What are some activities to do during the downtime?
- Perform Quick Exercise Daily
- Meditate During Dead Periods
- Read and Listen to Audiobooks
- Volunteering for Meaningful Charities
- Learning A New Skill
Downtime after the holidays often makes people overindulge through either binge eating or watching. While downtime opens opportunities for activities that could generate productivity, many still find themselves getting caught in the middle of a temporary lousy lifestyle. If you find yourself starting to wind up in that state, exercise some of these effective downtime activities to prevent yourself from falling into a state of post-holiday coma.
Perform Quick Exercise Daily
Exercising should be a part of your lifestyle even outside downtime. By performing exercises daily, your body will regain strength and it can reboot your mindset to better prepare yourself for new challenges. Despite having a busy work life, squeezing in a couple of workouts in your daily schedule will provide you a wealth of health benefits both mentally and physically. Here are some quick yet effective exercises you can perform at home that will allow you to reap as many benefits.
- Planks
Strengthen your core with an ab muscle engaging plank. Hold the position for as long as you can and as you get used to the sore that you feel in your core, gradually increase the duration. Take necessary breaks in between so as not to burn out your body.
- Wall sits
Work your leg muscles and core by propping yourself into a sitting position with your back held against the wall. Hold the position as long as you can. Once you have found a position you are comfortable with, carry something heavy to add extra resistance. This exercise essentially strengthens your leg muscles and core.
- Chair dips
If you are getting tired of sitting down in front of your computer, try doing chair dips to relax your mind and improve your triceps. Chair dips target the flabby area at the back of the arms. It is an effective workout for correcting posture and improving the blood flow or your arms.
- Lunges
One of the most targeted workouts is lunges. It engages the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves as well as the core. It is basically stepping forward with either your left or right leg. Upon stepping, you must simultaneously stretch the other leg left behind.
- Squats
Another great exercise for those who work while sitting down is squats. They are perfect for the legs, butt, and stomach. It basically strengthens the muscles around the knees and improves the leg muscles.
Meditate During Dead Periods
As you spend more time practicing meditating, you will find yourself calmer and more patient. It can shift your personal experiences that enable you to have a better view of things. Try to perform mindful meditations during the dead periods within the day. This includes taking pauses, longer breathing and being mindful of your body as well as how it responds to external noise. Treat meditation as a forest that you are free to explore. There is no fixed destination and you have the entire space to look for a comfortable spot to rest or regain energy. It is a place where each moment is momentous. Pay attention to your emotions, thoughts, and sensations. Those should release your natural curiosity about the workings of your mind.
Read and Listen to Audiobooks
Either pick up that book you have left hanging around your desk or that new book gifted to you waiting to be opened, the plan is to begin. It does not matter how much or what you read, the action of reading alone allows you to broaden your perspective, gain new vocabulary, or improve your memory and retention. Regardless of whether you plan to read the newspaper or magazines, non-fiction books, or novels, it still allows you to gain new knowledge. You will never know when the knowledge you learned can be used along the way. If you do not have the leisure time to crack a book, try listening to audiobooks. They should be able to somehow provide you with the same benefits. What is even more? You can improve your listening skills and increase your attention span.
Volunteering for Meaningful Charities
Take part in giving back programs within your community or join events that enable charities to earn money. Many successful people in different industries would dedicate days within a month to visit charitable institutions to give back. Apart from imparting grace to chosen institutions and getting to know the people, it also opens doors for networking. Volunteering activities tend to bring all types of people together, regardless of the event, it surely enables you to have wider connections.
Learning A New Skill
The greatest thing about learning is the fact that the more you learn, the more you realize there is so much more you do not know about. This becomes a motivation to keep learning. Make use of your downtime by enrolling in a public speaking workshop, pottery classes or leadership seminars. Even if you have somehow mastered everything related to your field, there is always new information, trends, and technological advancement that could completely engage your interest.
Key Takeaway
If you think you can bury the pressure that life has thrown your way through layers of meaningless activities, reassess your goals. Productive and effective downtime activities have been proven by many successful people to beat stress. Learning to do productive activities after the holiday season will allow you to beat stress effectively and almost naturally.