Lukas Stafin's To Do List

Lukas Stafin's To Do List image 1

Lukas Stafin's To Do List

Bartender Lukas Stafin shares a number of creative avenues he's been exploring since the UK was put under lockdown.

Words by: Lukas Stafin

I wanted to share my thoughts about the way I spend my time during the lockdown.
Like most of us, I had plans and a calendar schedule for the next couple of months, just before the lockdown came to our lives. This has changed everything I was doing, and as much as I can, I still try to do my work from home, it's not as busy as before.

However, on the day I found out about the lockdown, I realised something else too. I will have time. And I really knew I will use this to do things I wanted always to do but I have been putting them on hold.

First thing I did, was the 'to do list'. This was about the stuff in my paperwork, emails, house, and other things that have been waiting for the day to come.

Next was a list of things I wanted to do for myself. And here is where the fun begins.
On top of the list was Photoshop. There are millions of things you can do in Adobe, and I wanted to touch the basics at least. Photo editing, png files, gifs, stickers for Instagram, corrections etc. This sounds easy at first, but it took me a week to learn all this and it was worth it!

After I learned Photoshop basic, it was time to move to Premiere Pro. Video editing. That was on my list for many years. In fact, I had old clips from 2018, that I wanted to edit, and I 'didn't have time', so while I learned Premiere Pro, I created a short series called 'Cocktail Porn' on my Instagram page. It is about 30sec long clips paired with music. The whole series was the effect of my learning during this lockdown. I'm currently planning Season 2 called 'Cocktail Fails'.

In the meantime, I had a few books to read, and the plan was to read daily for an hour. I finished what I wanted to finish. And I'm not talking only about cocktail books, more about self-improvement and some sci-fi to keep my head fresh.

Next step was to learn in more detail, how to build a website. I know it is easier now than ever, hence I jumped into it and spent the whole week learning this. I created a website with my work (unpublished) and paired with a presentation. So, it was extra skill to learn.

All this with things, I learned with the help of YouTube for anyone who would like to start.

As the government announced another three weeks of lockdown today, my plan is to keep learning, and next point on my list is how to make smashing 'Business Plan', I know, it sounds boring, but hey, it's a good useful tool. Another new skill I want to learn, is drawing, like sketching etc. This is on the list too. I have watched a documentary about Mr Cartoon, and that pushed me to do it even more. I highly recommend this documentary.

And foremost the most important thing I must learn, is cooking...I know how to make a smashing whisky sour, banging martinis, fresh daiquiris...but I am the worst chef ever. So, this is an ongoing process, same as reading books, hence I got myself a few more this week to keep going.

Stay safe!

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