My Lock down Learning in 30 Days..

It is hard to believe that we are nearing 70 days of Lock down.

Initially it felt just like another holiday. The prevailing thought was I can relax and complete my pending domestic chores. Somehow the repeated extension of the lock down, though expected by all came to me like a bolt from the blue as I was not mentally prepared. I began to worry about future if this continues. Will I end up cooking, sweeping and wiping the house?

A New Journey Began!

Honestly, the thought landed in my mind quiet suddenly. I felt the urge to do something new apart from usual routine work. I wanted to up skill myself. I wanted to be well versed with Social Media Management and Digital Marketing which I thought I could learn easily, at this age, without even going out or seeking a mentor or coach

Social Media Management

Though learning has no age, but I still feel out of place if I have to go out and learn anything new. With my sister and son’s guidance I opened Twitter and Instagram account. I slowly learnt and began to post something relevant. I was not even aware of Hash tags which I am slowly able to capture. Believe me it is really interesting. Though I have not learnt fully, but I am sure, with some more time I will.

My key learning has been not in opening social media accounts but in identifying the theme I wanted to associate my learning and online profile with – Go Digital!

Design

I learnt Canva and prepared a Twitter cover page saying exactly that – Go Digital.

Template from Canva

I prepared slides of a presentation that had to be uploaded in YouTube. My confidence slowly began to soar.

The first one I did was a face book poster with content provided – This was to test my aesthetic sense. Learning indeed!

Content Writing

I had to write 750 words content / script for a YouTube video based on which I made the Canva Slides.

 Voice Over

After a few revisions of the draft, I had to do voice over for the final script. This was the easiest learning, just to read it aloud, but of course it took me more than an hour for just a five minutes voice over. You know why, I was just stammering in between, missing out lines etc.

Portfolio

I created a resume template in WIX which was a single page. I am yet to learn WIX properly and create sub-pages to establish my work portfolio and persona doing justice to my decades of experience in various capacities.

Mail Campaign

I watched YouTube on Mail Campaign done by another intern from this learning community, created account in Mail Chimp. I just sent a test mail and I have not done any campaign practically. Unless I do it for a real time project, I just cannot confirm if I have learnt it right. I have started though

Blogging

The first draft of this blog was terrible. I received 650 words feedback which is longer than the length of my blog. Phew!

I was supposed to write about my 30 days digital internship experience so that others benefit from reading it. What I did instead was repeat the content of YouTube script, rephrased some sections explaining how I did quality check for a white paper which was all about learning  just one task – Quality Check through web research

I missed the main aspect of blogging- the sequence of content. It was rightly pointed out to me that the video script would go with images and my voice while the blog has just words and therefore to retain attention span of target readers, the themes had to be presented differently.

In the second draft I wrote my personal journey in a conversational tone, created sub headings and wrapped up that draft in 553 words. The word count of the final blog is over 1000 words.

After edit when I do the Maths of final count of words, I can see the feedback got incorporated.

Story board

Writing content for two separate output format - video and blog makes this learning the most important – Story boarding - how to sequence, emphasize key themes, and ensure each reader has a take away. 

Track Changes in Word

I always used to think, I can type with utmost speed in word document. In fact I can challenge anyone for Typing speed, but had my vanity fairly bruised when I did not know the simplest thing in Word called Track Changes which I learnt during this lockdown, while preparing content for video script

Virtual Meetings

I conducted virtual meetings through Zoom. In my professional career I have provided secretarial and executive assistance to senior official and organized several offline meetings. Conducting virtual meeting was a great learning for me to invite others for meeting/ learning sessions/ discussion through a link, at the switch of a button, regardless of geography.

I prepared minutes of the meeting for my future reference.

Online Research

This one was live project for my Kinesthetic learning with definite time frame – 48 hours. I had to research and quality check content of a whitepaper that was supposed to be submitted to the Ministry pertaining to financial sector which was nowhere close to my domain. I had to self-learn from Google. At first, I was clueless what am I supposed to quality check, but I was determined to complete the assignment within the stipulated time.

I had issues in understanding the scope of work, working in laptop, unable to highlight, copy the links etc. however when I received a positive feedback, it was like Wow, I can do this easily provided you had the will.

Reading

For the past couple of decades, my reading was limited to spiritual books only. Now I read all kind of blogs pertaining to digital marketing, women empowerment, business and I personally think that is a giant leap forward. However I should still begin to effectively use the knowledge I gather by reading.

 Habitual Changes

During weekends or any holiday during pre COVID times, I used to never sit with a Laptop to learn or read, but during this Lockdown, I have consciously made these habitual changes, sitting with the Laptop on or before 10 am, just like office goers, to read, learn or do something new.

Forum Posting

I have identified blogs, proposed hash tags and posted in a face book page dealing with shelter, livelihood and construction.

Instagram

Here I am just a beginner with merely four posts. In June I intend to focus on this and LinkedIn                    

Humble Beginnings

The simpler things I learn which is more important in the long run

1.     The big picture - What all this learning will tantamount to?

2.   Practicing brevity in writing mails because the most precious commodity today is people's attention span and one cannot afford to waste one's concentration with lengthy unnecessary details

3.   Time management  and work balance between home chores and learning productivity 

4.   One does not have to step out to add to our skills - Only a strong will counts

5.   Acknowledging mails, to keep the project leader posted about learning update

6.   How to appreciate the good work being done by different social media teams of large organization by liking, sharing and re tweeting effectively

A few things, I am yet to learn

1.     Self- learning or independent learning as I had to depend on my son

2.   I was not proactive and always needed external push, follow ups and validation for each work. In short I was not exactly self-driven. I needed reminders.

I am hoping this will change over time

After all this is just the first month – Have a heart!! When are you starting your learning journey?

Lastly, I would only like to say if I can, everyone can.

Author: Corporate Professional, Mother, Home Maker, Drape connoisseur