It also has a lot to do with having 90% of your population living on a personal economy of "If I don't work today, I don't eat tomorrow", so life indeed goes on and most people have to continue living as they were doing so before Corona times.
I'm lucky, one of the few lucky ones that can actually afford secluding himself, work from home and makes ends meet. My dad also works online, so all the family has been quarantined in our house with our 4 dogs since 15 days ago.
You might be familiar with my plans before the Corona Flu strike happened, but if you aren't I'll give you a quick recap: I was in Berlin studying German and striving to make a life there, renting a room and looking for job/investment opportunites. I had to leave Germany, come back home and regroup due to the exponential virus growth in Europe; I couldn't do anything that I wanted to do in Berlin and at the same time I was spending a lot more money than what I'm spending here.
Being Quarantined represents a big opportunity for me. To improve myself, to be a better version of myself, to develop where I know I need to and to re-think my life path.
I'm not going to mention my plans for after the Quarantine, that's for another post where I plan to join @theycallmedan's initiative called #When Corona ends but what I can do, is tell you how I am spending my quarantine and what are my goals and challenges during these isolated yet hard times.
The goals listed here are for the next two months and are achievable, I know this for a fact and I'm not trying to overachieve, yet they are ambitious challenges and if I don't put myself into it and give it my 100% - and am disciplined in the process - I will fail:
Get to B1.2 level in the German language.
I am currently on A2. This means I understand German, I am able to communicate at a very basic level and I can move around in a German speaking town without issue, but I am not able to write it, I can't engage in meaningful conversations and I can definitely not do business in the language.
I am going to spend - am spending already - 4 hours a day studying German. I am going to use Duolingo, Babbel and Memrise to learn it on a dydactic way. At the same time, I'm going to listen to my Spotify vocabulary and tip list. Another tool I'm using is Lingolia, to get better at Grammar - I am also a very visual person, so reading and seeing the grammar written helps me more than just listening to it.
I am going to learn how to code. Specifically, Python
On my long term goals, there is a lot of Tech and coding involved, and based on my Hive friends' opinions, Python is probably my best best, both because of the simplicity of the language and at the same time, usefulness.
I have on my daily calendar two hours to dedicate to learning Python. The goal is to, at the end of the two months, be fully functional at understanding it, being able to think in code and grasp the potential of the language - the full coding world. I'm not looking to develop, not after only two months of getting into the language, I know it wouldn't be feasible, but at least I can aim to be able to speak the same language of a Python developer and jump in conversations and arguments understanding all the implications.
I got enrolled in a Harvard Finance course
You know all those Facebook ads that are going around online telling people that there are more than 500 Ivy league free courses available for anyone to enroll and learn about tens of different topics, using the tools these unversities have? Well, I had seen those posts and ads several times but never gave them more attention or cared about them, until a couple of days ago when I clicked one of them and, you guessed correctly, they are not just clickbait, they are real and there's a lot to learn from them.
So, easy piecey, I enrolled to one and I'm dedicating one hour a day to it.
Excercise, a daily routine
I am a person who excercise on a daily basis yet, I still feel like I should include it on this list because whether we like it or not, our work out routines changed. We can't go to the park as before, the gyms and sporting facilities are closed and the fitness lessons are a soo February 2020, so we have to change our excercise habits.
I'm dedicating to my fitness and body one hour a day, mainly doing reps with my own body.
Getting back to reading
When I was younger I used to read a lot. By a lot I mean I was reading a book per week, at least. Once I got out of college this habit went rogue and I stopped reading, completely.
I am giving myself one hour a day to read whatever I want as long as it is not work/responsibilty related. This means I can read novels and non-finance/tech related books.
Hopefully I'll get this habit back and even after the Quarantine is over, I'll still be reading on a daily basis.
Extras
I'm not smoking (for at least these two months, I can't promise I won't smoke after the seclusion is over).
I'm not drinking alcohol except from Saturday and Sunday (you'd think it's easy, but not cracking a cold one open during these times on a monday morning is hard as hell).
I'm going to try and get cellphone detached. When I began - and since then - on Steem, I developed a cellphone dependency to the point where I'm constantly checking my discord/slack notifications and I even take my phone to the bathroom. Well, no more, I'm going to stop carrying my cellphone everywhere and I'm only going to check my notifications at specific points of the day (with alarm).
What do you think? Do you reckon I'm being too ambitious? Do you think I'll achieve it? Wanna wish me luck?
I will be posting weekly updates about this, both to hold myself accountable and also to share with you my progress on Hive :D
Nice goals bro! Right now I'm living with my wife in Guadalajara, Mexico, we are away from our family, but we are working from home, doing freelance work, design and illustration. We are selling commissions online, we have sold three already.
I'm also studying many topics in Platzi, it is a great place to learn about technology, coding and marketing, among other things. Sometimes I do not spend a lot of time there, I'm spending a loto of time here in Hive.
If you wish to improve your German I can recommend you to a very good teacher, my mom. She has been giving German classes for more than seven years, she has taught employees of a German company called Continental and also people that have gone to Germany to live, work or study. Because of the Corona Flu she has been giving online classes through WhatsApp video, Zoom or other type of app. She is living in Morelos.
If you are interested, you can contact me on Discord
eddiespino#1698.Interesting. Need to check your profile.😀
I love Duolingo, but I haven't heard of those other applications. I spent a few months in Italy years back and struggled to keep up my skills that I eagerly learned. Duolingo was an awesome tool but it's taken a back-burner spot since our son was born. My hope is, in a couple years, to start doing daily or weekly lessons with him in Italian with Duolingo. I was getting pretty good at that and Spanish but keeping it up daily or every other day was a challenge after a while so it unfortunately stopped.
Looks like I'm going to have to take a look at that initiative, I think I've seen a few posts about it!
Sounds very good here amigo and you also have a great accountability system sorted out.
I can only wish you all of the best with your efforts.
Self improvement is a noble trait to have.
Blessings!
The truth is that Phyton I have no idea what it is and I'm going to have to find out. Your goals do not seem like anything you can not meet, they are realistic what is important and they do not come out of what you want to do. And now I ask: What did you like the most about the last book you read? I ask this because I can recommend certain books for you to see
Ahh it's nice to be in a position where we can use quarantine time effectively like this, I really feel for those people that you mentioned where if you don't work you don't eat the next day x_x
Looks like you're set for the rest of quarantine :)
Ergh exercise I really need to get back into doing that x_x
Nice goals! Mine looks really similar as I have decided to take a few free courses on Udemy,cousera and pluralsight..
Good luck meeting those goals buddy :) And thanks for coming up with this challenge, I had fun working on my entry.
I am sorry the virus literally drove you out of Europe :( Hopefully, you will be able to get back soon.
In my country it is impossible to carry out the quarantine, if you don't kill the virus, hunger kills you, you have to go out and find food!
Quite interesting, pretty much the language learning and learning to code challenge. We both have somewhat similar goals to learn during this quarantine time.
The difference is that I am just starting from basics, and you are at an intermediate level.
Hope you do well and achieve all your goals. I would love to hear about your progress.
Sounds like you're making good use of your time!
Sorry you had to head back out of Germany and put your study plans on hold, but probably for the best.
Very manageable goals I think.
I doubt if 2 hours a day is going to be enough to learn how to code - I started on Python with the same mentality, and gave up. I opted for html/ css instead, and even that got a bit much, I think 2 hours a day just isn't enough.... you need more like 4 at a minimum.
Be interested to see how that goes!
Stay safe! I haven't posted in a while, maybe I should try making a goal list (and actually stick to it) :D
You made a good list and it looks realistic.
I'm off to do a bit of workout ^^
Cheers!
Great challenges. I wish you the best of success in your accomplishments. Blessings
Hello, @anomadsoul here is a preview of my planning.
https://hive.blog/hive-174578/@rypo01/my-quarantine-challenges-heading-for-change-advance-1