumstances marked by consistent failure to take charge and get on the driving seat of your life. (What Do you Want to be When you Grow Up?)
- Add to the list whatever you struggle with and you desperately need to break off with it.
Here is a comprehensive 21 Day Brain Detox Resource
Why We Keep Making the Same Mistakes + Tips to Break Bad Habits
By Dr. Caroline Leaf
BAD HABITS: CHANGE THE WAY YOUR BRAIN REACTS!
By Dr. Caroline Leaf
2. Write a best-selling book
So you have come full circle on a particular subject or experience and you have for as long as you can remember, been perennially pushing off the idea of putting pen to paper. Now is the time, perhaps you won’t complete the book in 21 days, but if you have your ideas lined up and your brain is teeming with ideas, the 21 days will sure get you on a solid footing. Once you have your table of content fine-tuned and a few chapters in you will have certainly derive immense motivation to see the project to the end. Not only have we scoured the cyber sphere for an incisive book wring guide: we have scoured the net for a comprehensive guide on how to write a best selling book.
Before you dive into the meat and bones of your book, bolster the strategic plan for your publishing journey by hearing from Jeff Goins the best-selling author of 5 books on, “How to Write a Bestseller and Why That Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Does.”
By Jeff Goins
3. Learn Digital/Pencil Illustration
It’s time to ignite your childhood love for art once again. In
the next 21 Days you can get a grip of digital pencil illustration with Khaya
Gwebu (Somebody_Tall)
Khaya was named as one of top 2020 50 emerging creatives by Design Indaba, a South Africa Department of Arts and Culture initiative.
You can explore art by Somebody_Tall Here
Khaya is offering classes for 3 levels: beginners, intermediates and experts. Depending on your level of artistic knowledge, he will provide guide lines and advice on how to go about things.
Each lesson is personalized for the student to avoid bombarding potential students with irrelevant information. And here is the best part, all this is offered at NO COST.
Are you game? Chime in at kaya.gwebu@icloud.com
Somebody_Tall
4. Learn music theory
Music is food for the soul. If you are a musician or a singer
and you want to take your craft more seriously now is the time to dive into or
simply brush up, on musical acumen. In the next 21 days you can graduate from
simply jamming under a tree to learning to do your music according to the book
by mastering the concepts of rhythm, melody and harmony.
Music theory becomes very important if you want tap into professional
music spaces or if you want to produce complex and high-end arrangements for an
eclectic repertoire.
Below are great resources you can explore to master music theory
in a simplified and self-paced approached.
A free course of Coursera on Fundamentals of Music Theory
If you want to learn complex vocalizations such as extended harmony or you need in-depth vocal training get in touch with Vuyo Tshuma on VuyoMusic.com
5. Learn a music instrument
This would work best if you already have an instrument and
you need resources to get you off to a flying practical take off.
Apart from putting the next 21 days to good use, learning a music
instrument has immense physical and mental rewards. The benefits span, deep
breathing, immune response, stress relief, mental performance, coordination, mathematics
and time management, etc,
Guitar Lessons
Free Guitar Lessons resource: JustinGuitar
For a catalogue of Premium Guitar Lessons you can Explore this resource: At a Glance: Best Online Guitar Lessons Websites
Piano
If you keen on exploring an assortment of premium Piano Lessons you can consider the resources Here.
Violin
20 Best Violin Teachers on YouTube
6. Learn a computer programing language
Coupled with immense coaching from my mentor, following guides on this website Tizag.com was part of what helped me shift from linguistics to computer programming within a relatively short space of time. This is by far one of the best resources online for building a programming career that will usher you into a web and mobile app development career. What makes the resource stand out is that it presents programming languages in a logical road map learning curve) i.e. you can start with basic HTML (front end scripting), then move to CSS (for styling and look and feel), then go to JavaScript (largely advanced front end functionalities) and then you can move to PHP (back end), or any other back-end language.
I would be remiss if I do not mention W3Schools.com another first-rate platform for learning programming languages. This platform comes with a real time “Try it yourself window” where you can practice what you learn instantly. If you follow the outline diligently you can complete the HTML, CSS and JavaScript lessons in 21 days. This would be the launch pad for developing your dream career in web and mobile app development.
Closer home SkillX.co.za, a Skills exchange program with both online and offline sessions runs various laser-focused offline and online sessions on various computer programming and other disciplines. You need to sign up for free and get in their databases so that you get notifications on upcoming online events as well offline events close to where you are. If you are keen to join a community where traditionally over complicated disciplines are demystified and simplified: SkillX is where you want to be. Click here to sign up to SkillX.com
7. Improve your Critical Thinking
The fact about critical thinking is that many of us struggle with it plus, there is always room for improvement.
What Is Critical Thinking?
“Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” – The Foundation for Critical Thinking
Part of the quest to hone your critical thinking skills is
reading widely (go as far and wide on the subject as possible), then read
wildly…which means that you go beyond the confines of the discipline (the box)
and get to consider insights out of the discipline (think outside the box).
Critical Thinking Resources:
This is by far one of the best platforms for educational resources on critical thinking. While the organization aims is to: improve education in colleges, universities and primary through secondary schools”, the organization’s critical thinking drive is calculated to empower all and sundry from different walks of profession (students and educators), at different levels of the academic or professional ladder.
Other Critical Thinking Resources
You can also start from these quick digestibles on critical thinking
7 Ways to Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills
8. Upskill yourself with an online course
Finally, you can upskill yourself with a course or two from Udemy, Coursera, Udacity, EDx etc.
How to Read Financial Statements
Udemy
Udacity
EDX
Whatever you choose to do or choose not to do, the 21 days
will come to pass. Whether you invest the short season or not, the season will
be availed to you and it is entirely up to you to put it to great use and reap
something out of it. Remember the apt observation by Alice Walker: “Time moves
slowly, but passes quickly.”
One thing the Covid-19 crisis has taught is that things can
change pretty fast and tomorrow is not guaranteed at all. Therefore: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do
it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going,
there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (Ecclesiastes
9:10)
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A multidisciplinary thinker, speaker, writer, software engineer and ICT entrepreneur. Most important of all, a seeker of God and truth, keenly expectant of the second coming of Christ.
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