At some rare times in our hectic daily lives, we find that we have more time on our hands than usual. Instead of spending this precious time scrolling through your phones or sleeping all day, why not use it for more creative endeavors? Such as learning a new skill or forming a new habit.
New skills are always beneficial. You never know when they might come in handy, and they are always good for impressing your peers and keeping your brain busy. Likewise, you can form new habits in 66 days and incorporate them into your daily lives to become more efficient. Here are some productive skills and habits you can develop in your spare time:
1. Journaling
Journaling is an excellent way for you to become organized. Bullet journaling provides a method for tracking your tasks and planning your schedule. This way, you can access areas where you may be wasting your time and how to be more productive. While in more personal journals, you can write your ideas, feelings, and thoughts. This journaling aspect can help you clear your mind and exercise your creative muscles. Psychologists often recommend journaling to patients as it is clinically proven to help with symptoms of stress and anxiety.
Journaling does not need to be about anything specific but should be personal to you. If you like to cook, then a cooking or recipe journal will be most helpful. If you are a person who enjoys traveling, then you should make a travel log of your adventures. You can even go and make a dream journal if you have vivid dreams and want to practice dream recollection. Artistic journals for scrapbooking or painting are also excellent ideas. Whichever journaling style you may choose, you will find it to be a productive, creative, and rewarding use of your time.
2. Spend Time Gardening
Your busy schedule might make it difficult for you to take time out to complete upkeeping tasks around the house, such as gardening. However, gardening lets you get close to nature and is an excellent way to spend time in the sun. You learn so much while gardening, like which weeds are actually edible herbs and how to tell a plant’s watering requirements just by looking at its stem. Gardening can also help reduce anxiety and build strength. By regularly spending your leisure time observing weeds and watering plants, you are making your yard more presentable and developing skills that will never fade away.
3. Do Puzzles
Sometimes you don't want to spend your free time learning a new skill or forming a habit. In this regard, puzzles are great. They have varying levels of difficulty and can be used to create something unique. While puzzles may sound easy, they can often require much planning and consideration beforehand. They can also strengthen your problem-solving attributes, which you can use in other parts of your life.
After completing your puzzle, you will feel a great sense of accomplishment, and this will help you power through your other tasks. You can avail all these perks by buying eccentric puzzles like the ones available at Robotime.
4. Learn a New Language
When you know a new language, a whole host of literature and music suddenly opens to you. Reading and listening to something in its original language does not have the same effect as translation. It is also scientifically proven that learning a new language helps improve working memory and makes learning new things easier. This way, by learning a new language, you can communicate with a wide variety of people, indulge yourself in new, unique, and original literature, and even benefit your brain. These aspects will prove advantageous throughout your life.
5. Try Creative Writing
A good hand at creative writing is an excellent skill to have as it can elevate the standard of your work. This does not mean you should spend your free time writing boring articles; instead, you can pen down thoughts and ideas – essentially, anything that fascinates you that you want to express. This way, writing will not feel tedious and make your mind more relaxed. By spending time writing, you will see a definite improvement in your expression.
6. Learn an Instrument
Around 93% of the U.S. population actively listens to music, but only a fraction of them can play a musical instrument. Learning an instrument can sound demanding, but it can easily be accomplished if you put effort into the task. You only need to spend up to one hour learning your instrument daily. And the benefits you gain from this skill are tremendous. It helps improve your memory, muscle memory, patience, and creativity, which you will find helpful in all aspects of life. It can also make you extremely popular in crowds, increasing your social connections.
At first glance, learning to play an instrument can seem like a considerable expense, but this is not true, as your instrument does not need to be brand new/; you can purchase it at a thrift store. You also do not need to pay for lessons and can quickly learn from online platforms. Additionally, you do not need to make time to learn how to play; it is a versatile hobby you can adjust to your schedule.
7. Cook Something New
Cooking is a rewarding activity and a life skill everyone should know. In your daily life, you might not have the time to prepare a proper meal and eat whatever is quick to make. Or may not even have the time to cook and just prefer to order. But we recommend giving cooking a try whenever you find time on your hands. This way, you will take care of your diet, stay healthy, and even save money.
You can try following along with a recipe on youtube, or you can just pull together all the ingredients you have and freestyle something. Think of cooking as a creative activity rather than a chore or something you have to tick off. After cooking, take some time plating your food instead of just dumping it on a plate as you usually might. By working on the presentation, you will also improve your appetite.
Endnote
Relaxing is essential for all humans as we are not machines that can be expected to work continuously without feeling emotionally and physically drained. We require a moment of respite. However, taking it slow and relaxing can make us feel unproductive and as if we may be wasting our time. In such cases, we busy ourselves with unhealthy work practices again or continue to loaf off in unpleasantness. Instead, consider going through the activities we mentioned above and see if any catch your interest. Who knows, you might just discover your new hobby.