This is wonderful advice from Mark Pellegrino on how to stay productive during lockdown.
You want advice on how to be productive during these times. It’s really hard, isn’t it. Unless you’re a writer, then you know that being a self-starter is the hardest thing in the world, because of course work gives us an enforced structure. And when you’re left like this to your own devices, you have no structure other than whatever you create.
I would say use this time to work on your mind and body. For your body, that means getting healthy. How do you get healthy? You hydrate. You eat right. I changed my diet to a predominantly keto diet; I think that’s good. You make sure you get plenty of sleep, at least seven or eight hours a day. And you make sure you move for 45 minutes straight. Get that heart rate up as much as you can. Because for us, movement is life and stillness is entropy. And we want to keep entropy away for as long as possible.
And build up your mind as well. There’s a couple of apps you can get. There’s a Qi Gong app you can get to do a moving meditation; a Breathe app and Calm are two other apps for meditation. I think that’s very important in times like this. They’re all guided meditations, so they’re all very helpful.
And I recommend reading and writing and watching film. For reading, I read five non-fiction books for every one fiction book. For writing, I’m working on a script at the moment. I also write essays and critique essays for classes, and since they’re virtual classes, we still have them. And film is the way I get my little taste of art during this time since we can’t go to museums. But you’re going to need to feed your soul. So go to AFI’s list of 100 top films of whatever genre you like and start going through those films. And then write about them. Write your feelings and opinions about them. And that way, you really remember the film deeply.
So hopefully that’s good for you. I know it’s difficult to feel productive in times like this, but you are a work in progress and developing you is just as important as anything else.
Mark Pellegrino
Photo: “Cardio babies.”