My time at home is very different than I imagined it would be. In my head I pictured myself finishing books that were stacked up on my nightstand and increasing the number of podcasts per week with the available time from not communicated to daycare and work. Well, that isn’t exactly how things have played out so far. Our son is needing so much attention during the day that I’m spending mornings and evenings getting caught up for work. I’ve also become a part time cook having to make 3 meals a day for the fam. The reality is I have about an hour or two tops in a day for myself, and I want to make it count. Hopefully you have a little more than that, but however much you have, let’s make it quality time and learn some new things. Here are ways to do that:
Learn to Cook
My family is full of good cooks. My mom was a caterer and owned a couple of restaurants while I was growing up. She taught her 3 boys how to cook, and I really do think it is an essential life skill. It also is an essential skill to help save money. When you can cook for yourself, you can spend significantly less than if you are eating out or ordering in night-after-night. So a big thanks to my mom for teaching me how to cook!
If you want to learn cooking skills and get access to some great recipes, I recommend the website Chef Steps. There are a ton of “how to” videos and articles on the site and countless recipes. Some of them are really easy for beginners but Grant is a hardcore chef too and has advanced recipes for sous vide cooking and molecular gastronomy techniques if you are beyond a beginner.
This week I did his 24 hour sous vide short rib recipe served over polenta. It was awesome and, I mean, I had the time to do it! That particular recipe is available to non-premium members but other recipes and videos are for paying subscribers. I’ve had a subscription for a few years now, and I can say it is worth the $69 a year if you can spring for it.
Learn a New Language
News flash…we aren’t going to be flying to Europe anytime soon for vacation. I hate to break that to you. But there is a silver lining to that. That gives us time to learn French! That is the language I picked with the Duo Lingo app. My pronunciation is terrible but I’m working on it.
Duo Lingo has gamified language learning and walks you through the basics like phrases, food, animals and a lot more for 35 languages from Arabic to Klingon (I’m not kidding…Klingon is in Beta right now on the app with over 300,000 users). The amazing thing is it is free. There is a plus version that is a subscription that gives you no ads, more quizzes and offline content. I don’t have the plus version because I think the free one is pretty great and the interruptions don’t bother me. If learning a new language is on your downtime list, check out Duo Lingo.
Learn to Code
I used to code. I had to code actually because it was required for my major in college. But that was a while ago and no one really uses Visual Basic anymore. So I’ve been brushing up on my coding skills using the app MiMo. This one requires a subscription but I’ve been using it for almost a year and would recommend it.
There are tons of different languages they teach for coding websites, apps, cybersecurity and big data analytics like Python and AI. I’m working on learning Swift which is the language a lot of iOS apps are coded with. My skills are rusty but the way MiMo breaks the lessons up in 10 – 15 minute lessons is really cool. It also makes coding approachable if you’ve never started.
I don’t think I will ever be in a job where I’m coding 10 hours a day, but having an understanding of the capabilities of current programming languages makes me a more informed business leader. It also helps with problem solving and mental focus. Those are always good skills to have and never become obsolete.
Learn a New Skill for Work or for You
Sometimes it’s just good to learn something new. That could be for work or to deepen your understanding of a subject that really interests you. There are more and more online platforms that help us learn virtually which is essential in these times of social distancing. One that we have talked about before is Coursera.
I love this website and have used it to take specific courses on a variety of topics including entrepreneurship and innovation. They have college level classes across over 3,900 courses and specializations. It isn’t just all about business or technology either. You can take virtual museum tours to learn about modern art or learn about chord charts and progressions from teachers at Berkley College of Music. Many of these courses are free or have nominal fees.
A more expensive option but a pretty cool site is Masterclass. They go to famous and gifted experts in a technical field and create a multi-session class. So for example you can learn how to write from Malcolm Gladwell over 4 hours and 24 video lessons. Or become a BBQ pro by watching Austin legend Aaron Franklin teach you how to smoke brisket and other delicious meats over 16 lessons, again another 4+ hours. He has an almost 30 minute lesson on smoke! Pretty crazy.
These are a few ideas to make your time constructive and find ways to challenge your mind to stay sharp. It is just good for our mental health and overall wellbeing. I will say that these things are luxuries and you have to continue to prioritize your physical and mental health first with the available time we have. We talked about this in the Coping with COVID Stress episode of the Calm Cash podcast. Click here to subscribe and listen.
Continue to stay safe and take care of yourself and others. The news may get a little worse before it gets better but we are going to make it through this. Stay calm, stay positive and stay informed. Calm Cash will be here.