Play some sports or just take a walk
Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com You've heard this advice many times, and you'll likely hear it again and again.
The importance of physical activity cannot be overestimated. It increases our creativity, self-confidence and emotional stability both at work and in our personal lives. No matter what you do: whether it's a gym class, yoga, or a walk in the park, if you want to be productive during your eight hours at work, spend some free time on your body.
Find inspiration and be open to new experiences
Creativemarc/Shutterstock.com
There is so much new and interesting stuff in the world around us that it’s simply a sin to sit in the evenings on your favorite sofa. Get out of your cozy little world more often and look for inspiration in the most unexpected places: if you are a cook, visit a museum, if you are an artist, go to a restaurant. A new environment will restart your brain and help you find solutions to long-standing problems.
Home life is good, but look around you. Have you ever seen stay-at-home innovators or executives of large companies who spend their free time watching TV on the sofa? We are not.
Create gifts with your own hands.
Giving gifts to friends is always a pleasure. What good things can you create with your own hands?
- Postcard with paper applications.
- Collage of joint photos.
- Home decoration.
- Picture frame.
- Bouquet of paper flowers and sweets.
- Dream Catcher.
- Jewelry - bracelet, chain, choker, hair tie.
- A beautifully designed set with sweets, stationery or hygiene products.
- Poster with funny pictures and notes.
- A painted jar with applications containing notes with wishes, compliments, and short pleasant memories.
Take the perception type test
Build relationships with family, friends and colleagues
Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com
We don't even have enough time to make calls, let alone meet with loved ones and those with whom we do business. But live communication in a close circle is much more important, and should never be neglected. All the problems and omissions eat us up, prevent us from focusing on work and ultimately affect productivity.
A joint dinner or a home event will help strengthen ties with colleagues and family (if everything is that bad). Who knows, perhaps the changed attitude of your colleagues for the better will become a springboard for career growth.
Why is it important to keep yourself busy?
Even a happy and completely satisfied person is capable of finding some shortcomings in himself. This will not happen if he does not have time for boredom and stupid thoughts. From childhood, parents try to keep their children busy with various clubs: they send some to dance, others to football, and others to music school. Most families explain this with a simple phrase: “So that there is no time for all sorts of nonsense.” Although the older generation doesn’t think that way about itself. After work, people lie down in front of the TV and absorb the television, but they could spend this time usefully.
The modern world is very dangerous for those who are consumed by boredom. A person dissatisfied with life with a lot of free time is easily drawn into dysfunctional organizations, which ends rather pitifully. Therefore, it is very important to think about what to do when you are bored at home.
Learn to say no
file404/Shutterstock.com
Wise people understand that you can't be in several places at once and do all the work in one day. Before taking on an extra project, accepting an invitation to a party, or agreeing to help a colleague, they ask themselves: “What is my priority goal right now? Will what I’m about to do bring me closer to it, or will it only make it more difficult?”
Saying “yes” to an unnecessary task means automatically giving up hundreds of others, sometimes more important. The sooner you come to this realization, the better it will be for you.
Spend time in nature
vvvita/Shutterstock.com
It's hard to stay fit when you spend your days breathing air conditioning and working under artificial lighting. It’s impossible not only to work, but also to live in general. Purposeful people find ways to unite with nature, in contact with which your strength and energy are replenished.
There is nothing stopping you from doing the same: go on a picnic with your family, go out of town, or simply move your workspace to the garden if you work remotely. There are a lot of possibilities - you just have to want to realize them.
What to do if you have a lot of free time
A large amount of free time should be occupied with deep hobbies. If a man doesn’t know how to entertain himself and still has a lot of free time, he can try his hand at fishing. There are a lot of advantages in this business: privacy, nature, fresh air, male company, and fresh food on the table. This type of holiday is relevant even in winter.
Fishing
Women on maternity leave often suffer from the fact that their work life has been replaced by crying babies and diapers, and self-realization has reached a dead end. For such girls, there is an opportunity to master knitting from wool - and the child can always create a new wardrobe item, and his free time, while the baby is sleeping, will be occupied with a quiet activity.
Stay offline
Gustavo Frazao/Shutterstock.com
Intrusive notifications, email and social networks haunt us around the clock. And if not everyone can “go off the air” during work, then in their free time everyone can arrange a digital detox. Successful people are just as busy as you are, but they set aside time that is theirs and theirs alone.
You won't be able to get proper rest if you're distracted by your smartphone every few minutes. Disconnect from the outside world, don’t spoil your leisure time and don’t irritate your loved ones - in a few hours of your “silence” the end of the world is unlikely to come.
Create evening habits
Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com
Everyone knows that the right morning “rituals” affect your productivity and mood throughout the day. However, few people know that its completion is no less important. Some people collect their thoughts, replaying the events of the past day in their heads, others read to escape from problems and relieve stress, and some turn off their phone until the morning so as not to wake up in the middle of the night from a late notification.
Pay attention to your evening activities and create your own habits that will help you face the new day full of energy for future achievements.
Things to do at home. 80 exciting, enjoyable and rewarding activities
Print out this list, cut it into narrow strips with one item each, and put them in a box or jar. When you're bored at home, just pull out any note at random and go according to plan.
1. Dance. To your favorite music, of course!
2. Test a new game. For example, Morphite or Alto's Odyssey.
3. Watch all episodes of Game of Thrones in one fell swoop. If you have enough weekends, of course.
4. Take a lot of selfies, choose the best ones and update your avatars in instant messengers and social networks.
5. Try on all the current clothes, putting together several stylish looks.
6. Move furniture to freshen up the interior. Any changes in the surrounding space benefit brain cells, improve memory and mood.
7. Make a plank.
8. Discover new music. You can search for it in as many as 40 different ways. Try it and you will realize how many great compositions you haven’t heard yet!
9. Rhyme everything you see around, even if it’s “cat - cattle.” You might end up with a poem! It's also a great workout for the brain.
10. Compose and beautifully design a crossword puzzle.
11. Explore a site you like and get ideas from there. Dig deep!
12. Start your own blog or channel on Telegram.
13. Get lost in Pinterest. What to wear with your new pencil skirt, how to spend your child’s first birthday—millions of ideas await you for every taste!
14. Create your own personal page on Pinterest, saving ideas that interest you on it.
15. Take a bubble bath, adding a couple of drops of your favorite aromatic oil.
16. Set up a spa at home: with face and hair masks, a hand bath and a heel brush.
17. Prepare and leisurely, savoring every sip, drink cocoa or the perfect hot chocolate.
18. Give yourself a massage.
19. Start reading some book about travel, space or magic.
20. Turn on a light, relaxing movie - about something good and without unnecessary frills.
21. Thoughtfully fill an anti-stress coloring book with all the colors of the rainbow.
22. Start painting a picture by numbers.
23. Practice yoga. All you need is some floor space and a rug (although a rug will do).
24. Seduce your partner.
25. Learn to meditate.
26. Take a nap.
27. Sit in front of the window with a cup of coffee and watch passers-by, leaves and clouds. Feel happy.
28. Spend the whole day on the couch and not worry about it one bit.
29. Understand the instructions for household appliances and finally figure out how to make a double latte in a cool new coffee maker.
30. Cook something interesting according to the recipe of some culinary guru. Or master express dishes that take no more than 5 minutes. Or finally cook the best borscht of your life.
31. Clean your computer and smartphone from unnecessary applications.
32. Start listening to podcasts: educational or entertaining.
33. Choose an interesting online course and listen to it.
34. View photos and videos accumulated in the smartphone’s memory. Remove unnecessary ones.
35. Update software on your laptop and gadgets. Make sure the latest versions of the OS and antivirus are installed.
36. Take photos of unnecessary things and post them on Avito.
37. Go to Avito and look there for an item that you have been thinking about buying for a long time. Find an inexpensive ideal option, order.
38. Go through your closet and put things in a bag that you can then give to those in need.
39. Disassemble the home first aid kit, leaving in it only what is needed and not expired.
40. Make a unique interior decoration with your own hands. There are a lot of ideas and instructions.
41. Start keeping a personal diary.
42. Make a list of goals for the next month, six months, year.
43. Update and expand your resume with life hacks that can double your salary.
44. Update your profile on a dating site. If you are registered there, of course.
45. Give a facial massage.
46. Explore Wikipedia. Fall down the “rabbit hole” for a while: follow the links inside the article that interests you, expanding your knowledge of the issue more and more.
47. Plant a mini-garden on your windowsill: in a couple of weeks you will have your own organic greenery.
48. Prepare lunches for the office in advance, divide them into portions and place them in the refrigerator.
49. Do the cleaning. For example, according to the Japanese principles of kaizen.
50. Shine the bathroom.
51. Wash the windows.
52. Make a list of the pros and cons of a task that you think about a lot. Should I have children? Should I buy a car? Going on vacation abroad or within the country?
53. Pack an emergency bag in case of emergency.
54. Wash and clean combs and makeup brushes.
55. Learn to tie a tie or scarf in a dozen stylish ways.
56. Remember an old friend with whom you haven’t spoken for a long time, and send him a message via instant messenger or voicemail.
57. Write a letter (real, paper!) to your grandparents. Tell there everything about yourself, your life and how you love the recipients.
58. Write short messages to your loved one on small pieces of paper, then discreetly slip them into his pockets and bag.
59. Take colored paper, scissors, glue and make some greeting cards for friends and family for the upcoming holidays. Lifehacker wrote about homemade gifts for February 23 and March 8. But the ideas are so good that they can be used all year round.
60. Make (and write down so you don’t forget!) a list of gifts that will delight your loved ones.
61. Watch with friends those TV series that perfectly suit your mood. Don't forget to order pizza!
62. Talk with your partner about joint plans and goals and be sure to agree on the dates of the next adventure.
63. Meet a friend. Give each other cool hairstyles.
64. Play board games with friends or children.
65. Teach your friends card tricks or surprise them with simple tricks based on the laws of physics.
66. Compete: who can fold the furthest-flying paper airplane? You can use anything for aircraft construction: from office paper to old magazines and newspapers.
67. Together with someone, start assembling a huge puzzle of thousands of pieces.
68. Give your partner a foot massage.
69. Tell fortunes. For example, take the thickest book and invite your friends to name the page and line number, and then read the prediction together. Or make magic cookies.
70. Take plenty of photos with friends.
71. Blow soap bubbles.
72. Make your pet a new bed, toy or scratching post. Lifehacker has already collected the instructions.
73. Together with your children, write a letter to your family in the future. Hide it in a time capsule and promise to open it and read it in a year.
74. Make a clear joint plan with your children on how you will spend the summer holidays or the next weekend. Select films on the websites of the nearest cinemas, book a ticket, make a route...
75. Cuddle the kids, have pillow fights (this is nice, and children will cherish such memories for a long time).
76. Finally go in for sports. Have you been dreaming of tightening your stomach or buttocks for a long time?
77. Together with the children, build a cardboard castle from old boxes and color it. If you put several boxes together, cutting doors into them, you will get a multi-room house!
78. Organize a dress-up show with the children (at the same time, go through the closet in the nursery).
79. Draw a general picture together on a huge sheet or glued together album sheets.
80. Take paints and a sheet of whatman paper and leave your palm prints on it. Date it and store it carefully.
Treat yourself to a real vacation
Nadezhda1906/Shutterstock.com
Only a lucky few can boast of actually having a vacation. The modern rhythm of life does not allow us to escape from work even in our personal time. And yet, even the most important leaders take vacations. If they could afford it, why not you?
If you are such an indispensable employee, then agree with management on at least a few untouchable days or set aside a certain time when you will be available. Rest should be rest!
Ninth method: cleansing
In the literal sense of the word, because order in the house means order in the thoughts and soul.
Of course, if you prefer to reign over chaos, then so be it. But in any case, it’s worth checking whether it’s time to get rid of unnecessary and simply harmful things that have accumulated in the house. And sorting and arranging creative materials is truly a meditative activity!
18 household items that you didn’t even know had an expiration date > A selection of products for organization and order in the house > How to hang pictures: useful infographics from the Masters Fair > Bobbins and organizers for floss from the Masters Fair >
Invest in yourself and learn something new
Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock.com
By gaining knowledge and mastering new skills, we not only “pump up” ourselves, but also keep our mind in good shape, preventing it from relaxing and withering away. It doesn't matter how serious your training is, it's the process that matters.
Sign up for courses, attend seminars, or enroll in a correspondence course at a university to get another education. By investing in yourself, you become a more experienced and valuable employee, which will only contribute to professional growth.
Relieve stress and take time for yourself
Photobac/Shutterstock.com
No matter who or where we work, stress accompanies us everywhere and accumulates, affecting our well-being and productivity. Successful people understand this and use their free time for healthy relaxation, paying attention to themselves.
It can be anything: meditation, yoga, breathing practices. Any activity that will help you take your mind off and relax.
There are 168 hours in every week, 40 of which (or so) you spend at work. There are still 128 hours left for eating, sleeping, resting and everything else. What will you spend it on?
Use your time wisely.
Sixth method: educational
Don't get bored - study! Moreover, at the Masters Fair there are many opportunities for this:
- see photo and video lessons on interesting topics here >
- sign up for upcoming webinars at the Academy of the Masters Fair to participate online. Schedule >
- work at your own pace: purchase recordings of past classes or watch lessons from a selection of free webinars >
