Create a Rule of Life for Yourself: One of the best ways to utilize this time is to process for yourself. Check out The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. I would highly suggest using this time to create a Rule (or Rhythm) of Life for yourself—something to use in this season, and incorporate into the next. Spend some time to check in with yourself. What stage of life are you really in and where do you want to be headed? What areas do you want to grow in, and what are some resources to help get you there? A good place to start in your time of reflection is this series by Practicing the Way, which goes over theories of development, attachment, The Enneagram, Spiritual Life Inventory and more. One crucial aspect of this is Practicing a Sabbath, reflect on this resource and start to implement it in this season
Pursue Resources for Further Self-Awareness: from doing the StrengthsFinder test and coaching, to the Enneagram (there are people in our community that do trainings in this test, email us for the latest information),
Graduate Education: Fuller Theological Seminary (gives 30% discount through a partnership with YWAM- email Katie for more info), UofN Center for Spiritual Formation and Discipleship is based out of the Valley- you can join in for a Graduate program if interested- contact Tonya Stanfield
Support Raising Resources: MailChimp (free, beautiful newsletters), Canva (free graphic design templates - you can upgrade to Pro for free by proving your non-profit status), Support Raising Solutions podcast, Wix (free websites)
Seek Mentorship: Think about an area where you could use mentorship—be that personally or professionally. Think about who may be a person that could give you advice in different areas (I personally have many mentors, including for my marriage, as a woman in ministry, for leadership, etc.)
Online Tools: You’ll likely will still be having meetings online, so here are a few of my favorite tools- Google Hangouts (which allows for making phone or video calls as well as messaging) or Zoom (you can record your meeting as well as share a presentation). There are quite a few online collaboration tools that may be worth looking into. I’ve used Asana and Trello, but ended up using Google (GSuite) because that’s what my co-workers were most comfortable with. DocHub helps you to make editable PDFs.
Get Trained: There will most likely be a shift in using online communication tools, so it’s beneficial to train yourself in using a few of the most popular programs through Google (GSuite) by watching the video below
Ongoing Education: There are also so many opportunities for continuing education both formally and informally through online courses and podcasts, given any topic you may find interesting. I’m sure you can find something! Check out Open Yale, MIT Open Courseware, The Great Courses, Academic Earth, Udacity (tech training), EdX, Coursera, Classy (Non-Profit Professionals) and TED
Take an online course on Christian missions through the Center for World Missions’ Perspectives Course, which I took a few years back. It gives a biblical and historical context for and future look at where missions is headed!
Watch “Performance Versus Trust” by Simon Sinek (a leadership guru)
For a variety options for taking personality tests for free (Myers Briggs, Enneagram, etc.) and to learn more, check out Truity
Learn about the Spheres through this free 101 course on Youtube — this is designed to help those trained in YWAM to apply what they learned in their everyday life.
Train yourself in using a few of the most popular programs through Google (GSuite), through this YouTube video
