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16 things to do during lockdown

Life is on hold, but you don’t have to be

Stuck indoors and looking to relieve the lockdown boredom? If you’re struggling to find a series on Netflix you haven’t watched, it’s time to think outside the box. Staying in doesn’t have to be a waste of time – why not discover a new skill or hobby? Not only will lockdown fly by, but you’ll come out of it as a new and improved version of yourself – win, win!

Train your pooch!

Give your pup some love this lockdown by giving them some behaviour training. Whether it’s combatting aggressive behaviour or teaching them basic obedience commands, dog training can lead to your pup living a longer and happier life. If you’re not sure, hire an online dog trainer and learn the most effective tips and tricks.

Learn a new language

Being stuck indoors is the perfect opportunity to brush up on your language skills. Long gone are the days of dusty old language books – there are now endless ways to learn a language online. Whether it’s watching foreign language shows on Netflix (with subtitles, of course!) or listening to podcasts, language learning doesn’t have to be boring anymore.

If you’re serious about improving your language skills, hiring an online tutor is a perfect way to add some structure to your learning. They’ll also hold you accountable on the days where vegging out on the sofa is much more tempting!

Set goals

If you enjoy living life in the fast-lane, lockdown might feel like it’s been put on pause. But having the time to slow down and reflect can be really helpful when it comes to understanding where you are in life and where you want to be.

Whether it’s working towards financial independence or trying to live a healthier lifestyle, setting goals and breaking them into small daily tasks will help you to feel focused and productive. If your goals seem unattainable or you don’t know where to begin, why not hire an online life coach? As long as you’ve got a strong internet connection you can have consultations via video call, or over the telephone.

Try a healthy new diet

One of the upsides of lockdown is that you can spend more time in the kitchen, try out new recipes, and kick-start healthy eating habits. If you have difficult dietary requirements or need help controlling your calorie intake, start your journey the right way by getting a nutritionist or dietitian.

Balance the books

Okay, so not very exciting – but hear us out! Lockdown is the perfect time to get on top of those boring financial tasks. If your business has been affected by Covid-19, it might be time to reassess your financial situation. If you need some help getting your affairs in order, an online financial advisor will be able to help you manage a number of tasks, including cash-flows and reassessing your budget.

Get the boring stuff out of the way so you can free up time for what’s important when lockdown ends!

Kick bad habits

Did you know it takes 21 days to break a bad habit? Lockdown is an ideal time to say goodbye to bad habits and form some healthy ones! The first step is identifying what you want to change and what your triggers are.

Once you’ve figured that out, there are lots of exercises to help you combat a bad habit. A tried and tested one is replacing a bad behaviour with a good one – if you find yourself regularly reaching for the cookie jar, why not replace it with some dried fruit? Alternatively, you could hire an online hypnotherapist to help you with the legwork.

Learn to code

Coding is an incredibly sought after skill in our digital world, so why not give yourself a head start and give it a go? There are tonnes of online coding courses out there, or if you’re looking for more personal support, you can find an online coding tutor.

Learn a new instrument

Ever committed to taking up piano or the guitar only to find that you simply don’t have the time to practice every day? With so much time on your hands, lockdown is the ideal opportunity to get your daily practice in. Struggling to find your inner Beethoven? Find an online music tutor.

Revamp your living space

If you’re sick and tired of being stuck at home, maybe all you need is to give it a new look! Interior designers are now providing their services online – designing a ‘virtual’ room and filling it with real-life items available to purchase – pretty cool right?

Learn to draw

Okay, so you may not be the next Picasso, but drawing is a great way to pass the time, and has been proven to help with anxiety and stress. If you’re serious about improving your sketching skills, it’s worth hiring an online drawing tutor to help you hone your craft.

Give your website a face lift

If your business has had to come up with new ways to connect with customers remotely this year, then having a great website should be at the top of your priorities. Whether it’s improving user experience (UX) or refreshing your content, investing time into your website will help to attract and retain new customers. But it can be a tricky task – especially if you don’t know the basics of web design. Hire a web designer to ensure your website gets the high-quality finish it deserves.

Get fit

With an abundance of online fitness classes to choose from, there’s no reason you can’t get fit from the comfort of your own home! Grab some household objects as weights and get moving! Getting an online personal trainer is a great way to add structure to your workouts and help you to achieve your fitness goals.

Get party planning!

Whether it’s a birthday, wedding, or anniversary, lockdown is a perfect time to start planning your next event. Yes, the world seems uncertain, but there’s no harm in giving yourself a headstart for when normality resumes. If you need a helping hand, why not hire an online event and party planner? From scoping out the best venue to finding decorations, it’s easy for them to tick off their to-do list from home.

Update your CV

Smash the job market as soon as you get out of lockdown by updating and refreshing your CV. Not sure how to make the most of your CV? Online CV writers are on hand to ensure your CV is perfected and polished – highlighting your best bits!

Write a novel (or a blog)

There’s no better time than during lockdown to get those creative juices flowing. Pick up a piece of paper and a pen (or your laptop) and start working on that novel you’ve been meaning to write for the last five years. Or if you don’t fancy yourself as the next William Shakespeare just yet, maybe ease yourself in with a blog post. 500 words are very different from 500 pages, after all! If you need a polished blog for your business, you can find online blog writers to do the hard work for you.

Try out yoga

Lockdown is the ideal opportunity to find your inner zen. Whether you’re an experienced yoga-lover or a complete beginner, there will be something online for your age and capability. All it takes is a quick two minute Google search. Alternatively, you could hire an online yoga instructor – they’ll be able to ensure your form and techniques are spot on, saving you nasty injuries later down the line.

Top tips to clear away those post-freshers blues

It’s so easy to get caught up in the joys of freshers week after the stress of getting to university and the nerves of meeting new people. And after all, fresher’s week is a time to relax and find your feet. But when the freshers cloud of cheap vodka and dodgy kebabs begins to fade, it can be hard to re-adjust and know what to do with yourself. Here are some tips to help clear away those post-freshers blues and get yourself going for the year ahead.

Quick off the block: It’s tempting to miss your first few classes – you’re exhausted from your first week and probably suffering from fresher’s flu. However, these first classes give out a lot of information and if you fall behind now, it’ll mean missing a lot of nights out later in the year. Try and make as many as possible and if you absolutely have to miss one then e-mail your lecturer to try and get some information.

Explore: It’s pretty safe to assume that most of your fresher’s experience took place in a kitchen, some questionable dark clubs and the local chicken shop. So get out and explore the area you’re in! Go for brunch, join a local sports team or get rid of all those fresher’s toxins with a nice spa day and massage. As an added bonus, you can get discounts for so many of these activities at the freshers fare!

Class Of University Students — Reminder – lectures are what you’re here for!

Supplement: It’s nice to have some down time, but remember you’ll never have this much free time again. You’ll probably regret it if you don’t make the most of your spare time at uni – so take up something on the side of your studies. Whether that’s photography or another language, broaden your horizons and you never know when it might come in handy.

Don’t feel trapped: Many students will spend freshers with their flatmates – mainly because this is easy and can help them feel more secure. This doesn’t mean you have to be best friends with these people for your entire life or even until third year – you can find friends in your classes or societies too. Do try and keep your flatmates on side though, you do still have to live with them and you don’t want to end up in a passive aggressive notes-on-the-butter stand off!

Get some kind of routine: Okay, so we’re not going military style but try and get something of a schedule. Nobody wants to be left with a 3000-word essay to write the night before it’s due with a hangover, all our plates to clean and a massive pile of washing (cleaners don’t tend to fit in to the student budget – although for the lazy of you, we can help with finding a cleaner!) It is inviting to “forget” about tasks like this, but they are all part of university life, and getting on top of them can make the difference between grades.

Change course: Don’t be afraid to switch subjects – it’s better to do it early than to find yourself going into 3^rd year with a course you hate. Do give things some time to settle though, as you might start to enjoy the course once you get into it. If this is on your mind go and speak to your advisor, head of department or even the careers department – all of whom are well placed to comment.

Budget: The most talked about – or the most ignored subject for students. Blowing all your money during freshers may seem like a great idea, but when you’re eating 18p instant noodles along in your room for the three months you might regret it! Many students do go into their overdraft so try and find one with no interest, but also thinking about getting a part-time job. It’s a great way of meeting new people and exploring the town a little more, and can help you make ends meet.

instant noodle — Trust us. You’ll regret it

If you’re looking for different opportunities of chances to learn new skills why not check out Bark.com to get help from professionals in your area?

For more Bark.com tips and insights, why not check out our other blogs?

September is the new January… improve yourself and your skills with Bark.com

Forget New Year, September is the perfect time for new beginnings. Summer has been and gone, the days are getting shorter, the evenings are getting darker and the air is cool as winter slowly sets in.

There’s something different about September, which makes it more of an annual turning point than January. September sees the start of a new academic year, and even though the Bark.com team have been out of school for quite a while, we always feel a sense of renewed determination and eagerness as September sets in. We think of September as a clean slate, a time of self-evaluation and a time to start a new project. With that, we’ve put together the top ways to improve yourself and your skills this September – all with the help of Bark.com!

Learn a language

Have you ever thought about learning a second language? Learning another language not only opens your mind and teaches you about different cultures, it also makes you stand out in a competitive job market where skills are key; think amazing job opportunities and salary increases! Need more convincing? Research the cognitive benefits. Many physiological studies have noted that the brains of bilingual people operate more efficiently than single language speakers, particularly in the areas of decision-making, multitasking and memory. Find French lessons, German lessons, Spanish lessons or even Chinese lessons, you’ll at least have some fun bragging rights by the time you become fluent!

Find language lessons — The world is your oyster!

Conquer the fear of public speaking

What’s your greatest fear? Do Spiders scare you? Are heights not your thing? Do you avoid deep water like the plague? All of the above are amongst the top 10 greatest fears across the world, but what was number one in the USA? You guessed it – public speaking! As Jay Leno once said ‘I guess we’d rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy’. If you’re one of those people who can’t stand the thoughts of speaking in front of a group, then take the fear into your own hands and find public speaking lessons this September – you won’t regret it!

Find pubic speaking lessons — Get ready to take the mic!

Channel your creativity through photography

Are you Instagram crazy, a filter fanatic so to speak? Did our latest photography blog inspire you to unleash your inner photographer? Search for photography lessons this September and go from amateur to pro. From shooting to editing, this is a fantastic creative outlet to explore before the year is out. You’ll have your own studio before you know it…

Find photography lessons — Channel your creativity through photography

Protect and empower yourself with self defence

Feeling empowered is a great feeling, particularly when it comes to safety. I’m sure many of us would like to feel safer on our streets as we go about our daily lives. The numbers of people, especially women, taking the necessary steps to feel more secure is increasing. Self-defence classes are popular, as students can learn how to predict, prevent, identify and avoid violence. When we think of self-defence we immediately think of just martial arts, but the crucial difference is that self-defence combines situational awareness into the mix. Find the self-defence classes which teach you the skills you need to keep yourself safe in this big bad world!

Find self defence classes — Be prepared, protect yourself!

Dance like no one’s watching!

Looking for an activity that is good for personal fitness and is enjoyable at the same time? Get your dancing shoes on! Creativity is one thing that dancing can provide that regular gym exercises can’t. As Contanze Mozart once said: “Dancing is like dreaming with your feet”. This type of exercise is also both aerobic and anaerobic, so you will always get a full body workout. Whether you like ballroom dancing, tap dancing or hip hop dancing, there’s a genre for everyone. Side step to Bark.com to find the best dance lessons in your area.

Find dance classes — Express yourself through dance

We hope we have motivated you to improve your skills this September. If none of the above are for you, then browse our lessons and training page for more inspiration. Let us know which one you choose and remember; Orange is the New Black, Tuesday is the new Thursday, and September is the new January.

For more Bark.com top tips, why not check out our other blogs?