ECQ Can Enchance Our Productivity

ECQ has been a challenge to all of us for 2 months now. We cannot do things that we normally do everyday like going to work, having coffee with friends and going to the gym.
The saying “so much to do, so little time” was once a cliché we could all relate to before pandemic. But these days, such seems to be inapplicable, for most of us are at home due to the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Productive in ECQ

Since none of us is sure when this ECQ will be lifted, we can now say that we have a lot of time in our hands. But how can we use these idle moment to our advantage? what more can we do to stay productive? If there’s anything we are learning from our current reality during this time, it is that we can now do what we’ve always wanted to accomplish in the comforts of our home.

Everyone has hobbies like writing, blogging, photography and others. But since some of the hobbies need to be outside, we’ve listed some of them that you can do while at home and this is the right time to enhance them or try them for the first time. Who knows, you’ll be surprised with the result and can use them after the quarantine.

Quaranthings you can do in ECQ

Cooking

All of us love food, whether it is from a fast-food chain, a fancy restaurant or vendors in the street. But since we have limited money to spend why not wake up the inner chef inside us and explore cooking inside your own house.

Why don’t you try whipping up something in the kitchen using ingredients you never thought would work before. You can try doing the easy 7-up chicken marinade or challenge yourself to cook a perfectly seared steak or experimenting on preparing the Dalgona in various versions.

Now is the best time to sharpen your culinary skills. You can watch a cooking demo on Youtube or even flip the pages of your grand mother’s cookbook.

By the time the quarantine is over, you can gather your friends for a dinner at home and serve them your best recipe discoveries yet or even start your own food business.

Baking

All of us have a sweet tooth, we love eating sweets especially after a delicious meal. Unleash your baking skills and who knows, you may brighten someone’s day with the cupcakes you’ve made.

You can start with the basic ones—from baking cookies, then banana bread, to probably advancing to cakes; that is when you’re confident enough with your weighing and measuring skills. Yes, bake it ’til you make it. 

Arts and Crafts

We, Filipinos are born creative. We can do beautiful creations from scraps or recycle something and use it for another purpose.

Recycling wastes at home is good and turn them into something useful. Such as the tissue roll carton as a cable wire organizer, PET bottles as a case for your pencil or art tools, cans as flower vases, etc.

You can make pencil cases for your kids, new jars for your room, and even toys for your kids, among other creative ways to reuse them. There are even free online classes that you may join to unleash your artistic side, as well as free music lessons, to boot.
You can use this time to bond with your kids, let them be involved so they too, can be creative and be aware of recycling.

Reading

Are you one of those who went to the Book Sale in Manila before the quarantine? This is the best time to open them and start reading. Books can tickle your imagination, it can help you travel to different places without leaving your home and it can sharpen your vocabulary.

Books help your brain withdraw from anxiety-inducing news on your social media feeds. You can do a light reading with food books or to feel some love while on quarantine, there are romance novels. Do read up on travel and create that itinerary of your biggest adventure yet once this quarantine is over.

You can also use this time to read your school books to refresh your mind and be prepared once the school year starts or refresh your knowledge that you can use in your job.

Work it out

Seeing unwanted baby fats coming out and one by one your abs are leaving you but Fitness Centers and Gyms are still closed. No worries, you can still do exercises in your home with your improvised gym equipment.

There are still a lot of exercises you may do using ordinary items or fixtures at home. Need weights? Use PET bottles as DIY dumbbell; need elevation for your cardio exercise, use the stairs; or if you need to run but has no space, do high-knee, stationary run or jog. For Zumba or Yoga classes, there’s always YouTube. 

You can continue this home workouts after quarantine and it can save you time and money.

Gardening

Having plants around you help you have a relaxing mood, can calm your mind and it can also be your pantry full of spices. Everyone has a green thumb and we can enhance it while in quarantine.

We’ve also seen more people trying to grow their own urban garden at home in their effort to be more sustainable these days. You might have come across Facebook and Instagram posts by your friends showing off the progress of their mini farm and hydroponic techniques using recyclable bottles.

A lot of beverage companies are receiving requests from non-government organizations for donations of PET and other plastic bottles, too, as they will use them as pots for their plants to create sustainable farms for the communities they are serving. 

According to the President and CEO of Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. Mr. Frederick Ong, “We have received several requests for plastic bottle donations from various groups for urban farming projects. And as a company that champions sustainable practices, we are more than willing to help them create a greener world,”

 “Other than our frontliners, our environmental advocates are heroes also, because what they are doing is for the long-term. And we are here to support their causes,” he added. 

And if there’s something we are realizing during the quarantine period, it is that the earth seems to be healing, because of less human activities outside our homes.

ECQ made us realize

Most of us are realizing the grim effects of not taking care of the environment. And this pandemic is teaching us to nourish Mother Nature more for us to enjoy healthier years.

More than ever, it is high time to learn how to remain productive, while taking care of the environment. We are breathing cleaner air and seeing clearer skies these days. And let’s all do our job to keep it this way to save more lives and for the benefit of generations to come.

But if you opt to do nothing during this quarantine period, there’s no problem with that, too. Remember: The most productive people also make time doing nothing for self-care and balanced life.