Stop Wasting Time. Turn Down Time Into Value

Every day we all have off time where we are mindlessly scrolling through our Facebook news feed for the hundredth time waiting for a new notification or on StumbleUpon looking for something, ANYTHING to entertain us. After a while it gets to the point where we are just blankly staring at the screen just wondering what to do. After doing this myself for a while I started to brainstorm things I can do in this wasted time that are entertaining and also somewhat productive.

My favorite thing I have been doing as of late in my down time is creating content for this blog. It is a lot of fun writing to an audience and it also looks good on your resume if you are planning on working for a company based on the internet or around social media. Having a blog is also great because it allows you to never forget where you came from as you can always go back and read past posts.

Another thing I like to do in my off time is research the stock market. I am always on www.fool.com, www.seekingalpha.com and yahoo finance. I also take free online classes offered by Stanford about computer programming and another online class about inbound marketing offered by HubSpot which you can find here. This does not mean you have to be researching stocks or marketing in your off time but find something that interests you and research. Psych major? Find a psychologist that you really admire and read their works or better yet begin to develop your own theories. English majors could research ways for their works to gain publicity and find out how other authors they respect gained notoriety. The point is find something specific to your major/career and research.

Try getting to the gym or signing up for some kind of organized sport as well. The saying “look good, feel good” is very true and if you have not been active for a while you will notice a quick difference in your body. You will have more energy throughout the day, you will get a nice confidence boost and you will also make some great friends in the process. I know from personal experience that going to the gym and being fit has opened up a lot of doors for me in my professional career that I would have never have been able to capitalize on if I was a couch potato. Check through all of the daily deal sites (Groupon, Livingsocial, Homerun etc) for deals on a gym membership as they usually will have one.

A great thing to do in your off time is catch up on your sleep! College students hardly ever get enough sleep and if you find yourself not doing anything except wasting time and do not particularly feel like doing anything engaging then get to bed. Sleep is crucial to keeping a sharp and healthy mind so take a nap, wake up and be ready to attack the world.

Do not get me wrong I am not saying you have to be productive every second of every day. It’s ok and completely normal to relax and just chill out. We are not robots and if we never rested we would get burnt out very quickly. However, we can ALL (even me) be a little more productive without harming ourselves so get up! Sign up for a class or the gym! The first step towards something new is ALWAYS the hardest step so if you need help taking that first step feel free to tweet at me @Aghanomics212 or leave a comment asking for my email address and I will give you a hand.