How to Measure Productivity During a Pandemic
I don’t know about you, but it’s been five months since I’ve been paid to be productive. I work in the casino industry, and I, along with thousands of employees in my company, joined the ranks of the “temporarily furloughed” on April 1st. But I didn’t let it get me down, because I had things to do, i.e. writing at least one feature screenplay during my time off, trying new recipes, training to run a 5K, losing weight, etc. I had goals.
April and the first half of May were good… if I didn’t think about what was going on in the outside world, and limited my news-watching to about three minutes a day. I exercised daily. I finished the first draft of a script I hadn’t touched in about a year. I bonded with my dogs. I made dinner. But with each passing day, the news outside just kept getting bleaker, and so did my motivation. I exercised occasionally. I read everything on the internet and called it “script research”. I bonded with Netflix. I ordered take out. Or ate cereal and Pringles. And in June I received a notice that my “temporary furlough” could potentially turn into permanent unemployment. So whatever I had left in the tank at that point was reserved for stressing out.
I know I’m not the only person who’s been in an inspirational drought for the past few months. And I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but I’m here to tell you…
