Organising a Time Table When You Are Unemployed

Number of View: 2677

This article first appeared here in Feb 09.

art-survive_a_layoff

Organising A Time Table When You Are Unemployed

Written by: Gilbert Goh

After idling around for six months and feeling really depressed with all the free time available, I decided to create a time table to fill up my time. The simple timetable looks like this:

0800 – Wake up

0900 – Breakfast. Read a motivational book.

1000 – Send out emails to prospective employers by surfing the jobsites and newspaper

1200 – Lunch break out

1300 – Spent time with mum and daughter or network with other friends. Do some house work.

1500 – Watch TV or siesta

1700 – Prepare for daily jogging at the stadium

1900 – Freshen up and prepare for dinner with family

2100 – Read a motivational book or watch TV

2300 – Sleep and rest

clearing out sign

The timetable provided me a daily meaningful structure which I tried my best to adhere to. If not, I would spend many hours behind the PC and there is the feeling that time is wasted. Being a person who is not very disciplined, there are occasions that I wandered away from my timetable but after a week or two I would try to follow the activities again knowing that they are the best for me. A timetable also allowed me to look forward to the activities that I enjoyed. For example, I enjoyed jogging and reading immensely and would look forward to the activities daily. If you enjoy fishing or gardening, factor in some time daily to do the activity that interests you or else the boredom will irk you and darw you up the wall.

Having a time table will also soothe your conscience abit as all along we have adjusted to working and doing stuff. When sudddenly we have tons of time on our hands it can frustrate us and more seriously we will question our self worth as our mind is hit by doubts about our situation. Having a time table hopefully will close the door on us spending too much time thinking about negative stuff.

The first few hours after waking up is the most difficult for me as I have to face another brand new day of unemployment. There are days that I stayed in bed after wallowing in self pity especially after been axed from my one-month old telemarketing job due to unexplained reasons. It took a lot of mental strength for one to wake up and face another day of no work and emptiness. Unless one has a lot of meaningful things to do at home to occupy his time, a timetable certainly helps one to cope with the large amount of free time on hand. If not, it can make one grow crazy.

It is good sometimes to vary the activities daily as without work life can be mundane and boring. Sometimes, I would take a train to the other end of the line and have my lunch there. This not only break the routine but also gave me a chance to get out of my home. Any normal person who coop up at home for many weeks will feel frustrated and useless.

I also look forward to weekends as they are the best times of the whole week. I get to go out with my family and there is also the break from the boring routine of the week days. Though there are certain restrictions to what we can do due to financial constraints, spending time with my loved ones gave me a lot of theraupetic value that money can’t buy.

On Saturday evening, I also gathered with my friends and watched my favourite English Premier League football matches at the downstairs coffee shops. Besides enjoying the live soccer matches, I also got to chat with my friends and you began to feel that life is not that bad after all.

Volunteering one’s time also help as we are doing something meaningful as we give of our time and self to enliven the lives of the less fortunate. Seeing the underpriviledged living their life will somehow make us feel that we are not alone in our sticky situation. There are others who are worse off than us. Moreover, when we help others, we will get the feeling that we are doing something constructive and meaningful which itself is theraupetic.

So get a timetable of fruitful activities going as it not only keep you occupied but also help to maintain your sanity! The idle mind is the devil’s workshop.

Great works are performed, not by speed or strength, but by perseverance. Samuel Johnson