How to Fill Your Free Time with Useful Things

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This article was co-written by Sydney Axelrod. Sydney Axelrod is a life coach and owner of Sydney Axelrod LLC, a business that provides personal and professional development coaching services. Through one-on-one coaching, digital courses, and group workshops, Sydney helps clients discover their purpose, navigate life transitions, and set and accomplish goals. . Sydney has over 1000 hours of coaching and training and holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from Emory University.

There are 10 references cited in this article that you can view at the bottom of the page.

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Sudden changes in your life can give you a free time that you never had before. Filling your free time with productive things is one way to increase creativity, energy, enthusiasm, and fulfillment in life. Try to spend your free time developing a new hobby, learning a foreign language, joining a local volunteer group, or a religious group.

Table of Contents

Develop new skills

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Take classes that develop skills or knowledge. See your free time as an opportunity to gain knowledge unrelated to your job or expertise. You just need to focus on studying for the purpose of expanding your knowledge without having to put pressure to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. ^{[1] X Research Source}

For example, you might learn about archeology, learn to dance, learn jewelry design, learn about first aid in the wilderness, or learn to skydive.
View information about local clubs via the Meetup app or the website to connect with more people.

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Learn gardening. Gardening is a way to use your free time and grow some foods yourself for family and friends. The cactus will give you eye-catching flowers and this plant is also very easy to live. Or, you can try growing some herbs and herbs as they are easy to grow and suitable for cooking and crafts.

If you have experience in gardening, try redesigning your garden or changing the way you take care of the plants in the garden. Try transforming and creating a meditation garden or a Persian garden.

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See cooking as a joy instead of a boring chore. Trying out new recipes is a fun way to make the most of your free time when things are done for fun instead of obligation. Open a cookbook and try some new recipes. Or look in your fridge and kitchen counter, then look for a recipe online that uses these ingredients (for example, search for “recipes with broccoli, pineapple, and jalapeños”). ^{[2] X Research Source}

Spend an afternoon baking and learn how to apply some new techniques you’ve never tried before.
Once you’ve mastered a few delicious recipes, you can organize an intimate dinner party for your loved ones.

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Learn a new language. Choosing to learn a new language is a great way to keep your mind active in your spare time. ^{[3] X Research Resources} This is a way to help you understand foreign cultures and learn about other geographical regions of the world. Buy a language book available online or in bookstores. You can also read magazines and books or watch movies and TV in the language you are learning.

Learning a new language also helps you communicate with non-Vietnamese speakers in your community.

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Choose painting as a hobby. Try spending your free time on art: you can both express yourself and learn new skills. Try several different colors such as acrylics, enamel paints, murals, ink, oil, water-based oils, pastels, spray paints (graffiti), or watercolors. If you prefer to sketch, pick up a drawing book and pencil.

Arts and crafts always give you a lot of ideas to find hobbies; Painting alone has many forms for you to choose from.
Go to art or craft stores to find the products you need.

Help the community

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Go to a temple or a church. This is a safe way to meet interesting people and participate in community activities besides faith development. Try to find information about the temple or church where you live.

However, you don’t have to sign up for a faith group to spend your free time at a religious organization.
For example, the Association of Unitarian Universalists, although rooted in Christianity, welcomes people of different faiths, including agnostics, atheists, pagans, and monotheists. founders, humanists, and libertarians.

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Spend your free time participating in community beautifying volunteer activities. Volunteering is a way to be more active and make more friends. By participating in community beautification activities, you will help improve the environment where you live and have time to go out and breathe in the fresh air. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Try recruiting more volunteers from churches, youth organizations (including the Scouts), or community nonprofits.

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Participate in charity meal distribution. Charity meal distributions are often organized by non-profit organizations, charities and benefactors. If you want to take the time to help the community, you can contact your local organizer and ask how to get involved. Your job could be going to the grocery store to ask for donations of ingredients or calling for support from the community. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Or, if you’re not interested in giving meals to charity, you can consider other charitable activities, such as donating second hand items, raising funds for nonprofits, or working at kitchens. benevolent.
You will find volunteering gives you the satisfaction of being able to help others.

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Engage in writing work for networking organizations. If you live in a remote area, or want to connect with people online instead of meeting in person, you can volunteer online. For example, volunteer to help with web design work for nonprofits or write newsletters for charities. Online volunteering can give you a sense of dedication and broaden your network.

To volunteer online (or in real life), you can follow charity groups/pages on social media.

Build a career

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Build working relationships in your spare time. In your spare time, you can still develop your career or expand work-related relationships. ^{[6] X Research Resources} Call up a few mutual friends and invite a few colleagues over for breakfast or stay after dinner and invite a few people you’re not too close to for dinner.

Even if you don’t like spending a lot of time networking, it’s still a good idea to set aside some time during the week to make sure you’re connecting with people without being constrained by time. service and work limits or set by yourself.
Join business associations so you can connect with other people in your field and support someone in need. If you’re in the US, you can join the Small Business Administration (SBA) ^{[7] X Trusted Source US Small Business Administration Go to source}

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Schedule or plan. Amidst the hustle and bustle of work, meetings, professional obligations, socializing, and other aspects of life, it’s easy to find yourself drowning in a myriad of things. Therefore, take 10 minutes of your free time to schedule or plan the day. Writing down and scheduling each task will help you reduce stress and always get the job done on time. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

If you’re not used to using a notebook, you can try planning through the calendar app on your phone. This will help you better organize your work and reduce schedule neglect.

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Make friends at a school, office, church or community. Don’t hide when you have free time. Connect with others and spend time with the people you care about. Plan weekly or monthly get-togethers with friends, go out with friends occasionally without scheduling, and check up on old friends you haven’t seen in a while. ^{[9] X Research Source}

This will be your chance to share ideas, have fun, and recharge your relationships.

Take care of your physical and mental health

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Make time for reading. Whether you like fiction, non-fiction, poetry, philosophy, or autobiography, reading keeps your brain active and makes your free time more meaningful. In addition, this activity also helps you to have a broader view and improve vocabulary. The books you are reading will tell you about perspectives and cultures that you have never known before. ^{[10] X Research Source}

To find interesting books, you can go to the city library or spend time wandering the bookstores.

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Make time for your pet. If you don’t have a pet, it’s time to find yourself a little friend. Pets need constant care, so you can fill your free time by playing, going for a walk or preparing food for your “pet”. If you want to find a pet, you can go to animal shelters.

Dogs and cats are always popular choices for their fun, cuteness, and you can leave them home alone for a few hours.
If you don’t have much time to spend with your pet, or don’t want to take care of it a lot, you can try keeping fish.

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Focus on your spiritual life. Free time is the perfect opportunity for spiritual things, as it gives you space to relax, reflect, and think about your future vision and life goals. Regardless of your religion or not, spiritual time is an important part of being human, and taking care of your spiritual life is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself. . ^{[11] X Research Source}

After a few weeks of daily recitation or prayer, you will begin to notice positive results in your life: you will be calmer, more attentive, and better focused.
The way of prayer of concentration is similar to that in Christianity.

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Learn meditation . Sit still for about 20 minutes and breathe naturally. Count your breaths to 10, then count again. Counting is a way to help you focus to be fully present and keep your mind from drifting. Meditation can help you calm down and avoid negative thoughts and emotions. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Try looking for guided meditation apps for extra support.

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Exercise for a healthy body. Using your free time to stay in shape is a simple and healthy way to pass the time. Free time is a good opportunity to exercise your body, such as lifting weights in the yard or doing push-ups in the living room. If you don’t have much free time, just spend about 15-30 minutes exercising at home. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Adjust the exercise to suit the time budget you have. If you have a lot of free time during the day, you can use it to exercise at home or go for a run.
If you enjoy working out outside, you should join the gym near home to lift weights and build muscles, or run on cardio equipment. You can also go jogging in a park near your home or work, or join a local climbing group.

Advice

If you’re looking to find a hobby, here are a few suggestions you can try: self-study a new computer programming language, write a short story or script, make jewelry, do graphic design, take amateur photography, or learn a genre. New dance figure. You can also learn woodcarving, play golf, or learn to play an instrument.
Don’t try to indulge in too many activities in your spare time. You certainly don’t want to ruin the fun by planning too many things. Free time is a time for you to relax, not to go crazy with a lot of things.
Take the time to try new experiences. Things that seem difficult at first will gradually become familiar and bring good results as you persevere.
Free time is when you do what you want. If you don’t want to go to church or join a volunteer group, or don’t continue a hobby, that’s okay too.
Try to relax yourself while you are free.

Warning

Talk to your doctor before you start any intense exercise or physical activity program. You should not delay this; Your doctor will be happy to hear you want to learn something new and will only stop them if they have a good reason.

Steps