But what if you’ve only got a little bit of time, say 10 or 20 minutes, ask yourself what can be done in that amount of time? How can we put those small chunks of time to their most productive use?
We all work differently, so the best use of your free time depends on your working style, and what’s on your personal to-do list.
But it’s good to have a list like this to remember how to quickly find a way to put that little spare time to work instantly, without stressing your already overworked brain. By using the following list as a way to spark ideas, you won’t be lost for practical and fun things you can do in a short amount of time.
Learn to Paint
There are lots of fun tutorials on YouTube offering everyone from Rashid Johnson to David Hockney, even David Walliams, and each one has taken turns to try to inspire you to paint. Real painting with real paints is messy, and you might prefer the digital kind. You can find a huge list of sites here.
So, add some flair to those lines and angles with digital painting. By using a computer programme, you’ll be able to choose whatever colour and brush style you like. You can work your way through loads of scenes and portraits, either from your imagination or from life and you can dedicate 10 minutes or an hour to your painting and never worry about the cleaning up time.
Learn How to Code
It’s not the first thing your mind probably jumps to when someone says ‘fun’, but coding creates all the computer software in the world and the way you learn coding is applied to any other language in the world.
So, whether it’s HTML or Javascript, learning just one coding language is sure to occupy plenty of your time and leave you navigating your way around the internet in a whole new way.
Once you’ve mastered this addictive skill, you could move on to an online game with coding in mind: Minecraft.
Minecraft played on Xbox or PS4 has had an upgrade – this 2009 game encourages the player to learn to code, to build the game as they go along: this can be multiplayer. In 2020 Minecraft is a cult game that looks the same in its old-school style layout but updated with lots more cool gameplay features.
Try Photography
So much of the world is changing, thinking about where we were a year ago, compared to now – it’s just like we’re living on a different planet.
Be the new David Bailey and capture the moments that mean something to you with your new hobby – photography! You don’t need a professional camera as the one on your iPhone will work correctly. Upload the shots to Instagram or Pinterest and share your creativity.
Photography on your phone doesn’t require any setup, so no wasted minutes just remember to keep your eyes open for that interesting shot.
Try Video Editing
Whether you already know how to edit video on a professional programme or not, diving into the world of graphics and film is one of the most exciting hobbies you could do. And it can be done in small chunks of time.
Remember all those childhood movies your mum and dad took on their video camera? All those shots of you with a monkey in your shoulder? Or when you fell over in the mud up to your middle?
All these precious memories need not go to waste. Start an online course with just 10 minutes a day you can learn how to upload and edit your old videos. Even better if you can send them away to be done by someone else, that’s even more time-saving.
Make a Gif
What is a Gif? Gif stands for Graphics Interchange Format and used in social media, and It’s the funny moving images or film shots. These animated gifs can be made on your phone, easy to use step-by-step online guides can help to make these quick and easy distractions. We love Gifs, they are fun, but memes can go viral.
A meme is a funny picture that usually has a special flashing or moving graphics that are used on social media and are nearly always topical. Soccer gifs are particularly amusing, remember the Jackson Jaguars dancing Gif or Shakira shaking her body down?
Make Phone Wallpaper
We are not talking about home decoration, or paper printing techniques, but phone wallpaper, whether android or iPhone making wallpaper is quick and easy.
Learn how to make and download your team as wallpaper for your phone. Upload your favourite photos to a downloadable platform like canva or adobe and create animated wallpaper for your home page. It’s easy to do, and it’s quick and easy to do.
So now you’ve filled your day with activity. It’s time for some relaxation, try the old fashioned kind and read a book, novel I know – excuse the pun, but I only had five minutes to think of something.
