Do you have some extra downtime and are looking for productive things to do at home? Here are 7 effective ideas guaranteed to motivate you!
Sitting at home with the desire to do something with your day, but not knowing what to do that’s worthwhile is literally the worst, am I right?
Finding productive things to do at home can be a real struggle (trust me I’ve been there too). But having the drive to do something to improve your life and wellbeing is the first step!
Being at home doesn’t have to be a passive activity where you end up on the couch binging on hours of the latest TV show. It can be time spent finding motivating ways of upgrading your lifestyle and battling boredom all at the same time.
These are 7 simple things you can do at home today to feel productive, increase your motivation and feel like you are getting shit done!
This post is all about productive things to do at home.
7 PRODUCTIVE THINGS TO DO AT HOME:
1. Set goals for yourself and create a vision board book
Creating a vision board is literally one of the single most motivating things you can do for yourself! And it’s super fun! It’s basically like putting together a catalog of your dream life, where nothing is off-limits. Creating a vision board book is even more beneficial though, but i’ll get to what all that means in a sec!
Finding some time to sit down and really think about your short-term, as well as long-term goals is important in order to give yourself direction in life. If you don’t give yourself direction, you will basically be aimlessly drifting.
It’s really like taking a road trip without a map. If you don’t have a destination or plan in mind, you will just end up driving around hoping you get to where you want to go. Sure you might see some dope shit along the way, but it won’t be nearly as fulfilling as hitting all of the spots you want to see. (Hopefully, this analogy isn’t too lame, but you get the idea haha!)
Honestly though working on a vision board and creating goals can kind of seem daunting. Looking at it after it’s done and seeing all of the beautiful houses, cars, and dream destinations you might have added to it may seem so out of reach. At least it did to me when I first made one, so I kind of forgot about it, and a week later it ended up in the trash.
So often we set goals and dreams that are so big, they seem incredibly out of reach which makes it feel super unmotivating to even begin. There is just no clear, visible path to them in the moment. That shouldnt stop you from dreaming big though.
The key is to work backwords on your goals.
Start by thinking about where you want to be when you’re in your 60s. What life do you want to have? Do you want to be married? Do you want children and grandchildren? Where do you want to be living when you retire? What car do you want to be driving? What shape do you want to be in? Get as detailed as you can. And either write it down, or better yet create a vision board.
Once you have your life at 60 figured out, the next step is working backwards. What will your life be like at 50? What job do you have? How much money do you have in your retirement fund as you get ready for that life you envisioned for your 60s. What do you like to do in your spare time? Get as detailed as you can, working backwards from where you were at in your 60s. What are you doing in your 50s to get to your vision in your 60s?
Write it all out, and create another vision board. It’s okay not to have everything figured out yet. If you want to, for example, own a business that will have you taking lavish vacations and owning huge homes when you’re older, but you are not sure exactly what that business is yet, it’s okay. But do try to get as micro as you can.
Repeat this process for your 40’s, your 30’s, and so on. The closer you get to your age the more detailed you can get. Once you get to your 20s (or whatever age you are at) you can start breaking down your goals by years, or even months. What can you be doing now to get you to where you will be in your 30s based on your vision board?
If you are creating vision boards throughout this whole process, your vision board may not look super glamorous 1 year out. Maybe your 1-year goal ends up being to just get out of 1 bedroom apartment into a 2 bedroom. Or maybe it’s going from 400 monthly visitors to your website to 1000.
Either way putting together smaller goals, and more attainable vision boards is much more motivating than putting together boards that seem completely out of reach.
At the end of this exercise you will basically have a book put together of your dream life, and if done successfully you will be able to see exactly what steps needs to be taken in order to make progress and get to the goals you’ve set out for yourself.
You can then use this as a blueprint to guide you into the right direction and hopefully motivate yourself daily to get where you want to go. Obviously, as time goes on, your visions might shift as well. Things will become clearer, or new life paths will emerge, but hopefully, you still end up with a rough roadmap of how to get to the final destination you ultimately want to achieve!
2. Clean out and update your computer.
I don’t know about you, but I always neglect upkeeping my computer but finally getting it done always feels like a load off my shoulders.
When you have some extra time on your hands while you’re at home and want to be productive, take a few minutes to run any of those updates you keep putting off.
This is also a great time to go through all of your photos and files. Clean up and organize all of your folders, delete any unnecessary files you may have, and empty your trashcan. This will free up a lot of your hard drive and can even improve your computer speed.
Remove any unused apps you may have as well to further clear out space. And don’t forget to go through your browser extensions and remove or deactivate any that you don’t use anymore.
The final step is to make sure to run a backup of your computer. Trust me, having your computer die and losing all of your files and photos is zero fun. It happens to all of us eventually, most often at the least convenient time too! So be sure that all of your backups are running smoothly!
3. Follow along with a full body stretching video
if you’ve been hanging out on the couch all day, this is a great and super low impact way to get your body moving and your endorphins pumping. You can even do it while continuing to watch your favorite show!
Anytime you feel bored or a little bit lazy, where you know you want to be doing something but just don’t know where to start, sometimes just getting up and moving a little bit will motivate you enough to jumpstart your productivity.
Stretching is great because it can be done basically anywhere. It requires little to no equipment and is super low impact. Sometimes the thought of getting up, putting on workout clothes, driving yourself to the gym or even just doing an at home workout can be too much. Stretching is litterally so simple and feels so amazing!
Im sure you dont need to be told of all the benefits since we all know just how important moving your body is, but in case you need a reminder:
Benefits of Stretching:
- Increases muscle blood flow
- Helps your joint mobility range
- Releases endorphins
- Promotes better blood circulation
- Reduces stress
I’m sure you get the point, but stretching is super beneficial and honestly feels amazing. And don’t forget, getting yourself up and moving will further increase your motivation to continue being productive.
As Newtons first law states, objects in motion, stay in motion. So just getting up and moving can help you continue being productive throughout the day.
Here is a short, yet effective full body stretch routine for you to try out. Give it a go, I. promise it feels so good! And it only takes 12 minutes, so really theres no excuses!
4. Take an online course
Who says learning has to stop once you’re done with school? Right now it is easier than ever before to basically learn anything online!
There are countless online classes, both paid and free to take. The best part is, there is basically a course out there for anything, no matter your interests. Whether you want to learn about gardening, starting your own blog, learning to code, photography, or even productivity, there’s an online class out there for it!
You can find so many different websites offering a variety of paid online classes. A few I have personally used in the past include Udemy, Skillshare, Coursera, and Codecademy. But there are so many amazing websites that offer affordable online learning.
If you are not looking to spend any money, or just want to dip your toe into a topic, Youtube can be an amazing resource as well. Youtube has videos on basically any and every topic you could possibly imagine. There are so many wonderful creators who make in depth videos and are a great first resource to look into before committing to a paid course on any topic.
Bottom line is, learning can be super fun and does not have to stop once you are finished with school. In fact, picking your own courses and going at your own pace is really exciting, so give it a shot!
5. Meal Prep for the week
Want to know a truly revolutionary tip for meal prepping? Read on!
We all know that meal prepping makes it easier to eat healthy throughout the week. But that being said, it can get kind of gross eating the same meal that’s been sitting in the fridge all week.
The best tip ever is meal prepping just the ingredients! Go out and buy your favorite vegetables, chop them up, and leave them in containers for up to a week and just use those to create super easy 10 minute recipes.
I swear, just having everything ready to go will make your life so much easier. And you can make so many different meals in like 10 minutes max. I do this all of the time, and it has increased the amount of veggies I eat by literally 100x.
Some of the best veggies to prep are: zucchini, yellow squash, yams, onions, green onions, bell peppers, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, snow peas, carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli. But really the possibilities are endless!
Once you have everything chopped and ready, you can throw it into any meal. This is literally the easiest way ever to eat healthy!
10 minute meal ideas with prepped veggies:
- Omelette
- Stir fry with noodles
- Fried rice
- Chicken with roasted veggie side
- Veggie Quesadilla
- Tacos with roasted vegetables
- Curry
- Mac and Cheese with added vegetables
Basically, you get the idea. You can have any of your favorite, or go-to meals but with added vegetables to them. Since you already have them prepped it literally takes no effort to add them in into meals you might not otherwise add them too.
You can meal prep other ingredients as well. It doesn’t have to be just veggies. You can also meal prep some rice, and some raw chicken in baggies for example. And all week you can have fresh, quick meals. And the best part is, you can customize them for basically any meal by switching up seasonings and sauces.
Here are some cheap options for reusable meal prep containers:
These containers are a super basic and cheap option. They are what I personally use for all of my meal prep. They are reusable and super easy to stack.
This is a super cute option if you are looking for alternatives to plastic. These containers come in 2 sizes and different color options as well.
6. Do a deep dive into your finances
This one can be kind of scary! But so eye-opening.
If you don’t already do this every month (which we probably all should), take some time to go through your credit card statements and create a spreadsheet of your spending. A great place to do this in is google sheets.
I know this can literally be terrifying, at least it is for me every time I come face to face with the total I spent at brunch with my friends over the weekend. But understanding your spending habits is crucial to becoming financially stable.
Ask yourself the hard questions of whether the amount your spending on non essentials will truly benefit you in the long run. Can your money be put to better use somewhere else next month?
Make sure to also pay close attention to any reoccuring payments and subscriptions and cancel any you don’t use on a daily basis.
This is also a great time to think about your long term financial goals. Add up any debts you may have and create a payment plan for yourself. And be sure to always pay off any high interest debt, such as credit cards first!
Educating yourself on investing is also incredibly important! Don’t feel like you have to make a lot of money to invest, small amounts add up too. Compound interest is the real deal people! I wont go into any financial advice right now, but educating yourself on your finances is literally the number 1 most productive thing you can do at home!
Remember, being financially stable is the biggest boss bitch move!
7. Read a motivational book
There is literally nothing more motivating and inspiring than reading a book. Learning is always a productive activity, and will often inspire you to make changes, and increasing your productivity!
Self help books are increasing in popularity right now, and theres a good reason for it! You really cant go wrong by expanding your knowledge base and learning from experts.
I am including 5 books that are seriously revolutionary. Most of these are fact based, and incredibly inspiring no matter your goals. Also included is the Alchemist which is fiction, but if you open your mind to it, there is SO much to learn from this book, it’s truly incredible, and a personal favorite of mine.
Whether you listen to these on audible, download on kindle, or order a physical copy, you really cant go wrong with any of these!
Here are 5 incredible books to increase your productivity:
Atomic Habits - James Clear
There has been so much hype around this book for quite some time now, and all for good reason! Not only is it super easy to read, it has incredible insight on what it takes to build a new habit. Atomic habits does a great job of breaking down the rules of forming a new habit and goes into some great examples. It’s an all around an amazing, simple read and will hold your attention throughout the duration of the book. If you want to make some serious changes in your life, this book is a MUST!
Broke Millennial Takes on Investing - Erin Lowry
This is a great book to get your foot in the door on investing. It’s a great start if you are new to the concept and want to learn the basics. It shows you that you don’t have to be rich to start investing and teaches you the importance of starting early. Broke millennial takes on investing is an easy read, and the author speaks in a way that’s really relatable and easy to understand. She makes a scary topic fun and manageable. It’s a great first book if you’re just looking to get your foot in the door on investing and are a complete beginner.
The Power of One More - Ed Mylett
I first heard of Ed Mylett on the skinny confidential podcast and became obsessed! He is a fantastic keynote speaker and has worked with top athletes, entertainers, and business executives. He speaks on how combining thoughts and actions will lead to incredible results. The second I learned this man wrote a book, I knew I had to read it, and I did not regret a second of it.
If nothing else, this book will inspire the crap out of you to live your best life. And with the examples he provides, it makes goals feel achievable. If you’re not a big reader, I would suggest listening to this book on audible. Ed narrates it himself and does a fantastic job keeping listener’s attention.
Gut - Giulia Enders
If you want to learn about gut health, this is the book for you. I wont lie, its kind of more technical, and does go into the science behind how your internal organs work a little more than I personally wanted to know. But nonetheless it’s an easy read, and does go into tips on how to battle with a sensitive gut, and is a fantastic resource if you want to further understand your relationship with food.
Also, i don’t know about you, but im still a sucker for pictures in my books, and the illustrations in this book are adorable and really help add to the concepts the author talks about!
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
I’m going to sound corny for a second, but if you open your heart and mind to this book, you will leave feeling like a whole new person. This is a super light read, it’s short, but PACKED with metaphors and life lessons. I swear you can read this book a hundred times and still come out of it learning something new. If you are willing to be patient with it and read between the lines, I absolutely guaranteed that this book will not disappoint!
Itís nearly impossible to find educated people for this topic, but you seem like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks
Thank you so much! That’s very nice to hear 🙂