There are many of you who, for a variety of reasons, will stay plenty busy in the coming months.

This post is not for you.

This post is for all the folks who are furloughed, who have been laid off, or who are on reduced hours and pay. The question many of us are asking is simply this:

Aside from the obvious – find a job – what should we do with our time?

It’s something I’ve thought a lot about lately. Here’s where my head is at.

#1) Keep a Journal
This may sound a little cheesy, but it’s something I’ve been doing more and more lately and the process of writing, reflecting, and rereading past posts has really helped me make sense of my situation. I’ve made Friday afternoon my journal writing time.

I do small, separate entries for a few parts of my life rather than one big one which helps ensure I have thoughtful updates about everything to better see how they all relate.

#2) Be Good to Yourself
I know a lot of people are saying this, but I’ve lived it over the last few weeks. I used to take pride in cranking out a ton of work non-stop during the 9-5. Now? I need breaks:

• playing a little disc golf in the backyard
• building a train track with the kiddos
• watching a quick video on YouTube

Hustle, but just don’t overdo it. Not only are we more mentally taxed than usual with the weight of the virus and economy on our minds, there aren’t many jobs. So don’t wear yourself out hunting for something that may not be there right now. Patience feels like a key for all of us.

#3) Learn Something New
I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that the marketers who spend an hour or two each day out of their job hunt to learn new skills are going to be in a really good place as things recover. Some ideas would be leveling up your dev skills with Pluralsight which is free this month. Things like:

• HTML
• CSS
• Javascript
• SQL

Comment and tag someone who needs to know about #FreeApril but hasn't signed up yet 😉https://t.co/S5NVzlWOBZ

— Pluralsight (@pluralsight) April 5, 2020

Or ramp up your SEO skills with MOZ’s free subscription.
https://twitter.com/ozskier/status/1242926065309216770

Rob Prew mentioned that Lynda is often free through your local library and many local libraries are offering “virtual” card to folks during the pandemic. Things like:

• Design or design tools
• Writing
• Video editing
• Photography

Would all be great ones to start with.

Inn addition, check with your local library online as many of them offer full access to https://t.co/sa1EkVST6f aka LinkedIn Learning as part of their digital services.

— Rob Prew (@rprew) March 25, 2020

#4) Build Something
If you’ve followed SlopeFillers for a while, you know that a) SlopeFillers started as a side project and b) I still have side projects. They’re where I learn a ton of the skills I rely on during the day job. To date, I’ve built and launched more than a dozen tools and apps and blogs and whatevers.

There is nothing like building a brand from scratch to teach you some of the skills that are lost when you start a job at Vailsnowemore Resort and inherit 25,000 monthly website visitors or a database of 500,000 customers. This living resume will become a powerful ally during the job search. And, play your cards right, you might be able to make a little income from it to in the meantime.

Let Me Know
But please, please, please, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.

It’s not going to be an easy road ahead, but I’m hopeful that if we use this time wisely we can absolutely make the most of it.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.