Graduating from uni and moving home is one of the strangest feelings ever. From being surrounded by flatmates, coursemates and friends every day to moving back in with your parents. A few months ago, you were attending lectures and making notes from powerpoint slides, now you’re sat at home staring at your calendar and wondering what to do with all this spare time.
At first, it feels like freedom. Then, it turns into pressure.
“Shouldn’t I be doing something productive?”
“Should I be applying to 10 jobs a day? Starting a business? Learning to code? Reading 100 books?”
Instead of letting that time slip away or getting overwhelmed by it, treat it as a time where you can start from scratch (which sounds scary in itself), to build up your skills and experience in a way that will launch you into a career.
Here's how I started turning my spare time as a graduate into actual, meaningful productivity.
Create a visionboard
Sometimes it’s hard to visualise an end goal until you map the route that will lead you there. So, plot out your career. How are you going to get there? Are there any entry level jobs in that field or ways for you to work your way up to the role?
The next step after planning out your visions, is acting on them. E.g. What free online courses could you do to help gain the skills you need for a job?
Progress
Productivity isn’t just about hustling or checking boxes on a to-do list. It’s about intentional progress toward the life you want to build. So, there’s no point in filling out endless job applications if you have no interest in the job itself – this doesn’t mean limit yourself to just a small selection of roles, but broaden your horizons to possibilities you may not have previously considered that interest you.
Design a simple routine
Putting too much pressure on yourself is just unhealthy. No one expects you to wake at 5am and have the perfect morning routine down to a tee. But by adding structure to your day, you will instantly feel much more productive and a routine will take form.
Here’s what worked for me:
- Morning work (1-2 hours): Learning, writing, or working on a project
- Afternoon job search / networking: 1–2 applications a day (not necessarily every single day of the week) + LinkedIn engagement
- Evening wind-down: Reading, walking, or working on something creative
Even if the routine wasn’t perfect every day, having some structure gave me momentum.
Build your skills
You’re not in an academic setting anymore so you have no structure around learning, anything you wish to take on you have to be motivated to do. From your vision board, see which skills you want to develop.
For example:
- Take a free online course related to your degree these can be found on YouTube or sites like Coursera.
- Relearn Excel — become proficient so that you can place it on your CV confidently.
- Start up a side project e.g. writing or blogging.
- Watch videos on how to manage your finances.
Whatever your field, there's probably a course, book, or challenge you can dive into. Don’t overthink — just start.
Make time for rest
Not every day will feel (or be) productive. Some days will be slow, messy, or mentally draining. But, rest is important too, enjoying your freedom and this new life outside of academia is the fuel you need to remind you what you were doing it for in the first place, this will keep you going.
Don’t guilt yourself for downtime. Just use it intentionally.
