Basically the title, you need to use the skills you have now and be a productive member of society.
I don’t mean go back and show the wheel or try invent germ theory etc.
For example I’m a mechanic i think I could go back to the late 1800s and still fix and repair engines and steam engines.
Maybe even take that knowledge further back and work on the first industrial machines in the late 1700s but that’s about it.
Yeah it’s tough, I can explain electricity but sure don’t have the ability to make it. That’s why I figure steam engines and stuff someone else made i can repair and innovate on.
Creating electricity is surprisingly easy. Copper and Zinc were widely available for centuries before electricity and the only other item you need is an acid. Nitric acid was being made back in the 13th century. Arrange a copper bar and a zinc bar separated from one another with an insulator (glass, ceramic, or even wood) in a glass or ceramic jar. Pour in the acid submerging most of the bars with some expose above the acid. You now have a battery with the anode and cathode (positive and negative terminals) being the top of the bars.
Barely slightly more sophisticated batteries than this powered telegraph offices for powering Morse code sending keys.
And if you magnetized some iron using the electricity, you could create a small generator and turbine, creating a constant (and practically free) supply for further experiments